Critical first step to a great performance review

Cindi Filer, CEO of Innovative Outsourcing shares helpful advice you can use. Second message in a three-part series on performance evaluations.

While some may feel that the performance reviews are a thing of the past, I have expressed my case for why this is still a relevant and critically important practice.

Now that we have established the “why” in performance reviews, you may assume that the next step is “how.” But wait! There is one very important step, and the success of your performance review strategy hinges upon this. Effective reviews first begin with a great job description. If you haven’t objectively communicated to your employee the measuring stick that will be used for evaluation, then you are setting yourself up for an ineffective performance review.  And the benefits of having functional job descriptions for all your employees adds key benefits that transcend reviewing performance. (Here are more reasons small businesses need job descriptions, and you may have never considered #5!)

What should an effective job description include? To be used as a springboard for evaluation, both the employee and the manager must a have a reference including concrete parameters of performance expectations.  

Are you feeling overwhelmed already?  Here is a step-by-step strategy that will work:

First, list the employee’s top six action items or requirements.

Next, assign a percentage of time they should work each month to fulfill each of those requirements. Here’s an example:  

• 35% - Answer telephones, forward calls, and take messages to assure no dropped calls and no caller waiting for more than one minute on hold without being successfully transferred or speaking to you with an update on their anticipated wait time.
• 30% - Complete accurate data entry of visitor information within one hour following their arrival.
• 20% - Greet guests at the door, ensuring they are comfortable, they are offered a drink, and keep them updated on the anticipated wait time.
• 15% - Perform office housekeeping and restock guest refreshments.

Lastly, the job requirement should also include a section for required education and prior experience necessary for the job. (This is a whole exercise in itself which we won’t cover at this time.) For the review process, the action item list and assigned percentages will become the basis for your performance review.  

Once you have this type of job description completed, then you have the foundation upon which your performance review can be based. In my message next week, we will use this as the springboard for planning the actual review.

Begin now! Identify who will be your company’s “owner” of the reviews. I have found that in many cases, CEOs are not driving reviews because it is too far down on their “to-do list.”  If this is that case, then consider assigning one manager that you trust to be the driver of this process.  Maybe it’s an outside consultant. (This is actually a service Innovative Outsourcing can provide.) One thing that stands in the way of an effective performance review strategy is making this a priority, and as a company leader, that initiative can begin with you.

In the meantime, I’d appreciate your feedback or questions on this topic.  Email me at cfiler@innovative-outsourcing.com.

Why evaluate employee performance?

Cindi Filer, CEO of Innovative Outsourcing shares helpful advice you can use. First in a three-part series on performance evaluations.

The small business community is abuzz now, debating this hot topic. Is it still correct to do employee performance appraisals?  Some argue that leaders should have “evolved” past this fossil management tool.  I’m going to make an argument that they are still relevant and actually, critical.

Over the next three weeks, look forward to receiving some practical advice on why and how to successfully implement performance appraisals.

Why do performance reviews? Let’s boil it down to these four critical reasons:

• To INFORM employees – “Where do you stand with your boss?” If I asked your employees that right now, would they know how to answer? 
• To INCREASE productivity – Studies show that when you regularly evaluate employees and they know that they are being evaluated based upon a measurable standard, their productivity increases.
• To RETAIN staff - According to the research by Direct Recruiters, Inc , feeling undervalued and lacking feedback are two of the top seven reasons why an employee quits. Both of these issues can be addressed by using employee reviews.  For millennials, this is even more crucial.  They need reviews at least quarterly and perhaps more informally. They crave feedback, and will perform much better if provided appropriately.
• To be able to FIRE with less risk - You have heard this from me before - document, document, document!  Performance review records document that your poor performers have regularly been coached and given deadlines for improvement.  Without this, when you call me for advice on letting someone go, I will likely say that you are in a position of RISK. Employee reviews mitigate this. 

Designing the best performance review is critical, or you could fall into the trap that has given traditional performance reviews a black eye. The key for small business is to make this tool inspire instead of deflate, and make it simple enough that both the employee and the manager find it a valuable use of everyone’s time. Next week, we will investigate the critical task you must accomplish prior to your performance appraisal. In the meantime, I’d appreciate your feedback or questions on this topic.  Email me at cfiler@innovative-outsourcing.com.

