Employer Branding: Culture And Commitment

incipioworkstg on May 7, 2020

Company Culture and Commitment in the Employment Marketplace.

You Can’t Do Without It Anymore.

When we talk about branding, most of us likely think of the type of branding associated with a company’s public image – perhaps created by marketing and advertising. For this blog post, let’s talk instead about “employer branding.”

Employer branding is what attracts potential hires to your company. It’s similar to a shopper using Consumer Reports to compare various washing machine manufacturers. Job applicants are no different. They do research by going to any number of websites. In today’s competitive job market, candidates look at more than just salary and benefit packages. They’re also researching a company’s culture and commitment to employee learning and development. Effective employer branding communicates your organization is a great place to work. And that keeps your current employees engaged and boosts both retention and recruitment of top talent.

It’s important to recognize benefits, compensation and a company’s culture means different things to different people. For example, benefits that are important to someone with grown children are likely vastly different in importance from the needs of a millennial. For example, the baby boomer worker may want three weeks vacation and a lower deductible health plan with a more coverage. The younger worker may prefer more vacation and a higher deductible medical plan with less coverage. Each will have varying degrees of interest in a company’s 401(k) plan, charitable efforts or non-traditional benefits like employee happy hours or free lunches.

The workplace today is changing. Don’t get left behind.

There is no question offering something to everyone can be an administrative nightmare. However, more and more benefit providers are recognizing the workplace today is changing. They’re being pushed to offer more packages and a la carte options. How many different varieties of Coke are there for example? There is something out there for every taste. There’s no reason it can’t be the same with benefits.

To begin, make sure human resources has a seat at the management table. That ensures your employer branding is strategic and part of a measurable plan. Because after all, without a strong, committed workforce, you don’t have a company!

Get The Right People for Your Business-Soft Skills Matter!

incipioworkstg on April 30, 2020

The Individuals You Hire Impact Your Existing Staff.

If there is anything a business needs to consistently get right when building effective teams and a winning culture, it’s recruiting. The individuals you hire communicate clear expectations regarding performance to your existing staff.

In the recruiting process, successful companies look not only at an applicant’s skills and experiences but also at their personality, drive and motivation. Understanding what will fit best with the existing team is critical. That means the hiring manager should have a clear picture of the needs of that team and how the recruit will fit within that group. From my perspective, in many situations, passion and drive can exceed the value of skills and experience.

Reassess and Be Flexible

For example, look at the situation facing many organizations today. Right now, there are thousands of fantastic people in the job market looking for work due to layoffs. They are more than willing to provide significant value to employers who have stayed in operation throughout the global pandemic, even if it is a short-term value! Businesses need to reassess their expectations as it relates to commitments around employment timelines. Having a short-term superstar is definitely better than having a role unfilled due to passing on that hire while looking for a longer-term team member.

Can an Outside Recruiter Help?

Sometimes traditional methods of recruiting can be limited ineffectiveness. If your candidate flow is weak, or if you are not getting the specific characteristics you need in applicants, an outside recruiter can be extremely beneficial. An outside recruiter can leverage a broad range of connections and other resources to find the candidates with the skills and characteristics you need to fill your specific job role.

An outside recruiter also uses a thorough, formal and consistent recruiting process. That allows the hiring manager, and in some cases, key members of the team, to more effectively assess the “fit” of a candidate. Depending on the situation, or the organization’s strategic direction, the candidate with the best resume may not be what a team needs.

Get The Right People for Your Business-Perfect the First Time.

incipioworkstg on April 28, 2020

More Than Staffing.

No Headhunters Here

At Incipio, we look at recruiting from a couple of perspectives. We’re not a staffing company and we’re not a traditional “headhunting” firm. We specialize in helping companies with two types of recruiting: Direct Hire and Recruiting Process Outsource or RPO.

In Direct Hiring, for an organization looking to hire a new CEO for example, Incipio will help you determine an exact skill set and culture match. Then we target candidates who have just what you’re looking for – usually from your industry. We go after them, rather than hoping a candidate will stumble upon your job opening. We do all the pre-screening and interviewing and deliver you a candidate that is a perfect fit.

