HR professionals are the go-to people. For everything from a disagreement at work or discussing a change of circumstances to approving leave and building training programmes, they deal with it all. 

They are challenged with hard decisions and often take on the brunt of employees’ problems. And a lot of the time, they do this behind the scenes with colleagues none the wiser. But whilst they are busy supporting everyone else, who supports HR? 

Whilst this line of work has always been demanding, the pandemic and lockdowns took it to another level. Not only did HR have to deal with the same challenges as everyone else with the new way of working, but they also had to help facilitate it and ensure there was an appropriate support system in place. 

Not to mention having to deal with staff cuts at record levels and, of course, feeling the same job insecurity as many of their colleagues. Many of whom were turning to human resources for answers. 

HR had to be agile and keep up with ever-changing restrictions. They had to be flexible to allow staff to work on their own time from the safety of their houses. And not forgetting the level of understanding and empathy that was required to help employees through difficult times.

As a result, HR has evolved. It is now an all-encompassing role that takes on the demands of many different departments – from recruitment and finance to mental health first aid and grievance support. 

With so much going on in the world of HR at any one time and so many people’s well-being to think about, it can be easy for HR teams to forget about themselves. 

That’s why senior leadership needs to ensure HR works within its own positive working environment, the team’s well-being is safe, and job satisfaction is high. 

Support the supporters 

Just because it ‘falls’ within the HR department, it doesn’t mean they should automatically take it on by themselves. HR professionals can experience burnout too. 

With new roles, like mental health first aid, making their way into businesses, it’s important to remember that this doesn’t always have to sit on HR’s shoulders. Yes, they might be the obvious choice, but what if your HR personnel are dealing with their own mental health problems or perhaps this topic hits close to home? They might not have the mental capacity to support others in this specialised way. 

Also, who’s to say employees feel truly comfortable opening up about mental illness to these individuals? Perhaps they’d rather speak with someone in another department or someone their own age who can relate. It’s easy to open up these support roles to other willing people with training available to help them develop skills. 

A successful business, and a successful team, are willing to help each other – no matter the department. Take a moment to think about the HR people who are constantly checking on your well-being at work, and simply ask if they are ok and if there’s anything you can do to help them. 

And at the same time, senior leadership needs to take a more proactive approach when it comes to checking on HR teams. A simple thank you and regular team check-ins can go a long way. At the end of the day, you’ve employed them to make sure your team feel supported. So why wouldn’t you do the same for them? 

Let’s look after our people’s people! 

Specialist HR technology can help unload the burden of administrative, manual tasks that take up HR professionals’ time and make it easier to manage growing workforces from afar. If you’re interested in supporting your HR team further, get in touch with the Natural HR team.

The post While HR is busy looking after personnel, who looks after HR? appeared first on Natural HR.

Despite its apparent importance, performance appraisals are often lacking due to inefficiencies caused by biases or mistakes in management. In such a case, weak performance appraisals can actually have a negative effect on employees, their well-being and the organisation in general. 

To help prevent this and rather ensure that your organisation conducts truly effective appraisals, we’ve put together this guide where we answer some crucial questions and provide guidance on where you can potentially improve your own performance appraisals. 

What is the appraisal process?

Performance appraisals are designed to measure an employee’s performance against predefined criteria. It usually takes place as a structured meeting between manager or supervisor and their employee. 

The information discussed in these appraisals is then used to determine an employee’s current ability, their strengths and weaknesses and where they can improve or develop themselves. This is done in the hopes of increasing an employee’s work quality, productivity and efficiency. 

What should an employee appraisal include?

The contents of an appraisal are incredibly important. This will affect the data gathered when conducting appraisals and, ultimately, the information used to evaluate and make decisions regarding employees and their performance. The following elements should be included in your next performance appraisal. 

Defined goals and objectives

It’s always important to include specific goals and objectives that are actionable and achievable. Setting out such goals will provide the employee with a benchmark by which they can measure themselves against as they work towards improving their skills, abilities and overall performance. When setting these goals, managers and employees should always remain in contact so as to ensure there is alignment. 

Tailor appraisals to each individual

Very few employees will have the same responsibilities. Considering this, it would seem counterintuitive to create a single set of key performance indicators for all employees to be measured against. This is why organisations should be able to configure these KPIs for each employee depending on their job description. 

People analytics

Using data-driven insights obtained through performance management systems is an excellent way to help HR departments make decisions based on information, not bias. 

What questions should I ask an employee during an appraisal?

When it comes to preparing questions for a performance appraisal, you want to ensure that you’re allowing the employee to reflect on their experiences and work during the past year or few months. 

While the questions below serve as a guideline, it’s important to remember that questions should be tailored to each employee and their role. 

1. What were your key achievements in the last year? 
2. What do you feel could have gone better during the last year? 
3. Has your manager helped you to achieve your goals? How have they done this? 
4. What tools, resources, or support do you need to achieve your future goals? 
5. What are your future goals for the upcoming year? 
6. What do you enjoy most about your work?

What are the 3 basic functions of an effective performance appraisal?

