Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Social Networking Technology Boosts E-Recruiting
Article:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523
This article by Frank Langfitt addresses the idea of businesses using social networking sites to recruit talent to their company. It states that businesses and unemployed workers alike can benefit from the use of these simple tools. Businesses have the ability to recruit the specific talent they’re looking for without spending time and money on a formal job search. Job Seekers have the ability to network and develop and online rolodex of business opportunities.
I agree, social networking and online recruiting are trends we are going to see rise every year. It’s difficult to object with the pros that e-recruiting brings both companies and employees:
1. It’s cost effective: it costs a company nothing to post a job listing on social networking sites such as Linked In, Facebook, Myspace etc.
2. Online recruitment is quick: Job postings can be listed by the morning and you can have potential employees’ resumes/applications coming in by the afternoon – not likely with traditional recruiting.
3. It gives you a better chance at success: Online job postings are available 24/7 and don’t disappear over time. Tradition job advertising in print such as newspapers must be re-posted weekly.
4. You reach a bigger audience: Social networking and online recruiting sites give you the ability to teach people all over world.
5. It’s simple: For companies online recruiting is easy, all they must do is place their want ad on a site and wait.
These benefits are also shared with job seekers. Joining these social networking sites for employee recruiting allows job seekers the ability to share their resume with thousands of companies at once. It’s time efficient and cost effect for job seekers and companies alike. Social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Jobvite etc. have their place in the recruiting world, but they are still may be behind face-to-face networking, as most hires are done through referrals. Sure, these social networking sites do give job seekers a larger area of potential employment they can cover but it also opens a larger area of competition the candidate must face. Social Networking users also must be extra careful not to have any inappropriate content on his or her profile because these sites can work against yourself.
Overall, the social networking route is a great option for job seekers (and employers) but I wouldn’t devote all of my time to it. A balanced approach of both real life networking and e-networking will likely lead to the highest chances of landing you your next big job.
Additional Sources:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/technology&id=6961101
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/022309-smart-recruiting-through-social.html?page=1
Friday, December 4, 2009
Attendance Management by Nicole Solka
Article: http://www.benefits.org/interface/cost/absent.htm
After reading this article, I can definitely understand the reasons and the necessity of having an attendance policy in place within an organization. Not only can not having one disrupt the flow of an organization's daily routine, but it can also be confusing for employees when they need to take time off.
This article states that there are many direct and indirect costs when an employee is absent for a day. This includes wages, benefits, staffing, scheduling, lost productivity, etc. I definitely agree with this and think that this is enough proof alone that there should always be a firm attendance policy in place. When an employee is absent for any reason, there is definitely going to be less productivity. And even if someone is called in, maybe an "on-call" or "temporary" person in some cases, this is still going to cost the company money and time as that person is most likely going to need training on how to do that particular person’s work. And if another currently working employee were to do that person’s work on top of their own, the company would most likely end up paying overtime costs.
Another point that is made in this article is the many reasons that employees take time off from work. Some of these are obvious reasons such as accidents and illness, but some potentially disturbing reasons include poor physical fitness, boredom on the job, stress, poor working conditions, etc. I definitely think that this could cause a problem in a workplace. Obviously employees will be taking time off for serious, "real" reasons but if employees start taking unnecessary time off just because they are tired or bored with their jobs, this can cause a serious problem for the company. This further convinces me that a solid attendance policy always needs to be established within an organization.
The article also made some interesting points regarding attendance within companies. For example, the more an employee makes and the longer they have been working for a company, the less days off they tend to take from their job. In my opinion, I would attribute this to company loyalty and dedication, as well as job satisfaction. If a person is making an amount of money that they are comfortable with, I definitely think that this is true and that they will be less likely to be dissatisfied with the work that they have to do. Also, the longer an employee works for a company I would think the more loyal they are, so they probably will not take unnecessary days off from their jobs.
In summary, I think that the best way for an employer to handle poor employee attendance is to set a firm attendance policy that must be followed by all employees and if it is not then that employee must be terminated. In some cases of course, exceptions could be made and there should be some flexibility as stated in another article that I found, but I think that by having a solid policy in place and by requiring documentation for absences, employees are more likely to know that they can and can’t miss work for and they will be less likely to get away with taking more absences than are necessary.