The Year Ahead: What Employers Need to Know

Cindi Filer, CEO of Innovative Outsourcing shares a helpful reference from her legal labor resource who offers this concise reference for the year ahead.

When my legal resource, Eric Magnus, Jackson Lewis, P.C, provided me with this very inclusive reference to the year ahead for employers, I knew that you would benefit from this information, too!  CLICK HERE to read the report.

“Employers can expect sweeping changes in the year ahead. Here is of our exclusive outlook, “2017: The Year Ahead for Employers,” an executive summary of key developments in the past year and what employers can expect in the coming months. It is a quick read and ideal for senior management and those responsible for Human Resources. ”

— Eric Magnus

If you have a need for further legal advice on HR topics, please contact Eric Magnus at Jackson Lewis, P.C.  He can be reached at 404-525-8200.

Book Buzz: Dare to Serve

What would happen if we fundamentally changed our leadership style? What would happen to our companies if we chose to serve those we lead? These are the premises of Cheryl Bachelder’s Dare to Serve. 

As the CEO, Cheryl was instrumental in turning around Popeyes over just 7 years, with restaurant sales up 25%, profits up 40%, and market share up 7%. What was the key to this success? It was the direct result of making a conscious decision to lead in a new way. Do we want different results than we had last year? In my experience, Cheryl’s experiment here is real, and if we choose to lead this way, we will see tangible bottom line results.

I know that you are thinking, “Of course Cindi feels this way, because she is an HR person.”  But honestly, this applies to you, too. I'm suggesting that you may want to take some time during this holiday season, when it just seems right to turn our focus to relationships, and read this book. I believe it will be worth your time.

The premise is simple:

• Decide to think positively about the people you lead
• Decide to be a leader who serves others over self-interest

The book is full of very practical ideas you can apply in your business right now such as this one interesting take-away.

Dare to Serve leaders create work environments that bring out the best in their people.  Cheryl says if you have an underperforming team, the easy approach is to say, “I need new people.” As a staffing person, I hear this all the time. So these leaders fire the people they have now, then take the time and incur the expense to hire replacements, only to have this new crop disappoint them as well. Cheryl contends that the work environment can inspire boldness, innovation, and excellence, or it can strangle the capability and productivity of the team. It is the work of the leader to create this environment. Popeyes created half-day retreats once a year to produce teamwork. The retreat exercises focused on using the workers' strengths to help solve business problems. Employees were empowered to think outside the box in role play scenarios where the leaders could be the "students." This was a great opportunity to for leaders to identify their employees' strongest skills. In the end, everyone emerged from this retreat ready to make changes in job requirements based on these newly discovered strengths. 

I’m so sure that this is a problem in our companies that I will make this bold statement: 

I think if we CEOs could embrace this servant leadership model, then 80% of the problems with our teams would be fixed. 

I love this quote from Cheryl  - “Your leadership actions will change lives for the better, leave them unchanged, or regrettably, leave them worse off.  Which will it be? You have some important decisions to make.”

• In 2017, will I humbly serve others over my own self-interest?
• In 2017, will I help others find meaning and purpose at work?
• In 2017, will I teach others the guiding principles of serving others well?

Or in 2017, will you continue to grumble and complain about your employees never measuring up to your expectations?

After reading this book, you may consider the possibilities, but not know where to start.  Please call me for coffee, and together we will set a few next steps.  No charge – and the coffee is on me! This is important, not only to your bottom line, but for how you are impacting the people’s lives that you have been given the opportunity and responsibility to lead.

Thumbs Up! 

I recommend this book for you and the managers on your team. 

How Long? 

It's an easy read, requiring 6 to 8 hours.

Read This Book! 

After reading this book, you will be empowered to begin the steps to create a work environment that brings out the best in those you are leading

So Dec 1 is the new April Fools' Day for the Dept. of Labor

Cindi Filer, CEO of Innovative Outsourcing updates you on a new court ruling that may affect you.

Over the past few months, we have been keeping you up-to-date on the December 1 implementation of the Department of Labor’s White Collar Overtime Exemption, raising the minimum annual wage (salaried or hourly) for overtime exemption to $47,400.  

