Significant change and uncertainty are the new norm in our business environment. Is your company equipped to thrive?

Everything from a volatile global economy to proposed employment legislation changes make it more challenging than ever to predict what’s in store for the coming year (let alone the coming month).  Constantly changing workloads, talent availability and local economic conditions only complicate matters.  As a result, staffing strategies that worked for you in the past may not prove as effective this year.

This doesn’t mean you’re out of luck; it just means that you may need to re-examine your staffing strategy to thrive.  So start 2012 off right.  Consider these staffing best practices which have proven effective for corporate human resources executives across the country, courtesy of workforce.com:

• Make sure the staffing partner has an adequate balance sheet. Given the relatively low barriers to entry, it is too common to see staffing companies struggle financially.
• Be sure the staffing partner has sufficient size and financial resources to manage the contract. Sourcing 100 or more contract workers on an ongoing basis requires a very different type of staffing organization than providing two or three temps at a time.
• Visit the local office of the staffing company as part of the due-diligence process, especially for large projects, to make sure the operation meets expectations.
• Give your staffing partner feedback on all candidates that you review to help refine the recruiting strategy, and make it easier to find the best candidates.
• Be open-minded about “teachable” candidates, especially for hard-to-fill skill sets. Candidates who are a strong cultural fit and possess transferable skills are likely to succeed and thrive with some training and support.
• Provide enough training, rewards and feedback to keep temps engaged and motivated. One employer notes that small rewards—a free lunch for good performance, for example—go a long way toward winning the loyalty of temps.
• Beware of unfair negative stereotypes about the quality of temp workers. Temps can be—and often are—as qualified as full-time employees, and their skills can be equally useful.

Wood Personnel – Your Best Staffing Strategy for 2012

Comprised of highly trained human resource professionals with over 100 years of combined experience, Wood Personnel has grown to become a staffing industry leader in middle Tennessee.  Through the years, we’ve developed specialties in Professional Staffing, IT Placement & Contract Staffing and Executive Search.  Rest assured, we are a stable, successful partner you can trust with your all your workforce management needs – no matter how large or small.

Call Wood Personnel to schedule a 2012 workforce consultation. Together, we can identify your upcoming needs and develop a proactive, cost-effective staffing strategy that will deliver real bottom-line results.

If you’ve watched the news lately, or followed the markets, you’ve probably found the economic data as puzzling and disconcerting as I have.  Up one day, way down the next.  One economic analyst talks about a slow recovery, the other warns us of the next recession.  The roller coaster we’re on isn’t showing any signs of smoothing out, thus leaving companies – and employees – wondering what’s next.

The honest answer is that nobody knows.  And for the people who work in your organization, that may be the most stressful part.  Uncertainty breeds fear.  And fear breeds discontent.  When people are unsure of their futures, they fill their minds (and waste their time) with irrational fears and “what ifs.”

During hard times, companies rely on their employees to help pull them through.  But unfortunately, that’s precisely when top performers are most likely to quit.  Watching others get laid off, chronic overwork and nagging uncertainty can all drive your best people out the door.

When your staff is worried, it’s up to you to control the outcome.  Now is the time to motivate, retain and even re-recruit your top employees, using the following ideas:

• Be honest. When times are tough, there’s a natural tendency to buckle down, work harder and avoid others.  This is a deadly mistake.  Without good information from you, your employees will draw their own (possible incorrect) conclusions.  In general, it’s far better to be forthcoming – even about bad news – than to withhold information.
• Involve top performers in developing solutions. Talk about the problems facing your organization and challenge your best employees to help create the solutions.  With a vested interest in the company’s success, and control over the ways problems are tackled, your staff will be more likely to stay through difficult times.
• Invest in one-to-one management. Layoffs, customer attrition and other sources of bad news tend to create a turbulent workplace.  Calm the waters by scheduling one-on-ones with each of your key team members.  Review the improvement plans being enacted, as well as the challenges and opportunities ahead.  Outline clear expectations for each employee’s performance and the outcome that will occur if that performance is achieved.  If layoffs are likely, clearly delineate the situation that will trigger the cuts and what must occur to avoid them.
• Offer market pay. While this may not be the ideal time to consider increasing personnel expenses, don’t short-change yourself by under-compensating your staff.  Evaluate your pay and benefits package to ensure it’s competitive.  While money alone typically won’t drive high performance, a compensation package that is perceived as being unfair will create resentment – and drive employees out the door.
• Actively re-recruit top performers. Your company surely invests in marketing to existing clients.  Why?  Because it costs five times more to get a new customer than to retain an existing one.  The same is true of employees.  Top performers are incredibly expensive to replace.  Rather than take chances, be proactive about keeping them satisfied.
  Ask your employees to help keep the team together, by identifying those they feel are at risk of leaving.  Tell your employees how much you value them – regularly.  Find out what frustrates your best employees and develop ways to alleviate the sources.  Help top performers define career paths within your organization.  Bottom line, do whatever you can to keep your best and brightest inspired to continue working for you.

During times of crisis and uncertainty, true leaders emerge.  Get out of your office and go invest in your biggest asset – your people.  Let them know that they are more than just survivors; they are the champions who will create your company’s future success.

Contact Wood Personnel today to find out how our executive recruiting and contingency search services for Middle Tennessee employers can deliver the high performers you need to thrive in this tough economy.

American employers are faced with a difficult balancing act – attracting new talent, while also holding onto experienced workers.  Achieving this balance is driving employers to create financial benefit plans that appeal to workers of all ages.

According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Workforce Benefits Report (published April, 2011):

• 94 percent of 650 C-level executives surveyed recognize the importance of retaining older employees and the knowledge they possess;
• 98 percent point to the need for younger workers.

To attract and retain these key segments of the workforce:

• 50 percent of those surveyed offer customized work schedules;
• 33 percent provide retirement income and health care education programs;
• 32 percent offer continuing education and development opportunities;
• 22 percent give employees the opportunity to work remotely;
• 21 percent offer extended benefits to older employees.

According to Andy Sieg, head of Retirement Services for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, “Longer life expectancies and baby boomers’ desire or need to keep working are leading to an aging population of American employees that will require more age-friendly workplaces and benefit plans designed to meet the unique needs of multiple generations.”

Employers also feel an increased sense of responsibility for the financial well-being of their employees:

• 59 percent of employers feel greater responsibility to help employees meet financial goals;
• 53 percent feel that responsibility includes providing both financial benefit plans as well as access to financial education and advice.

“If there is one silver lining of the recession it’s this increased sense of responsibility,” says Stephen Ulian, head of institutional retirement and benefit solutions at Bank of America.  As a result, employers are offering a broader range of financial education programs and tools, although getting employees to take full advantage of them remains a challenge.

Wood Personnel leverages state-of-the-art technologies with distinctly personal service to deliver customized solutions that maximize your staffing ROI.  Contact us today to learn more about our staffing solutions for Middle Tennessee employers.

Want to create top caliber performance in your organization?

Who doesn’t?!

Use these 10 tips to get people to stop making excuses and start delivering exceptional results:

1. Stop accepting excuses. Are you too tolerant of excuses?  Don’t be.  An excuse means the job didn’t get done and accepting excuses allows failure to persist.  When you stop tolerating excuses, you force people to develop solutions.
2. Think in terms of priorities. The next time you hear, “I didn’t have enough time,” require the person to instead say, “I’m sorry, it was not a high enough priority.”  By simply changing perspective, you will force employees to better manage their time and responsibilities and eliminate the number one excuse in business.
3. Make mistakes acceptable. As a rule, employees don’t like to report bad news because they fear the repercussions.  To get excuse-free behavior, make mistakes acceptable and treat them as opportunities for learning.  Instead of placing blame, focus problem discussions on “what” and “why” issues, as opposed to “who.”  Praise and recognize risk-takers, even when the outcome fails to achieve desired results.
4. Establish mutually defined expectations for job performance. Explore what success and failure look like for each position in your company.  Ensure that every job and project has specific, measurable goals.
5. Share the big picture with employees. People are more motivated to succeed when they understand why they need to do something.  As a leader, show them how their actions have a direct impact on the company’s success.
6. Acknowledge responsibility. Require employees to commit to their responsibilities in writing.  More importantly, follow-up to ensure commitments are met and to establish accountability.
7. Plan contingencies. Things can and will go wrong.  Take time to anticipate potential problems and set contingency plans.  A proactive approach to problem solving greatly reduces opportunities for future excuses while maximizing the probability of success.
8. Pay for performance. While it’s fine to recognize people for hard work, it’s important to reward them for results.  Structure reward systems to only provide tangible compensation based on achieving measurable results.  Ideally, offer rewards on an “all or nothing” basis.  Simply put, if the goal is not fully met, no reward is earned.
9. Create support systems. Let employees know where to get help when problems arise.  Failure most often occurs when employees don’t know how or where to get assistance, so make sure your staff has access to training, mentoring, internal “help desks” and/or any other resources they may need to do their jobs correctly.
10. Conduct post-mortems. At the end of every project, debrief employees.  If they succeeded, praise them and discuss why the project was a success.  If the employees didn’t succeed, turn the failure into a positive learning experience.

Quick Tips for Maximizing Temporary Employee Performance

Temporary employees can help you reduce stress on core employees, enhance productivity, control costs and manage risks.  And like your own employees, temporaries need to be held accountable for results:

• Provide clear expectations to your staffing vendor.
• Include measurable goals in each temporary’s job description.
• Provide an initial orientation, reviewing: company products/services, the department’s function, job responsibilities, performance expectations, available resources.
• Have supervisors closely monitor first day performance.  If a temporary fails to meet your expectations, replace him immediately.

Performance management is a vital component in your organization’s continued success.  Ensure that success with Wood Personnel’s full complement of staffing solutions.  Whether you need to improve productivity, increase operating efficiencies or streamline your staffing function, we can custom design a solution to fuel exceptional performance throughout your company.  Contact Wood Personnel today to learn more.

Great staffing results don’t happen by accident.

They occur when smart people (like you) invest in creating the best possible relationship with a quality staffing firm (like Wood Personnel).  Don’t leave your staffing success to chance.  Use these 10 ideas to achieve better staffing results:

1. Give temporary employees formal job descriptions. Job descriptions should be well-defined, prioritized, current and submitted in writing to your staffing firm.  They should include your expectations in terms of candidate abilities and experience, along with specific performance goals and standards.
2. Give your staffing service as much lead-time as possible. This will optimize your chances of finding an ideal candidate for the assignment and may give you more than one suitable candidate to choose from.  And when lead-time isn’t an option, let your staffing provider know which skills and traits are most critical for the assignment.
3. Be mindful of cut-rate deals. People – including temporary employees – are your organization’s most important asset.  They should be viewed as an investment, not an expense.  When it comes to staffing, you get what you pay for, so work with a staffing service that takes the time to fill your needs correctly.
4. Train your staffing services representative. Educate your staffing representative on your company’s mission statement, goals, culture, history and current performance.  Tell them what types of work styles or personalities will fit best in your organization.  Familiarizing your representative with your company’s needs and preferences helps your staffing partner become a more knowledgeable extension of your human resources department.
5. Take full advantage of your staffing vendor’s resources. Invest a little time to learn about your staffing firm’s full range of capabilities and value-added services, so you can take maximum advantage of their resources.  A good service can provide not only qualified candidates, staffing flexibility and cost savings, but staffing expertise and employee relations support as well.  To learn more about your staffing service, request a tour or a capabilities demonstration.
6. Set clear expectations. Establish mutually agreed upon expectations for interaction with your staffing supplier at the beginning of your relationship.  This may include order-placing procedures, appropriate quality control checks and feedback methods.  Setting expectations will ensure clear communication and expedient service.
7. Benchmark performance. Find out what tests candidates are required to take at your staffing firm.  When candidates are referred to you, ask what their test scores are.  Establish preferred scoring levels for placements within your company, using your own employees as benchmarks.  Additionally, encourage your temporary employees to take advantage of training available at the staffing firm.
8. Provide feedback. Maintain an ongoing dialogue and honest relationship with your staffing contacts, keeping them abreast of changes in your company.  Provide feedback on their service and the performance of their temporary employees.  Meet regularly to obtain their input on what you can do to improve the quality of service and placements.
9. Create a partner in your success. Consider involving a staffing firm in your company’s business planning.  For example, you might include your staffing representative in an annual meeting to plan staffing strategies.  Staffing experts can offer valuable insight regarding the possible uses of strategic staffing to meet your needs for workload variations, new hires and managing attrition.  They can also offer valuable market data to help you retain key employees.
10. Reward results. High quality staffing firms focus on more than filling orders.  They want to help you save time, lower expenses and get work done.  When you find a vendor who does a great job, look for opportunities to enhance the relationship.  Invite them in.  Challenge them to help you solve problems.  See what you can do to reward their good results.  Not only will you make your top vendor happy, you’ll increase their commitment to your success.