Other Sources:
http://www.employer-employee.com/absent.html
http://www.hrhero.com/topics/absenteeism.html
http://library.rice.edu/about/employment/staff-resources/forms-policies/time-and-attendance-policy
http://www.helium.com/items/248603-introducing-an-attendance-policy
After reading this article, I can definitely understand the reasons and the necessity of having an attendance policy in place within an organization. Not only can not having one disrupt the flow of an organization's daily routine, but it can also be confusing for employees when they need to take time off.
This article states that there are many direct and indirect costs when an employee is absent for a day. This includes wages, benefits, staffing, scheduling, lost productivity, etc. I definitely agree with this and think that this is enough proof alone that there should always be a firm attendance policy in place. When an employee is absent for any reason, there is definitely going to be less productivity. And even if someone is called in, maybe an "on-call" or "temporary" person in some cases, this is still going to cost the company money and time as that person is most likely going to need training on how to do that particular person’s work. And if another currently working employee were to do that person’s work on top of their own, the company would most likely end up paying overtime costs.
Another point that is made in this article is the many reasons that employees take time off from work. Some of these are obvious reasons such as accidents and illness, but some potentially disturbing reasons include poor physical fitness, boredom on the job, stress, poor working conditions, etc. I definitely think that this could cause a problem in a workplace. Obviously employees will be taking time off for serious, "real" reasons but if employees start taking unnecessary time off just because they are tired or bored with their jobs, this can cause a serious problem for the company. This further convinces me that a solid attendance policy always needs to be established within an organization.
The article also made some interesting points regarding attendance within companies. For example, the more an employee makes and the longer they have been working for a company, the less days off they tend to take from their job. In my opinion, I would attribute this to company loyalty and dedication, as well as job satisfaction. If a person is making an amount of money that they are comfortable with, I definitely think that this is true and that they will be less likely to be dissatisfied with the work that they have to do. Also, the longer an employee works for a company I would think the more loyal they are, so they probably will not take unnecessary days off from their jobs.
In summary, I think that the best way for an employer to handle poor employee attendance is to set a firm attendance policy that must be followed by all employees and if it is not then that employee must be terminated. In some cases of course, exceptions could be made and there should be some flexibility as stated in another article that I found, but I think that by having a solid policy in place and by requiring documentation for absences, employees are more likely to know that they can and can’t miss work for and they will be less likely to get away with taking more absences than are necessary.
Other Sources:
http://www.employer-employee.com/absent.html
http://www.hrhero.com/topics/absenteeism.html
http://library.rice.edu/about/employment/staff-resources/forms-policies/time-and-attendance-policy
http://www.helium.com/items/248603-introducing-an-attendance-policy
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Employee Motivation, Recognition, Rewards, and Retention By: Dan Kostecki
Article: http://humanresources.about.com/od/motivationrewardretention/Employee_Motivation_Recognition_Rewards_Retention.htm
I found and article about Employee Motivation, Recognition, Rewards, and Retention, I really wanted to see what companies are doing to keep their employees happy. The article has many interesting topics on how to keep employees motivated and what to do when problems may occur. I think this is a very important topic to understand and know because as HR Professionals we are going to have to deal with these situations and if we have a heads up on what others are doing, we will be positioning ourselves to be better managers.
The first thing the article talks about is how are your recognizing your employees, are you showing your employees you care about them and how they are benefiting you or are you just treating everyone the same and not trying to make any one on one connection with them. The article says that if you can prioritize employee recognition you can ensure a positive, productive organizational climate. I really believe that statement to be true, everyone wants to be recognized for the work that they do even if it is something as small as a “Thank You” or “Good Job” if you show your employees that you are appreciating what they are doing for you I believe that they will put their best effort forth each and every time for you. If you neglect your employees I think they are going to do the minimum to just get by and not put in any extra time or effort that could really help the business. The article says that the best way to provide positive recognition is to first figure out what is important to you and your company, this will help you create goals and plans that will allow you to recognize those employees who are doing an exceptional job. It is also important to be fair and consistent, you should always recognize those who are doing well and not block anyone out, if one employee receives positive recognition for a job and another employee doesn’t for doing the same thing people will continue to be upset. What I got out of this whole section was the fact that in order to be successful you need to have a plan and follow that plan and everything will be alright.
