Performance Mgmt and HR
...p management positions. For many specialized jobs in the human resources field, previous experience is an asset; for more advanced positions, including managers as well as arbitrators and mediators, it is essential. Many employers prefer entry-level workers who have gained some experience through an internship or work-study program while in school. Personnel administration and human resources development require the ability to work with individuals as well as a commitment to organizational goals. This field also demands other skills people may develop elsewhere-using computers, selling, teaching, supervising, and volunteering, among others. This field offers clerical workers opportunities for advancement to professional positions. Responsible positions sometimes are filled by experienced individuals from other fields, including business, government, education, social services administration, and the military. The human resources field demands a range of personal qualities and skills. Human resources, training, and labor relations managers and specialists must speak and write effectively. The growing diversity of the workforce requires that they work with or supervise people with various cultural backgrounds, levels of education, and experience. They must be able to cope with conflicting points of view, function under pressure, and demonstrate discretion, integrity, fair-mindedness, and a persuasive, congenial personality. The duties given to entry-level workers will vary depending on whether they have a degree in human resource management, have completed an internship, or have some other type of human resources-related experience. Entry-level employees commonly learn the profession by performing administrative duties-helping to enter data into computer systems, compiling employee handbooks, researching information for a supervisor, or answering the phone and handling routine questions. Entry-level workers often enter formal or on-the-job training programs in which they learn how to classify jobs, interview applicants, or administer employee benefits. They then are assigned to specific areas in the personnel department to gain experience. Later, they may advance to a managerial position, overseeing a major element of the personnel program-compensation or training, for example. Exceptional human resources workers may be promoted to director of personnel or industrial relations, which can eventually lead to a top managerial or executive position. Others may join a consulting firm or open their own business. A Ph.D. is an asset for teaching, writing, or consulting work. Most organizations specializing in human resources offer classes intended to enhance the marketable skills of their members. Some organizations offer certification programs, which are signs of competence and can enhance one's advancement opportunities. For example, the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans confers the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist designation to persons who complete a series of college-level courses and pass exams covering employee benefit plans. The Society for Human Resources Management has two levels of certification-Professional in Human Resources, and Senior Professional in Human Resources; both require experience and a comprehensive exam. JOB OUTLOOK The abundant supply of qualified college graduates and experienced workers should create keen competition for jobs. Overall employment of human resources, training, and labor relations managers and specialists is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through 2010. In addition to openings due to growth, many job openings will arise from the need to replace workers who transfer to other occupations or leave the labor force. Legislation and court rulings setting standards in various areas-occupational safety and health, equal employment opportunity, wages, health, pension, and family leave, among others-will increase demand for human resources, training, and labor relations experts. Rising health care costs should continue to spur demand for specialists to develop creative compensation and benefits packages that firms can offer prospective employees. Employment of labor relation’s staff, including arbitrators and mediators, should grow as firms become more involved in labor relations, and attempt to resolve potentially costly labor-management disputes out of court. Additional job growth may stem from increasing demand for specialists in international human resources management and human resources information systems. Expected job growth varies by specialty. Many new jobs will stem from increasing efforts throughout industry to recruit and retain quality employees. As a result, employment, recruitment, and placement specialists are projected to grow as fast as average. Furthermore, employers are expected to devote greater resources to job-specific training programs in response to the increasing complexity of many jobs, the aging of the work force, and technological advances that can leave employees with obsolete skills. This should result in particularly strong demand for training and development specialists across all industries. Demand should continue to be strong among firms involved in management, consulting, and personnel supply, as businesses increasingly contract out personnel functions or hire personnel specialists on a temporary basis to meet the increasing cost and complexity of training and development