It's the Process Stupid!

During a recent presentation of our The Ultimate Improvement Cycle: A Six Sigma Approach to Human Capital Management we were at the point of bringing all the concepts together and we were discussing a pyramid of thoughts to wind everything up. One of the blocks in the pyramid states " Focus on the process, not people--avoid the blame game."

One of the seminar participants indicated that teir organizastion had just hired a continuous process improvement guru who constantly says if there is a problem in the organization it is the fault of an employee. But that is not the way it works. That is not going to  grow your department. Wait I misspoke, that tactic will not grow the entire organization.

We all want everything to be perfect. But in real time this is never true. The processes we use to manage human capital are far from perfect. The processes have build in stumbling blocks. Some are small others are large as the sinkhole that just swallowed your neighbors home. In each of these events the problem has nothing to do with the person involved. Primarily the humanbc apital assets are doing exactly what they were told to do. It is the process which is flawed. You want to improve the performance of the organization. Concentrate your efforts on improving the process.

In their book The Workforce Scorecard, Mark Huselid, Brian Becker and Richard W. Beatty make the argument that HR needs to be judged not on what you do but what you deliver. Delivery is a process, so if the delivery is not there it is the way you deliver the expected KSA"s to your organization, it is not the person who is operating within the system.

When we function from the point of view that it is the person's fault the message we are sending is that the human capital asset that we so very much need in this competitive glob al workplace is niot valued for what they contribute to our organization. We are sending the message that we do not want them engaged in our organization because they can never deliver the process to the customer. Concentrating on the person instead of the process means that we do not recognize that what the voice of the customer is telling us has nothing to do with meeting the client's needs.

Understand we are not discounting that there are times when a particular employee just does not get it, when it comes to what the customer needs.Further, we are cognizant of the fact that this needs to be resolved quickly and efficiently. The employee's skills may not match what the process requires. But it is wrong to issue a blanket statement that if the process is not working the operator must be at fault. Continous process improvement case studies have proved that this approach is not only wrong it is dangerous to the organization.

You make the decision - Are you there to ensure the future of your organization or are you there to be the source of  singling out those who are attempting to perform the way you expect but has to learn how to climb this rock wall before they can do so?

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How much am I really worth to the organization?

Every day I open the newspaper in the morning or turn on the evening news and as of late the same stories are on. The GOP has come out with these lists of programs that need to be cut in order to solve the deficit problem faced by this country. I am not negating that there is a spending problem in this country. What I am disputing is the tendency from either side of the aisle when talking about making cuts in spending they reduce everything to the level of a commodity. This can in the long run lead to dramatic changes in our society.

Take the budget debate and convert it to our organizations and their human capital assets. When we find that our organizations are declining for what ever reason the first tendency is to suggest that we cut expenses by cutting overhead. So the first thing that tends to be cut are the trainers and human resource professionals. Usually there are dire results that come as a result. Take the corporate mobility industry as a good example. In 1955 when the industry began, it was done so in response to a real need on the part of individuals who were being moved by their organizations. When we got into the 1990's and early 21st Century, the deliver of relocation services began to be treated by the procurement side of the company as a commodity. The result was that service levels dropped. The needs of the human capital assets were ignored. The level of engagement on the part of employees declined. Instead of being a real live person, the employee became just another number.

Now as we work our way through the budget deficits at the federal, state and organizational level we are headed towards treating our human capital assets as commodities instead of being viable assets of the organization. I have a friend who was the CHO of an organization who was directly told that if was better financially to let him go then to continue to operate as they have been, James Womack in his book Lean Thinking states that unless the organization is on the verge of going out of business there is no reason to lay anyone off. There are sufficient non-value added steps to our processes that you can find the funds to avoid treating your human capital as commodities,

As a member of the C-suite of your organization you have the responsibility to manage the workforce of your organization and this includes respecting and appreciating the worth your human capital assets bring to your organization. It is their creative power which enhances your organization in the marketplace. It is their creative power which provides you with the innovation to be the best in your industry. It is their creative power which makes your organization attractive to the best talent in the world.

As corporate executives you determine the legacy that your organization leaves in the global economy. Are you leaving the legacy which says your human capital is just another number on your balance sheet? Are you telling the available talent that you really want them in your organization but we think that your contribution is limited because you are a commodity? The choice is yours to determine just how much your human capital assets are worth to your organization. The choice is your to determine whether they are a vital part of your organization or just something that can be swept under the rug when times get tough.

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American businesses hire interns

According to CNN Moeny, businesses have converted interns to ful tim epositions at the highest rate in decades. The results are from the annual survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. The 58% conversion rate is the highest rate since the survey began in 2001.

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In Plain Sight: Hidden Wastes that Affect the Viability of Your HR Organization Part 5: Solutions

Every organization and every business enterprises is comprised of processes that they use to conduct the business of their organization. As we stated in Part 1 of this series, organizations like people strive to be the best that they can be. In their way are obstacles which are a natural tendency of processes which slow those processes down. The root causes of these slow downs are the types of wastes we presented for discussion in parts 2-4.

