Tag Archive for: hr

A Workplace Disability Accommodation Tool Kit from JAN

Managing disability accommodations can be a real challenge for both employer and employee. Of course, we want to do it gracefully, comply with the law and make sure the result is a productive employee.

My friends at the Job Accommodation Network have released an awesome Workplace Disability Accommodation Toolkit which includes:

  • Sample accommodation procedures
  • Training presentations
  • Role-play videos
  • Examples of policies and forms from leading U.S. businesses
  • Best practices for creating an inclusive workplace
  • Checklists to track the accommodation process

The Toolkit provides guidance for the different areas of the employment process and a resource for recruiters, hiring managers, supervisors, human resource professionals, accommodation consultants and allies of employees with disabilities.

Here’s an example of a resource page.

You can access the Workplace Accommodation Tool Kit https://AskJAN.org/toolkit

Why Every HR Problem Becomes a Sales Problem

Here’s a reality: half of your competitors hire better than the other half. Some are in the bottom 10%, and then there are those great companies in the top 10%. You can imagine how this variance impacts your bottom line, whether you have 5 or 5000 employees.

The same could be said for your retention practices. What if you had half the turnover of your closest competitor?

I speak with a lot of business owners. I do my best to help them understand there is a great opportunity in Great HR practices. I also let them know somebody must pay for poor HR practices and eventually that somebody is the sales team (which may be you).

There’s a lot of variance in the cost of that turnover depending on whether they were poor performers or great performers, took people with them, filed unemployment or work comp claims, etc.  To get a true sense of this exposure, I encourage you to fill in your “replacement” costs:

  1. The time and money it takes to find a replacement. Sourcing, interviewing, referral fees, etc. If you are a small shop and doing the hiring yourself that cost adds up quickly (What’s a few hours of your time worth?) __________________
  2. Time and cost of background checks and pre-hire fit for duty exams. (You do both…right?) Typically $75- $100 per new hire, if you do it right. ______________
  3. Short -term replacements costs such as paying for overtime, hiring a temporary employee or best of all, doing the job yourself. _______________________
  4. The cost of customer dissatisfaction (they lost a contact they liked and trust, or you lost the customer because of that employee they never want to see again) and loss of “brand value.” (What’s the “lifetime” value of a customer? What’s the value of your brand?) _________________________
  5. Training, onboarding, new hire paperwork, payroll, benefits, handbook, etc. _________________________
  6. A poor player affects team productivity. (How many people do they typically work with on a team?) ________________________
  7. Poor employees generate safety and work comp costs. (The most dangerous employee is a new employee. ) ____________________________
  8. It affects unemployment payments __________________
  9. It affects overall morale, reducing engagement and “discretionary” effort. (What % of total payroll costs is affected? If it causes even a 5% dent that’s a huge number. ) ____________________________
  10. It drives you crazy and that is… priceless!

Let’s say the turnover cost is conservatively $5,000 per rank and file worker. The ratio jumps dramatically higher with office personnel.  It is an expense that comes right out of ownership’s pocket. There’s no insurance for it, or any way to amortize the cost. Let’s say you lost three rank and file employees at $15/hr. and an office worker at $30/hr. That will cost you at least $75,000. To put that $75,000 back into ownership’s pocket, you must now produce a certain level of replacement revenue. Sometimes people are quick to think that’s an ROI figure, meaning if the company has a 10% ROI then it will cost $750,000 in revenue to place the $75,000 back into the pockets (bottom line).

Not so fast.

After speaking at two CPA conferences, I learned this was not the case. Because there are many fixed overheads involved, the replacement figure is closer to a 4:1 to 6:1 ratio. Meaning you must bring in top-line revenue of anywhere from $300,000 to $450,000 to put the $75,000 back into your pocket! And…that’s just so you can break-even!

Now that’s a much bigger problem!

It gets owners attention when they connect the dots and realize their personnel practices are not just creating cost problems but revenue problems too. That revenue can be broken down into the number of sales, customers, marketing efforts, engagements and other activities required to generate it. For example, if you’re earning $2,000-$4000 on each new contract sold you must sell at least 75-150 contracts to break even on losing those employees. What will you have to drive those additional sales?