An effective performance appraisal serves three important functions in an organisation. Firstly, appraisals allow managers to provide employees with feedback on how they are performing, what they have done well and where there’s room for improvement. Secondly, appraisals aim to help employees develop and improve themselves so that they may become more efficient and productive in their work. Lastly, the information obtained during appraisal interviews gives managers the necessary knowledge needed to make proactive decisions regarding job assignments and more. 

How can Natural HR assist you with your appraisal process? 

At Natural HR, we offer performance management software that will allow you to continuously collect data on employees. This information can then be used to make objective, informed decisions resulting in an appraisal process that is seamless and effective. 

If you’d like to learn more, feel free to get in touch. Alternatively, you can request a demo and see how our software can help your organisation. 

The post What makes an effective appraisal? appeared first on Natural HR.

In truth, it can be up to any individual in the business who can project manage from start to finish – and anyone who is a stakeholder in the value-derived from digital transformation – especially HR teams.

Digital transformation might be an incremental change – like the introduction of a new communication tool – or a large-scale project, such as an entire business overhaul. But it’s not just about technology, it’s about adoption across the whole team. Therefore, businesses need to have a strong culture to be able to work collaboratively, be communicative, and agile. And a strong HR presence is vital.

Since hybrid working became ‘the norm’, it’s been the mission of many organisations to help their employees work more efficiently, be more productive, and gain a better day-to-day balance. In turn, those who have embarked on digital upgrades have been able to boost retention and attract new talent. In fact, 41% of HR executives intend to focus on the adoption of digital tools to drive growth.

However, many think digital transformation can be a quick fix for internal issues, particularly for the challenge of hybrid work. But businesses can’t expect to roll out new technology or upgrade to better systems to instantly solve problems, it requires strong leadership throughout to guide the project.

HR support through organisational change

It’s all about adding value. And HR should take a primary role in this. It requires leaders who understand culture, and how people’s jobs might change, to support and guide the team through the process. By communicating effectively, this can aid adoption.

Throughout, it’s important that staff understand that technology is there to enhance their roles. If the digital transformation strategy and implementation doesn’t suit those actually using the implemented tools, then the project will fail. Evidencing this, recent research from McKinsey and Co revealed that 70% of digital transformations fail most often due to resistance from employees.

That’s why HR leadership is so important. These individuals can dig into the team’s thoughts and feelings about the project and the impact it’s having on day-to-day operations. They should be able to give hard evidence to business leaders that staff attrition is increasing because of the technology the organisation is using – therefore inducing a change of direction. Or they can give positive feedback to drive the current strategy forward. Either way, each piece of useful insight can fuel digital transformation.

Lastly, businesses shouldn’t roll out digital transformation just because everyone else is. There must be a need and a strategic focus. This all comes back to robust leadership and the role in which HR plays in bringing everyone together towards one common goal. HR is the glue that holds it together.

If you’d like to read about some of the challenges new HR leaders may face, read our free guide.

To find out how Natural HR can help you with your own digital transformation project so you can better engage and develop your team, book a demo today.

The post How digital transformation can unlock the true value of HR leadership appeared first on Natural HR.

Even in 2020, it doesn’t matter whether you work from home or commute to work every day or employ a hybrid working model; a positive work ethic is required to build a successful career for your staff as well as producing a positive workplace culture within your business

For HR teams, dealing with poor work ethic can be a significant challenge, and more importantly, without it being nipped in the bud as early as possible, it can snowball into a much wider issue. For example, once employees see others breaking the rules without repercussions, they may start to think it’s excusable for them to do so as well and before you know it, that behaviour has become the norm in your workplace.

More so, ‘ignoring’ or passing over bad ethics in the workplace sends the message to your team that not only will the behaviour go unaddressed, it communicates that it’s acceptable, and long-term, they may view the company in a negative light and choose to leave. This is due to its impact on the work culture where misconduct is tolerated, resulting in higher turnover, lower productivity, and ultimately, a diminished reputation and profitability.

This article will look at how you can identify, engage, and manage a display of poor worker ethics within your company.

What are some examples of unethical behaviours in the workplace?

Some of the most common, but not limited to, examples of workplace ethical lapses fall under the following categories:

Lying: Lying kills trust, affects relationships and may even put people in trouble through its impact. There are different situations where employees lie in the workplace, from how far they are on a project, to the extent of their skills when being interviewed, or even how many meetings a sales representative has had in the past month.

Taking credit for the work of others: A typical showcase of poor work ethic is when others take credit for other team member’s hard work. For example, a team member may have brought an idea that helped the sales team improve. However, others may not mention the team member’s name when giving a report but claim the idea as theirs.

Verbal Harassment/Abuse: Employees need to avoid using foul, offensive or even condescending language on co-workers in and out of the workplace.

Extended Breaks: Companies will give employees both breaks and lunch periods, where they’re free to do whatever they want, within reason, such as go for a walk, buy some food, or pick up something from town, during these breaks. Employees, however, may, without consulting their boss take advantage of these breaks and extend them beyond time without prior agreement with their line managers approval.