But it is 2016, and in keeping with the year’s theme of “expect the unexpected,” last week a federal judge blocked the rule, siding with 21 states and an organized business group, siting that the “rule is unlawful and granted their motion for a nationwide injunction,” according to Reutters.

This means that this regulation has been delayed, as the Department of Labor now files an appeal.  In light of the changing political climate, even a successful appeal could be “Trumped” by new legislation, or the incoming Department of Labor may withdraw it all together.

What does this mean for you?

The December 1, 2016 implementation is no longer required, and at this moment, no one really knows what will happen.

What do we recommend?

If you have procrastinated and done nothing, this is one time that you might actually be reaping the reward. Keep an eye open for a new date and possible implementation, but this may never happen.

If you have made pay changes already in anticipation of this, you will need to make a decision to pull back or continue.  Again, we have no way of knowing when (or if) this will be enacted.

Plans for tracking and reporting hours

I know that many of you have put in place a method to report hours for all employees due to this implementation.  My recommendation is to keep this in place. For many reasons, it would be a good idea to have all employees report hours.  It is a safeguard for you in this litigious climate.  And it is also a prudent practice for your employees to view the hours they spend in an ongoing self-evaluation of their time management.

The bottom line

For many businesses like yours, this means you may have earmarked money for overtime that now can be channeled into staff expansion instead.  Consider hiring a part-time employee to help ease the work load of your full-time staff. We have great talent waiting for an opportunity to bring their highly professional skills to work for you part time.  Just give me a call, and we can talk about your specific needs.

So the calendar says December 1, but when it comes to raising the overtime exemption minimum compensation, it feels more like April Fools' Day instead!

Book Buzz - 5 Gears: How to Be Present and Productive When There is Never Enough Time

Do you have a work/life balance issue?  Does your spouse often remind you that you are present but not “present?" Is it challenging to get ahead of your email inbox so that you can really be productive. How are your outside-of-work relationships?

These days, it seems like work consumes us.  Our phones and laptops have allowed us to be “on” right up until we go to sleep and at the first minute we wake up.  In this new electronic world, perhaps we need to learn how to make good boundaries between where work ends and life begins.

5 Gears, by Jeremie Kubicek and Steve Cockram, offers practical solutions to help you find these boundaries. While I’ve read many books with this focus, this one just seems to work. As you might know, I started my business 22 years ago with small kids in tow. I had to have boundaries so that I could be a mom, working only 5 hours a week at the beginning, and until last year (when our last left for college), I never worked more than 25 hours a week. Not everyone can do this, and I know I was blessed to be able to make this happen. But needing to run a company with sometimes up to 75 employees in 25 hours a week, I needed to learn boundaries. The wisdom from this book would have certainly been welcomed.

5 Gears breaks our life into gears, or the parts of our daily lives between which we are constantly switching.

• 1st gear - Recharge Mode - Personal recharge, completely unplugged
• 2nd gear - Connect Mode - Being present with family and friends without work
• 3rd gear - Social Mode - Present with people and can shift up or down easily
• 4th gear - Task Mode - Multitasking, working hard in various ways
• 5th gear - Focus Mode  - Task-centered, fully-focused, and moving quickly
• Reverse - Responsive Mode - Backing up or apologizing when necessary

One of my favorite chapters provides tips on how to shift from work to home successfully.  The authors give a couple of examples, and then conclude with an important point: It must be intentional, and it must be practiced in order to do it well. 

Another great chapter covers being intentional with leadership versus being accidental:

• Hope that their kids grow up to be responsible.
• Hope that they will have income to retire on.
• Hope that their business takes off one day.
• Hope that the new employee that they hire is a rock-star.

If we are intentional with these things, we plan and act with a purpose.  Then this book gives you a plan to make it happen.

Thumbs Up!
I recommend this book for you and your team to become healthy in all areas of your life. 

How Long?
It’s an easy read that can be done in around 8 hours - and would be good to do with you team - or with your spouse.

Read This Book!
After reading this book, you will have a new understanding of what gear each life circumstance demands, and you will be better equipped to switch between gears as necessary.  In the end, the goal is that your life will start feeling a little more under control to you and to those around you. 