programs. Demand also should increase in firms that develop and administer complex employee benefits and compensation packages for other organizations. Demand for human resources, training, and labor relations managers and specialists, also is governed by the staffing needs of the firms for which they work. A rapidly expanding business is likely to hire additional human resources workers-either as permanent employees or consultants-while a business that has experienced a merger or a reduction in its work force will require fewer human resources workers. Also, as human resources management becomes increasingly important to the success of an organization, some small and medium-size businesses that do not have a human resources department may assign employees various human resources duties together with other unrelated responsibilities. In any particular firm, the size and the job duties of the human resources staff are determined by the firm's organizational philosophy and goals, skills of its work force, pace of technological change, government regulations, collective bargaining agreements, standards of professional practice, and labor market conditions. Job growth could be limited by the widespread use of computerized human resources information systems that make workers more productive. Similar to other workers, employment of human resources, training, and labor relations managers and specialists, particularly in larger firms, may be adversely affected by corporate downsizing, restructuring, and mergers. WHEN IS AN HR DEPARTMENT NECESSARY? How many employees should a company have before there is a need for an HR Department? As companies grow, there is a need to administer the HR function, but that doesn't necessitate an HR Department. In fact, 30 years experience has shown that until the company has at least 50 employees, that "department" -- really a function -- can consist of or be handled by one person...often much to the dismay of that one person. Between outsourcing such things as payroll and the initial writing of an employee handbook, and with the plethora of software for HR today, one person should be able to develop and administer the function. Of course, there are variations to this theme. In high-tech in the past several years, where recruiting has been a major activity, there may well be a need to have an HR administrator or "benefits clerk" and a recruiter. But in most small companies an Office Manager suffices. Historically, what necessitates an HR Department are the functions and responsibilities which no one else either wants to do or is capable of doing. From recruiting to orienting new employees, from writing job descriptions to tracking vacation and sick leave, and from instituting and monitoring policies to monitoring benefits, there has been a need for an HR generalist to assist senior management in both establishing a "structure" to holding down costs of administration. In fact, I have felt for some time that the initial title for the HR person should be "Administrative Manager." (At one time, the official title would have been "Administrative Assistant," a perfectly legitimate and descriptive title until some 40 years ago when that took on clerical or secretarial connotations.) Let's say that you have been hired or requested to establish an HR function. What do you need to do? The first step is to determine what the expectations are of the manager who realized the necessity of the function. In very small companies, this is often the owner or most senior manager who just returned from a seminar or workshop where an attorney -- or a whole flock of attorneys -- has scared the hell out of him or her by pointing out the complexities of complying with federal and state labor codes. Using some of the responsibilities listed below, develop a job description with that manager which at least outlines what the job entails. After that, determine the compliance issues, which pertains to your company. The most basic of these have to do with wages and hours of work, classification of employees, the I-9, COBRA (now down to two employees in California and New Jersey, by the way), leaves of absence including maternity and family leaves which differ from state to state, ADA, harassment, and a host of others. (See chart.) Then, determine whether or not you need to have an employee handbook or other formal policies and procedures manual to cover everything from establishing the company as an at-will employer to benefits. If a handbook already exists, be certain that it is in compliance and that there are no implied contracts involved (e.g. be certain that the first 90 days of employment is termed the "Introductory Period" rather than "Probationary Period" and that there is a statement that, "Completion of the Introductory Period does not constitute an express or implied contract for continued employment). Are all the basic policies included? These can be thought of as grouped into benefits, discipline, and conditions of employment. Is there a balance between stated corporate and employee rights and obligations? Take a look at existing employee files or, if no files exist, gathering all the papers into coherent personnel files. Minimally, you should have an Application for Employment form or resume, a W-2, any insurance forms that the employee may have signed, and performance appraisals. I also like to see start dates, dates of reviews, dates of promotions, and all the changes in wages or salary. Amsterdam Press in