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Taking Another Look at Your Talent: Why Redeployment Might be Better Than Redundancy

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StrategyDriven Resource Management Article | Taking Another Look at Your Talent: Why Redeployment Might be Better Than RedundancyMany businesses have struggled since March 2020 and are only just returning to their pre-pandemic operations. During the coronavirus crisis, it was common practice for companies to furlough their staff, but this is now coming to an end as restrictions ease. However, this has left many organisations scrambling to cut costs and potentially scale down their operations.

Many are now considering redundancies as business requirements change in the post-Covid world. However, assessing the talent within your organisation and redeploying employees to other departments could prove more beneficial than redundancies. Here’s why.

It Can be Cheaper

Hiring, onboarding and training talent is a costly procedure. Add redundancy payments that you might have to fork out should you lay off an employee to this, and you have a hefty sum of money.

Filling an internal vacancy elsewhere in the business with an employee who already understands your company’s ethos and methods can be a far better option. It allows you to protect your investment in an employee during the hiring process and avoid further payments if you were laying them off. Overall, this can translate to significant savings, even when the training for the new role is factored in.

It Can Boost Morale

Downsizing your operations through redundancy is sometimes necessary. However, it can dramatically impact the morale of the staff members who retain their jobs. This common occurrence is often referred to as “survivor syndrome”. It is characterised by lower morale, engagement, motivation, dedication and productivity.

It is easy to see how this could impact your business as a whole, so it is likely something you will wish to avoid in your company. Redeployment can be an effective strategy to boost morale and motivation in your organisation.

While it is often driven by financial requirements, the practice offers an opportunity for growth for redeployed staff members. Additionally, it reduces the incidence of “survivor syndrome” that would otherwise be rampant with redundancies. Therefore, it can be an effective way to boost productivity and morale.

It Can Make Your Company More Adaptable

During the pandemic, businesses were forced to adapt to a changing climate. Many working practices had to be suspended, and other employees were forced to work remotely from home. For many businesses, this adaptation was a learning opportunity. Many companies sought to use the pandemic as an opportunity to cross-train their employees, bringing new skills into their workforce.

Rapid redeployment will allow your staff to grow and develop their skills and provide them with a better understanding of how other departments function. Ultimately, this can prepare them for additional opportunities that arise in your company and boost your workforce’s adaptability as a whole. This will allow your organisation to roll with the punches better whenever it faces adversity.

Conclusion

In many cases, it can often be a better option to retrain staff members for roles in other areas of your company. At present, many businesses are adapting their operations to a post-Covid world. For many, this means redundancy is a real possibility. However, for the reasons outlined above, it can often pay to redeploy staff instead.

What Should You Look For When You Conduct a Background Check?

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article | What Should You Look For When You Conduct a Background Check?If you are taking a look at applicants, you might be wondering who you should run a background check on. Ideally, you would like to run a background check on everyone. In actuality, background checks can be expensive, and you are probably only going to run background checks on people who you are seriously considering for an open position. As a result, you want to use the best background check possible. With the vast majority of companies running background checks on people they are considering for open positions, you need to know what to look for. What are the items that you should consider if you are conducting a background check?

Look for Signs of a Criminal Record First

Without a doubt, the most important element that you need to consider is the presence of a criminal record. Of course, being convicted of a crime does not necessarily make someone a bad person. On the other hand, if you are responsible for the actions of an employee, you do not want to place your other employees or customers in harm’s way unnecessarily. In addition to hurting other people, this could place the company in an awkward position. Remember that an applicant cannot be turned down because of the presence of a criminal record alone. On the other hand, an employer could turn down someone if the offense committed is directly related to the duties of the position. This means that the specific nature of the crime could make you a liability to the company. For example, if someone was convicted of theft and the open position was at a bank, this would be an issue.

Therefore, what should you look for if you are conducting a criminal background check? First, you should take a look at felony convictions. Are there any felony convictions present? If so, what are they? Then, you should look at federal crimes as well. These are separate from state crimes, which make up the majority of convictions. In addition, you should also take a look and see if the individual is a registered sex offender. That might be relevant to the open position.

If you are doing a deep background check, you may check other criminal records as well. For example, there may be information listed on the global homeland security database. Or, you may even pull up an international criminal history. Be sure to consider these criminal records as well, as they can be important.

Confirm Someone’s Identity

This may sound like it is superfluous. After all, you require people to produce a photo ID, don’t you? You even ask them for their social security number if you are hiring someone, right? Unfortunately, technology has made it easy to steal someone’s identity. Therefore, you need to make sure that someone is who they say they are. Why would someone lie about their identity on an employment application? Perhaps they are collecting benefits that may disappear if they got another job. For this reason, you should also confirm someone’s identity as part of a background check.

Don’t Forget About a Credit Check

Finally, you may also want to conduct a credit check as well. A credit check is important for positions that involve money management. If an applicant is going to be managing the company’s money, you want to make sure they can manage their own money well. If they cannot manage their own money well, how are they going to be able to manage the money of the company? Therefore, you need to order a credit check. Make sure the credit report is accurate. If you see any issues on the credit report, you may want to check with the applicant to make sure these are completely understood before moving forward.