How to craft a plan to keep your best employees

Cindi Filer, CEO of Innovative Outsourcing, offers her advice.

Your best employee may have just accepted a new job offer, and the resignation letter is heading to your desk.

In our message last week, and continuing today, I’d like to share with you some alarming statistics on employee turnover, and then offer some equipping advice that can hopefully buffer you from this trend.  A recent Forbes article sited two research sources indicating that 74% of current workers would consider finding a new job, and 35% of those workers are actively seeking a new job. Your business is not insulated from this alarming trend, but there is a strategy you can implement now to improve your chance of retaining your talent. 

So last week, my message asked you to sort the names of your direct reports onto three lists  1) Excellent Employees, 2) Worst Employees, and 3) Everyone in Between.  Then your assignment was to ponder the names on your Excellent Employees list.  It is for those people that we will now be crafting a retention plan.

First, let’s consider the reasons people leave their job.  For each person on your Excellent Employees list, fill in their name as you read each reason:

1. __________ doesn’t feel valued
2. __________ feels they have a bad manager
3. __________ perceives there is a lack of communication
4. __________'s efforts aren’t recognized (pay)
5. __________ did not get a deserved promotion
6. __________ feels a perceived or real lack of training
7. __________ thinks that there is no chance for promotion
8. __________ has too much work
9. __________ doesn't trust management 
10. __________ doesn’t connect to the mission (purpose)

Did this raise some red flags? For example:

• Do they love words of encouragement and due to busyness, those have been few and far between?  
• Has that person stayed at $28/hr for the past three years without a pay raise?  
• Have you increased her workload because she is the most trustworthy, with greatest follow through, so now she works 50 hours a week?  
• Have you not painted a path upon which he can progress in his career and his pay as he develops within your company?  

Identify at least two things on this list of ten that stick out right now as a potential issue for each of your Excellent Employees. In our last message, I asked you to assign a rank from zero to ten of how likely that person is to resign, (remembering that a great employee for whom you think the flight risk is at zero may resign tomorrow).  This will help you assess the urgency of your necessary action. Then construct an plan for those two critical areas.  For example:

• Raise her pay to 5% above market rate by six months from now
• Send her to a leadership development program each month so that she feels you are investing in her and she is becoming more valuable in leading the company.

Now you have at least two action steps in place for each Excellent Employee, and you can prioritize each step based upon pending urgency.

Do you feel this seems rather simple? Actually, I have seen time and time again that this deliberate and consistent approach slows the leak of a company’s best talent.  When you focus on retaining your excellent employees, you can RETAIN MOST OF THEM.  When you consider the expense of employee turnover, even while considering your preventative investment (of your time and company resources), the savings is huge.

Remember those other two lists, the Worst Employees, and Everyone in Between? Stay tuned!  I’ll be sharing some helpful suggestions for those employees, too.  

image: womensday.com

Plan now to retain your best talent

Cindi Filer, CEO of Innovative Outsourcing, offers her advice.

Are you worried that your best employee will hand you their resignation? 

If you are, then you are one step ahead of the curve.  A current survey finds that one in three employees in the US is currently looking for a new job.  That’s 1/3 of your workforce and mine. "Not MY employees," you say.  But what if we consider that this may be a reality brewing right under your nose.  And then, let’s figure out what you can do now to retain your best employees.  Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing some suggestions for retaining your top talent.

IDENTIFY THE CREAM OF THE CROP: The first step is to determine exactly who are your best employees.  Create a three-sheet reference like this: 

1. EXCELLENT EMPLOYEES - This list should be the top 15% of your work force.  These are the people that you would cry or throw something if they turned in their resignation notice.  They might be the COO or the janitor, but they are good at what they do, and they are great to have around.
2. WORST EMPLOYEES - This list includes the people that, if they resigned, you would cheer and have a party.  You get rid of them, and you don’t have to pay unemployment!  Hopefully, this list is very small, and your goal is to have no one on this list.  Anyone landing on this list should either be trained, become valuable, and make it off the list, or should be let go (after trying training and with great documentation). 
3. EVERYONE IN BETWEEN - The majority of your team will land on this list.  These are good employees who get the job done.  You would be sad if they left, but you could likely replace them. 