In this final part to the series we turn our direction not to those wastes but strategies that have been used by other organizations to remove the wastes. The final objective is to create a standard of work which will  eliminate those wastes and overtime be repeatable within the workforce.

Strategy #1: Redesign the work flow

Take a careful look at your processes. Ensure that as much as possible that everything that your human capital need to complete their assigned tasks are within easy reach. If they require constant access to a fax machine make sure there is one within arms length. If they need access to a particular file make sure it is in a file cabinet next to their desk. After reviewing the waste categories remove any unnecessary steps in the processes.

Strategy #2: Voice of the Customer

The wants and needs of the customer are paramount to the success of the organization. If the organization includes within their processes steps not required by the customer get rid of them. If you have accumulating files which have no bearing on current projects or processes, where ever possible get rid of them.  We would suggest that HR go to the sales and marketing  team and request that you go with them on sales calls to the customer. Use this opportunity to gain a better understanding of the qualifications the customer wants to find in the employees they deal with. Reduce the number of reports by not sending information through the pipeline except where it is specifically requested by a customer (internal or external).

Strategy #3: Simplify movement through your organization

Seriously look at your organization and reduce movement of information and human capital as much as possible. As we already suggested above, redesign work cells to reduce the required movement by your human capital.

Strategy #4: Learn Your Organization

I hear the comments now, I already know my organization. But I would suggest that you may not truly know what you do and why you do it. Initially process map your organization. Follow up that with a value stream map of the organization. The process map provides a macro view of your organization and its process steps. The value stream map adds every document and every time period between the steps. It can be an eye opener to problems within your organization.  The two mapping exercises allow an organization to find ways to reduce the time gaps between process steps. It allows you to limit requests to exactly what the customer says they need.

Strategy #5: Reduce overproduction

Begin by implementing the lean tool and asking the 5 Why questions. Each time you ask the question you get closer to the root of why you do things the way you do. From this eliminate useless data collection and non-value added required steps in those processes.

Strategy #6: Reduce overprocessing

Look at your approval routes. Is it really necessary for the VP of HR to get a job requisition and approve it before the assigned recruiter begins the talent management effort? What if you gave the recruiter the requisition with a copy going to the VP? Move from a system where you continually push candidate information to hiring manager to waiting until they ask for the specific requirements for a specific job need.

Strategy #7: Eliminate the Obstacles in Your processes

Where ever possible automate your process steps. Ensure that every department within your organization adapts the standard of work that the organization has created. If a department thinks they have an idea to improve a process. let them show the entire organization why it is better. Do not let a single department stray from the standard work model.Utilize the DMAIC model from the six-sigma methodology to improve the way you do things.

Strategy #8: Create Skill Benches

Take a page from the playbook of IBM and create skill benches within your organization, When a specific department needs the skills from the bench, the bench assets are sent to the department on a project basis. When the project is complete they return to the skill bench. If there is no new project beginning, then the downtime is used to gain the necessary continuing education to do their jobs better, faster and cheaper.

Strategy #9: Change Your Hiring Metrics

Change your standard of work on hiring from one where the various department managers exercise discretion on manpower needs and adjust resources as needed to one where the organization's manpower capacity is optimized via priorities, scheduling and monetary resources.

Strategy #10: Utilize maximum materials throughout the organization

Review the creative processes within the organization and make sure you are using all available materials. Ensure that unless absolutely necessary e-mails are not printed and kept for eternity. when you create marketing pieces or reports or forms make sure you use all available material resources.

Our premise throughout this series is that in order for your organization to optimize your processes, you need to identify the obstacles to that optimization. Once you have found the roadblocks remove them. The results are that when you have removed the non-value added activities and you have created the standard of work we will increase the bottom line. The very direct result is that you will lower your organization's carbon footprint in the sand. You therefore have made your organization more sustainable - socially, environmentally and economically.

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In Plain Sight: Hidden Wastes that Affect the Viability of Your HR Organization Part 4

As stated previously hidden wastes occur in every process undertaken by our organizations, whether we are looking from the production side or the transactional side. In part 4 the final three types of waste or muda that exist in your  organization are reviewed. These will lead us into the final part which offer possible solutions that would assist your organization in removing the non-value added steps to your processes.

Waste or Muda #7 Defects

We as individuals get highly upset when we purchase something and it is not what we expected because something does not work. Our customers get  highly upset when our processes do not provide exactly what they expect. When looking at the human resource operations these defects can be present in several ways.

The first defect is tied to a great degree with our earlier discussion of the waste found in Motion within the organization. When we expect our employees top make extra trips to retrieve what they need to complete the tasks their position calls on, we are reducing productivity.  You ask an employee to retrieve a file for a project but to do so means they have to go to the other side of the building. A client send a fax to your department but the person who is supposed to receive it can't verify that it arrived without leaving his/her desk and going to the mail room. Every time you waste time by not having the materials needed to complete tasks right at their finger tips you are creating waste for your organization.