Conduct a Thorough Background Check Before Hiring Someone

Ultimately, these are a few of the most important factors that you need to consider if you are conducting a background check on a potential candidate. Make sure that you have all the information you needed to make a proper hiring decision. Conducting a dive into someone’s background can help you make the right choice.

How To Choose Your Company’s Staff

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It is always said that the success of a company comes from its human capital. However, one wonders how the most recognized companies achieved such an efficient human resources department. Any entrepreneur should pay attention to this point because recruiting staff is a fundamental task in an organization.

StrategyDriven Talent Management Article | How To Choose Your Company's Staff

Finding the ideal professional for the position is often difficult. The reasons may be lack of experience or that the candidate does not have the required skills. Some companies have periods with constant staff turnover because it is difficult for them to locate the right employees, keep workers happy and satisfied with their work and wages.

Personnel recruiters must be specialists because they must know how to combine intuition with the ability to analyze, synthesize and evaluate, and involve quantitative scientific tools, which contribute to knowing what is not seen with the naked eye. The use of technological tools will help obtain greater accuracy and know the applicant’s scope.

Posting job advertisements in the correct places (according to the requested profile) makes the offer more attractive; therefore, the chances that the candidates will be fixed are higher. At the same time, the design of the ad also serves to attract attention. Take advantage of social networks, especially those of professionals like LinkedIn, so that you can learn more about people’s likes and interests in less time. It makes your searches more effective too and you can get a general overview quicker.

When conducting job interviews, it is essential to provide information on the specific skills and abilities. It is also valuable for the company to report what it has to offer by working there, for example, salary, hours, incentives, or rewards, and all benefits. Look at drug testing to ensure that you hire people who have no history of narcotics or drug abuse. You can look at stewarts drug testing for further information.

Look at the company’s goals.

Also, to have a good team that meets the company’s goals, we have some ideas that will help you select the candidates who are applying. Take note: Psychometric tests are part of job interviews. They are made scientifically, and it is an objective measure of the candidate’s behavior, which allows us to conclude the factors of his personality. They are easy to acquire and can be the first step in determining the applicant’s ability. You want to hire someone who has the potential for growth in the business.

When selecting people, use comments from their other jobs, who they worked with, colleagues, or previous bosses. Therefore, factual information is obtained on the skills and personality at work. At the end of the list of possible workers, it is advisable to carry out a socio-economic study and a personal interview. It will allow knowing the environment in which the candidate develops, how his family conditions, the place where they live, customs, habits, personal and professional information. With this data, unwanted situations can be avoided. You can certainly hire the best professional but the hard work is up to you.

Ways that Businesses can benefit from using Human Resource Software

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |Human Resource Software|Ways that Businesses can benefit from using Human Resource SoftwareAll kinds of businesses can benefit from using integrated human resource software. It helps in managing processes, information, and employees. With the advancement in technology, businesses can boost the efficiency of the workforce and improve productivity. The company can automate its processes and will inevitably realize more profits in the process.

Reasons that Businesses need HR Systems

Management needs systems that make it easy to run and operate a business. Small companies can use the primary forms of human resource management systems to handle employees’ attendance and payroll. Larger corporations will utilize a more complex system inclusive of all the aspects of human resource management. This read will discuss some of the most common software to use and how they are beneficial to the venture. Here are a few reasons to use HR software;

  • Data management: the software eliminates the clumsiness of documentation in business. Officers can store data virtually and retrieve it any time that they need it. Data is easily manageable and accessible to management.
  • Automation: it leads to a reduction in errors since the system automates some of the services. Automation helps to schedule meetings with employees, and the system ensures that you get a reminder before the event.
  • Better Planning: when using HR management software, it is simpler for the management to plan to execute tasks. The system can assist in operational tasks while the management engages in strategic planning.

Types of HR Systems

Developers of software for HR management in companies will consider the needs of the business first. Let us look at popular software in the market and how they differ from each other;

HR Information Systems

The software helps enter data into the system where individuals with rights can edit the information. An employer can see the personal information, remuneration, and performance of an employee. Employees also get a portal where they can apply for leaves and also access other human resource services. They can log into the self-help menu and download payslips. On the other hand, there is a wide array of data that HR managers can store in the system. It includes keeping track of attendance and the benefits that employees are entitled to.

In other forms of the system, HR officers can store files and attach documents to an employee’s profile. It helps to link documents to the relevant individuals for efficient storage. The tool helps to manage documents and provide security against unauthorized access.

HR Management Systems

The software is not different from the information systems that we have discussed above. However, the system allows human resource managers to conduct more data analysis and use the information for decision making. Due to recent technological advancements, management tools are becoming available in all other types of human resource systems.

HR Payroll

It assists the process of paying wages and salaries to employees. Before casual and full-time employees get their payslips, the system will automatically handle any statutory obligations. It helps to generate payments and storing of payment records for the future.

Applicant Systems

The human resource department is responsible for the recruiting and onboarding of new employees. Applicant systems are meant to assist the officers in the process. Since companies receive high numbers of applications for vacancies, it is essential for management to utilize the HR tools. Unlike the management embarking on a manual process, it is easy to filter and sort out applications through the applicant systems.

