Category Archives: human resources

Employee Retention – It’s Not About The Money

Posted on Friday May 24th, 2013 by | Leave a comment

A number of years ago I headed the HR department in a 900+ technical support centre.  As everyone knows contact and technical support centres typically have high employee turnover; anywhere from on average  75% annually to as high as 200% annually, and sometimes beyond!  Our turnover averaged 11% annually.  How did we do it?

Fact is that the jobs were the jobs were the jobs; highly monitored, non-stop busy and personally restrictive.  We knew early on that we couldn’t change the job but we could leverage our value proposition and meet our employees’ expectations.

Value proposition, what exactly is that?  In this case it was learning why our employees came to us, learning what motivated them and learning why they stayed.  Now, before you managers go off and start trying to brain storm let me add that the fallacy of this exercise would be for a bunch of manager to sit around some boardroom table and try to answer these questions themselves.  If you want to know what employees are thinking, go to the source, ask your employees.

We invested in facilitated sessions with employees; not just our superstars or our stars but all employees, the good, the bad and the ugly.  What we learned was that…

Why the joined us?  Most of our employees were recent graduates of post-secondary education.  Our job title, MS Support Engineer, appealed to them. After all who doesn’t want that job title straight out school!  Recruitment learned to promote the heck out it!

What motivated them?  Originally we had a one tier set-up.  Everyone was on the phone providing front-line technical support.  What we learned was that Gen Y need to be rewarded for their expertise.  To meet this expectation we went to a three their system: Support Engineer 1 providing front line support, Support Engineer 2 providing more technical call back support and Support Engineer 3 providing technical support to Support Engineers 1 and 2.

Why they stayed?  It wasn’t the money, we paid $10.50 an hour to start; not a lot for a post-secondary graduate.  Again about Gen Y, they require their employer to invest in their development as they plan to leverage their knowledge in their restless quest for upwards mobility.  Hence we never stopped training!  Most training was in-house.  Primarily we used employees to train each other; formal training sessions, informal lunch and learn type events as well as one-on-one coaching.   We also brought in trainers from time-to-time but usually to address specific skillset deficiencies rather than for development reasons. Finally, we didn’t limit our training to IT.  We also provided training in soft skills (eg. leadership, time management, etc) as well as in functional areas (eg. basic finance, human resources management, training delivery, etc).

Finally, the monthly nachos, pizza, ice cream and cake days, and the period fun days (eg. beach day, health and wellness, diversity) rounded out our offerings. After all, the family that eats and plays together stays together!

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Posted in advice, human resources

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Work Smarts

Posted on Thursday April 25th, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Work Smarts is an employment program recently launched throughout Atlantic Canada in partnership between the Saint Mary’s University Business Development Centre and the government of Canada.  Work Smarts provides post-secondary graduates with their first position in their chosen field at a dramatically subsidized rate for participating employers.   The program offers approximately $9,000.00 in wage subsidies.

The program is currently accepting applications from employers with a deadline of 3 June for placement.

For more information visit the Work Smarts website or contact the program administrator at (902) 429-2992 or by email at worksmarts@smu.ca.

WorkSmarts Rack Card June 2013

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Posted in Government programs, human resources

Francophone Immigrants Available for Work

Posted on Monday December 3rd, 2012 by | Leave a comment

50% wage subsidy!

A number of programs exist to facilitate the integration of newly settled immigrants into Nova Scotia’s society.  The government has also recognized the need to support francophone immigration and is providing resources to that effect.

For the past three years it has funded a unique program which is delivered at the Halifax Campus of Université Sainte-Anne.   The program combines classroom instruction to upgrade language skills, computer skills, occupational health and safety training, and job hunting skills.  The program also provides for a work-term of 10 weeks in a local business, government agency, or not for profit organisation.   A wage subsidy of 50% is available to employers who want to provide a suitable work experience.

HR pros has been working with Université Sainte-Anne and has helped a number of francophone immigrants establish themselves in the labour market over the past three years.   Currently, there are 5 candidates participating in the program.   All can speak at least 2 languages and some are fluent in English as well.  We are  looking for appropriate employers to provide work experience for 10 weeks for:

  • Medical lab technologist with 4 years of experience
  • Experienced Auditor
  • Administrative Assistant
  • Marine biologist
  • Personal Care Attendant

Don`t forget there is a 50% wage subsidy!  These candidates are eager to work and can start immediately.  If you want to take advantage of this program, please contact Sylvain (902) 877-1887 for more information.

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Posted in human resources, Immigration, Small Business

Reverse Trade Show

Posted on Thursday October 18th, 2012 by | Leave a comment

The Reverse Trade Show is an excellent opportunity for vendors to connect with buyers from Nova Scotia public sector.  This year’s Halifax Reverse Trade Show  was held on 16 October at the Canada Games Center. Here’s an impromptu pitch for HR pros:

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Posted in human resources

The cost of hiring new staff

Posted on Monday July 30th, 2012 by | 1 Comment

According to Statistics Canada, more people are now working than before the recession of 2008 and the number of job vacancies is increasing.  These statistics reflect what some small business owners have been telling me in recent months.  They are having problems recruiting and hiring qualified staff.  They are spending an increasing amount of time and money trying to fill vacancies and often settle for candidates who may not last three months.

Having to constantly hire new staff is not only disrupting for the business, it can be a drain on its resources.   Business owners usually know the actual costs of advertising, new uniforms, and training.  However, they rarely factor in their own time for screening resumes, conducting interviews nor the added administrative costs associated with setting up a new employee’s payroll and benefits.   Did you know that the total cost of new employee has been estimated at 50% of the annual wage of the new employee?

For any job, there is usually a period of adaptation for the new employee.   Typically, it will take between three and six months for the employee to become fully proficient in their job i.e. 100% productivity.  New employees take more time, make more mistakes, and ask for more help therefore disrupting the work flow.  This is a loss of productivity.  Until they are fully proficient at their new job, a percentage of their salary represents lost productivity.  For example, an employee who earns $1200.00 per week and achieves 50% of productivity is incurring $600.00 per week of loss productivity costs.

While the lost in productivity can be estimated, there is another potential cost that is much harder to estimate: lost clients or lost opportunities.   A new employee is more likely to make a mistake with clients.  While an existing and loyal client might overlook the issue and give you another chance, a new client will probably go elsewhere for business.  We have all done it.  We don’t like the first impression and move our business elsewhere.

What can employers do?  Retention is an obvious element of the solution.  Employers who retain employees will avoid recruiting and hiring costs.  The other component of the solution is to do a better job at recruiting, motivating, and engaging new employees.  With that in mind and to help business owners, we have scheduled FREE webinars on effective recruiting and hiring.

Sign up today to learn more about effective recruiting and hiring!

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Posted in human resources, Small Business

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