Dedicaticated Recruiters, What???

In Recruiting Process Outsource, we become your dedicated recruiter. If your organization needs to hire ten people for example, we can work with an HR department or work directly with supervisors/hiring managers. We become your “recruiting department” and do everything from A to Z. We help determine the exact skill set required. Then we get that job posted to all the job channels like Indeed or Glassdoor – all the places your opportunity will be seen by potential applicants.

We handle all the contacts from emails to phone calls. Then we conduct preliminary interviews by phone or video and deliver great quality applicants. All within state and federal compliance guidelines. If clients want to do additional interviews, we’ll set those up and even handle the background checks, drug tests and the offer letter. Then importantly, we stay with those hires for another 30 days to make sure both the client and the applicants are happy.

A Very Different Process.

The process works for companies looking to hire all different numbers of people from ten to 500 a year. We collaborate with companies on a short or long-term basis and function seamlessly as their in-house recruiting department. We can also go into an organization and create the entire process. We will help hire a recruiter, train and teach that person about onboarding, training and professional development and then we’ll leave after setting them up for success.

The recruiting process is important but we also work with companies beyond this phase to ensure their team stays and is engaged and motivated. Recruiting is just the first step. We tell our clients the process is a lot like Christmas. You tell us what you want and then we wrap it up, put a big red bow on it and deliver it to you!

Get The Right People for Your Business- And Keep Them!

incipioworkstg on April 21, 2020

Lori Fain-Incipio Workforce Solutions

Why Retention Matters

Recruitment should go hand in hand with retention. In fact, I would argue you can’t have recruitment without retention. Companies should be both “recruit ready” and “retention ready.”

Here’s what I mean. The days of a large pool of candidates waiting to be hired are gone. That’s just not the case anymore – particularly in skilled positions where employees are required to have certain licenses or certifications. This requires you to think about what potential hires see when they do their homework about your company. It’s similar to online shopping. Before or during the hiring process a candidate will certainly check the reviews of your company and negative comments always carry the most weight.

As part of the recruiting process, you should answer several questions. What do your professional development programs look like? How are your employees treated? Are your employees being coached, mentored and prepared for advancement? Companies with effective retention programs are the most successful in recruitment.

How We Can Help

At Incipio, when we assist a company with recruitment we work on spending time upfront with clients. We walk through all aspects of the position, the organization, and the market. We go in and see where the work is going to take place. We meet the people who the candidate will be working with. We examine what both short and long-term success looks like to make sure the position is a good fit for both the organization and the candidate. Some of these conversations can be uncomfortable but they are crucial because the strategy sessions ensure recruiting efforts produce positive results as quickly as possible.

Recruitment: Are You Proactive or Reactive?

incipioworkstg on April 8, 2020

Ashley Overberg- Incipio Workforce Solutions

I always say recruiting is about being “proactive” and not “reactive.”

It’s the worst-case scenario if you have to be reactive to staff shortages. Even if someone gives you a two-week notice, you’re often caught in a time crunch. You’re scrambling asking them to train someone for their position. If not, that job might be open for a long time.

One way to get ahead of the hiring crunch is to examine recruiting trends at your company. Is there a certain time of year your staffing requirements have to ramp up? Perhaps in the past, you have lost people around the holidays. Knowing the history of hiring needs will help you avoid staffing problems in the future.

Identify trends, create a strategy before you need it.

Once you’ve identified some trends, you should develop a strategy and then a marketing plan. Begin by making sure there is an open line of communication between the executive team and human resources. It’s all about being honest. Is there a problem with turnover? If so, what strategies and solutions do we have in place? What’s been going on in the past month? The past year? What needs do you foresee? Even when things are running smoothly, it’s important to have that check-in to ensure there are no surprises. If any issues are identified, it pays to address them early before you find yourself short-staffed, which will affect your bottom line.

Employee Referral Programs

Assuming you’ve created a company culture where your current employees are motivated, engaged and proud of where they work, an employee referral program can be helpful. Setting up some criteria around that program is important, however. For example, a new hire has to stay for a certain amount of time for the referring employee to get a bonus.

