Top Tip - Record Keeping

One of the biggest issues without fail that I encounter when working with small / medium businesses is a lack of record keeping for employees.

Generally the basics of personal information, holidays and absence are kept in some format but things like those ‘informal chats’ or warnings, disciplinary letters or notes, signed contracts or correspondence are often ‘misplaced’, lost or not ever recorded which then causes problems when issues arise.

I often get calls with business owners frustrated with poor performance, for example, where numerous informal chats have been held and there is no record of these and so the starting position may as well be as if they had never occurred. I may get a call where an employer is frustrated with someone calling in sick all the time but they have not accurately recorded the absences to note the reasons, accurate dates or sometimes have allowed holiday to be taken which masks the problem.

The list is endless where I can say without a shadow of a doubt if we could have helped with better record keeping we would be able to handle more issues effectively for our clients.

As a result of this we have introduced a HR Software product ideally priced for the SME market which is an online system (meaning no on site software or installation) and is priced based on the number of employees so can be scaled up and down AND is only a monthly licence agreement so gives you the flexibility for change.

Image if…….

1)     All personal information on employees could be updated by your employees so this is always up to date?

2)     Holidays are booked online by employees and authorised by Managers online so no more paper forms flying round the office and cluttering desks – or arguments about who put holidays in first?

3)     Sickness absence is accurately recorded in one place and you can easily see any trends where repeat offenders may be taking excessive time off or where you may have a longer term problem on the horizon.

4)     All important documents like handbook policies or safety memos can be sent online and you can see exactly who has opened them, read them and acknowledged them on what date and at what time? No more excuses of ‘I never got that’

5)     All contracts or important correspondence can be held electronically instead of having paper personnel records cluttering the office?

6)     Training records are all updated centrally to make appraisals or reviews easier.

The clients we have that already use this service comment that:

‘It has saved literally hours of admin time processing and updating holiday charts and calendars...’

‘I expected this to cost a fortunate when I looked at the demo and was shocked how little it costed when it does so much…’

‘We use the software in conjunction with a service contract for support with Quest and this has allowed more accurate records to be accessed immediately by our Consultant which means we get more specific advice without having to dig out paper records, saving us time and money…’

From £15 per month you really can’t afford not to take a look. Why not call us to arrange a demo to see how we can make your life simpler.

For guidance on this subject or any other employee related matter call us on 0844 8797286.

Top Tip - Staff Retention

Retaining your key employees can be a critical factor in the success of your business, especially as the cost of replacing a key staff member can often be estimated to reach the level of their annual salary!

Working with smaller businesses, a loss of a key employee can have devastating effects. Often these employees have such an embedded knowledge of the business and working practices that they are irreplaceable. Here are some of our top tips on how to retain your best staff to help add to the profits of your business.

- Set clear expectation

Employee satisfaction is often linked to the security and stability of them knowing exactly what is expected of them each day. Changing expectation and the goal posts frequently puts people on edge and removes any security they may have about their job or the company. I appreciate small business often have to react more quickly to change but be mindful of how this is impacting your team.

 - Great Management

From exit interviews, we often find that the employees leave a business due to their Manager or Supervisor rather than the role or company itself. This is often as employees in small businesses are moved into supervisory positions as they excel in their role but are left with no training on how to become an effective people manager and so often get it wrong! Invest some time in training your Managers to manage and you will reap the rewards.

 - Encourage Entrepreneurial Spirit

The employees you have that thrive on learning more in the business, who come with ideas and passion should be embraced and rewarded. These are often the employees who grow frustrated if they are ignored and can be your biggest and most loyal asset. Listen to suggestions and remain open minded and encourage that entrepreneurial spirit.

- Be fair and consistent

We always encourage businesses to set out policies and procedures and to apply these consistently and one sure thing to disgruntle good employees is where unfair or inconsistent treatment is seen. Having a transparent and clear way of handling issues in the business can only bring positive results.

- Reward and Recognise

We often spend time dealing with the problem staff members and quite often those who work tirelessly to make your business a success are forgotten. A simply thank you or well done can mean a lot or why not consider rewarding those who have gone over and above for the benefit of your business. This may be financial in terms of a bonus or a simple gift such as flowers / chocolates / additional leave just to say thank you.

For guidance on this subject or any other employee related matter call us on 0844 8797286.

Top Tip - Sickness Absence

 

 

Many small – medium business that I work with find sickness absence one of the biggest disruptions to their business as it cannot be planned for and they often have little surplus resource to cover.

There is a myth that many employers think they cannot pro-actively manage absence or in the worst case scenario, dismiss someone due to their poor attendance level but the good news is that there are always options.

Here are our top tips to help reduce absence or at last manage this more effectively.

1.      Have a sickness absence policy, this clearly sets the requirements for both employee and employer in the event of sickness. This cover areas such as how you want to be notified of sickness, by when and what happens upon an employee’s return.

2.      Conduct return to work interviews, often this is overlooked and so there is no discussion from a welfare point of view to see if an employee is well enough to work but also in the event of an employee not being genuine about absence there is no follow up to discourage this type of behaviour.

3.      Use a scoring system, taking action needs to be fair and consistent and this is often where small businesses fail. Use a system like Bradford Scoring which applies the same principal to all employees and generates an absence score. There are defined thresholds where certain actions (such as disciplinary) may be taken.

4.      Get medical opinion on long term cases, when you get to a position where you have seen 4 weeks or more absence due to a medical issue or condition then you are able to request consent from your employee to write to their GP who can provide guidance on how to help your employee return to work, give medical opinion on their health and likely ongoing issues and in general terms give you the facts needed to make the decision for your business.