 The second example of waste within your HR department is when you produce either hard copy forms or online forms with items that are illegal in nature. When we spent some time seeking a full time human resources position we observed questions on application in example which were either against the law or had no bearing on a Bona Fide Occupational Qualification. We are talking about questions such as date of birth, date the candidate graduated form high school. Probably the most out of the box question was an application that contained a mandatory yes or no response to the question "Are You a Visible Minority." These types of questions create waste due to the fact that you can't utilize them in your hiring decisions so why ask them. Have you ever sent out offer letters with wrong start dates or compensation information? Have you ever sent out letters or documents which were critical for the completion of a project only to get them questioned because of misspellings?

 Waste or Muda #8: Unused Employee Potential

The United Negro Fun for years ran a commercial in which the tag line was it was a shame to waste a mind. In this age when our employees are corporate assets,to place them in a position where their full potential is not utilized jeopardizes the organization and is waste to the operation. We do this by not planning our staffing needs correctly. If we hire too much or we have processes that have to wait on a previous step, then we have employees sitting idle and spinning their wheels until they have what they need to continue. We also introduce waste to the human resource process when we under staff the operations leading to  work overload which leads to less than maximum productivity because the employees can not possible get everything done which leads to shortcuts which leads to the potential for defects in the output.

Waste or Muds #9: Material Underutilization

Every day we produce materials out of our processes which end up nowhere. When was the last time you received an e-mail and just to make sure that you did not lose it, you printed a copy?  When was the last time you were printing a 3x5 postcard and you only put two on a page instead of four? When was the last time you scheduled a tele-conference only to have a person who was supposed to be in attendance show up 15 minutes late? What do you do with the information generated by your department? Each of these lead to process waste because the results of the above examples are non-value added steps in a process.

To this point we have provided you with a macro view of the wastes that can appear within your processes. Every organization is guilty of these non-value added steps to one degree or another. The last part of this series will take the HRCI Body of Knowledge and suggest to you solutions that you can use to eliminate the types of waste that we have discussed to this point in this series. we hope that we have at least gotten you to begin to look at your own specific HR processes and considered where you are wasting non-productive time within those processes.

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Just when you thought you had a handle on social media issues

I opened my email to see a post from fellow blogger, Steve Boese (http://steveboese.squarespace.com/joural). It provided a new twist to the HR concerns with the use of social media in the workplace.

Freedom of Choice in Workplace Technology

Posted: 21 Apr 2011 05:21 AM PDT

There is a growing technology trend in workplaces both large and small called 'Bring Your Own Device', sometimes abbreviated as BYOD. Bring Your Own Device simply means that organizational IT departments are allowing individual employees to use their personal or preferred 'devices', (smartphones, tablets, laptops), to access the corporate systems and tools they need to accomplish their work.

BYOD, while certainly more complex for centralized IT teams to support and administer, is an admission and realization that often an individual's attachment and bond to their personal productivity tools is so powerful, that forcing them to adapt and adopt to the corporate footprint is counter-productive and even deflating.  Think about it, if you hire a new sales executive, that has years of his or her industry and corporate contacts resident on their iPhone, or saved to a cloud-based service they access via an Android app, does it really make sense to hand them a new BlackBerry and tell them to 'deal with it, because that is what we support.'

Proponents of BYOD will contend that allowing employees to bring their own devices can reduce training costs as well as the amount of IT support calls on an ongoing basis. Despite supporting 'more' devices, the argument is that each employee already knows how t use and manage their preferred device. As in the example of the new sales rep above, not having to transition from a device and set of tools to a new 'official' platform, can make employees more productive, and reduce time to achieve desired performance levels. Finally, they make employees happier. People LOVE their iPhones, Androids, iPads, whatever. Making them break those ties when they come to the office is painful for many.

The arguments against BYOD typically center around data security, lack of resources to deploy and support a myriad of devices and platforms, and cultural drivers that tend to resist the kind of openness and freedom that BYOD programs foster.  But it does seem likely that as we see the major shift in consumer preferences towards iPhones, iPads, and Android devices; and away from the traditional enterprise deployments of BlackBerries and Microsoft-based PCs, that progressive organizations and IT leaders will simply have to embrace these shifts, and figure out a way to support what their employees really want, while balancing their need to maintain IP and data security.

Recently Clorox, an 8,300 person strong maker of consumer cleaning products adopted a kind of modified BYOD program, by offering its workers a choice of corporate-supported smartphone. Previously, BlackBerry had been the corporate standard. Workers could choose from iPhone, Android, or a Windows7 device. The result - "the company has issued 2,000 smartphones, 92% of which are iPhones. About 6% of the smartphones chosen were Android-based while 2% were Windows Phone 7 devices."

This isn't a knock on BlackBerry, I personally am a happy BlackBerry user, but rather an observation that prior to having a choice of device, almost all of the employees at Clorox were not happy with the 'provided' device, and given the opportunity to move to something more aligned with their preferences, they jumped at the chance. Clorox didn't make this decision to be nice or kind to staff, they balanced the value of the increased effectiveness and engagement of staff against the cost to procure and support the suite of devices and have determined that rather than being a perk to employees, it is simply just a good business decision.