New York sells an excellent employee file jacket: if one is diligent, the entire employment history of an individual can be kept on the inside of the jacket and other pertinent information on the outside. Because personnel still runs on paper and paperwork, do not rely heavily on computerized files. Who takes care of payroll? There used to be an ongoing fight between HR and accounting as to who gets payroll. I have no idea why anyone would want it and it does belong in accounting more so than in HR but, should the question arise, the answer today is to outsource payroll to a payroll service (or a bank which offers such a service). There are still responsibilities such as informing the payroll service of changes in individual wages or salaries, docking, and final pay, but payroll services are definitely the way to go. They do vary in quality and quantity of services, so you will have to compare. Do not let a payroll service sell you more than what you need...which means that you'll have to do some research into what you need. Benefits administration is and should be separate from payroll. Even if you have the best broker in the world (who you only have to monitor on a semiannual basis), there is always internal administration of such packages. Further, you will have the responsibility of being the source for answering questions about all forms and types of insurance, the differences in options, and the cost to employees. One of the ways that HR can contribute to the company is by keeping the costs of benefits down, and this means auditing the policies periodically to be certain that there haven't been increases in premiums either directly or indirectly through a decrease in benefits. One person should be responsible for new employee orientation. In order to inform new employees of their benefits and the policies of the company, you will very simply have to be the expert in benefits and policies of the company. Does the company have a compensation system or is it pretty much a hit-or-miss proposition? Are there job descriptions? Job specifications? Is compensation tied to responsibilities? Are increases in pay tied to contributions to the company, i.e., pay-for-performance? Do you need a graded compensation system? Contrary to popular opinion, I am not certain that a compensation analyst from outside the company is needed to set up a system in a company with fewer than 50 employees. I know that one is not necessary for companies with fewer than 20 employees. What you will have to do is become proficient in writing or formalizing job descriptions. HR has an information function that you should think through. Changes in policies, changes in benefits, even changes in laws must be communicated to all employees. Major changes may call for training such as in harassment a few years back. Major changes in medical insurance benefits (as opposed to unemployment or SDI -- for those in states with SDI) have to be disseminated to all affected employees. Therefore, HR becomes a kind of pass-through in the information cycle. I've left recruiting for last because it can be, but is not always a major function in smaller companies. Some small companies are very stable, hiring perhaps as few as one new employee in a 12-month period. Others are in very competitive industries where recruiting can be a function unto itself. Interviewing, selection, and placement are part and parcel of recruiting and knowledge of the techniques involved is very important. Hiring the wrong person(s) is extremely expensive. Therefore, if recruiting is a major function, it may be in the company's best interest to have a professional recruiter and another employee to handle all the other functions. (The recruiter must also have knowledge of benefits and policies and procedures, but his or her primary function would be to find and hire the best person at the "best" salary, i.e., one that satisfies the applicant and is affordable to the company.) Certainly there are other responsibilities, but they should be considered as secondary. Delegating the Christmas party and company picnic to someone else should be your first priority. Don't get caught up in becoming the company's "cruise director." You've got better things to do. EMPLOYEE SURVEY: Often an essential component of organizational training and development, Employee surveys provide a picture of your organization's needs. These surveys can be used to solicit employee opinions on a variety of issues such as the company's success in communicating its mission to employees, or local issues such as quality of the working environment. These surveys often contain a series of multiple choice items grouped along one or more dimensions of the organization. The types of items included in these surveys may concern areas such as: · Creativity · Communication · Innovation · Obtaining Results · Satisfaction · Analytical Thinking · Senior Management · Mentoring · Interpersonal Relations · Strategic Leadership · Functional Expertise · Teamwork · Compensation · Staff Development · Ability to Listening · Adaptability · Customer Service Uses for Employee Surveys include: · Focusing of Employee Development Programs · Enhancing Management/Employee Relations · Training Needs Assessment · Evaluation of Training · Organizational Climate Survey · Customer Satisfaction Survey LEADERSHIP: The results of this type of feedback process provide an understanding how the employee perceives the organization along different dimensions. This process