Preferential Treatment: Employees who receive special treatment at work, whether from patronage, friendship, or sexual/romantic relationships, are privy to unfair and unethical favouritism, which is unethical from the perspective that all employees should be treated equally.

Gossiping: Spreading untrue rumours about colleagues, company projects and plans, or anything related to work culture is unethical and indicative that an employee cannot be trusted regarding discretion and privacy.

How can you approach fixing unethical issues within your workplace?

Workplace ethics can be challenging to resolve, because like with any process, you must follow a correct procedure to protect your company, give all the parties a fair chance at defending themselves, and ensure that you seem to be dealing with it correctly by others from within your company.

When you need to address bad behaviour, you need to be ready to:

1. Make a brief, factual summary of what happened.
2. Explain what you feel to be the negative impact.
3. Describe how the incident made you, or one of your team members, feel (frustrated or disappointed, for example).
4. State how you would like to see that behaviour modified, and agree on some targets if appropriate.

With that being said, there are typically four ways that you can solve the issues of unethical issues in the workplace, that being:

1) Make sure you have a policy in place: Your workplace needs to have predefined policies and workflows to help remind people about the rules, establish expected practices, and outline the consequences of deviating from the rules. That way, if anyone wants to ignore the regulations despite seeing them, the fear of getting punished will stop them from going ahead.

2) Accept Feedback/Complaint: Make it easy for employees to send feedback or complaints in case of harassment, abuse, or any other unethical activities in the workplace. This will help make people feel comfortable reporting breaches in ethics if they know there’s a private way to do so.

3) Swift Justice/Disciplinary Action: Irrespective of who breaks the rule, whether it’s the receptionist, your best salesperson or even the CEO, there should be swift disciplinary action by the organisation. Whilst you need to ensure due process is undertaken to conduct a fair investigation, you must make sure that any investigation is being undertaken in due course with documentation so that unethical behaviour can be investigated and stopped if found to be active in your workplace.

What can you do with your unethical employee?

Whatever you do, you must make sure you stay calm and objective and be ready to listen to what the other person has to say. With that being said, there are two main ways of dealing with unethical employees:

1) Implement a performance improvement plan (PIP): Work with the employee to address any issues they face. Make sure that you explain the impact their negative attitude has on the rest of the team.

2) Remove Them: If you’ve tried performance management and haven’t seen any effect, this is ultimately the final step you can take. A team member with a negative attitude can destroy your project team from the inside out, and so then you have to consider whether this person is suitable for their role within your company.

The post How should you manage somebody within your workplace if they have a terrible work ethic? appeared first on Natural HR.

But fear not, in this article, we’re going to discuss how you can identify and address such issues in the workplace so that you can handle the situation tactfully:

Looking for answers – 3 key questions

The first step is identifying if one of your staff is showcasing the characteristics of someone with a poor attitude. At this stage, the key questions you need to ask yourself are:

• What’s the impact of the employee’s behaviour on their duties and the wider company?
• How do the person’s actions differ from the standards set for overall employee behaviour, and is it in breach of their workplace contract?
• What’s the effect of this individual’s behaviour on the people who work with him/her?

Identifying employees with a negative attitude

So, once we’ve answered the three key questions, we are now able to identify the staff members who are displaying a negative attitude in your workplace. To spot these negative minded employees, look out for your staff members who display:

1. Lateness: People arriving late is a very common occurrence in the average workforce of today. For most employers, these are isolated incidents and there’s a perfectly good reason for them, such as bad traffic or a late bus, but when someone makes poor punctuality a habit, it can cause serious problems both directly and indirectly. As well as impacting productivity, it’s a sign that your employee is disengaged and unmotivated in their work.

2. Rudeness: The workplace should be a positive, comfortable, and inviting place for employees to spend their days, so rude attitudes are simply unacceptable and can result in a hostile workplace. Rudeness can be particularly problematic if it impacts your client relationships, too.

3. Bullying: Workplace bullying is, unfortunately, a common problem in the workplace of today, and as a result, it can have a major impact on the happiness of your workforce and the productivity of the business. Common instances of workplace bullying include individuals being unfairly treated or excluded by their peers.

4. Having nothing positive to say: Constant negativity being displayed by an employee is a warning sign that someone is unhappy in their job and lacks the engagement or motivation required to do their job to the best of their ability. Furthermore, negative attitudes can swiftly spread and bring the entire workforce down.

5. Not responding well to criticism: Accepting feedback isn’t always easy, but employees should recognise the difference between understandable disappointment and showing an unprofessional, disrespectful attitude to anyone who offers constructive criticism.

6. Lying: Misrepresenting your credentials, lying on timesheets, misusing expense accounts or even stealing the credit for a co-worker’s accomplishments, is generally frowned upon by others and can lead to distrust in the workplace with other staff members.

7. Poor email communication: This can range from everything from not responding to e-mails, to not putting on an out-of-office reply, to not being aware of how you come across in an email via the tone of your language. As a result of this, employees could miss important meetings or deadlines, cause delays or confusion, or even come off as unprofessional.