The article also brought up some points on employee retention which I found to be interesting, the first thing I found interesting was about employee complaints. The article stated that complaints are something that will have to be dealt with on a daily basis, someone is always going to complain and it is very unlikely you are going to be able to make everyone happy; however there are ways to tackle complaints in a more positive manner. The first thing was to listen to everyone, which I think is a very good idea, I believe that if you at least listen to everyone and what they have to say it will show them you are making an effort to fix the problems. Employees will feel better about their situation if they know you are willing to listen. Other important employee retention includes providing things such as competitive salaries, flexible work arrangements, benefits and even tuition assistance. I believe that all these would help but I think as an organization you have to really look at which situation would work best for you, I don’t believe that offering everything would be helpful for the business, knowing what would be most important to your employees and work from there would be the best idea to provide incentives in my opinion.
The thing I learned most while reading the article was the fact that you need to be friendly and interested in your employees, you need to interact with them and show them you care about what they are doing for you. You need to encourage social interaction, and maybe even set up company picnics that allow employees time to hang out and build relationships outside of the workplace. If you are able to create a positive work environment for everyone you will be able to meet company demands and be prepared for anything that is thrown your way
Additional Sources:
http://www.wisegeek.com/how-can-i-improve-employee-morale.htm
http://www.anonymousemployee.com/csssite/sidelinks/poor_employee_morale.php
http://www.forbes.com/2008/08/28/small-business-morale-ent-hr-cx_ja_0828boostmorale.html
http://www.sideroad.com/Customer_Service/improve-employee-morale.html
I found and article about Employee Motivation, Recognition, Rewards, and Retention, I really wanted to see what companies are doing to keep their employees happy. The article has many interesting topics on how to keep employees motivated and what to do when problems may occur. I think this is a very important topic to understand and know because as HR Professionals we are going to have to deal with these situations and if we have a heads up on what others are doing, we will be positioning ourselves to be better managers.
The first thing the article talks about is how are your recognizing your employees, are you showing your employees you care about them and how they are benefiting you or are you just treating everyone the same and not trying to make any one on one connection with them. The article says that if you can prioritize employee recognition you can ensure a positive, productive organizational climate. I really believe that statement to be true, everyone wants to be recognized for the work that they do even if it is something as small as a “Thank You” or “Good Job” if you show your employees that you are appreciating what they are doing for you I believe that they will put their best effort forth each and every time for you. If you neglect your employees I think they are going to do the minimum to just get by and not put in any extra time or effort that could really help the business. The article says that the best way to provide positive recognition is to first figure out what is important to you and your company, this will help you create goals and plans that will allow you to recognize those employees who are doing an exceptional job. It is also important to be fair and consistent, you should always recognize those who are doing well and not block anyone out, if one employee receives positive recognition for a job and another employee doesn’t for doing the same thing people will continue to be upset. What I got out of this whole section was the fact that in order to be successful you need to have a plan and follow that plan and everything will be alright.
The article also brought up some points on employee retention which I found to be interesting, the first thing I found interesting was about employee complaints. The article stated that complaints are something that will have to be dealt with on a daily basis, someone is always going to complain and it is very unlikely you are going to be able to make everyone happy; however there are ways to tackle complaints in a more positive manner. The first thing was to listen to everyone, which I think is a very good idea, I believe that if you at least listen to everyone and what they have to say it will show them you are making an effort to fix the problems. Employees will feel better about their situation if they know you are willing to listen. Other important employee retention includes providing things such as competitive salaries, flexible work arrangements, benefits and even tuition assistance. I believe that all these would help but I think as an organization you have to really look at which situation would work best for you, I don’t believe that offering everything would be helpful for the business, knowing what would be most important to your employees and work from there would be the best idea to provide incentives in my opinion.