It’s also important to look at the demographics of your hires. Benefits evolve over time. Make sure your benefits package is designed to draw in both a boomer and a millennial. What can you provide that might be unique and set you apart from a competitor? With millennials for example, can you offer student loan assistance or a loan repayment plan? That’s important to young people coming out of school with large amounts of debt. When was the last time you looked at your 401(k) benefit? Is the company match sufficient to attract a worker proactive about being prepared for retirement?

Are you looking for a good fit or a warm body?

Once you have a candidate, obviously you begin by looking at their technical skills. Do they have the knowledge and skills to do that job effectively? Then you look at whether they might be a good “fit.” Behavioral questions can help you make that determination. For example, rather than asking someone, “Can you multitask?” Ask them to describe a time when they juggled six projects at the same time. Answers to similar open-ended questions will give you an idea of their skills and experiences are a good match for your open position.

It’s important to recognize not everyone is skilled at interviewing. Every manager needs training in this area. Without even knowing it, some people will ask questions that are illegal or ask questions that might imply favoritism. It’s important managers know what they can and can’t ask. A strong internal training program designed around hiring best practices will head off any issues and strengthen your ability to recruit quality employees.

Recruitment: A Better Process for Better People

incipioworkstg on April 2, 2020

How to Get People Who Are Right for Your Business

Businesses often think of recruitment as a necessary evil. At Incipio, we encourage our clients to view recruitment as a strategy – not as a headache.

OUR PROCESS

We are firm believers in what we call an “Operating Style Assessment.” Our process is to assess individuals on the team followed by an assessment of applicants. This is one of the key differentiators with Incipio’s service. These assessments provide much more than simply identifying strengths and weaknesses. They help ensure the new hire makes a positive assimilation into an existing team by improving communication.

During the interview process, you’ll likely see a candidate at his or her finest. Your goal is to retain that energy and passion and harness it into onboarding and far beyond. We can help you merge communication across the team and focus on mentoring, coaching and managing performance. That gets you through a new hire’s “honeymoon phase” faster and lets you get down to business.

For example, the assessment shows a team member needs time to process new directives. The new hire learns that upfront – as opposed to overwhelming a team member in the beginning. We’ve found much greater results in retention for companies that follow our process.

OUR GOAL

Incipio has two primary goals: Reduce the cost of doing business and increase revenue. If we aren’t doing one of those two things, then we’re not doing what we were hired to do. Labor costs are the biggest expense to an organization. Instead of seeing that expense only as a line item in a financial report, we help our clients capitalize on the value of what that line can bring to the business.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU SHOULD HIRE A RECRUITER

If recruiting is taking up a lot of our time, it can be a great value-add to outsource it. For example, if you work a 40-hour week and you spend more than five percent of your time and effort to fill a position, you should outsource it. The value and return on investment of an experienced, trained, a talented recruiter will not only produce a higher ROI for you, you’ll find better talent faster!

Professional Development: Keeping it Strong

incipioworkstg on March 26, 2020

Are Your Professional Development Efforts Really Sticking?

Have you worked at a company where everyone was required to attend a two-hour team-building exercise? The company likely heard something about professional development and assumed this exercise would solve whatever issues it was having with employees. Everything seemed great. Employees seemed to “like each other” again. But the next day people went back to their jobs – got busy – and soon the benefit of the exercise was lost. That is “transactional” professional development. It simply gets employees “pumped up” for a few hours.

What needs to happen is “transformational” professional development. After assessments of the strengths of employees – and after you have identified what skills you need to develop – you put together a plan and a budget and begin targeted training and coaching. Then you combine that with actionable steps and expectations to hold people accountable.

If it’s not part of your strategic plan, that’s a problem. I’ve never seen a successful business that didn’t make employee personal growth a priority. Professional development at a previous employer made me who I am today. My growth occurred early in my career because that company was committed to developing their employees – helping them learn to be engaged, loyal and productive. It was seen as an important step that would lead to growth of the business.