This week, let's focus on Sheet One. These are your stars. You need to protect them.  Do you have any idea how close they are to leaving?  Evaluate every person named on this sheet, assigning them on a 1 to 10 scale the probability that they will be leaving the company soon.  Next to their leaving-probability rating, write what you perceive that each person values the most, (time off, money, autonomy, encouraging words, etc.)  

Next week, we will start to create a plan for each person. We call these retention plans, a strategy that you make to keep your best employees in this “Candidate-oriented” job market.

In the meantime, please reach out to me with specific staffing issues you need help addressing immediately. I'm here to help!

Plan now for the new overtime regulation

Are you aware that because of new regulations, all hourly and salaried employees earning less than $47,476 per year must be paid overtime for work exceeding 40 hours per week?  The Department of Labor estimates that when this new rule goes into effect December 1, 4.2 million additional employees will be eligible for time-and-a-half when they work over a 40-hour week. The Department of Labor believes this will create an increase in compliance.  Others fear that this will mean an increase in litigation. You can read more about that here.

So how does this affect your company? You must decide how your business will comply.  To help you plan now, I've called upon Eric Magnus, Jackson Lewis, P.C, to provide us with his excellent legal advice.  He outlines three options you must consider now so that by December 1, your business is prepared for compensation adjustments and equipped with time-tracking measures.  Here's Eric's advice:

 ⎖⎖ As you have probably heard by now, effective December 1, 2016, nearly all employees that are exempt from the requirement to pay overtime for hours worked over 40 per week must be paid an annual salary of at least $47,476 ($913/week) in order to remain exempt.  

This means that if you have any employees, including Managers and Assistant Managers, that are not currently being paid overtime because they are exempt, and those Managers currently make less than $47,476, you must take action before December 1, 2016 in order to come into compliance.  Plaintiffs’ attorneys and the United States Department of Labor are expected to be particularly aggressive in ensuring compliance with the new rule after December 1, so taking steps to come into compliance is critical and urgent.  While there are active legal efforts to stay implementation of the new Regulations, these efforts are very likely to come to fruition prior to December 1.

While all situations are different, there are essentially three options businesses can take to come into compliance:

•  Option 1: Give everyone a raise.  The easiest way to comply is to increase the salary of any exempt employees to a minimum of $47,476 per year.  If the employees can reasonably be expected to receive non-discretionary bonuses or other payments of at least $4,747.60 per year, the salary can be as low as $42,728.40.  Note that a “non-discretionary” bonus means one that is automatically earned upon achievement of stated objectives rather than one that is earned based on a subjective decision of the business.

•  Option 2: Keep the employees’ salary under $47,476 and pay overtime for hours worked over 40 per week.  Under this option, a business can keep an exempt employee’s salary below the new minimum, but must pay overtime (time-and-a-half of the employee’s “regular rate” of pay) for actual hours worked over 40 per week.  By way of example, if the employee’s weekly salary is $673.08 ($35,000/year), the employee’s “regular rate” is $16.83/hour.  The business would have to pay the employee $25.24/hour for all hours worked over 40 per week.  Note that this option requires the business to begin tracking these employees’ hours.  This option is generally not favored by businesses given the high number of hours most Managers and Assistant Mangers work.  Other options are available if the employee’s hours fluctuate each week which permit the business to pay half-time for hours worked over 40 per week rather than time-and-a-half.  If this situation is applicable, consult counsel to make sure all requirements are met to take advantage of this option.

•  Option 3: Begin paying these currently exempt employees an hourly rate and overtime just as current, non-exempt hourly employees are paid.  Note that this option also requires the business to begin tracking these employees’ hours.⎖⎖  

If you have further questions regarding the salary basis change, or for advice on creating pay practices that comply with the law and avoid costly litigation, please contact Eric Magnus at Jackson Lewis, P.C.  He can be reached at 404-525-8200.

Do you have a staffing need right now?  I'd be happy to listen to your current staffing challenges. Just CLICK HERE and we can set up a time to talk it through.

Speed-hiring in today's job market

Does this hiring scenario sound familiar?

