• July 13, 2010
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Do Your Employee Benefits Need a Voice?

Question: If you have great benefits, but no one knows about them, how do you expect to attract top talent?

Answer: You don’t.

It should come as no surprise that benefits are crucial to attracting and retaining top talent (especially with employers complaining about how good talent is still so hard to come by these days)…but benefits are only as good as the efforts you make to communicate them.

“It’s very important that you communicate your employer brand,” Steven Williams, Director of E-Media Innovations and Business Development at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), told an audience of HR managers at SHRM’s annual conference in San Diego last month.

Williams also urged his audience to look for any and every opportunity to communicate their employer brand, including (but certainly not limited to) the following:

  • Company website (Side note: in addition to including info about your company’s mission and values, benefits, awards and recognition received, or job listings, think of ways you can incorporate various media, such as employee testimonial videos, virtual office tours, or photos from company events.)
  • Print and online job ads (They often provide the first impression of your company for job seekers, so make your job postings count.)
  • Chat rooms/forums/blogs (Try running a Google search for your company name to see if and how people are talking about your brand – and take the opportunity to respond accordingly, either by answering questions about your company or clarifying misconceptions. Think about creating a presence on social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, where job seekers have a place to not only get information about your company, but ask questions and interact.)
  • Visual branding on billboards, posters (Or take a cue from what the TSA recently did and deliver your job ads right to job seekers’ doors…)
  • Job podcasting (Perhaps unconventional, but not to be discounted. Podcasts are relatively inexpensive and easy to produce – and provide just one more way to engage job seekers. House them on your company website or social media page. Or go one step better and create video podcasts. Use them to discuss company benefits, day-to-day life at the company or ask your employees to submit testimonials.)
  • “Best Places to Work” lists (Don’t wait around, hoping to be recognized, either: Submit your company for local, regional and national awards.)
  • Company walls (You need a place to hang that “Best Place to Work” plaque, don’t you? Or what about creating ‘employee of the month’ signs to recognize employees for their hard work?)
  • Industry magazines or websites (Use these to not only advertise your open positions, but follow them to find out about industry events where you – or your employees – can network with and recruit other industry professionals)
  • Policy and procedures manual (You need to keep your employees engaged even after you’ve hired them. Ensure that they are aware of the vision and mission of the company – and keep everyone accountable for upholding them by putting the in print AND online.)

I’m also going to go ahead and add Career Fairs to this list, as well as Employee Referral Programs, which have been shown to be incredibly effective in recruiting employees that are a great fit for the culture – after all your employees can be your best brand ambassadors.

Thoughts? Any other ideas to add to the list?

  • July 13, 2010
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Easy-to-Offer Benefits for Tough Times

I recently attended the annual Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) Conference in San Diego, during which I had the pleasure to hear SHRM’s Director of E-Media Innovations and Business Development, Steven Williams, give a panel on the importance of offering benefits to engage and attract workers.  Employee benefits, it turns out, don’t have to be incredibly lavish to be incredibly effective…

Just check out some of the inexpensive and easy-to-offer benefits he gave as examples for companies to try out (some of which came from the audience of HR managers, who attested to their effectiveness):

  • Self-funded sabbaticals where employees bank part of their income
  • Phased back-to-work for nursing moms following maternity leave
  • Employee concierge service that aids in personal care
  • Grocery services
  • Symphony and theater tickets are reimbursed 50%
  • Back up care hours for moms who must travel for business
  • All employees are given their birthdays off
  • A surprise all-expenses paid trip is organized for a long weekend every five years
  • Employees are encouraged to purchase new outfits and expense them
  • Free on-site yoga
  • “Free latte Fridays”
  • Free employee health screenings
  • First Fridays, in which employees are treated to lunch out

Additionally, check out some other fun and almost-free employee engagement activities to try (courtesy of readers over at our partner site, The Hiring Site):

  • Company-sponsored softball, volleyball and football leagues in which anyone can join and play for free.
  • “Chowing for Charity” (Company-hosted events in which employees sign up for a specific dish depending on the themed occasion and everyone pays a minimal fee to get in and try all of the food. All of the proceeds then go to charity.)
  • Educational wine and cheese pairing class in-house…or company-sponsored interactive cooking classes off-site.
  • Paid days off to participate in volunteer events like Habitat for Humanity – which also helps to build teamwork.

What unique benefits does your company offer employees?