HOW CAN YOU TELL IF IT’S SUCCESSFUL

Reducing turnover is one way to measure success. Companies always worry they’re going to invest in professional development and then an employee is going to walk out the door and go somewhere else. But what’s the alternative? For them to leave and complain about the company they worked for because they didn’t provide any training or coaching? Or for a company to provide professional development so if employees do leave they have positive things to say about what a great place it was to work? Plus, if you promote continued learning as part of your values during the recruiting process you’ll likely attract candidates who want opportunities to learn, grow and innovate – an important trait in today’s rapidly changing economy.

TIMES HAVE CHANGED

You can’t do business today the way you have always done it. People coming into the workforce today are in many cases an entirely different set of people. Some haven’t had parents at home to shape them into the people they need to be. Others have parents working so hard to make ends meet they simply aren’t around as often as our parents. In many cases business owners today are forced to become parents. They have to invest in developing people and teaching the soft skills important to be successful in a job – like why showing up on time is important. The most successful companies take pride in treating employees as family – respecting them and providing them with professional development to help them become people who are committed to lifelong learning.

Bulking Up Your Business: Talent Matters!

incipioworkstg on March 19, 2020

The Talent Challenge

Attracting, acquiring, and retaining talent is more challenging than ever before. To be successful, today’s tight labor market should encourage companies to adopt a strategy to develop existing talent. Aside from showing employees you appreciate their contributions, the investment in training and development helps retain employees by letting them know they have the opportunity to grow. Firing an employee in the hopes you’ll be able to hire a solution to your problem is much more of a gamble. As Incipio’s president and founder Molley Rickett likes to say, “If you really examine it, the talent walking out your door is usually not the same talent that is walking in your door.” The days of “plug and play” are in the past.

That’s not to say there isn’t a place for effective recruitment. There likely are some key roles within your company where you simply need to fill that position with outside talent. But thinking first about “bulking up” your talent within your company can be an effective strategy because in this job market it’s time to get creative.

HOW TO BEGIN

Look at your current workforce and examine whether people are in the right positions. After a review of their strengths you may discover you should rethink some roles. An employee may function best in a different position than that for which they were initially hired. For example, I’ve witnessed a human resources professional blossom and become a valued employee once they were given an opportunity in software development. Communication is key – as is support from leadership. Employees want leaders who care about their well-being. They want to work for leaders who recognize and appreciate them. Having an open and honest conversation is often the best place to start. Perhaps the performance review process makes it clear an employee isn’t meeting expectations. So now you work together to look at their talents from a different perspective. What are their strengths? What do they bring to the table that could help the company grow? If you play to their strengths you’ll develop an employee who is happier, more engaged and more effective for both themselves and the business.

They Have to Choose You Too – The Truth Behind Employee Retention

incipioworkstg on February 6, 2020

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about employee retention? Salary, recognition, opportunity, maybe even flexibility; We all think of different things that represent the idea that no employee or organization is the same. One of the most important things that can be done to ensure you are keeping your valuable assets (your employees) is to make sure you are treating them as individuals rather than just a collective group. Show them your appreciation by valuing them as people and providing opportunities for growth and development in whatever aspect needed in order to be successful.

The first place to start with employee retention is the interview. What is the point of working to keep employees if you haven’t ensured they are the right fit for the position? This means asking behavior-based questions that will better gauge their performance; past performance is the best predictor of future performance. Once you have established behavioral fit, you then will want to explore their work environment fit. It is important to determine what type of work environment they excel in working in and gauge how it aligns with your current company culture. As qualified as they may appear, it’s crucial that you get a feel for how they will fit within your company, culture, and your current team.

First Impressions Mean Everything

Culture. It is something every business should have and work hard to establish and then maintain. What you have to remember is that as an interviewer or someone hiring for a position is you are not the only one doing the choosing. How your company is reflected in their first impression, as that potential applicant comes in for the interview, sets the stage for whether or not they choose to be a part of your team. So recognition, feeling valued, and opportunity for development are things that you should be selling to applicants so you can obtain them as employees.

After you hire them you want to make sure you keep them! You have to provide an environment where they feel comfortable and respected. When new hires are not welcomed and made to be comfortable, they are less likely to stay with your organization. This goes for everyone on your team, especially those in leadership positions. Leaders within a company are looked up to and many employees seek their validation and respect. Making sure there is an equal level of respect and communication amongst all members of a team is key to ensuring your employees feel like they are truly a part of that team and of the company’s culture.