I think we will see more BYOD programs taking hold in the coming years as new entrants to the workforce carry in their tools and preferences and expect them to be supported in the workplace.

I wonder if the next trend might be BYOHRT, Bring your own HR Technology? What might that look like?

Thank you Steve for your input to the dialogue

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In Plain Sight: Hidden Wastes which affect the viability of your HR organization Part 3

In the previous part to this series we began to look at the various types of wastes which could be hidden within your organization. In part 3 we continue that review with a look at the next three types of wastes.

Waste or Muda #4: Waiting

Waiting of any kind means that the process has slowed down. Maybe even stopped. When we make the customer wait for something we have created waste. Waiting can take many different shapes within our organizations.

The IT Manager tells the HR manager that he/she needs that new analyst in three days and now we are looking at 3 months and you are no closer to filling that position then you were when the IT manager said he need the person in critical fashion.

Your organization's policy is that all job requisitions must go through the HR manager before a recruiter can begin sourcing the position. The HR Manager due to their workload forgets to give the job requisition to the recruiter for 72 hours. That becomes 72 man hours of wasted effort.

Voice of the customer is critical in seeking out the needs of the customer. So when a department manager tells HR they need certain metrics to complete a project, then that is what they expect. HR decides that in order to make sure that the manager has everything develops reports that provide the information requested and then some. The result is that the manager has to delay their report because they have to get through the noise before finding exactly what they need,

Waiting can also occur when HR sets up interviews at the wrong date and time or the offer includes the wrong salary information.meaning until the errors are corrected the new hire can not start in the new position.

Waste or Muda #5: Over production

Have you ever heard of the term "overkill?" This area of the non-value activities is the optimum of overkill, overproduction can be found in everything we in HR do. You ask a recruiting source for their best 5 candidates and they send you 20. The department manager asked for a spreadsheet showing the past month's recruiting results and they are sent the past quarters results.Another example is when the department manager requests a report for a specific piece of data so the HR department send them the report every month. In that same scenario, the department manager asks for a specific report on a specific metric and HR prepares the report and also send along the various accompanying support data.

Waste or Muda #6: Overprocessing

As you go shopping tonight or try and call customer service, look around and see how many steps it takes to get you to where you want to be. You call customer service for your favorite store and go through call hell as you are asked to push this number on your phone to continue the process. The other night for instance I called the customer service number for a book store and the CSR was refusing to help because their records said that the credit card number on the account was not the number we have been using to order titles, so she would not let me talk to a supervisor.

Overprocessing can occur when you respond to a hiring manager's request and not really understanding the real needs or wants of the customer. The result is that you deliver something to the hiring manager and because it is the wrong information, the system bogs down until you deliver the right metrics.

Ever look at your recruiting process in detail. HR sources, screens, recruits and interviews potential candidates and refers the best candidates to the hiring manager. That is the way the system is supposed to work, Then comes the hiring manager who states that they want to see all the resumes and re-screens the candidates and schedules interviews just like the HR department already has done.

Non-value added actions are never a good thing for the organization, but as the next three waste types have shown they can especially be detrimental to your HR strategy. In the next part of the series we will look at the final three types of wastes and what they mean for the HR function. The last part of the series will look at possible solutions to remove these wastes from your processes.

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In Plain Sight: Hidden Wastes which affect the viability of your HR organization Part 2

In Part 1 of this series we discussed the fact that every process has non-value added activities as part of the process. They are there because we have not looked for them and in order to be part of the solution we need to begin to look at our organization with the sole purpose in mind to locate, identify and remove the obstacles to us operating our organizations faster, better and cheaper.

If we talk to many of those who operate in the quality space they will identify nine specific types of wastes that occur in every organization. Part 2 will examine the first three of these waste definitions,

Waste or Muda #1: Transportation

Typically when we think of transportation we are concerned with moving people or materials from one place to another. In this case we are more concerned with the movement within your organization. Take a look around your office space or if you are in manufacturing look at your shop floor. Where does an employee have to go to get their required materials to complete a task? Can they turn around and pick up the item or do they need to go across the building to get what they need? Do you move the same piece of equipment multiple times to get it to where it is needed? Do you meet the needs of your customers or do you get a request for some data and what you send the client far exceeds what they asked for?

Waste or Muda #2: Inventory

We as humans and organizations have a tendency to think that we are pack rats. We consistently order what we think we will need for a specific time period even if we know we are more than likely going to change to a different form or model in a short period of time.  You create a new form and instead of ordering what the process tells you will be needed for say 6 months, you order two years worth of forms. When you change the form the excess gets added to the trash.  You maintain on hand permanent job requisitions for every position within the organization whether a hiring manager tells you it is needed or not.I know we don't need that job requisition now but we MAY at some time in the future. Your hiring manager calls you and tells you he needs a critical position filled within 3 days and due to department processes the recruiter does not get the position request for 48 hours. What happened to the voice of the customer?