I’ll say it again…getting your HR act together is one of the most underutilized opportunities at most companies, and most likely yours. Everything I hear from owners is about getting talent, getting talent, getting talent. Is your HR dept. (even if it’s somebody wearing three hats, like you) helping to attract great employees? Do you have robust referral programs? Is there great onboarding and engagement practices?

In future articles, I’ll drive further into best practices you can consider…but it all starts with knowing the math.

Whether you are an owner reading this, in HR, or simply interested, I will send you an Excel doc where you can help quantify your Turnover Costs and another spreadsheet to help you determine the most cost-effective Retention Programs to use.

Here’s to growing your bottom line!

Don

don@donphin.com

(619) 852-4580

www.donphin.com

www.linkedin.com/in/donphin

66 Powerful Strategies for Great HR

Great HR represents a competitive advantage for your company and career. It affects you whether you are in HR…or not. In the 66 POWERFUL STRATEGIES FOR GREAT HR e-book I discuss the reality that half of all HR managers are more effective than the other half. It’s also a fact the top 10% of HR managers get healthy six figure salaries and a seat at the strategic table.

Would you like me to show you how to break away from the pack and launch into the stratosphere of the top 10%?

Not only am I happy to share this e-book… but for the first 10 people who contact me, I will provide a free one hour coaching session. There is no cost for this and no obligation of any kind. You will love the experience.

I offer this free session because I’m excited about helping HR managers make a difference… and get paid well for it too! I know that if you find value in my help, you may also be interested in one of my programs.

Here’s what you do next. If you want to schedule a coaching session, all you have to do is email me at don@donphin.com and let me know your availability. Once I have your information, I’ll do some research on you and your company and we’ll set up the time for our meeting. I promise to get back to you within 2 business days.

Here’s to your success, Don

The Truth About HR and You

Whether you are in HR …or not…this book can greatly benefit your company. If I was an HR executive I would take it to heart. If I managed an HR executive you will learn how to do that better. I cover both the hard stuff like knowing your numbers and how to communicate them, as well as the soft stuff including the emotional challenges of most HR folks.

As I say in the book, the goal is to be a “Kick Ass” HR Executive. Do that and you will get the rewards and pay you desire.

Click here to get your free copy of the book today (you will get an immediate PDF download.)

Here’ to Kick Ass HR, Don

Ideas that Should be Retired in Human Resources

I love the Freakonomics podcast, especially a recent one on ideas that should be retired in science. http://freakonomics.com/2015/03/05/this-idea-must-die-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/ Of course, this got me thinking about ideas that should be retired in HR. Here’s my shot at it:

1. Data will give us all the answers – In the podcast they discuss the fact that relying solely on data limits our ability to go deeper into relationships and understanding. Of course, data related to hiring or turnover or performance or compliance can be valuable, but it’s simply a starting point. So what if we find that most employees tend to leave our company at 2.8 years of employment. What meaning does that data have? To what extent have we had real conversations with people who have left the company at that time? Bottom line is not to rely solely on data because it seldom has all the answers and can remove us from common sense as well as deeper inquiry.

2. Performance appraisals actually improve performance. Dr. Deming began attacking this idea after World War II. He believed that performance evaluations were more destructive than beneficial of performance. Instead of performance appraisals he instituted kaizen, otherwise known as continuous improvement. He simply asked the question how can we do a better moving forward? What would it take for us to do a perfect job? Instead of performing to a tolerance (i.e. you’ve got to get at least three out of five on your performance evaluation) why don’t we ask how everybody can get fives?

3. HR needs to be strategic and get a seat at the table. I’ve had many conversations about what it means to be “strategic.” The problem is after a 15-year conversation about it, it’s a worn-out metaphor. So what if you don’t get a seat at a table, does that mean you’re somehow less effective? Perhaps you don’t even deserve or want a seat at the table. What’s really most important is whether or not you’re doing the HR job up to your full potential. That’s what really matters. Maybe we should substitute the term the full potential HR executive in place of the strategic HR executive.

What ideas do you think need retirement?