5.      Get advice, if you see persistent adhoc absence or have a long term case that may affect your business detrimentally then seek help either from a HR Advisor like us or ACAS.

 

For guidance on this subject or any other employee related matter call us on 0844 8797286.

Top Tips - Attitude

Top Tip - Attitude

 

 

Do you have employees that display any of the following traits?

·         Laziness

·         Tardiness

·         Spread rumours / office gossip

·         Rude or disrespectful to you or others

·         Disengaged with everything at work

·         Always see the negative and complain and moan

 

Bad attitude can cause poor performance in the employee and others around them, give you unhappy customers and is infectious.

If you recognise the above in your employees then how do you handle these situations, in fact I am often asked ‘Can you deal with these issues at all?’

The simple answer is of course, however often the root cause of a poor attitude at work is not work itself and so perhaps follow some of the steps below to turn around a bad attitude to be your most positive employee!

·         Speak informally with the employee and simply ask if there is a problem either at home or at work that is causing them distress as you have noticed they seem particularly negative at the moment – Be prepared to listen!

·         Take a look in the mirror, are you imposing unrealistic deadlines, high level of changes which create uncertainty, needing high levels of overtime consistently? If so then the answer may be closer to home in making your team feel appreciated and being realistic so you are not setting them up to fail.

·         If there are problem at home how can you support them through these? Can you allow some time off, a change to working hours etc…

·         If there appear to be no underlying reasons then warn the employee you won't tolerate negative influences in your business and if this continues you will take a more formal course of action.

There is a great article on how to have these conversations at http://smallbusiness.chron.com/conversation-employees-attitude-24320.html

I am often asked to deal with attitude issues as for business owners these are sometimes difficult conversations to have without the course of the conversation appearing personal to the employee. Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance on matters like this rather than leaving a disruptive employees to wreak havoc on your business.

For guidance on this subject or any other employee related matter call us on 0844 8797286.

Top Tips – Health & Safety

Top Tips - H&S

 

 

 

For many small businesses Health & Safety is surrounded by myths and red tape and is an area they put off but know they have to deal with.

For fewer than 5 employees then there may not be the same requirement to have everything documented but that does not mean there is any less a requirement to keep your employees safe and so the sooner you adopt a good robust Health & Safety management programme, the easier it becomes as your business grows.

1)     Get it assessed!

We offer a free of charge Health & Safety audit which allows us to come along to your business and see the premises and work that is being undertaken and from there we can provide you with a summary of the steps you should be taking to manage safety in your business.

For small businesses much of this can be done yourself so this doesn’t mean expensive contracts or consultancy fees – get the information to know what you need then decide if you want to do this yourself.

2)     Train

If you want to manage safety in house then there are plenty of Health & Safety courses available which will educate your staff on how to manage their work safely.

These can be video or off site / on site courses and again are not expensive to attend. We can put you in contact with reputable providers.

3)     Outsource

If your business is a higher risk industry or you simply do not have time to manage the H&S internally then make use of resources like us to take responsibility for you.

We provide a range of service from providing documents only to give you your system right through to annual, quarterly or monthly on site audits to keep your safety systems completely up to date.

The biggest tip we can give is not to put off looking at your safety provisions as it really is not worth the consequences when there are so many free or low cost options out there to help.

Productivity - Getting more for less

In our second week of our top tips I am focussing on Productivity, how can you get more from your employees?

 

 

When dealing with performance issues in smaller businesses there are often ways these could have been avoided and so here is some food for thought.

1)     Ensure your Managers are adequately trained

 Many small to medium businesses want to promote from within, which is a great way of developing their workers. What can often happen is that your Managers actually have no experience of people management but have lots of experience of the job in hand.

Investing some time and money in training your Manager to manage effectively can save huge amounts of time and energy in avoiding staffing issues and helping to develop a focussed and motivated work place.

2)     Provide feedback on a regular basis

Taking some time out to review performance with your teams can both motivate by telling employees they are doing a great job or allow you to pick up issues which need improvement sooner rather than later, giving you and your employees an better chance of getting a positive outcome.

Try conducting monthly 121 meetings, even if this is just 15 minutes to discuss the previous month and set some targets or goals for the month to come.

3)     Provide support when needed

There are times for us all when life gets in the way of our jobs and the stress of trying to juggle home and work life become a strain. By providing some support and flexibility at real times of need will build goodwill and loyalty which are invaluable in your businesses time of need.

4)     Build a team

Most employees want to be part of a team, a collective rather than just an individual in an organisation no matter how large or small.

Share your business goals, vision and core values with your team so they want to live and breathe them just like you!

5)     Measure success

The only true way to improve productivity, provide rewards and recognition is to be able to measure results accurately.

Think about how you can put in measurements for success, whether this be productivity, quality or sales targets – giving a clear focus and measure will help your teams have clarity on what is expected.

More importantly – set realistic and achievable goals. Setting up your team to fail is only counter productive.

Watch out for more top tips next week on Health & Safety.

Top 10 HR Issues: Low cost recruitment

Top 10 HR Issues: Low cost recruitment

Sourcing top talent for your business is always tricky business, and can be very expensive.

West Riding Recruitment offer an innovative alternative with their low cost recruitment model. The Silver package, for a fixed fee of £199, West Riding Recruitment will write you a fully optimised job advert and advertise your job on all of the major job boards. Shortlisted applicants will be sent to you within 48 hours.

The Gold package includes everything from the Silver package, plus the re-posting of your advert to increase response, identifying candidates via a CV database plus weekly CV searches for 4 weeks.

If you are looking to recruit and would like to take advantage of these deals, please call West Riding Recruitment on 01924 650 404.