Human Resources Articles

Business » Human Resources | By Paul Phillips @ Friday, 19th May 2006 @ 3:36 PM

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 and their tendencies to comply with regulations and place safety first. While the full details, and cost, of the National Australia Bank $360 million foreign exchange disaster may never surface... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Paul Phillips @ Wednesday, 17th May 2006 @ 5:58 AM

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 knowledge and skills is relatively easy - those above water in our Iceberg model, (Milkovich and Newman), but those underwater -self concepts, traits and motives were more difficult. However, there is a t... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Paul Phillips @ Thursday, 4th May 2006 @ 12:58 AM

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 which, in some ways, presents a bit of a challenge is that many of the great companies focused on first getting the "right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus)" before decidi... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Tony Colon @ Tuesday, 2nd May 2006 @ 7:03 AM

A mentoring initiative is a business strategy that enables organizations to turn people into assets. Since every core business process and strategic initiative requires a Human Capital Management business strategy to execute it, improvements made in HCM systems and processes can notably impact an organization’s bottom line. A mentoring program is a standard of excellence that health care organizations must attain to consistently provide the highest quality of care. The mentors', mentees&#... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Paul Phillips @ Thursday, 27th April 2006 @ 1:02 AM

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. These are all common events that can throw up serious obstacles - in some businesses losing key people can be crippling. Quite often succession planning is done on an ad hoc ... more...

Business » Human Resources | By ian Williamson @ Saturday, 22nd April 2006 @ 3:44 AM

The more effort you put into dressing the part, the higher your chances of getting the job. This is one of the most fundamental and basic rules of impressing during an interview. This may be an old rule but even in this modern age, dressing to impress continues to play a major role in helping interviewers select the right candidate. When you put a lot of effort into your clothing for the interview, it tells the interviewer that the job is important to you or that you are serious about ge... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Paul Phillips @ Saturday, 22nd April 2006 @ 3:20 AM

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 examining reasons for wanting to pay bonuses, many clients have been able to introduce a well designed incentive plan that is linked to business objectives and rewards the right people together with a salary s... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Bob Corcoran @ Sunday, 16th April 2006 @ 9:25 PM

Let’s start with a story. I had a client, an agent who had just moved to a new market, who wanted to make a fresh start with the profession. I worked with her to renew her approach to real estate, one that allowed her to see real estate as a business. A vital part of this plan was to get her to realize she couldn’t do it all. So before she started, we agreed that she would hire two employees: a buyer’s agent and an administrative assistant. It proved to be a powerful move. In one year, she was t... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Bob Corcoran @ Sunday, 16th April 2006 @ 5:59 AM

Here’s a picture for you – a baseball game where one team has the typical nine players, the other team – just one, and he’s pitching. The batter wallops one to the wall. The pitcher becomes the right fielder and scurries out to grab the ball and then sprints to home plate in hopes of tagging out the runner – who crossed the plate about a minute earlier. Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? And yet, many REALTORS® do the exact same thing every day. They want to win the game of real estat... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Paul Phillips @ Thursday, 13th April 2006 @ 6:01 AM

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 reviewed at least annually and want this to be on a consistent and fair basis. An effective salary review process also enables the business to reap the benefits of having a comprehensive salary system. ... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Paul Phillips @ Tuesday, 11th April 2006 @ 12:29 PM

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 payment for each position. As a result of the job evaluation stage we have grades or groups of jobs we decided were of similar value to the organization. It is now necessary to look at the market and ... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Dana Wallert @ Monday, 3rd April 2006 @ 1:00 AM

Are you drowning in resumes? Is your phone constantly ringing with people (mostly unqualified) asking about open positions? A lot of small business owners and human resources managers run into these issues. Yes, hiring new employees is your responsibility. However, it is certainly not your only responsibility. You can’t always spend as much time dealing with prospective employees as you might like. Somebody has to finish the payroll, handle all the benefits claims, schedules and ... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Paul Phillips @ Saturday, 1st April 2006 @ 5:00 AM

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 of evaluation in place to achieve it can remove a number of potential problems and avoid time consuming and costly decisions made "on the run" in the future. Defining the job To... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Paul Phillips @ Saturday, 25th March 2006 @ 11:01 PM

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 wrong with this? Nothing if it works. However, any strategy that relies on employees not discussing salaries with each other and threats of discipline if they do, is not really viable in the long te... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Mike Freemen @ Thursday, 23rd March 2006 @ 1:01 PM

When it comes to getting your favorite company to hire you, there are a number of things you can do to tip the odds in your favor. If you want the best company in town to hire you, you will have to make sure you are the best candidate for the job opening they have, and you will have to present a well polished and professional picture to the hiring manager. The first step to getting that great company to hire you is to create an eye catching resume. The resume is your foot in the door to... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Paul Phillips @ Thursday, 2nd March 2006 @ 9:04 AM

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 gone on courses we didn't even know existed. This sort of reactive approach to training and development costs far more than systematic training and is usually far less effectiv... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Kim Jones @ Sunday, 26th February 2006 @ 6:59 AM

Rumours have been abounding all week that another major competitor has just bitten the dust spectacularly but, until its confirmed – and maybe even afterwards – I think its best to leave that alone. All in all, though, not very good for the reputation of the recruitment industry which is never that good anyway. Even in a world where ridiculous surveys - like the analysis of Oxford which cost the City Council £15,000 which found that the city had “a good university” - are the in-thing, ... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Leslie Gibbon @ Friday, 24th February 2006 @ 11:55 PM

In today's business world proper training in human resources is imperative. Any company with aspirations of success should insist that their managers and supervisors attend HR training. Because managers, especially first-time managers, often lack the skills and problem-solving ability when conflicts arise, they are not equipped with the capability of dealing with them. Far from being a desirable extra this is essential for any forward looking company. There are three basic skills th... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Paul Phillips @ Thursday, 23rd February 2006 @ 6:57 AM

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 him. Warren claimed unfair dismissal and, after a day at the Industrial Relations Commission, was awarded three months pay. Charles did a great job of working with a new supplier to implement the new sof... more...

Business » Human Resources | By Paul Phillips @ Thursday, 16th February 2006 @ 8:39 AM

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 most important event in maximising results from people - yet it is often left to chance. Even many large organizations only provide induction programs when there are enough new employees to make up a reaso... more...