Benefits of using the HR System

When a company grows, it is difficult for them to operate without professional human resource software. Depending on the business’s size and needs, one can choose the system that works for their company. However, it is advisable to have a system that makes use of all the above HR tools. Let us look at some benefits of using the HR system;

Ensures compliance with the regulations

HR software help in the storage of data and information relating to the employees. Management can ensure that the workforce complies with all labor laws by including their identification documents in the system. Having the information at a centralized location makes it easy to pay out any statutory and personal deductions. The software helps to flag items for the HR officers to act upon.

Assists in the decision-making process

In any organization, reporting becomes difficult whenever there is no organization in data and information. HR software offers cloud options for their storage needs. With enough capacity to hold all kinds of employee data, it is easy to locate the information. HR software offers an authentic representation of the workforce, and it is wise for managers to use the information to improve workers’ productivity. As a result, the process of analyzing data and making a decision becomes simpler.

It is Cost-effective

Purchasing a system for human resource management is a one-time thing. There are no monthly subscriptions unless when organizations are outsourcing storage facilities. With the software, companies can employ a few human resource officers to handle a large workforce. The use of technology in human resource management operations significantly reduces the chances of errors. With an inefficient system, companies might lose money from unwarranted payments. In the long run, human resource systems will save the business a lot of money.

Improves service to employees

Employees can easily access human resource services when the company is using automated processes. They can log into the portal from any place as long as their mobile devices have an internet connection. The system allows personnel to apply and receive approval for their leave days.

Improves efficiency in the Human Resource department

Human resources software offers an immediate impact on the department. It helps to streamline departmental operations and reduce the number of employees making their way to the office. The automated tools offer self-services that improve efficiency and productivity.

Conclusion

Employees are the most critical resource in any business. On the other hand, HR software helps recruit, manage, and remunerate talents for any organization. Small and large companies will benefit from the technology.

What Are the Organizational Benefits of Professional Development?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article | What Are the Organizational Benefits of Professional Development?Hearing the phrase “professional development” makes some people squirm, others roll their eyes, and a few actually listen candidly. There’s often a misconception that managers who suggest some type of professional development to their employees actually suggest it because of poor performance, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Professional development is a great way for people at all levels of an organization to hone in on what exactly they want their career path to look like and gives them the opportunity to experiment with new tools that might help them to get there. There are many different avenues of professional development, but some common types include seminars, workshops, conferences, career conversations, job shadowing, and online courses.

The Benefits of Professional Development

If you’re reading this and thinking, “as much as I’d like to offer these types of programs at my organization, it just sounds a bit time consuming and expensive,” then consider the many benefits:

Long-Term Money Savings

As the tried-and-true sales saying goes, it costs more money to acquire new customers than it does to retain existing ones. The same goes for people within an organization.

It is important to note, however, that poor employee development (unorganized structure, prioritizing high performers over the whole, etc.) will cost more time and money than no development at all. So if you’re going to go in, go ALL in.

There’s No “I” In Success

Some people enjoy the monotony of knowing exactly what their tasks are for the day, how long it will take to complete them, getting them done successfully, and doing it all again tomorrow. Others like a challenge—setting higher goals and aiming for the moon. By understanding the unique motivations of your employees you can tailor a different professional development plan for each individual. Skilled managers should strive to foster their employees’ development because when your employees are successful, then everyone is successful. By creating professional development plans, you can combat complacency and build teams from simply competent to excelling in no time.

Improve Company Culture

Company culture may seem like a cliche buzzword, but it still holds a lot of value to today’s labor force. As of 2019, 46% of job seekers say company culture is very important when applying for a specific role.

Now more than ever, employees are worried about crafting a sustainable career with a company that has values closely aligned with their own.

Initiate Professional Development Conversations With Employees

“But how do I go about starting the conversation on employee development,” you ask? It’s simple, talk to your team and discuss your motivation for wanting to start a development program. If you’re in a hybrid or remote work environment, you can easily set up a video conference call and begin asking questions to get the team thinking about how they would like to see their role expand.

One great question to ask your team is: “How can being an employee here help you become the person you want to be?” It shifts the perspective from “what” you would be (your duties in a role) to “who” you would be (emphasizing you as an individual.) Unlocking your team’s core values will help you further understand their goals as well as new ways you can help support their success. After all, contributing to meaningful work is the number one reason employees choose to stay in their current positions.

Foster Professional Development During COVID-19

It might be daunting to talk to your employees about their careers in the midst of a pandemic, but, nonetheless, these are still important conversations to have. It’s vital to utilize a secure network option to ensure your line of communication is private and confidential. Other tools like learning management systems make it easier to track employees progress with special e-learning courses unique to the company.

You can test the waters of your development plan by checking in on your remote employees often, and making sure they know that you’re accessible, even if it’s only over Zoom. You can also encourage their success by highlighting them in larger team meetings.

After getting a feel for the areas your employees have expressed interest in, try introducing them to other people in the company that have experience in those areas. Professional development doesn’t have to be only hard skills—it can also include soft skills such as networking or public speaking.