The thing I learned most while reading the article was the fact that you need to be friendly and interested in your employees, you need to interact with them and show them you care about what they are doing for you. You need to encourage social interaction, and maybe even set up company picnics that allow employees time to hang out and build relationships outside of the workplace. If you are able to create a positive work environment for everyone you will be able to meet company demands and be prepared for anything that is thrown your way
Additional Sources:
http://www.wisegeek.com/how-can-i-improve-employee-morale.htm
http://www.anonymousemployee.com/csssite/sidelinks/poor_employee_morale.php
http://www.forbes.com/2008/08/28/small-business-morale-ent-hr-cx_ja_0828boostmorale.html
http://www.sideroad.com/Customer_Service/improve-employee-morale.html
E-Verify
I found an article about e-verify and wanted to do more investigation to what it really was. Background checks are a very important part in employing a person. It is verifying that a person is not harmful or will be harmful to an organization and that they have proper documents to work in the United States. Verifying employment eligibility has been a very important topic lately in the United States due to how are economy isn’t doing that well. In 1986 the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was past and it requires that employers are prohibited from knowingly hiring or retaining on the job unauthorized aliens and employers with four or more employees are prohibited from discriminating in hiring or termination decision on the basis of national origin and citizenship. To help keep the IRCA act under control the government came up with a voluntary program system called E-Verify. E-Verify is currently a voluntary program which is run by the United States Government to help certify that employees hired by a company are legally authorized to work in the United States. There are a lot advantages and disadvantages to this E-Verification System.
The advantage to e-verification systems are the following:
- It will verify employment eligibly for new hires and existing employees
- Help maintain legal workforce
- Protect jobs for authorized workers in the United States
- Reduces the number of documents that can be used to prove employment eligibility
The Disadvantages to e-verification systems are the following:
- Misuse of program employers can use e-verify to discriminate against workers
- Compromised privacy
- Unfair burden for business
- High Error Rates
Which this websites powerpoint helps support advantages (to get to the powerpoint check on website under tools on the right hand side of page you will see the “E-Verify for federal contractors Powerpoint”:
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=75bce2e261405110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=75bce2e261405110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD
Which this youtube video supports the Disadvantages:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hc0RGu3MCE
I did a lot of research on this topic. I have come across a lot of articles talking about the advantages and disadvantages to this e-verify program. Lots of the articles pulled out more negative thoughts then good ones. The two articles that I focus my option on was from the Wyatt Employment Law Report and Chouldhury-Goodman Law affiliates page. According to Glen Krebs from the Wyatt Employment Law Report he says “Participating in E-verify does not provide more protection than I-9 completion against knowingly employing undocumented workers, but there are some risks of discrimination if E-verify is not properly implemented. Employers should carefully consider the pros and cons of participating in the E-verify program.” And according to the Chouldhury-Goodman Law affiliates page, “The huge burden that expanded E-Verify would put on SSA, resulting in longer waiting times for American workers seeking their benefits. Analysis of the program and evidence coming from those who have used it indicate that the current program is seriously flawed, ineffective, and could potentially cost thousands of U.S. citizens and legal residents their jobs due to database errors.” Keeping in mind the research that I did on the USCIS website the advantages are good but are they really that good. A lot of states use this system already. According to EmployeeIssues.com “AK, AZ, CO, GA, MO, MS, OK, SC and RI now require certain employers and state agencies to verify the employment eligibility of new-hires by using the E-Verify System. TN encourages employers to use E-Verify, ID, MN, NC, PA and UT mandate that state agencies must use it CA, CO, FL, IA, IL, IN, KS, MN, MO, NJ, PA, RI, TN and WV and are considering new immigration laws involving E-Verify.” Then as off September 8, 2009 all federal contractors and subcontractors were required to use the E-Verify system. Not to live in a state that doesn’t require e-verify I have a strong opinion about it. I think the system isn’t safe but something has to be done I just think that this system needs a little more time to test run.
http://cglawaffiliates.x2cms.com/blog/?tag=e-verification
http://wyattemployment.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/e-verify-i-9-and-no-match-the-obama-approach/
I personally believe that the e-verification system is a great idea. It has a lot of advantages and disadvantages. One of the disadvantages are compromised privacy to workers private information that will be tracked in the system. There are still internet hackers and other cyber treats that will come to play with this system and what will happen if someone cracked the systems and had million of personal information of different individuals what would happen next. This system also pulls information from databases that are not up to date and that the system has a high error rate it would make a big difference and it wouldn’t prevent authorized individuals from working. A lot of employers can also misuse this system. They could use e-verify to discriminate against workers currently, use it to pre-employment screening, and for termination reasoning. Even though it says you can’t use the system for those reasons but since it’s still available employers may misuse the resources to their advantages. One of the last disadvantages to this system is to implementation of this system. Yes, this system is free but it takes training and development to have the system but it’s a unfair burden cost for business especially because they will have to take the time out to train people who to use this system. Bigger business may be able to afford this cost but smaller businesses may not be able to afford that time.