  • June 25, 2010
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Trying Out Some New Tricks…And More from This Week’s Recruitment Buzz

Not getting the candidates you need? All around the web this week, bloggers were abuzz with new ways to improve your hiring process and beef up your staff with the best talent.

Here’s what they suggest…

  • June 21, 2010
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You’re Very Own Version of “Top Chef”? Imagine That

Here’s a cool concept…A kitchen where chefs can “audition” for prospective employers.

Today, the LA Times profiled restaurant recruiter Brad Metzger, who recently opened up a test kitchen – in his very own Santa Monica home – where top chefs could go to try out for prospective employers, conduct cooking demos or even just test out equipment.

Having the kitchen in his home benefits both chefs looking for employment and prospective employers because it provides a professional kitchen for a chef looking for a job to demonstrate his skills, while giving employers a place to discreetly scout new talent.

And say prospective employers can’t attend a tasting with these “cheftestants” as they might be called on “Top Chef,” employers can still get a feel for these chef’s method, organization and technique by watching a demonstration remotely – thanks to the cameras Metzger has set up in the kitchen.

What do you think? Are these remote test kitchens where employers can attend or view private tastings the future of restaurant recruiting?

  • June 16, 2010
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When It Comes to Filling Jobs, Are You Unintentionally Burning Yourself?

Can’t find the workers you need?  It’s not you…it’s what you’re putting out there that may actually discouraging candidates from applying to your open positions.

If you’re among the restaurants planning to hire more workers this summer, you should also be warned that many employers are having trouble finding the right talent for their open positions – despite the millions of job seekers out there?

If you’re finding trouble getting the right applicants, you may want to start in the place you’d least expect there to be trouble.  After all, sometimes it’s the weirdes things that can cause applicant drop-off. Research from human capital consulting firm Personified has found that a shocking percentage of candidate drop-off happens during the application process. 

Here are five surprising reasons you might not be getting those quality applications you need (courtesy of The Hiring Site):

  1. It’s not the job that’s the problem…It’s the posting. Perhaps the open position you’re advertising for has such an obscure title that candidates don’t think it even applies to them. Maybe there’s not enough information about what the position entails. Or there’s too much information that makes job seekers lose interest.  Or perhaps it’s simply miscategorized…Whatever the reason, job seekers might not be compelled enough by what they’re seeing simply from the job posting to apply to your company. For tips on how to better craft a more dynamic job posting, check out 7 Steps to Must-Read Job Postings.
  2. Your employment brand is a mystery to job seekers. In-demand job seekers want to know what they’re in for, and if you have no discernable employment brand, they’re not going to bother with you. “Companies are realizing how important it is to differentiate themselves with an employer brand,” says business marketing expert Jim Lanzalotto, Principal at Scanlon.Louis. Employers can’t afford to fade into the background if they want to attract quality talent; they have to stand out in a way that gets job seekers’ attention and makes them an attractive place to work.
  3. Your employment brand is a mystery to you. Companies tend to operate under the misconception that the brand’s message is controlled by the brand owner, when in fact, it’s controlled by the audience, according to Lanzalotto. “An employer brand is what the company says about itself, but in the blogosphere or twittersphere or other social media space, what they’re saying is what your brand truly is.” In other words, in order to know truly know what your employment brand – regardless of the brand you’re trying to build – you  need to listen to what job seekers and current employees are saying about you. (Want tips on strengthening your employment brand through social media? Check out our recent Webinar: Social Media Basics for Your Employment Brand.)
  4. The price isn’t right. The old adage still applies here: Money talks. Forty-nine percent of employees who plan to leave their companies this year are doing so for more money, according to the 2009 EDGE report. It’s more important than ever that employers truly assess how they compare to the  industry and area competition when it comes to compensating their employees – and guage a plan of attack from there.
  5. Your application process is a pain. Sad but true: CareerBuilder internal data has found that 34 percent of candidates who try to apply for jobs don’t – simply because the application process is too much of a hassle. Among the reasons candidates don’t end up applying for jobs: 24 percent fail to do so because the “Apply Now” link is broken, and 21 percent believe that the long application process isn’t worth their time. If you think you’re losing candidates in the application process, try using data analysis  to find exactly where in the application process you’re losing candidates – and how you can work to fix the problem.

Having trouble filling jobs? Tell us about it!

