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Employers
Beyond Orientation: Creating a New Employee Engagement Plan
Finally, your talent search is over. At substantial cost to your company, you ran the ad, carefully combed through resumes, prescreened and interviewed applicants, and made the hires. Now your employees are ready to work—or are they?
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Employers
The Surprising Truth about Mis-Hires
Have you ever puzzled over an employee who just wasn’t working out? Maybe he or she meant well, seemed qualified, and worked hard, but things just kept not turning out right . . . and maybe your story ended up with your employee quitting, or even having to be fired. Although managers often blame retention problems on a lack of skills or qualifications, research shows that a surprising 80% of mis-hires are due to culture misfit, and not a lack of competence.
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Employers
I Want to Work for That Manager!
It probably comes as no surprise that many employees dislike working for their managers. In fact, Gallup surveys of U.S. workers show that about 20% of employees are dissatisfied with their immediate supervisor. Realizing that such discontent endangers employee retention and threatens productivity, can you afford to be a toxic manager? See if you recognize yourself any of the manager types listed below, and decide if you need to make a change to become the kind of manager your employees talk about when they say, “I want to work for that manager!”
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Employers
Why Interviews Fail – Managing for Retention
The best possible recruiting plans are useless if good candidates are being lost because of problems during the interviewing process. Outlined here are eleven ways interviews fail—and steps you can take to improve the selection process.
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Employers
Wanting More
Remember the scene from Oliver Twist where the master of the orphanage was outraged when Oliver, new to the orphanage, asked for more soup? During a recession, it’s easy for hiring managers to imagine that both candidates and employees should be happy with whatever they are offered since a surplus of candidates may appear to create an employer’s market. But as an employer, you need to be aware of the potential surprises that accompany that line of reasoning, because like Oliver Twist, workers today want more!
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Employers
Effective Performance Review Can Help Retain Employees
I get a lot of requests to speak on how to recruit and retain employees.* There are a lot of creative things companies can do. But one of the smartest strategies is right under managers’ noses, and many companies ignore it or under emphasize it. That strategy is to use the performance review as a tool to create a stronger bond between the employee and the manager.
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Employers
Top Ten Traits Employers Want in a Candidate
Can anyone list the top ten traits that employers want in an employee? Numerous articles have been written on the subject, and none of them agree! Here’s a combined listing of what many of these articles claim are the top ten:
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Employers
Increasing Our Focus on Retention
For six years, Tony was a loyal, hardworking employee who gave his all for the company’s benefit. John, the CEO, valued Tony greatly and gave him increased responsibilities, greater pay, a higher position title, and a company stock option. When making business projections, John included Tony as a key contributor to future growth.
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Employers
Your Staffing Firm: Adversary or Partner?
Burt was frustrated again. His company, Alpine Industries, had an increasing problem with employee turnover, and it was costing them big. Now they urgently needed another employee, and Sue in HR hadn’t had any luck finding the right candidate. Burt really didn’t want to have to cough up a contingency fee, but finally, out of desperation, he called Pete at ABC Staffing Agency . . .
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Employers
Pointing the Way to Job Success: Designing Effective Orientation Programs
It’s a fact: those who don’t start right don’t tend to stick around long. And high turnover means you must find new people all over again. What’s more, turnover takes a high toll on the morale of those who do stay behind. This article is a good reminder about what to include in an effective orientation program so that staff members who are properly trained and welcomed at the beginning of their careers feel good about their choice of employer, fit in quickly with colleagues, and readily contribute new ideas.
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Employers
Taming the Difficult Employee
Difficult employees are a huge drain on an organization in terms of wasted time, reduced productivity, greater inefficiency, increased employee turnover and—in extreme cases—customer loss. Employees who work with difficult coworkers suffer from low morale, a declining commitment to their work, decreased job satisfaction and greater levels of stress and frustration. Read on to learn what motivates difficult employees, and how you can effectively manage them.
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Employers
Selecting Winners – Part 2
Six Steps to Selecting a High Performance Employee This article is the second in a two-part series