Other Sources:
http://web.uncg.edu/hrs/documents/employment/basic/BASIC_FAQ.pdf
http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/e-ver-employee-rights.pdf http://www.nilc.org/
The advantage to e-verification systems are the following:
- It will verify employment eligibly for new hires and existing employees
- Help maintain legal workforce
- Protect jobs for authorized workers in the United States
- Reduces the number of documents that can be used to prove employment eligibility
The Disadvantages to e-verification systems are the following:
- Misuse of program employers can use e-verify to discriminate against workers
- Compromised privacy
- Unfair burden for business
- High Error Rates
Which this websites powerpoint helps support advantages (to get to the powerpoint check on website under tools on the right hand side of page you will see the “E-Verify for federal contractors Powerpoint”:
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=75bce2e261405110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=75bce2e261405110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD
Which this youtube video supports the Disadvantages:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hc0RGu3MCE
I did a lot of research on this topic. I have come across a lot of articles talking about the advantages and disadvantages to this e-verify program. Lots of the articles pulled out more negative thoughts then good ones. The two articles that I focus my option on was from the Wyatt Employment Law Report and Chouldhury-Goodman Law affiliates page. According to Glen Krebs from the Wyatt Employment Law Report he says “Participating in E-verify does not provide more protection than I-9 completion against knowingly employing undocumented workers, but there are some risks of discrimination if E-verify is not properly implemented. Employers should carefully consider the pros and cons of participating in the E-verify program.” And according to the Chouldhury-Goodman Law affiliates page, “The huge burden that expanded E-Verify would put on SSA, resulting in longer waiting times for American workers seeking their benefits. Analysis of the program and evidence coming from those who have used it indicate that the current program is seriously flawed, ineffective, and could potentially cost thousands of U.S. citizens and legal residents their jobs due to database errors.” Keeping in mind the research that I did on the USCIS website the advantages are good but are they really that good. A lot of states use this system already. According to EmployeeIssues.com “AK, AZ, CO, GA, MO, MS, OK, SC and RI now require certain employers and state agencies to verify the employment eligibility of new-hires by using the E-Verify System. TN encourages employers to use E-Verify, ID, MN, NC, PA and UT mandate that state agencies must use it CA, CO, FL, IA, IL, IN, KS, MN, MO, NJ, PA, RI, TN and WV and are considering new immigration laws involving E-Verify.” Then as off September 8, 2009 all federal contractors and subcontractors were required to use the E-Verify system. Not to live in a state that doesn’t require e-verify I have a strong opinion about it. I think the system isn’t safe but something has to be done I just think that this system needs a little more time to test run.
http://cglawaffiliates.x2cms.com/blog/?tag=e-verification
http://wyattemployment.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/e-verify-i-9-and-no-match-the-obama-approach/
I personally believe that the e-verification system is a great idea. It has a lot of advantages and disadvantages. One of the disadvantages are compromised privacy to workers private information that will be tracked in the system. There are still internet hackers and other cyber treats that will come to play with this system and what will happen if someone cracked the systems and had million of personal information of different individuals what would happen next. This system also pulls information from databases that are not up to date and that the system has a high error rate it would make a big difference and it wouldn’t prevent authorized individuals from working. A lot of employers can also misuse this system. They could use e-verify to discriminate against workers currently, use it to pre-employment screening, and for termination reasoning. Even though it says you can’t use the system for those reasons but since it’s still available employers may misuse the resources to their advantages. One of the last disadvantages to this system is to implementation of this system. Yes, this system is free but it takes training and development to have the system but it’s a unfair burden cost for business especially because they will have to take the time out to train people who to use this system. Bigger business may be able to afford this cost but smaller businesses may not be able to afford that time.
Other Sources:
http://web.uncg.edu/hrs/documents/employment/basic/BASIC_FAQ.pdf
http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/e-ver-employee-rights.pdf http://www.nilc.org/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)