8. Poor grammar: When you hear someone using poor grammar, slang, or profanity, it translates into a belief that the person is being unprofessional. Your staff need to remember that they are not at home, or speaking with friends at a social gathering, and what they may consider as ‘banter’ may be offensive to someone else.

9. Inefficiency: Bad habits like being unorganised, wasting time, or being too talkative can make you an extremely inefficient worker, and can even impact others. Generally, this can be seen as spending too much time on water cooler talk, having a messy and unorganised desk, and spending too much time on non-work-related tasks.

Tips for speaking to an employee with an attitude

When it comes to dealing with employees with a bad attitude, it is important to keep in mind that everyone is different and as such, every employee will need to be approached uniquely.

With that being said, when you speak to an employee to help them improve their attitude, there are several tips that you can implement to make sure you can help them improve their attitude in the workplace.

1. Try to make the employee feel more comfortable: These meetings can be quite awkward as the topic can be difficult to discuss, so try to make sure the setting is an inviting one to discuss their attitude.

2. Focus on results and productivity, do not make it personal: The employee needs to know that you are not personally attacking them and that you’re trying to help them with their personal development. Because of this, you should try to use phrases like “I am bringing this up because you must address this problem to be successful in your job role.”

3. Be specific, have an example of a bad attitude that you want to change and avoid being vague about what your issue is: Telling an employee that you don’t like their attitude is not going to be very productive, or help them improve. Instead, you should try a more direct approach like telling the employee that their gossiping about co-workers causes tension.

4. Listen to what your employee has to say, they may tell you the root cause of their attitude: Even if they don’t, letting the employee speak will allow them to voice their concerns and make them feel like they have a voice. As with any performance-based meeting, you must give them a chance to defend their actions and to speak about the concerns that you have raised.

The post Conflict in the workplace: How should companies speak to an employee about improving their attitude? appeared first on Natural HR.

It may seem like employee happiness is something that benefits only the employees. However, many companies can benefit greatly from having happy employees. The range of benefits ranging from reduced turnover to increased productivity.

In this article, we’re going to look at some ideas of how you can boost employees’ happiness in your business – from offering tips on everything from how to create a welcoming and creative work culture to how to recognise the needs of individual staff members.

10 ways you can increase happiness in your workplace in 2021

It’s unlikely that every single one of the suggestions below will fit your company. Still, with the list, we’ve tried to make a range of applicable suggestions, or at least adaptable, to most businesses.

1. Celebrate your team wins: Whether it’s the addition of a new team member, the achievement of meeting a target or even celebrating the launch of a new product, appreciating the efforts of your team and giving them their due recognition for wins will go a long way in making a happy workforce. However, more crucial than that is appreciating and celebrating everyone’s wins, from the new starter to the team manager and the parts they’ve played in the success of your business.

2. Set up a proper break room in the office: Spend some time setting up a dedicated place within your office where your team can relax. This could be anything from a quiet corner where people can chat or read a book, to somewhere where they can eat their lunch. With time to relax and unwind, in a place where they can disconnect from the office, your team will be able to come back from their breaks feeling refreshed, more alert and better able to focus on their work.

3. Consider giving your staff their birthdays off: Nobody wants to have to work on their birthday, and while your staff could use up some of their annual leave, if they didn’t want to come in, why not give it to them as a day of paid leave? Just think how much they’d appreciate it if you gifted them the day instead.

4. Invest in a proper coffee machine (And proper Coffee!): Ask yourself what’s better, instant coffee or a nice Italian coffee machine as you see in Cafés? Purchasing a decent coffee machine for your office is bound to please many people, and get a lot of smiles! Staff will love that there’s always a fresh cup of coffee awaiting them at work, and they’ll love you and the company for bringing it in!

5. Get some plants for the office: Plants don’t just make the place look nicer — they clean the air, reduce noise levels and have a proven calming effect on staff. You could give each team a budget to brighten up their desk or assign a rota to ensure they’re watered.

6. Don’t forget to go festive throughout the year: A quick change of scenery does wonder for office morale! You might not want to switch up your office layout too often, and instead limit it to big events like Christmas and Halloween! Changing up the office will go a long way in making sure your team can enjoy social events!

7. Consider throwing a lunchtime pizza party: Pizza was made for sharing, even if it does have Pineapple on it, and so it’s perfect for the workplace to get the team together over a bite to eat! Furthermore, it’s a cheap way to fill your team up while still being tasty enough to be considered a treat for everyone including meat lovers, vegetarians, vegans and those with other allergies.

8. Consider having ‘early finish Fridays’: You know how hard it can be to focus when there are only a few hours left until the weekend begins, plus for many commuting staff the rush hour traffic can put a dampener on the start of the weekend. So why not be the people’s hero by letting your staff head off half an hour early on the last day of the week, providing that they’re on top of their work?