Waste or Muda #3: Motion

Ever take a pedometer to work and see how far you walk in a day? How many steps do you take that repeat previous steps in order to complete a task? You are given an assignment to produce a report for senior management and in order to get it to the right place nine sets of hands touch the document instead of sending it directly to the manager who requested the report in the first place. I have a friend whose employer moved her desk from the second floor to the first. No big deal right. However they left all of her files on the second floor. By the time she walks the entire length of the building, goes up to the second floor and retrieves the file that is needed and returns to her desk, the organization has lost 25 minutes of productivity. If she makes that trip four times a day, the organization has lost the equivalent of 433 man hours per year. If we assume that she is being paid $15.00 per hour, that lost productivity has cost the organization almost $7000 annually in lost productive activities. Another common occurrence, in this area is the scenario where the management asks for a report and the HR staff throws all the numbers together and for what ever reason the report never leaves your department - the manager says after you complete the report that they don't need it after all or for some reason they report never gets delivered to the client.

These categories of waste and the others to follow, add costs to your operations, They jeopardize the future of your organization. What is obvious when you begin to explore these wastes is that they have been there all along, you just did not see them. Really look at these types of wastes and see how many of them exist in your organization and the affect on the organization because of them.

Part 3 and 4 will look at the remainder of the Muda types and what they do to the organization. Part 4 will return to this area and look at solutions for removing wastes from your HR process and the organization as a whole.

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In Plain Sight: Hidden Wastes which affect the viability of your organization Part 1

As individuals we all strive for perfection to some degree. Our organizations are no different. The goal of many organizations is to be the best at what they do. The problem is that we are so set in our ways that there obstacles presented to us that stop this effort in its tracks.

In the title to this post we discussed hidden wastes., These wastes which are in every process that your organization undertakes are there for one reason and one reason only. You have never looked for them.

Let me begin with a brief scenario to which I would ask you think very carefully on your answer. I am not concerned whether it is on a monthly , quarterly or annual basis, however your financial people have just handed you the financial reports on how your department is performing. Here is my challenge to you:

What do you do with the reports?

Many people to whom we have posed the question to respond by we check the numbers.What are you checking the numbers for? Do you look at the numbers to see if they are calculated correctly? or Do you look at the numbers to see where they came from? Your response tells us whether you are part of the problem or part of the solution.

We would suggest that instead of just checking the numbers to make sure the numbers are correct, approach the process with the utilization of a series of why questions. The purpose is to identify why we do things the way we do. Typically when you ask the question why the response is usually because that is the way we have always done it. So ask why again. This time the answer will change to because John Smith many years ago decided that this was the way we should do something. So why again.

The third why usually leads to a response like they heard it at a seminar or the owner of the company suggesting it. The course usually extends out to five whys which will at the end lead you to the real reason why you do something. It is the first step in uncovering wastes within your organization.

Our goal in doing this is to run our human resources processes faster (leaner), cheaper ( at less cost) and better (with less errors). We achieve this by introducing the six-sigma methodology to your transactional services. Our goal is to continuously improve the transactional services and process quality, getting the services to the customer faster, and reducing costs while improving the price to the customer.

The question is who are our customers? In order to achieve this process improvement our customers include both internal ( hiring managers, upper management, stakeholders) and external (recruiters, sourcing professionals,social media).

 Part 2 of this post will look at the nine types of waste or muda and some examples of how they can affect your organization.

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Did you here we threw a party and someone forgot to turn onthe lights?

Many of us spent the last week keeping an eye on the happenings in Washington with the threatened shutdown of the government as of last night at midnight. No matter which side of the political spectrum you are on, we understand that the government overspends. But we can take the discussions in Washington and carry it over to our business environment.

One of the difficulties of the discussions this past week were that they centered around a number and gave no concern to the underlying environment. We have done the same thing during these tough economic times. Organizations cut for the sake of cutting. They never looked at the after affects on the organization of the decisions. We can't dispute that organizations are reporting that they are more productive now then they have ever been. But at what cost? Workloads have increased. Stress levels have increased. When you add stress to the equation the organization's health care costs go up.Management operates under the premise that when the economy turns around they can just go out and hire another commodity. I truly believe that they are going to be in for a rude awakening when the talent shortage rears its head once again.

The reason behind this change is that organizations have begun to look at their human capital assets as commodities. When you make the change from viewing employees as commodities rather than a live person, your decision basis changes. You no longer take into consideration how your decisions affect the work/life balance of your employees. You no longer take into consideration the needs of the employees to create an environment where they they are becoming engaged with your organization. Recent surveys have suggested that as many as 85% of your current staff is considering jumping to new employment opportunities when the economy improves. Are you ready to deal with that mass exodus?