helps the organization (Human Resources Department) understand how the employees perceive them. This feedback: · Is essential to facilitating development and organizational change · Allows the organization to focus on needs and leverage its strengths · Informs the organization on which actions will create problems for the employees · Provides management with employee feedback (both positive and negative) on the Internal health of the organization · Measures the impact of current programs, policies and procedures · Can be used to motivate employees and improve job satisfaction · The purpose of this Document is to provide a guide to assist those who are conducting an employee survey. TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT: Training and development of employees: in an organization is very important. Training is needed to keep the employees' skills current. Also insofar as it serves as a foundation for career advancement, it plays an important role in the retention of employees. Educational assistance: is offered by most companies. Typically reimbursable courses must be job related, career related, or required for the degree. Reimbursement can vary based on grades attained or tuition cost. Many companies set a maximum reimbursement amount. Reimbursements typically include books, lab fees, and other required fees. A mentor program: can be an effective development tool. In a mentor program, a more experienced employee dedicates time to coach, counsel, and guide a less experienced employee, or just make him or herself available to answer questions. Counseling and feedback from a mentor can be less threatening and, therefore, more frequent and constructive, than from a manager. Usually those receiving the mentoring are new to the organization or new to the field (e.g. new college graduates). The mentor/mentored relationship can continue for a few months or a few years. Career counseling: is another effective developmental tool. Typically the manager is the best career counselor for the employee since the manager can impact work assignments, which can foster career development. Employees should be encouraged to explore career interests to help prevent "burn out" or frustration and surprise from reaching a dead end in their career, and to enhance the employee's skills and, therefore, value to the organization. However, the employee needs to understand that he or she is primarily responsible for their career development, not the manager or anyone else. The steps in career counseling include: · Evaluating the employee's interests. Books, workbooks and questionnaires to help evaluate interests are available through libraries, bookstores, and consultants. · Evaluate the employee’s strengths and limitations. · Explore career options and opportunities · Create a career development plan. 360 PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Unlike, the traditional top-down appraisal where a supervisor appraises the performance of their subordinate, 360 Performance Appraisal incorporates multiple perspectives by using feedback from a variety of sources. These sources include peers, subordinates, customers, self, and supervisor. May be called multi-source feedback, multi-rater feedback, multi-level feedback, upward appraisal peer review. The results of this type of feedback process provide an understanding how the employee is perceived from different perspectives. This process helps an individual understand how others perceive them. Feedback is essential to facilitating performance improvements. Feedback allows people to utilize their strengths to their advantage. Feedback informs employees which actions create problems for others and to know what changes may be needed. Uses for 360 Performance Appraisal include: · Employee Development · Performance Appraisal · Performance Management · Training Needs Assessment · Evaluation of Training · Attitude Survey · Organizational Climate Survey · Customer Satisfaction Survey This process can also be a motivator of performance since it shows the employee that their opinions and views are considered important. Benefits: May improve service to customers if they are able to offer feedback to the employee. 360 Performance Appraisal offers a more complete picture of the employee's performance. This feedback can provide guidance on skills that an employee may need to develop. How it is conducted. 1. Develop questionnaires. A questionnaire used for 360 Performance Appraisal typically contains items that are rated on a 5 point scale. These items may be developed to measure different dimensions of job performance (e.g., communication, teamwork, leadership, initiative, judgment, etc). Questionnaires also typically include one or more open-ended questions to solicit written feedback. They typically include from 50 to 100 items. When estimating the amount of time to complete the questionnaire you should estimate about 1 minute per questionnaire item. If using a printed questionnaire form, you should consider using forms that can be scanned into a computer. 2. Ensure confidentiality of participants Steps must be taken to ensure the confidentiality of the feedback results. For example, feedback ratings from several subordinates may be combined (averaged) to mask the identity of an individual subordinate. Comments or written answers to questions may be summarized in the results to mask the identity of the author. The confidentiality helps ensure that the results are genuine. 