9. Promote health and wellness to your staff: Promoting healthy living in a workspace can provide a host of benefits to the productivity and happiness of your team. You could bring in a yoga instructor for a treat, offer gym membership as a work perk, or even offer something as simple as fruit in the office!

10. Allow your team to use headphones at work: It’s a decisive issue, while some managers shudder at the very thought of their staff wearing headphones at work, others don’t. If you’re concerned that staff may take advantage of the new policy, you could always employ a new policy so that it’s clearly defined when it’s appropriate to wear them, or when they should not be worn. Either way, giving your team the ability to tailor their work environment with tunes of their choice will not go unappreciated, so don’t be afraid to give it a try.

The post International Week of Happiness at Work 2021: 10 things you can do in your office appeared first on Natural HR.

With so many of us still working from home – with many more still transitioning to a 100% remote model – maintaining the integrity of HR data has become challenging. HR leaders must ensure the data they collect on their employees is accurate, complete, consistent and, most importantly, secure and compliant with data protection legislation.

Keep an audit trail

An audit trail provides a simple, chronological log of events, changes, edits and additions to any of your HR records. From changes made to documents or policies to employee information changes; a robust audit process will allow you to track the history of your HR data over time.

Audit trails are a powerful process to have in your data integrity arsenal. They allow you to identify any events or changes which have taken place, which user made this change and the time and date the event occurred.

HR data audits can also validate employee data, confirm whether data is optimised for its intended uses, and help prepare for legislative and compliance reviews.

An audit trail is especially crucial while we are working from home due to the simple fact that we are distanced from our colleagues. While your HR team is physically apart, users are able to identify any recent changes that have been made to your HR data, by whom, at what time.

Limit system admin access

This is a critical part of maintaining the integrity of your HR data. By simply limiting the access of your users to precisely those who need admin and edit rights; you can save yourself the risk of users accidentally changing, or worse still, deleting pertinent data.

Human error is one of the biggest contributors to poor data integrity. We have all mistakenly edited, deleted or changed files that we didn’t mean to; it is important that admin rights, or modification rights, are only assigned to those members of your HR team that absolutely need it. Granted, your users (i.e. your employees) should be able to readily access their own HR file via self-service in your HR software, but they should not be able to edit or delete those records of any other employee – other than what is necessary (such as work phone numbers, emails, department, job role etc).

Allow employees to self-serve

The accuracy and completeness of your employees’ personal data hinges largely on them making any edits when they move house, change bank accounts, update contact details etc.

Giving your employees ownership of their own personal data will ensure that records are regularly updated and accuracy is as near to 100% as possible. HR software makes this entire process easier as your employees will be able to self-serve and access their employee record from anywhere, at any time. Encourage your employees to routinely check their employee record in your HR software and update any incorrect or missing information.

Keep only what’s necessary

HR departments and companies as a whole collect all manner of people data: absence records, rates of pay, T&A data, training, and not forgetting personal and confidential data.

Under UK legislation, businesses have an obligation to retain some data sets on file for defined periods of time. The introduction of the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 back in May 2018 tightened the duties of organisations with regard to data protection.

Data must not be kept any longer than is required by law and any that are no longer required should be immediately (and securely) destroyed. Statutory retention periods for datasets vary depending on the type of record being stored. The CIPD has a comprehensive factsheet that details the retention periods required under UK law for each type of record, from accident books to first aid training and income tax records.

While working from home, most HR leaders are relying heavily on the use of cloud-based software to retain and safeguard their employee records. HR software, like Natural HR, allows users to categorise documents into folders, restrict access where necessary and set reminders that notify you of a document’s expiration date or when you are able to delete records that are no longer needed. Robust privacy controls mean you know who has access to what and monitor who uploaded or viewed documents.

The post How to maintain HR data integrity at home appeared first on Natural HR.

With this in mind, it will come as no surprise to learn that 46% of all new hires are deemed failures by the time they reach their 18-month milestone. Is this starting to ring any bells? 

But even this statistic fails to put into words the impact a poor hire can have on an organisation. The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) outlined that more than a third of companies believe hiring mistakes cost their business nothing, yet, a poor hire at mid-manager level with a salary of £42,000 can cost a business more than £132,000 due to the accumulation of costs relating to training and productivity.

At just a glance of those figures, it’s clear to see that this is a problem which can directly affect the survival of any small business, while creating overarching factors that impact employee morale, productivity and turnover for larger organisations. 

So, here’re a few pointers to help analyse how much your business is losing during the mind-numbing process of a failed hire.

Hiring activities cost

In this rapidly evolving modern workplace, regardless of your role, you cannot afford to waste countless days and weeks of your time, scouring through your potential talent pool, interviewing multiple candidates and onboarding them into their new role, only for the employee to be sacked or resign several months down the line.

To get a clear snapshot of the expenditure used during the amount of time spent on a failed hire, it’s vital to understand each stakeholder’s involvement in the hiring process. Of course, each business has their own unique team members involved but common examples can be the organisation’s CFO, HR manager, CEO, HR administrator and department manager. 