It is not too late to change your perspective. Remember that if you implement continuous process improvement tools you can add to the bottom line by removing non-value added activities. When you look at your human capital as expendable you will never look at them in any way as a commodity. James Womack in this book Lean Thinking, says that unless you are ready to close the doors of the business there is never a reason to conduct large scale layoffs as we have seen during this past economic downturn.

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Corporate Mobility Benchmarking

CNN Money.com is reporting that JPMorgan forked over $421,458 last year to compensate the CEO for moving costs incurred as he moved his family from Chicago to New York. Yes, moving is hell, but you don't know the half of it. This is the second time in three years that the bank picked up a six-figure sum for the CEO's relocation – which ended up taking five costly years from end to end. The bank has kicked in $617,734 since 2008 to cover the move.

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Recruiters, are you really servicing your clients?

I can hear some of you saying what do you mean “are we really serving your client?” Of course we are, otherwise we would not still be in business. In response I would ask when was the last time you asked your client what they really needed. When was the last time you took the time to sit down and really listen to what the needs of their organizations are?

The focus of this white paper, number seven in the DBAI White Paper Series, is a look at the question of whether you as recruiters are really serving your clients to the ultimate level that you can. Are you really earning the fees you collect for your services? Are you ethically performing what you think the client is asking for in return? When does your responsibility as a recruiter really end?

We have seen many changes occur in the global workplace over the past several decades. Unemployment has been on a roller coaster ranging from very low to record heights. A question of loyalty to our organizations on the part of our human capital assets has been paramount in many businesses. We have also seen an increase in the number of employees jumping to new opportunities because it looks good in their portfolio of skills. We fully cognizant of the fact that as time goes by, things will change.

Read any number of professional journals within the organizational environment – from CFO to HR magazine- one continuing theme is that C-level executives are having trouble sleeping at night over the concerns as to where the talent of the future will come from. They are concerned with locating the right person for the right position at the right time and in the right location. This does not mean ruling candidates out, it means finding attributes among possible talent that can enhance the organization.

In 1973, Allan Cox wrote a classic work entitled “Confessions of a Corporate Headhunter” which laid out the entire process of sourcing, recruiting, referring and collaborating on the hiring of new executive talent. Mr. Cox was an executive with one of the largest retained search firms in the country. In his book he defined your role as that of a mediator between executives who don’t understand their problems and candidates who are out for the fast buck. Assuming Mr. Cox is correct in his views the techniques and resources that are used may have changed, but your primary function has not. As an executive recruiter you are charged with the responsibility to assist your clients in locating, reviewing, and selecting the best possible candidate for the client’s talent capital vacancies. One aspect of this process should be ensuring that both the client and the candidate are well informed as to the total picture of the process. The only party to the process that can readily inform the parties is the recruiter.

We have talked to many recruiters who tell me that despite the definition above, all they do is receive the position requisition and send over the most likely candidate. We do not dispute the intention, however when you confine yourself to a narrow perspective, you have not assisted your client in finding the best person for the job.

Consider these real life examples,

• Where a recruiter made the statement that she would never send on to a client any candidate with grey hair.
• Sony Ericcson and others made it clear to the workplace that if you were unemployed you should not waste their time by applying for the position.
• Recruiters who are set in their silo that they won’t look at functional resumes which better describe the breadth of experiences that they have.

Your client has a problem. They have an open position in their ranks that is costing them dollars. Remaining staff must make up the workload. They are incurring the costs of recruiting new talent. The difficulty maybe that they may not understand what their problem is. You as the recruitment specialist are the route to solve their problem but only if you have a clear idea of what the problem is.

Having been on both sides of the desk we would suggest that to better serve your client you need to change your perspective on your role by following the strategies below:

Strategy 1: Stop playing the game of musical chairs

As children, we all have at one time or another attended the birthday party of a friend where the height of the party was the game of musical chairs. While it was a party standard, it also got old fast as the number of players dwindled. Here you are years later and you are still playing the party game. The difference now is you are not playing based on music but just moving people from place to place with no regard to where it all ends. Take Mary Smith from ABC Corporation and place her in ABD Corporation. Move John Smith from XYZ Corporation and put him in Mary’s position at ABC Corporation. Eventually you will run out of people to move. Whether you want to or not eventually you will have to take talent from one client to fill a position in another one. Where is your sense of ethics regarding your clients?

Strategy 2: Become a true partner with your clients

You receive a call from a client regarding the need for an executive. What you do next determines whether you are service provider or a true partner. Using the tools of the voice of the customer you need to get a complete picture of the needs of your client. Do not settle for a preliminary picture of the need. Work with your client to understand why the position is really open. Understand why they are going in a certain direction. Do not be afraid to question why a decision was made. As we suggested earlier it is time for you to sit down with your client and understand what the expectations of your clients are regarding the open position.

Strategy 3: Recognize the value a candidate brings to the picture

Every person has their own attributes that they bring to the table. As we have moved deeper into the information age, the candidate’s knowledge skills are more important than where he/she has worked. You have taken the time to really understand the needs of your client. Look for the skills that will solve the problem. Take the time to match candidates to positions based on those skills, not some assumed picture of what you think the client wants.