What can Wood Personnel do for you?  Give us a call.  Together, we can explore opportunities to enhance your staffing results by:

• identifying inefficiencies where work could be performed at a lower cost;
• providing access to qualified and diverse candidates seeking temporary employment;
• offering the staffing flexibility you need to stay fluid during economic challenges.

Work/life balance.  It’s one of those nebulous issues with which employers continually wrestle.  On the one hand, work needs to be done.  On the other hand, the pressure to get that work done can lead to a host of problems which zap employees’ productivity.

Financial constraints and demanding work schedules have made work a higher priority than ever for Americans.  A recent study by CareerBuilder shows that, as a result, many U.S. workers are foregoing vacation plans this year:

• 24 percent of full-time workers say they can’t afford to take a vacation in 2011, up from 21 percent in 2010.
• An additional 12 percent can afford a vacation but don’t have plans to take one in 2011.

While these statistics may mean more total hours worked in your organization, your company might actually see greater benefits from encouraging employees to take time-off.

Why?

Overwork can increase absenteeism, burnout and turnover, and make employees more prone to errors on the job.  Conversely, workers with a healthy work/life balance tend to have less burnout, greater creativity and higher quality output.  And when things get stressful on the job, “balanced” employees are better equipped to handle the burden.  Bottom line, taking time-off is vital not only to an employee’s well-being and performance, but to your company’s, too.

As our economy heals, here are a few recommendations for encouraging your workers to take the time-off they need, while keeping your business running smoothly:

• Require sufficient notice.  If you don’t have one, develop formal policy outlining guidelines for taking vacation (i.e., giving adequate notice, coordinating with other employees’ requests for time-off, scheduling time-off before or after big projects/events, etc.).  The more lead-time you have, the better equipped your company will be to handle the extra workload.
• Encourage shorter, more frequent breaks. If employees can’t take a number of days off at once, suggest they take long weekends or midweek breaks.  Shorter vacations still afford employees the ability to recharge, with less disruption to your workflow.
• Ensure adequate coverage. Require employees to cross-train and prepare co-workers, to ensure adequate coverage while they’re gone.  At a minimum, ask employees to review: critical responsibilities, upcoming deadlines, where information is stored, key contacts and parameters for reaching them while they’re on vacation.
• Lead by example. Are you a workaholic?  If so, here’s a perfect reason to reform your ways.  Management support for work/life balance is critical and must come from the top.  Set an example of maintaining a healthy balance and make it known that the same is expected from rank-and-file employees, too.
• Call Wood Personnel for the support you need. If your business is like most, your staff is already stretched thin.  When one person goes on vacation, it can be difficult for others to manage the additional workload.  Call Wood Personnel to provide the talented, reliable individuals you need during vacation periods.  Our employees hit the ground running and keep your business running smoothly, so your employees can take the time-off they deserve.