Once you have a clear understanding of who is involved, calculate how many hours per week each person spends on tasks related to the hiring process. For example, the CFO may spend 15 hours of their week identifying the candidates suitable for the role at hand. Take this figure and multiply the number by their hourly working rate.

15 hours per week x £30 per hour = £450

Continue to do this for the remaining employees involved and you’ll be able to generate your total gross figure for hiring activity costs. Now, it’s about finding effective ways to reduce the time spent on the workload and ensure you make smarter hiring decisions moving forward. 

With HR Software, you’ll be able to take back control of your time by simply managing every step of the recruitment process from creating job adverts and application forms to managing interviews and analysing hiring costs.

Revenue per employee

Numbers and metrics are often the key determining factors to success in the workplace and when you employ a new hire that hits the ground running, you’ll save massive expenses in onboarding and retention costs, while improving the overall bottom line of the business.

While it’s easier to understand the benefits, a good hire can bring to the business, it’s equally important to compare how much revenue a failed hire generates compared to your organisation’s shining stars.

Begin by digging into your company’s year-end financial report and you’ll be able to uncover the revenue generated by your business that year. Take this number and divide it by the number of employees in your business and you’ll be presented with the total revenue per employee.

£500,000 (revenue) / 60 employees = £8,333

However, you’ve got to take into account that each employee has different skill sets and work rates. According to studies, employees in the top bracket of your talent pool are likely to bring in at least an extra 25% in profit. 

This will mean your average hire will bring in £8,333, top tier hires will bring in £10,416.25 and if we reverse the 25% margin, failed hires will only generate £6,249.75. Thus, showcasing the amount of revenue your business could be generating each time, if the recruitment process is right from start to finish.

Recruitment advertising

According to REC’s annual Recruitment Industry Trends, the recruitment industry grew its valuation by 11% to £35.7 billion in 2018, as UK wages accelerated to the highest point since 2008 by 3.3%.

With this knowledge, it’s clear to see organisations and HR departments are increasingly more open to using recruitment agencies to fill their office voids. So, why not begin to track the cost spent on advertisement and recruitment fees to understand the cost of a bad hire within this situation. 

If you’ve 15 open positions across the whole organisation, and you’re spending a total of £500 on advertising each month, this will equal to £7,500 per month. However, you’ll also have to consider paying a percentage of the new hire’s salary as a fee if you use an agency. If we take an executive role with an advertised salary of £20,000, a recruitment agency will take 15-20% which is around £4,000. 

£7,500 (advertising) + £4,000 (agency fee) = £11,500

This is an excessive amount to be paying for a new hire, especially if they turn out to have a detrimental effect on the company. To reduce these recruitment costs, look no further than cloud technology to transform your processes. Software like Natural HR will enable you to take ownership of each step of the recruitment process from posting the vacancy on your website and popular online job boards, handling the CV, managing the interview, analysing respective costs and begin your onboarding process with your new best-in-class hire.

Workforce productivity

Loss of productivity is a hard element to measure, but this doesn’t mean you should ignore the signs as a poor hire can begin to create a disruptive workforce that affects the company’s culture. 

Research conducted by ThriveMap highlighted the significant effect it can have. The survey showcased that employees who felt they fit their role and the culture of their employer rated their productivity 7.2 out of 10. This is compared to the 5.3 out of 10 rating for those employees who felt they were a poor fit for both these factors, which in essence, makes them a failed hire. 

To further justify this point, a study by Harris Poll interviewed more than 2,000 HR managers, asking them about the influence a poor hire has on company performance. The results show that workplace productivity considerably suffers with 36% of interviewees stating that performance levels decreased and 31% experienced a negative influence on staff morale. Although, these numbers do fluctuate depending on the location of your business. 

Loss of productivity: 

• USA: 36%
• Italy: 31
• UK: 23%
• Germany: 25%
• France: 15%

Employee Morale

This non-monetary factor is not talked about enough when a poor hire joins the business. It can create monumental negativity which is especially detrimental in smaller organisations who have a flat hierarchical structure.

By employing a person with a dismal attitude, temperament and skill set it can easily lead to dissatisfaction, underwhelming productivity, absenteeism and even affect the turnover. It’s vital to keep a close eye on the poor hire to prevent them from creating a disconnect between employees, peers, managers and the company.

After all, it’s about creating and maintaining a culture which enables your workforce to thrive. According to WIRED, happy employees are about 12% more likely to be productive, which justifies the reason to consistently review workforce morale.

With Natural HR, your performance management process becomes a breeze; you can build custom performance management forms, set up a schedule and send out timely reminders to both employees and managers to ensure everyone is keeping productive. In addition, you can empower your employees with a self-service function to recognise their colleagues for their hard work and dedication, helping to improve morale across the whole organisation.

The post The true cost of failed hires appeared first on Natural HR.

Agile methodology was the brainchild of software engineers in the 70s and 80s, developed as a way to speed up their development projects.

It was founded on the principles of collaboration and iteration – breaking down large, complex projects into shorter work cycles, delivered by multi-functional teams.