  • June 15, 2010
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A Free, No-Fuss Guide to Building Your Employment Brand

Think you don’t have an employment brand? Think your employment brand doesn’t have an affect your ability to recruit and retain employees? Think again…

According to CareerBuilder‘s newly released eBook on employment branding, “Start Branding: Creating an Employment Brand that Increases Engagement, Retention – and the Bottom Line”, every company has an employment brand – whether it realizes it or not.  And that employment brand can be your key to recruiting the right people – faster and more efficiently.

Marketed as “your guide to understanding how your employment brand is your greatest resource when it comes to recruiting and retaining your greatest asset – your people,” this eBook explains why you need to pay attention to your employment brand, with tips for building it and strengthening it.  A few highlights of the book include:

  • The 4 Key Steps to Building Your Brand
  • Direct and Indirect Benefits to Building Your Brand
  • How to Assess the Strength of Your Current Employment Brand
  • Building Your Brand Through Social Media
  • Examples of Companies with Strong Employment Brands

Written by CareerBuilder’s recruitment and branding professionals, this eBook packs a surprisingly large amount of information - including everything from tried-and-true best practices to expert tips on getting started and trouble-shooting – into a short, concise, easy-to-read format.

Packed into only 16 pages, and at an asking price of $0 (read: free), this eBook is a quick, easy read that’s well worth your time to check it out. You can download your free copy of CareerBuilder’s employment branding eBook right here.

  • June 2, 2010
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Should You Ban Worker Vacations?

When it comes to summer planning, where’s the happy medium between ensuring your workers get the time off they deserve and keeping enough staff on hand to ensure productivity during your busiest months?

That’s the question employers are asking themselves right now, according to a recent AP story by Joyce M. Rosenberg, who writes that restaurants that cater to beach-goers are “the only companies that can realistically ban” employee vacations.

But even if you legitimately can call off your employee vacations, should you?

Banning vacation time may be more harmful to business than helpful. After all, rejecting employee vacation time could have a negative impact on morale, production and employee attitudes (i.e. customer service will go downhill).  It may sound counterintuitive, but enabling employees a break from the grind may enhance productivity in the long run.

“Utilizing time off to recharge batteries is even more important today as staffs have shrunk over the last 18 months and workers are dealing with added responsibilities and pressures,” said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder, in reference to a recent CareerBuilder survey on employee vacation time.

Can’t afford to give your employees the vacation time they want? All is not lost. Here are some tips for maintaining productivity this summer.

  • Come clean – now. First of all, they’ll understand if you have legitimate reasons for limiting their vacation time. Be up-front as to these reasons – they’ll appreciate being kept in the loop – and let them know now, before they are forced to (bitterly) cancel pre-determined vacation plans.
  • Consider bringing on more staff. If you aren’t already beefing up your summer staff, consider doing so in order to keep up with the added summer business and give your full-time staff more flexibility.  
  • Lighten things up. You may not be able to promise your employees their dream beach vacation with their friends, but consider other ways to show your appreciation. Surprise them with tickets to baseball games, free lunch coupons or gift cards. Sponsor outings like company baseball games, picnics or karaoke nights will help to foster their work relationships, while improving morale. (For more inspiration on how to bring a little levity to the workplace, check out some fun and cheap ideas for maintaining workplace morale from my colleague over at The Hiring Site.)

Are you struggling to balance business with employee vacations? Tell us about it in the comments section below.

  • May 19, 2010
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Forty-Four Percent of Workers Report Job-Related Weight Gain

In the latest bit of growing evidence of the toll that job-related stress is taking on workers’ health these days, CareerBuilder released a survey today indicating that increased workloads and financial stress are leading to expanding waistlines – if not wallets – among American workers.

Forty-four percent of the roughly 4,800 workers surveyed say they have gained weight in their current jobs – and 32 percent of those workers attribute the weight gain to stress.  

Rosemary Haefner, vice president of Human Resources at CareerBuilder, cites the troubled economy as a reason for workers’ growing waistlines. With staffs stretched thin and lingering worry over job stability, workers seem to be focusing more and time energy on their heavy workloads than on their own health.

Restaurant Workers Not Immune to Job-Related Weight Gain
Even though restaurant servers are among the most active workers around (job-related weight gain seems to affect sedentary office workers the most), that doesn’t mean they – or other industry workers – are immune to weight gain…

  • For one thing, food service workers are no stranger to stress – which, as noted above, is among the biggest reasons employees say they’ve gained weight.
  • Not to mention that a hectic work schedule leaves little time to squeeze in a decent meal, which can then lead to overeating or making unhealthy food choices later on. In fact, 14 percent of workers attributed their weight gain to skipping meals.  
  • Forgoing a packed lunch and eating out – as half of workers reportedly do on a regular basis – can also be a major contributor to weight gain as it makes it difficult to control portions and calorie intake.