3. Provide training/orientation. Often the feedback process involves use of one or more questionnaires, confidential information, and involvement from many different areas of an organization. Therefore, training and orientation to the feedback process is needed to facilitate a smooth feedback process. During this training/orientation, employees should be informed of what 360 Performance Appraisal is and why it is being implemented at your organization. You may want to provide samples of the questionnaire items and/or feedback results. 4. Administer the feedback questionnaire Distribute questionnaire forms (if using printed copies) with instructions. May want to prepare answers to common questions if other employees will be assisting in the administration. If possible, post the questions and answers to your web site for easy access. It is important to monitor the progress through the system in order to contact employees who need to complete forms. 5. Analyze the data Basic data analysis would include averages of ratings. More complicated analyses may include item-analysis and/or factor-analysis. Types of analyses include: Performance Dimension Summary; Summary-Performance vs. Expected; Individual Item Ratings; Item Ratings-Performance vs. Expected (normed); Highest- or Lowest-Rated Items (shows individual's strengths and weaknesses); Group & Organizational Ranking, and Recommendations for Development. You may want to analyze the data by organizational division or department to assess group and organizational strengths and weaknesses. This can be used to support or promote training and organizational development. 6. Develop and Distribute Results Feedback results should be shared with the employee. It should not be mandatory that the employee’s share the results with their supervisor. However, you may want to make this an optional part of the performance review of the employee. Most results for an employee will include a comparison of their ratings to the ratings of their supervisor and average of the ratings from others (peers, customers...). The comparisons may be in the form of numbers or simple bar charts. You may want to provide individual review sessions or group workshops conducted by a facilitator to help individuals review and understand the results and develop appropriate goals and objectives. Dimensions Responses are collected for items that fall under a specific dimension of job performance. A single questionnaire may contain dozens of questions that measure responses on one or more dimensions. Example dimensions are shown below. · Problem Solving Items under this dimension measure how well a person can understand information and options, give appropriate considerations to information, make correct decisions, analyze and interpret information, and react to changing situations. · Planning and Organizing Items under this dimension measure a person's ability to develop plans and objectives, develop long-term solutions, set business objectives adhere to schedules. · Communication Items under this dimension measure the ability to present information formally and informally in both written and orally. Also measures the ability to communicate with customers, staff, peers and supervisors. · Supervisory Skills Measures the individual's skill level in planning, organizing and overseeing the work of subordinates. Also measures a person's ability to manage workflow efficiently. · Administrative Skills Measures an individual's ability to implement and monitor actions to ensure compliance with policies and regulations. Also helps identify the ability to distribute information, allocate staff and maintain records or documents. · Business Control Measure the skill in, and concern for, controlling expenses, reducing costs, setting performance standards and reviewing budgets. · Manager Potential Index A measure of the composite score of the scales reflecting an individual's overall ability to successfully perform management tasks. Requirements? A 360 Performance Appraisal process requires a coordinated effort to collect hundreds, or even thousands, of pieces of data. In addition, ensuring confidentiality of the participants enhances the validity of the results. The survey administration may require time (to complete the questionnaires) and computer resources to analyze the data. KNOW, GROW, GO For Human Resource Executives As a leader in optimizing your organization’s human resources, you understand not only the importance of improving your organization's skill base, but the difficulties of empowering employees to do so and of communicating results and information back to senior management. Avilar can help you answer the tough questions. Help is on the way Now there is a solution that can help you: · Understand the skills of your organization and where the greatest skills gaps lie · Determine what skills you will need to acquire through training and recruitment to reach your corporate goals · Communicate to your management the impact skills improvement is having on reaching key corporate objectives Solution for Employee Competency Management, called KNOW, GROW, GO, provides you with a strategic plan, information management tools and support services. The end result: your employees are empowered to direct their professional development based on a solid understanding of their skills and skills gaps. This help to ensure that you reach your main goal as a human resources executive—helping your organization achieve its business objectives. KNOW, GROW, GO