Invest In Their Personal and Professional Growth

One of the most important and beneficial things you can do for your employees and for the overall good of a company is to allow opportunities for growth and development. This has been a key factor in what has kept me with past employers because it shows that my personal and professional growth are cared about and that my success is important. There is always room for development and being given the chance to find better and more effective ways to do your job only makes the job that much more valued by the employee.

It’s impossible to read your employees’ minds, but they all want one common thing, and that is to feel valued and that their opinion and place in the company matters. Giving employees the opportunity to be the best at what they’re doing can be extremely rewarding, so don’t be afraid to invest in their growth, it will pay off in the end!

Their “Why” Is the Reason They Stay – Tips for Employee Retention

incipioworkstg on January 30, 2020

What makes an employee stay versus leave an organization defines retention.

Every employee has different reasons for doing what they do each day, or their “why”. The list is huge, but there is one that truly hits home when it comes to employee retention; connections. Connections take the form of healthy relationships with their peers and leadership, in addition to being able to connect how their own role fits into the broader mission of the organization that they are a part of. Employees need to feel that their work effort and contributions to the organization are valued, and rewarded, appropriately, and the organization must understand that “value” is more than just a dollar figure.

Show Them That They DO Matter

At all levels in your organization, there needs to be an equal level of respect and open communication. Protect the employee assets by investing time and effort into building strong connections on a foundation of mutual trust and respect. Increase their overall value to themselves and to your organization by investing in their training and development. Giving them an opportunity to grow in the business and to achieve the goals that they have in their lives today will only make for great things in the future. After all, getting an amazing two years with a fantastic employee can be much more valuable to your organization than 10 years from a not so fantastic employee. Ensure that the time they spend with your organization is as valuable as it can be, from all perspectives.

It’s also important to know that a team member’s plans can and will change, depending on the value that your organization provides to them. Many top team members have started with an organization and planned on using their time there as a “stepping stone” to something else. Decades later, these same people are leaders in the organization. What changed? The team members’ perception of the value provided to them by your organization, and more than likely, the strong connections they have built with the organization and the people in it.

How can you determine the value proposition for someone looking to join your team? While a good interviewee will work hard to ensure that every answer they give you is what you want to hear in order for you to offer them the position, a good interviewer knows how to ask the right questions to get the information they need. In order to increase the chances of getting a true understanding of an applicant’s skill sets and of their willingness and ability to perform within their organization’s environment, you have to know what questions to ask and how they pertain to your company specifically. Ask questions that will elicit answers that will help you to determine how that individual will fit in with your organization’s culture.

What Really Makes the Difference

Now that you have them, how do you keep them there, and performing at or above expectations? It goes back to the value and connection piece. Feeling valued and respected by your colleagues can make your job worthwhile, but what matters the most is the feeling of value and respect you receive from your boss and the leaders of an organization. Even in situations where I felt valued by my peers or by the people that I was leading, the most impactful drivers that kept me present were the connection I had with my leader. Feeling valued by them, having a high level of mutual respect and trust present between us, and feeling confident that my contributions to the mission and vision of the organization were appreciated was what made the difference.

Retention by itself isn’t what most businesses are looking for. If you have zero turnover while your organization underperforms or otherwise struggles to provide value to your clients, you’re “retaining”, but at a major cost. Likewise, losing underperforming employees to an influx of highly engaged, innovative, and connected employees could be exactly what your business needs. Basically, you have to know what it is that you want to retain, and what you want to lose, in order to achieve the mission and vision of your organization.

Putting Your Plan Into Action

Before you ask “what can we do to improve retention?”, ask yourself “do we have the right people today?”, and work backward from that answer to determine where to focus your efforts. Having a strong culture in place BEFORE you decide to focus on the heavy-lifting of process improvement, retention strategy, goal alignment, and a host of other big-ticket initiatives, will only make those changes easier to implement and ensure sustained success over the long haul. Businesses are like fingerprints, in that no two are exactly alike, which means that every business is going to have environmental, cultural, or systemic opportunities that will require a unique approach.