Agile has since been adopted by all kinds of different industries and is now one of the most widely recognised project management methodologies around.

Today, Agile projects continue to centre on ‘sprints’ – the name given to each of those short cycles of work. Sprints last for a predetermined period of time, after which progress is reviewed and any revisions identified. Only then can the next sprint begin.

These iterative sprints underpin a culture of continuous feedback and improvement, allowing teams to react quickly to change, and avoid any large-scale mistakes being discovered at the end of a long and expensive project.

It’s these advantages that are making HR departments sit up and take notice – with Agile HR being the latest application of a methodology ever-growing in popularity.

What is Agile HR and why is it happening now?

In essence, Agile HR is simply the application of Agile methodology in the HR department. In practice, it means more collaboration, less linear planning, shorter work cycles and less focus on individual contribution.

Under an Agile approach, for instance, a small team would work together to design, develop and deliver an HR initiative, rather than each member working independently from top-down instruction.

In many ways, the evolving nature of the traditional business structure is supporting the introduction of Agile HR. Organisational structures have become much flatter in recent years, thus opening up opportunities for collaboration in all directions.

This collaboration extends far beyond the HR department, too. Indeed, a key element of the Agile mindset is that solutions that should be developed collaboratively with customers – and in the case of HR, that means co-developing solutions with the wider business that it serves.

The evolution of HR’s role is another an important driver behind the introduction of Agile HR. As the department seeks to add strategic value and becomes increasingly focused on measuring success, Agile’s shorter work cycles and regular review processes are more conducive to demonstrating the validity of the ongoing activity.

Where to start with Agile HR?

While the basic principles of Agile are easy to understand, its underlying techniques and terminology can be extremely complex and confusing. Here are some simple pointers on how to dip a toe in the water, and build towards full adoption of Agile HR.

1 Gain an understanding and learn the language

‘Sprints’ are just the start of the Agile lexicon. As you look further into the methodology, you’ll also discover Backlogs, Epics, Scrums and Standups – a whole new language on which the Agile culture is built. Something that’s become the norm in software development teams.

While it’s important to know what these all mean, it’s equally important not to get too hung up on these individual elements. Calling your catch-up meetings a StandUp meeting won’t make you any more agile.

Indeed, the opposite approach is a better starting point – adopting the principles of Agile without necessarily implementing all the protocols. This is sometimes referred to as ‘Agile Light’.

A true understanding of these principles can be gained by reading the Agile Manifesto. You should also invest some time in seeking out case studies, and see how other businesses and HR departments have successfully incorporated Agile methods.

2 Build the business case

Like any significant change in an organisation, a solid business case is required to gain buy-in and break down resistance. To develop your business case, you’ll need a clear focus on the end goals – what are you trying to achieve by adopting Agile HR? What impact will it have on the business?

It may help your case to look at a previous project which seemed unachievable (or indeed failed to get off the ground), and show how an Agile approach could have yielded a different result.

3 Identify internal experience

When discussing the potential of Agile HR with key stakeholders, look for any Agile experience you can leverage along the way. Some people in your business may already be well versed in Agile project management and could be key allies.

Given the origins of Agile, development teams, in particular, might be a good place to look.

If your organisation is lacking in experience, external Agile consultants and coaches can always lend the support and advice you need.

4 Leverage technology

Built off the back of a boom in software development, Agile has now come full circle – with a wave of technologies and tools designed to support its implementation.

Moving past the ‘Agile Light’ phase into full adoption will, therefore, require careful research to find the right Agile project management tools, as well as HR software platforms capable of supporting your new ways of working.

Summary

Although traditionally slow to adopt change, the HR world is beginning to wake up to the advantages that Agile can bring.

More iterative and collaborative work fosters a culture of continuous feedback and improvement while enabling HR teams to roll out initiatives that aren’t out of date the moment they launch.

Adopting the Agile mindset is only part of the challenge though. Organisations also need the tools in place to implement it.

Time should, therefore, be taken to get the right technology in place. In this regard, the switch to Agile should be a marathon, not a sprint.

Want to learn more about Agile HR? Register for our next webinar: Agile HR – reinventing Human Resources for the Future of work.

The post What is Agile HR – and how to get started appeared first on Natural HR.

Unfortunately, few of us have that kind of aura. There appears to be only a select few genes that are capable of producing bonafide, natural-born leaders, which means the rest of us have to work hard to become great managers.

At the heart of great management lies the ability to motivate, because motivation is the one thing that will spur teams on to do their best work and be as productive as possible. Again, the ability to be a great motivator doesn’t arrive overnight – you need to work hard at it, day-in, day-out.

What follows are some fantastic, tried-and-tested tips for team motivation. If up until now you feel like you’ve been learning on the job as a manager, these ten, actionable pieces of advice will provide a focus for your efforts and enable you to harness the latent leadership capabilities you have within.

1. Always be accessible

“My door’s always open,” said many a manager. But what does that mean, exactly? More importantly, why did the door always appear to be closed (either metaphorically or literally) when you needed your manager the most?