The BLS Employment Situation Summary continues to paint an anemic economic picture.

Economists continue to talk about a “jobless recovery,” with many employers focusing on productivity gains, as opposed to hiring, to manage any increases in business.

What’s the upside?

Well, if your company isn’t focused on hiring right now, it may be the perfect time for you to review and improve your employment screening process.  Doing so could help you:

• increase compliance;
• reduce theft, fraud and accidents;
• prepare you to make even better hires when the time comes.

As experts in employment screening, Wood Personnel recommends taking the following steps to reduce the potential for negligent hiring and discrimination:

Consult with your attorney. If you hire on your own, you should have your legal counsel review your screening process to ensure you’re complying with all current legislation and hiring regulations.

Be consistent. Your screening process should be the same for all candidates within comparable job descriptions.  If you do a background check on one manager, you should also conduct the same background check with candidates for all similar positions.  In addition to preventing anyone from “slipping through the cracks,” a uniform process helps minimize your exposure to litigation.

Use social media carefully. Social media has made access to candidate information fast, easy and free.  But if you intend to use this publicly available information to screen candidates, make sure that you obtain written permission and follow all EEOC and FCRA provisions.

Formalize and document your process. If you don’t already have one in place, now is the time to standardize, formalize and document your background screening policies and procedures.  Creating a formal policy makes screening more effective, efficient and consistent.  Furthermore, should a problem arise, your ability to show that you applied fair, consistent and documented screening processes will limit your legal exposure.

Reduce your risks and make better quality hires with Wood Personnel.

Hiring top talent – honest, hardworking individuals who do what they claim they can do – is critical to your organization’s continued success.  Wood Personnel’s Direct Hire Services can help ensure that success.  Here are just a few of the benefits our comprehensive, accurate screening process provides:

• transfer employment screening risks such as discrimination and negligent hiring;
• create a safer work environment;
• build a more productive workforce;
• save time and eliminate process bottlenecks employment screening creates;
• hire the best talent available – pre-screened, reference-checked, skills-verified and ready to perform for you.

Work with Wood Personnel and your hiring decisions can be made with confidence – guaranteed.  Our natural resource is people!

Ever play “whisper down the lane”?

Also known as ”telephone,” this popular children’s game provides a simple, yet critical illustration of how important information can get lost in translation.

Great fun if you’re just playing around, but not so great for business.

When it comes to ordering temporary personnel, many of our clients call in their job orders.  Sure, it’s quick and convenient, but did you know that placing your order verbally is not the most effective way to work with us?

The reason is simple – verbal job descriptions can change as they’re transmitted from person to person, resulting in a “whisper down the lane” effect.  Consider, for example, how many people are potentially involved in the “lane” of communication when a job order is placed.  A department manager contacts HR with a need; HR contacts a staffing service coordinator with the order; the coordinator speaks with the staffing firm’s recruiter; the recruiter then communicates the job description to an employee.

See the potential problem?  While a verbal approach may seem easier, challenges can arise when duties get added or subtracted, or if job titles change over time.  As a result, the staffing provider may not send you the best match for the assignment.

At Wood Personnel, we highly recommend that you submit or approve a written job description to which everyone in the line (or “lane”) of communication can refer.  Doing so will eliminate miscommunications, misunderstandings and confusion, and ensure that you get the best employee for the assignment.

Improve your temporary staffing success by working with Wood Personnel, your Middle Tennessee staffing service.