Employee Wellness: Why You Should Care
While weight is often perceived as a personal issue, it is important that employers focus on initiatives that encourage health and wellness. Not only are employees who are healthier and have less stress more productive and ultimately stay longer in their positions, as Haefner points out, but companies that promote employee wellness initiatives can save money.

Some ways employers can take a more proactive role in their staff’s health, Haefner suggests, is to offer such perks as gym passes, wellness benefits and even contests that promote healthy living.

What about you? How do you promote health at your company?

  • May 18, 2010
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Do Your Diversity Efforts Need a Little Variation? Five Questions to Ask Yourself

Now that the job market is finally – if slowly – showing signs of improvement, you need to think about how you’re going to retain top talent and grow your staff to keep up with increased demand and competition – both for customers and top talent. One thing you should also be thinking about is growing your workforce diversity efforts.

Why diversity? Because despite evidence of the positive effect diverse workforces have on business, recent studies show that most companies still have a long way to go when it comes to workplace diversity efforts, particularly when it comes to promoting minorities.

(This will not bode well for your retention efforts: As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, career advancement opportunities are one of the biggest factors influencing hospitality workers’ decision to stay with or leave a company.)

Of course, it doesn’t help your efforts if you, like 70 percent of organizations, do not have an agreed-upon definition of diversity – which can be a major hurdle to any sort of diversity management.

Before you can begin to enhance your diversity efforts, it’s importan that you first focus on what “workplace diversity” means to your organization and how effectively you’re carrying out any diversity efforts you do have – so you know which areas you need to improve.

Take the time right now to evaluate your current diversity program by asking yourself the following questions (based on the methodology Hispanic Business used to determine the Diversity Elite 2009):

  • Is there minority representation on the board of directors and at the executive level?
  • Does my organization have focused efforts to hire from minority groups? Do we participate in diversity job fairs? Or advertise on niche sites, newspapers or magazines geared toward minority groups?
  • Does my organization make concerted efforts in place to support, retain, and promote minority employees? Do we offer incentives, employee support groups, executive training, and diversity awareness and sensitivity training?
  • Does my organization do marketing and advertising to reach minority consumers? Are we involved in philanthropic or community services that benefit minority groups?
  • Does my organization support or sponsor supplier-development programs, executives involved with supplier diversity, incentives tied to supplier diversity, and procurement goals?  

The answer to these questions will provide the first clue as to which workplace diverstiy effort (or efforts) needs the most attention. What about you? What steps is your organization taking to increase diversity?

  • May 13, 2010
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It Doesn’t Require Magic: 8 Must-Have’s for Retaining Great Employees

If you’re having growing concerns about retaining hospitality workers at your organization, you’re not alone – or without reason, according to a new CareerBuilder survey.

After surveying 115 hospitality employers and 365 hospitality workers nationwide recently, CareerBuilder found that…

  • 30 percent of hospitality employers are concerned about losing their high-performing workers in the second quarter of this year, and…
  • 46 percent of hospitality workers said they were likely to start looking for a new job when the economy picks up.

As a result, hospitality employers are turning to a variety of different retention strategies to hold onto those workers and their valuable intellectual capital. 

Why are Hospitality Workers Leaving?

Workers cited dissatisfaction with pay (43 percent), career advancement opportunities (38 percent) and work/life balance (33 percent) among the top reasons they are considering leaving their current jobs.

What Do Hospitality Workers Want?

Understanding what you’re employees want is the first step to keeping them satisfied and ensuring they stick around.  Take a cue from these findings from the survey:

After competitive pay and benefits, the following incentives topped hospitality workers’ “most wanted” list of employer offerings:

  1. A good work culture – 61 percent
  2. A less stressful work environment – 59 percent
  3. Career advancement opportunities – 58 percent
  4. Training and learning opportunities – 52 percent
  5. Camaraderie, more family-like work environment – 52 percent
  6. Company’s financial stability and growth potential – 49 percent
  7. Flexible work arrangements – 40 percent
  8. Sense of “ownership” in their position/believing they can make a difference – 37 percent

Hospitality employers have already begun to implement different measures to help hold onto top talent and reduce turnover, such as reinstating raises and bonuses and offering incentive trips. For inspiration, check out my previous post about five companies that are finding new and creative ways to retain employees.

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