The cornerstone of management is accessibility. You should never be far from your team’s grasp. If they need you – which they will, regularly – they should know instantly where to turn and also be sure of the fact that you won’t fob them off or suggest you’re too busy.

This doesn’t mean answering your mobile while on holiday or responding to emails in the dead of night – it simply requires you to be approachable, always (even if the response is delayed because you’ve just put your feet up after a long day).

2. Dispense with smoke and mirrors

It’s easy to fall into the management trap of treating your team as though they’re only allowed occasional glimpses into the inner workings of the business. The more smoke and mirrors you envelope your team in, the more you’ll disenchant them.

You can’t let on about confidential company information, but you can be honest. If you find yourself grabbing for an excuse in order to avoid telling a team member something – stop yourself and tell them the truth.

3. Get to know your team (no – really get to know them)

How well do you know your team? Perhaps you’re aware of the fact Dave likes to play squash every Wednesday evening, or that Sarah is an accomplished pianist, but is that enough?

Unfortunately – it isn’t. To really motivate and inspire teams, you need to know the individual members very well indeed. And we’re not talking friendship-levels of knowledge, either – just an understanding of who they are and what drives them.

The more you know your team, the more you’ll know how to motivate them – it’s that simple.

4. Embrace modern working methods

Many experts believe the 9-5 working pattern is fast becoming a thing of the past. With cloud technology now affording home working and temporary offices to be set up virtually anywhere, teams are mobilised and employees increasingly expect a degree of flexibility for their working arrangements.

If you’ve managed teams for a considerable amount of time, the thought of relaxing the rules on when and where people work can be understandably unsettling, but by embracing modern working methods, you’ll prove that you trust your team to do their best work, regardless of where they happen to be.

The traditional office is changing – for the better. Jump on board and make the most of what should result in significant productivity increases within your team!

5. Encourage a constant flow of ideas

So many entrepreneurs have cited their desire to employ people who are clearly more skilled than them as a major reason for their success.

It sounds daft. Why bring in people who are better than you? Doesn’t that put your own position at risk?

In truth – yes, it does, but in turn, it’ll inspire you to work harder, learn faster and feed off the knowledge inherent within your team. By encouraging smart people to work for you and constantly supply you with new ideas, you’ll build a team that is capable of practically anything, and you’ll grow significantly in stature yourself.

6. Demonstrate your own knowledge

You’re a manager and leader of a team because you’re knowledgeable. When you’re suffering from a bout of imposter syndrome (that unnerving feeling that you’re out of your depth), remind yourself that you’re there for a reason.

A great way to do this and motivate your team at the same time is to regularly demonstrate your knowledge. Remember – what might be bread and butter to you, could be a revelation for members of your team. Show them what you’ve learned, and it’ll inspire them to forge new paths of their own.

7. Make accountability a team mantra

Accountability is often mistaken for blame, but the opposite is true. If someone slips up within a team, it’s vital that they feel empowered to own up and show everyone what went wrong.

We all make mistakes, but if employees work in an environment that pours scorn over errors and treats them as mini crimes, they’ll never feel encouraged to experiment or push boundaries.

Make it clear to your team that everyone is accountable – including yourself.

8. Be honest when you don’t know the answer

As noted above, accountability is a vital asset for building a team that is inventive and unafraid to break things in the pursuit of innovation. Similarly, if you don’t know the answer to something, it’s far better to own up than invent one.

You’re human, and despite the fact you’re paid more than the people in front of you and attend higher-level meetings, you don’t know everything – no one does. If a member of staff asks you a question to which you simply don’t know the answer – own up. They’ll realise that you’re just as fallible as them, and that can be a very inspiring thing indeed.

9. Don’t rule by fear

One of the absolute worst things you can do as a manager is to rule by fear. If people are publicly (or privately) lambasted when they get something wrong, they’ll be far less inclined to push boundaries.

You can’t motivate a team if they’re scared of you. Equally, you need to be careful to avoid crossing that perilous line between boss and mate, but get it right, and you’ll end up with a bunch of people working for you who enter the office feeling inspired and completely unafraid to challenge the norms of their job.

When someone does something wrong or clearly has issues that need addressing, do so in a compassionate manner and in a way that demonstrates your desire for them to achieve the things they’re capable of.

10. Show you’re human

The world of work is a stressful place at times, and emotions run high. As a manager, it’s important that you remain professional when the going gets tough, but there’s absolutely no harm in occasionally showing your emotions.

A passionate speech or even the shedding of a tear or two will show that you’re human. From your staff’s perspective, it’ll motivate them to do the same, and what would you prefer – a team of robots or a team of passionate human beings who have built an emotional connection between themselves and the business?

Final thoughts

Management is hard, but if our ten tips above have one thing in common, it’s that they all rely on the ability to show your human side.

The office would be a very dull place indeed if it was full of emotionless robots. And, while it might be tempting to put up an indestructible veneer every time you enter your place of work, you’ll build a far more inspired, motivated team if you show your human side as regularly as possible.

The post How to be the best manager: motivating your team appeared first on Natural HR.