Before you click the “Submit” button to upload your next job posting, consider the following:

1. Make sure the title accurately describes the position.  Consider including common keywords qualified applicants are likely to use when searching for an opening.
2. Provide a comprehensive list of skills and qualifications.  Differentiate between those that are required, as opposed to desirable.
3. To reduce the submission of unwanted résumés, be clear about:  salary range; start date; years and type of experience necessary; essential certifications; and required tests and/or background checks.
4. The Internet has created a global workforce.  Make sure you supply details about where the job is located, and whether or not telecommuting is possible.
5. Provide clear instructions for application.  Give candidates multiple methods of applying.  Be sure to list e-mail address, fax number, mailing address and the contact person’s name and job title.
6. Include preferences or equal opportunity statements.
7. When posting to multiple sites, assign unique job codes for tracking leads.  This step will help you monitor the quantity and quality of leads coming from each site.
8. Keep in mind that if you send an announcement to an e-mail list or newsgroup, it will likely be picked up by any number of websites and forwarded, re-forwarded, etc. – and you will have no ability to control the accuracy or content of these listings.
9. Don’t use all caps in your posting online.  It is the printed equivalent of YELLING. (See?)
10. Copy and paste from a simple text editor, and avoid special codes or characters used in word processing software.
11. Always, always proofread for content and check your spelling.

As you know, it takes substantial time and effort to post a job correctly.  And even the most carefully crafted posts don’t always yield the best candidates.  So why do it on your own? 

Wood Personnel’s direct placement services save you time, increase your focus and deliver only candidates who accurately match the available position.  We offer this service to Middle Tennessee employers on a contingency-fee basis; in other words, you will not be charged until you hire the right person for your company.  Contact us today to learn more.

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

When you hear this saying, you may envision a nervous job seeker, compulsively straightening his suit and repeating his 30-second “personal sales pitch” before an interview.  But quite honestly, the saying is just as relevant for the hiring company.  Why?

When you mainstream and orient a new hire, you set the tone for his work experience with your organization.  The more positive that initial experience, the more welcome and prepared the individual will feel in his new position.  This will, in turn, give him the confidence and resources to quickly begin making a positive impact within your company (which is why you hired this person in the first place, right?).

So make a commitment to create a great first impression on your new hire by implementing a thorough and effective onboarding process.  Use these tips to make him feel welcomed, valued and prepared to hit the ground running:

• Welcome a new employee with a letter.  Before the individual’s first day, send a friendly and informative letter to welcome him and review his first day’s schedule, helpful tips for parking, to whom he should report, etc.  Alternately, you can post new employee schedules, materials, benefits forms and a FAQ on your company Intranet, and make it accessible from a link in a welcome e-mail.
• Prepare a corporate “family tree.”  Familiarize new hires with your company’s “who’s who.”  You can make photos, names and job titles available on your company’s Intranet, or maintain a simple bulletin board with the same info to facilitate the getting-to-know-you process.
• Pre-orient existing staff members.  Provide employees with your new employee’s résumé and job description before he starts.  Advise each team member to conduct a meeting with the new hire in which he shares a description of his own position, reviews the ways their roles interact and covers how they might work together in the future.
• Approach the process from the employee’s point of view.  The onboarding process can be complex and overwhelming for your new hire.  To keep your new team member feeling valued, try to create orientation procedures that make the process fun, interesting and as painless as possible.
• Provide and review a written plan of employee objectives and responsibilities.  This step will eliminate confusion about job functions and will open the floor to discuss concerns or new opportunities.
• Give the new employee your undivided attention.  Be careful not to let e-mails, phone calls, or other employees distract you during orientation sessions, because this sends the unintended message that the new hire is not worth your time – a real morale-killer.
• Make day one personal.  Prioritize interpersonal relationships with key colleagues as soon as your new employee starts.  Make sure you welcome the whole person – not just a set of job functions – from the outset, and you’ll be sure to make a great first impression.

Wood Personnel works to make new employee transitions as successful and simple as possible.  Our stringent screening process ensures that the candidates we refer (whether temporary or direct) have the skills, experience and traits necessary to integrate seamlessly with your existing workforce.  Contact us today to learn more about our staffing solutions for Middle Tennessee employers.