Strategy 4: Don’t stereotype your candidates

In line with the strategy above, each candidate brings a unique mix of experiences to the table. Eliminate from your vocabulary any decision based on pre-conceived thoughts. Just because a candidate has grey hair, doesn’t mean they are past their prime. Just because someone has lost their source of employment during hard economic times does not mean that their skills are no longer of any value to the workplace. Just because a candidate has not remained with one or two corporations for their entire work career does not mean they have lost the skills that your client needs.

Strategy 5: Be willing to take a certain level of risk

You need to determine whether you are a paper pusher or true consultant. Be willing to explain the business case why a particular candidate is the one to solve your client’s problem. Do not settle for working within the narrow view that your client might be imposing. Remember that if you don’t ask the why questions you may not have the real needs that the organization has.

Strategy 6: Gain a sense of ethics

By no means am I lumping every recruiter in this fishbowl but a fair number of recruiters have begun to tell candidates that before they apply for a position they should call the recruiter in order to see if the recruiter has a contact at that employer. Many use this as a source of leads for open positions. Think about how you would feel if someone used you in the same manner.

Strategy 7: Be prepared to present the cost benefits of talent acquisition

Be aware of the cost of various scenarios in the hiring process. In the long run it might be more cost beneficial to offer mobility services then to hire someone, have them stay two months and then have to go through the hiring process all over again. The common assumption is that if you hire someone and they leave within the first year it will cost your client 175 percent of the annual salary to replace, train and get the replacement up to full productivity.

We have tried to present the business case for a new model for the recruitment industry centered around the voice of the customer and understanding the true needs of your client. Your pursuit of this changed model determines whether you are a paper pusher or a true partner with your clients to place the right person in the right place, in the right position, at the right time. Whether you positively respond to the opening question depends totally on how close you come to completing the strategies we have outlined. We totally understand that our suggestions are not human nature as you operate today. Only you can understand how important serving your client’s needs are to your organization and your career.

Posted via email from hrstrategist@Net-Speed

Changes from the Healthcare Law

Both the House and the Senate have passed legislation and sent on to the President a repeal of the provision in the Healthcare Law that would have required 1099's be issued to all vendors paid over $600. While the intent was good to make up for lost revenue to the coffers of the country, it would have been a nightmare for businesses during the operation of their businesses.

Posted via email from hrstrategist@Net-Speed

New ADAAA regs: the untold story!!!

The law firm of Constangy, Brooks and Smith posted this discussion about the new ADAA regulations rules released by the EEOC.

As most people in the Human Resources and employment-law worlds are aware, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently issued its final rule interpreting the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act.

The ADAAA, which took effect in January 2009, was enacted toward the end of the administration of George W. Bush, with the support of disability rights advocates as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Society for Human Resources Management (both of whom were trying to head off a version that would have been worse for employers). The ADAAA dramatically expands the population that is considered "disabled" within the meaning of the ADA but does not change the ADA's provisions on, for example, reasonable accommodation, medical examinations, or confidentiality.

There has been a lot of commentary about the new regulations, but here are some points that I have not seen anywhere else:

1. The 40-or-so pages of dense preamble and regulations, and the EEOC's "Interpretive Guidance," can be summarized in one sentence, as follows: It is now unlawful to discriminate, not just against individuals with "disabilities," but against anyone because of a medical condition, whether actual, past, or perceived. (Please note that "medical condition" also includes mental/psychiatric conditions and learning disabilities.) The only exceptions might be, for example, a person suffering from the common cold or the flu, or someone who wears eyeglasses or contact lenses. But not necessarily. The new definition of "disabilities" in the ADAAA is as loosey-goosey as the definition of "serious health condition" in the Family and Medical Leave Act. 

2. Individuals who are "regarded as" being only impaired are protected. The only perceived "impairments" that don't count are those that are both transitory (duration of less than six months) and minor. Because it's going to be so easy to qualify, the EEOC is actively encouraging individuals to always sue under the "regarded as" prong as long as they aren't challenging an employer's failure to provide a reasonable accommodation. (For obvious reasons, reasonable accommodations do not have to be provided to individuals who are only "regarded as" being impaired, so an individual seeking a reasonable accommodation would have to establish either an actual "disability" or a record of a "disability.")

3. Thanks (but no thanks) to this law, I expect to see some class action lawsuits alleging ADAAA violations in connection with post-offer medical examinations and terminations at the end of extended medical leaves of absence. Under the prior version of the ADA, these cases were normally unsuccessful as class actions because an individualized analysis was required to determine who could be a member of the class (that is, who was "disabled"). But now that the determination of who is "disabled" is virtually automatic, disability discrimination cases will be more susceptible of class treatment.