"Our company needs a part-time executive assistant:
        7 days = candidate search
        5 days = find time to act on this and conduct interviews
        5 days = waiting until CEO can meet top candidates
        2 days = discuss and decide, offer Candidate A the job
But Candidate A just accepted another job.  So we offer Candidate B the position, only to find that she has been snapped up by another company, as well. Almost three weeks have passed, and we are back to square-one in the hiring process."

Wait... wasn't it just yesterday that you and I were learning the technique of hire slow and fire fast?  Yes, I even spoke on that very topic to CEO groups when this was the “winning” equation. But it seems that times are changing.This is a CANDIDATE market. 

In many job categories, we are seeing a shortage of great candidates.  This means that to “win” the best ones, we all need to take a look at shortening our hiring timeline.  Never before has a "hurry-up offense" been such a determining factor in filling a vacancy with the very best person. USA Today recently reported, "Employers who took their sweet time making hiring decisions just a few years ago, are scrambling to snag candidates in as little as a day for fear of losing them to competitors in a tight labor market.” (Read that article. It's an eye-opener!)

What does it mean to quicken the pace of hiring? No, don't skip steps. You need to still run background checks, reference checks (in detail), do personality profiles, and hold multiple interviews.  But the time between these steps must be compressed. Here's how:

• Conduct interviews as soon as candidates are pre-screened. Don't wait a week, opening the window for a competing job to grab their attention.
• Get back to the candidate within 24 hours. Normally you know within the first five minutes if this could be the right person for the job.
• Need a second set of interviews? Complete that within the next 48 hours.
• Now tell your top candidate that you are going to make an offer in three days while you await the results of the background and reference checks. 
• Then send a job offer in writing AFTER making a verbal offer either in person or by phone. 

"But I don't have time for this right now." If you don’t have time for interviews, for follow-ups, and to make a decision, then this is not the time to hire.  

"Help! I have a business to run, too." A hiring company like Innovative Outsourcing is skilled to help with most of the heavy lifting.

Take advantage of a good staffing firm who will perform 40 to 80 hours of the hiring homework for you. Then all you need to do is set aside time for interviews immediately when candidates become available.  Next, make a decision within one or two days. Otherwise, the BEST candidates will accept other positions with companies who act faster.  While your vacancy will eventually be filled, are you really willing to settle for a second-tier candidate because you unintentionally delayed the process?  

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and how Innovative Outsourcing can help you adjust to this hurry-up hiring strategy.  I'm now dedicating resources to identify the very best candidates, and prequalify them so we are way ahead in the pre-screening process.  When you call on us looking for a specific type of person to fill a vacancy, we are ready to go with an inventory of awesome candidates ready to meet you. 

How to learn your leadership voice

Cindi will help you understand how to put these concepts to work in your business today.

Does your team suffer from communication issues - people not feeling heard, boring or useless meetings? Do you as a leader not know the best way to get your team on the same page and direction? Are you interested in learning how to keep your best team members and not have them look elsewhere? Cindi Filer, CEO and owner of Innovative Outsourcing wants to help.  She will be the featured speaker at a Lunch & Learn September 21, 2016, and everyone is invited.  $14.95 includes a lunch buffet at The Georgian Club located at 100 Galleria Parkway Suite 1700, Atlanta. Reservations are required. Call the Receptionist at (770) 952-6000 to reserve your spot now. Bring your management team to learn what each person's "voice" is. We'll explore how you and your leaders are individually wired so that you know how to communicate better.

If you are unable to attend this presentation, and would like Cindi to be a featured speaker for your group or CEO roundtable, she would love to discuss this with you.  You may contact her here.

As a Human Resources expert, Cindi pulls upon her years of experience working for Delta Air Lines and Worldspan, along with her staffing and recruiting expertise as the owner of Innovative Outsourcing. Throughout the past 21 years, she has worked with teams of many small to medium-sized companies, helping them find their best possible staff and then helping them learn how to KEEP their staff, and make them more productive. 

Here's why your company should consider hiring part-time staff

Cindi Filer, CEO & Owner Innovative Outsourcing

Lately, I’ve been hearing from some very reliable sources that businesses need to be planning now for what may be some serious changes in the economy, and I thought that you may be interested in how evaluating your staffing strategy now may help your business weather potential storms on the horizon.