is a continuous cycle of assessment, learning and validation. The first step in competency-based training is to assess employees so you KNOW the baseline of your organization's skills. With Avilar’s Competency Mentor Solution, you have web-based tools that provide several options for assessing employees, including self-assessments, manager assessments, 360 assessment and objective testing. The results of the assessments are then mapped to the skill requirements of the organization to reveal skill gaps of employees and a clear inventory of the organization’s skill assets. Now that you know exactly where the critical skills gaps are, you can begin to GROW your organization's skill levels through targeted training and recruiting. Your employees can use the Competency Mentor to identify training activities based on their individual skill gap reports. Over time, you can measure if your training dollars are having the expected result of closing your organizational skill gaps. With an improved skill set, your organization is ready to GO reach its business goals. A vital part of reaching your objectives now and in the future is having critical information at your fingertips. With our web-based reporting dashboards, you will have a clear view of the impact of training on your organization's Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and your bottom line! With some people, wisdom comes with age; with others, age comes alone. NEEDS ANALYSIS HOW TO DETERMINE TRAINING NEEDS 1. Types of Needs Analyses 2. Techniques 3. Checklist’s to evaluate a test. Principle of Training It is important to identify training needs before trying to implement any training solutions. The identification of training needs is the first step in a uniform method of instructional design 1. Types of Needs Analyses Many needs assessments are available for use in different employment contexts. Sources that can help you determine which needs analysis is appropriate for your situation are described below. · Context Analysis. An analysis of the business needs or other reasons the training is desired. The important questions being answered by this analysis are who decided that training should be conducted, why a training program is seen as the recommended solution to a business problem, what the history of the organization has been with regard to employee training and other management interventions. · User Analysis. Analysis dealing with potential participants and instructors involved in the process. The important questions being answered by this analysis are who will receive the training and their level of existing knowledge on the subject, what is their learning style, and who will conduct the training. · Work analysis. Analysis of the tasks being performed. This is an analysis of the job and the requirements for performing the work. Also known as a task analysis or job analysis, this analysis seeks to specify the main duties and skill level required. This helps ensure that the training, which is developed will include relevant links to the content of the job. · Content Analysis. Analysis of documents, laws, procedures used on the job. This analysis answers questions about what knowledge or information is used on this job. This information comes from manuals, documents, or regulations. It is important that the content of the training does not conflict or contradict job requirements. An experienced worker can assist (as a subject matter expert) in determining the appropriate content. · Training Suitability Analysis. Analysis of whether training is the desired solution. Training is one of several solutions to employment problems. However, it may not always be the best solution. It is important to determine if training will be effective in its usage. · Cost-Benefit Analysis. Analysis of the return on investment (ROI) of training. Effective training results in a return of value to the organization that is greater than the initial investment to produce or administer the training. Principle of Assessment Use assessment instruments for which understandable and comprehensive documentation is available. 2. Techniques Several basic Needs Assessment techniques include: · Direct observation · Questionnaires · Consultation with persons in key positions, and/or with specific knowledge · Review of relevant literature · Interviews · Focus groups · Tests · Records & report studies · Work samples 3. Checklist for Training Needs Analysis It is helpful to have an organized method for choosing the right test for your needs. A checklist can help you in this process. Your checklist should summarize the kinds of information discussed above. For example, is the test valid for your intended purpose? Is it reliable and fair? Is it cost-effective? Is the instrument likely to be viewed as fair and valid by the test takers? Also consider the ease or difficulty of administration, scoring, and interpretation given available resources. A sample checklist that you may find useful appears on the following page. Completing a checklist for each test you are considering will assist you in comparing them more easily. JOB EVALUATION METHODS: Classification: Jobs are classified into an existing grade/category structure or hierarchy. Each level in the grade/category structure has a description and associated job titles. Each job is assigned to the grade/category providing the closest match to the job. The classification of a position is decided by comparing the whole job with the appropriate j...