4. Most ADA case law on who is "disabled" is no good any longer. The ADAAA explicitly overruled some excellent Supreme Court decisions, including Sutton v. United Air Lines (1999) and Williams v. Toyota Manufacturing of Kentucky (2002). However, our court system is slow, and so we are still seeing ADA decisions that take a restrictive view of who is "disabled." This is nothing to be excited about, unfortunately. Be sure to read the fine print: If the facts alleged in the case occurred before January 1, 2009, then the court is applying the old ADA, which really was a pretty good and reasonable law. (On the other hand, if you see a pro-employer decision based on facts that occurred after January 1, 2009, then you may have reason to open a bottle of champagne.)

So, what should an employer do to comply with the ADAAA?

*Always assume that everyone has an ADAAA "disability." You will be right 99.9 percent of the time, and the rest of the time you'll be erring on the right side.

*Brush up, if you need to, on your legal obligations concerning reasonable accommodations. You will have to consider reasonable accommodations in many more cases than you did in the past. 

*If you think a "medical condition" disqualifies a person from performing the job, go through the full-blown ADA/reasonable accommodation analysis. If you think you will be unable to accommodate, consult with counsel before making any irreversible decisions.

*If you require post-offer medical screening, review what you are doing and make sure that your medical department (or outside physician) is not automatically rejecting everyone who has certain conditions. All medical rejection decisions should be considered "preliminary" until they have been reviewed and approved by someone in Human Resources and/or a lawyer. (This may require the offeree to sign a HIPAA authorization that will allow the medical department to share relevant information with HR/Legal.)

*Review your medical leave/termination policies and practices, and be especially on the lookout for any provisions that seem to call for "automatic" termination without an individualized assessment or consideration of reasonable accommodation options.

*Make sure your "paws" know the laws. Now that we have the potential for cat's paw liability, be sure that your front-line supervisors and other managers know at least that the ADA has been amended and that it will cover significantly more people than before.

Posted via email from hrstrategist@Net-Speed

Can you answer "YES" toe ach of these questions?

Do you have a seat at the planning table?
Do you know your total business operation?
Do you know how to improve your processes for positive results?
Can you make the cost ratio presentation on your human capital processes?

Everytime I attend a HR conference a recurring theme I hear is that HR needs to learn the language of business in order to continue to be a thriving part of your organization now and in the future. So, just what does that mean? Either by design or just evolution many departments within our organizations have become silos or islands unto themselves. The problem is that when we do this we lose the grasp ont he bigger picture --our organization. Some of you are probably already saying but this does not apply to me or our department. However if you turn to the writings of Dave Ulrich (HR Transformation) he will explain to you that this is a dangerous way to go.

The business world we liv ein changes on a daily basis, The new world calls for us to be proactive not reactive to events in the workplace. It calls for us to function as part of cross-functional approaches to our trials and tribulations. Mikel and Schroeder in their work "Breakthrough Management" suggest that we don't know what we don't know and if we don;t know what it is that is causing the problems then we can't act on the solutions.

Manufacturing for years has used the six-sigma methodology to improve their processes. These same tools can be used highly successfully in the transactional world where HR resides.The methodology will enable you to know your total business. It will enable you to observe the problems in your processes. We are not asking oyu to use it to lower your FTE levels, this is not about pointing blame on an employee and saying this is the solution (although in some casses it might) but six sigma suggests the problem lies within your process.

Corporations like GE Healthcare, Cummins Engine, XCek Ebergy, IBM and others have seen the benefits of the six sigma approach and have used it to great improvement on the bottom line.

So, do you wat to answer yes to these five questions? Check with your local insitutions of higher education and see if they offer six sigma training and bite the bullet and enroll to learn the ins and outs of how it works, It will literally be the first day of the rest of your career, if you have one going forward.

Posted via email from hrstrategist@Net-Speed

I am so Sorry

I placed a call to a friend on her birthday and during our phoen conversation she asked me for my opinion on a situation she is involved with. It seems that a large national big box store has made the decision that it makes business ssnese to provide spanish lessons to all their exempt and non-exempt employees. During this training program they are shown a video in which one of the actors who is made out to be a WASP in appearance as possible, turns to a customer who is of hispanic descent and says " I am sorry that I do not speak your language,"

The causasian employees and the jamaican employees are highly offended at the scenario and have made their views known to management. In one north American city, the employees have been approached by spanish speaking customers who have said if you do not learn my language you are out of a job.

Diversity initiatives are vital to organizations in this global workplace that we find ourselves in, but is it really necessary in the name of diviersity to alientate the rest of the workforce. I would suggest not. In most deveoped countries of the world, English is the language of business and whether we are speaking about diversity of language training it serves no purpose to the organization as a whole to satisfy one block at the expense of another.

I am not suggesting that learning a second language is an adverse thing in any means. I wish I could do so myself. I took two semesters of spanish in college and do not remember any of it. But when in Rome do what the Romans do, and leanr the language of hte workplace. It hinders our organizations when we try to force feed one way of doing things on the rest of the workforce.Instead of trying to change everyone in to a fluent spanish speaking employee make sure that you have employees on staff who do and can be referred to when a fellow employee has a language problem with a client.

What are your thoughts?

Posted via email from hrstrategist@Net-Speed