Briefly, here are some key issues I thought you may want to consider, and then I’d be happy to help you think through how your company could benefit by increasing your part-time staffing in an effort to buffer possible economy impact.

Election and market uncertainty –
While no one can with certainty predict how this unprecedented political climate will affect our businesses, we can increase flexible staffing now, so that we can bend rather than break in a possible storm of monetary policy changes or decrease in consumer spending. If you focus on hiring part-time employees, you can increase or decrease hours depending on your revenues and needs.  A 20-hour person can flex up to 30 hours a week, or down to 10.  For example, if you hired two 20-hour per week people as opposed to one full time, their combined hours could go from 20 to 60 instead of just 40 regardless.  This results in COST FLEXIBILITY.

Great full time people getting hard to find –
With the Atlanta unemployment rate for professionals this low, you might be scaling the bottom trying to find new full-time employees or to retain your current great full-time staff.  The pool of part-time candidates is still fresh and excellent, making the hiring processes fantastic. Instead competing with the masses for one mediocre full timer, you get could hire two amazing part timers. This results in a BETTER WORKFORCE for your business.

Affordable Care Act –
It is true that you must pay benefits for workers in excess of 30 hours a week.  Part-time workers get their benefits usually from a primary family wage earner and don’t require benefits.  Imagine the savings when you can REDUCE BENEFIT EXPENSE.

Reduce risk –
Innovative Outsourcing offers many staffing options.  If you prefer, we can keep your staff on our payroll until you are ready to make them your permanent employee. Therefore, we take the risk of unemployment insurance.  You just commit to paying for them for the time they have worked.  And nothing else.  You assume LESS FINANCIAL RISK.

Extra set of hands –
Is there an area in your company that could use a new person, but you are unsure if this level of work will continue or if it is truly a full-time requirement?  A part-time person could provide needed relief for your current staff, reducing overtime and pressure of looming tasks.  This results in IMPROVED STAFF MORALE and PRODUCTIVITY.

Let’s get started on this plan together.  For 20 years, we have been the part-time staffing experts, and we can take this initiative and help you run with it today.  We have great part-time people identified and ready for the perfect company like (XYZ company).

• Bookkeeper
• Controller
• Executive Assistant
• Office Manager
• Customer Service
• Sales Assistant
• Marketing Coordinator
• Writer
• Human Resources Manager

If you need full-time staffing in these ares, we have access to the best candidates for those positions, too.

Instead reacting when we are in the midst of a downturn, let’s work together so your staffing is ready no matter what the next year holds for your business.  If you want to read more about the benefits of hiring part-time staff, here is a good article I recommend.

Please contact me at 404-518-5809 or just send a quick email reply.  Let's schedule a 15-minute call to talk about the next steps.

Book Buzz - 5 Voices: How to Communicate Effectively with Everyone You Lead

My team and I hire and place people at companies in the Atlanta metro area. That is what we do every day.  Sometimes, they stay on our payroll, and sometimes they go directly onto our clients' payrolls.  But regardless of which type of hire, our staff and I get to hear from these placed employees about “how things are going."  We hear not only how they like their responsibilities, but how it “feels” to be on that client’s staff.  In so many cases, you would be surprised to hear what they say.  

After 22 years of consulting and placing employees at our clients, I am convinced that many of these companies have a COMMUNICATION issue between staff members.  Leaders are doing the best they can, but they don’t have the tools they need to know how to communicate effectively with their team.  And the team members don’ t have the tools they need to communicate with each other.  

Jeremie Kubicek and Steve Cockram have written the book 5 Voices and created an assessment tool enabling us to better communicate with our teams. When we communicate better, we have more productive employees, which generally equates to improved profits. This book provides an essential tool to help move toward this goal.

It is important to understand how all teammates process information, make decisions, and understand the unique contributions each person makes to the team.  We rarely take the effort to consider this as we simply see it through the daily tasks at hand. Some people bother us, and we like others.  With some people, we find it harder to collaborate, and with others, it's easy. There are people who seem to always challenge our ideas, and others who seem to dream all the time.  Some like to focus on details, while others seem to lack this ability.  Yet do we take the time to evaluate this aspect of our team?  If we did, perhaps our companies would benefit.

How do we take a step to understand our team members better?  One easy step is outlined in this book.  The authors give us a free online assessment and the book explaining the results.  We all possess five voices.  One is foundational (with which we resonate most), and the other four follow in an order unique to the individual.  By knowing the order of your voices and that of your team members, you can plan more effective meetings, assemble work groups that contain all voices, and provide encouragement and correction in ways that lead to better results.

What are those voices?

• The Nurturer 
• The Creative
• The Guardian
• The Connector 
• The Pioneer

For each voice, we are presented with these qualities:

• A general description of each person who has the voice as their top foundational voice
• What they are thinking
• What they bring at their best
• What they are really asking
• What is the potential negative impact
• Insights if this is your foundational voice

I’m a Pioneer - My Discovery:
First identify your own foundational voice. It is hard to lead others and help them unless you truly know your own strengths and weaknesses.  Sometimes, we don’t look at ourselves with a critical eye.  When I was introduced to this, I found out my foundational voice was Pioneer.  I learned that this is the reason I am always coming up with new ideas and trying to “fix” everything.  I was faced with looking at the negative side of this voice which is that I tend to be critical of others' ideas very quickly and very vocally.  Once I was forced to look at this fact, I asked those around me if that was true.  It will always be my tendency as a Pioneer to critique (which is also a strength), but I now know myself better. I am trying to STOP myself before I critique unkindly or without deference to the other person.  There is nothing wrong with critiquing, but there is something wrong with being short or unkind when I do it.  I can be cognizant and attempt to change this tendency.  

Do you know what people on your team are saying about you?  This book might help.  Maybe we should take some time to find more about what people on the other side of us think about us so that we can grow in our influence and effectiveness.

I recommend this for your summer reading coupled with the free assessment to complete with your employees. Would you like for me to make a visit to discuss the findings with with you (or you and your whole staff)? I would love to show you how this tool can help your staff work together and respect each other, creating a more high-performing team.

Take the free online assessment here.  Then reply, and let's discuss the impact this could have on your business.

The Interview Question You Need to Ask

There are numerous questions asked during job interviews. The standard “tell me about yourself” or “why should I hire you?” questions get asked hundreds of times. Sure, they give you some insight into who the candidate is. But there’s one interview question you probably aren’t asking that you should be.

Why shouldn’t I hire you?

Look for the way the candidate answers this question. Are they honest about it? How do they handle themselves? You want a candidate that is both truthful and humble about their answer. You want someone that’s authentic, and this question will give you the insight you’re looking for.

Rather than asking “what’s your biggest weakness?” and hearing the same answers we’ve all heard (“being too dedicated” or “procrastinating, but getting it done in the final minute”), this is a great alternate. Consider closing out the interview with this question. Does the candidate have the qualities you’re looking for and value as a company?

Depending on the job you are hiring for, you’ll want to ask certain “standard” interview questions. You may also want to ask some that are way out of the box, just to get to know who the candidate is. But this is one question that applies to almost every job, and we think it’s one that you should be asking every candidate.

We’d love to hear from you - What’s your favorite question to ask in an interview?

Why You Should Keep Your Resume Up to Date

Sure, you may not be looking for a new job. You may even love your current job. But sometimes great opportunities appear out of nowhere and you will wish your resume was ready to go. Or you may even want to pick up a side job that requires you to send off a resume. Many conferences and speaking engagements even require an updated resume. Whatever the reason, you should keep your resume up to date at all times.

Looking back through years worth of work is tough and it can be harder to recall projects or important updates. Do you keep your resume somewhere that you can easily access it? You’ll not only need it to keep it updated, but you’ll want to make sure you don’t have to start from scratch each time you need your resume.

Here are a few things you can do to keep your resume updated:

1. Always add new titles and roles as you receive them.

2. Update current positions with new job responsibilities.

3. Update new projects once complete.

4. Incorporate relevant accomplishments once achieved.

There are numerous reasons you may need an updated resume quickly. If you use the tools above to update, you won’t have to spend a lot of time on it when you need it.

We’re always happy to help with resumes - reach out to us if you’d like to chat!