To test or not to test

As an HR person I try to be up to date with what is happening in this field, and these days I wondered about test during interview.

We all know that there are a lot of organizations that makes the decision to hire someone depending of the results of different tests.
We can use:

•  aptitude tests - that shows how well will a candidate complete his tasks for a particular job;

• personality tests - we can find out that the candidate personality match our organizations and out team;

• skills and knowledge tests -  used for finding out what skills and knowledge the candidate has for the job and not only;

• cognitive ability tests - measures the general mental capacity of the candidate;

• emotional intelligence tests - we can find out how well can he build relationships and understand others emotions.

But why should we use these test and why the results must count in our decision to hire the candidate or not?
To get to the answer I used PROS & CONS Analyses:

• using this tests, we eliminate the subjectivity of the recruiter;
• we can compare the candidates based on accurate results because the tests are the same for everyone;
• sometimes the unstructured interviews can't point all the important criteria that must be achieved by the candidate and a tests can give you the answers at some points that weren't reached in the interview sessions;
•  we can use tests that are strictly job related and we can see if the candidate has the skills we need for our vacancy;

CONS:

• all the tests have limitations. Per example: you can find a candidate that knows about tests and he can lie at some questions to get a better score. Job knowledge tests don't take in account one important attribute like learning ability;
• the test can't give you all the information about your candidate and you have to use others instruments. It can be other tests, or a discussion with him;
• the results of a test can be ambiguous and can't provide certain things. But in this case you can use a firm that is specializes in tests and they can assist  you understanding the results;
• good test, usually take more than 60 minutes and after you have to take time to see the results and we all know that time is important in finding and attracting a good candidate;

What is important when we use a test is to be sure that the test is legal, it is related to the job and is validated, otherwise you risk to have incorrect data.

Also you have to know that there is the possibility for the result to be false negative or false positive.

How much should the results of a test count in your decision to hire or not a candidate? 

From my point of view if you use a test you use also the result in your decision but you have to take care that this result isn't the breaking point in the final decision because you have to take into account that it is possible that the candidate had a bad day or he is an emotional persona and you can loose a good candidate.

One of the most important test that give you clear data are job knowledge tests that are made in our organization with the help of the team leader of the new employee and that shows you what he knows and if he is a match for your vacancy (ex. CAD test, Programming tests). From my point of view this is the test that has to count in your decision, the other test can give you some ideas of what kind of persona and it can confirm your observations during the interview and can that you have a solid candidate or not.

But what do you do when a candidate get a high score? Do you hire him immediately?  Maybe....or maybe not...you have to use more that one instrument or technique to be sure; you can use references from the former employers and colleagues.
Using test it definitely improves the quality of hire.
Example of tests: Belbin Test, tests provided by Hudson, Hogan test, D.I.S.C. test. (be careful because some tests need to be used only by an psychologist).

What do you think about this subject? Do you use tests in your recruitment process?

 

Organize your work

Two days until Easter Holiday, I've managed to cover all my tasks for this week but something on my desk doesn't look right: I can't manage to keep my desk organized. When you talk about me, cleanness last only for half hour, tops 😀  

How bad is it? Like in the photo below👇 (guess what? You can also find 2 files under my desk 😇)

This is me! I always was a messy person. In high school, I never used my home desk for homework, I always write on my bed, on the floor with all my books around me. My mother tried to make me be more organized, but it was a work in vain. She even turned to my teacher to help her, but my teacher approach was surprising: she told my mother to test me and to ask me something from my pile of books and if I would manage to give it to her from one try it means that this is the way I "work" and she shouldn't try to change me. Of course I passed the test and now I'm still a messy one.

I see my colleagues and how their desks  look and I'm sometimes a little bit ashamed. I work in a production company and 5S is a big part of our organization. I try to apply it but it only last for 1 or 2 days.

  

I can't work if my papers are placed in order, I feel that I'm constrained that I can't think.
But we all know that we have to respect the rules from our organization even if this means that we all need to have a nice desk.
But how can you make an employee like me to identify with your organization values and not feel constrained by your rules?
In my opinion you can involve them in the process. Make him part of the team that supervise for a short time the process and let him come with improvements. It worked in my case, now I try to apply all that I've found out and at the end of the day I clean my desk and I organize all the files. It's an improvement and I am sure that soon I will have a clean desk all day.
In my reading I found out about another method of organizing your work. It is a method detailed into the book  "Getting things done" by David Allen.  
GTD is a management method that helps improve your productivity. The main idea is that you have to store externally your projects in order to reduce stress and increase your productivity. The method is based on a workflow that consists in five steps:

• capture - you can write down, recorder all your tasks, to do list, everything you have to do

• clarify -  all the things you have to do, make them as simple as you can. And if you see that you can do it in less than 2 minutes do it now and the list become lighter

• organize - create lists,  also you can prioritize them by importance or what you want and put a reminder

• reflect -  look at your list and reflect on what steps you want to do next also you have to check the list as often as you can to update it

• engage -  get to work and make an action plan and stick to it. Do this with confidence

 And my sixth step is REPEAT! 

Don't forget there are studies which show that the unorganized people are more creative 😊 and at the end of the day, if your employee does all his tasks, I think you will be happy.
 
Do you know another method that helps you to be more organized?
 

How do you motivate your employees?

Motivating your employees has become this days one of the biggest problem in all companies; what techniques do we have to use to keep our employees happy?
As we all know, there are 2 types of incentives: financial and non-financial

The most common financial incentive is the salary system - we all have the basic salary and we can add other elements like meal tickets, transport allowance, house rent allowance etc.
One of the principal financial incentives are bonuses - individual or collective. But from my own experience and from the talks I had with other colleagues the happiness from this bonuses won't last long because when we talk about money, we all want more 😀😁
A real problem with the individual performance is how to eliminate the feeling of discrimination, because there will always be someone that thinks that he should have  more than his colleagues. To avoid this problem we have to have a strong list of KPI's for each department, each job.
Other incentives can be: retirement bonuses, commission or other extra earnings like educations facilities, medical and car allowance. Also profit sharing for all employees can be a motivating.

When you talk of non-financial incentives, this is the part where the HR people can be creative.

According to your company profile and your type of employees you can use: recognition. For this to be positively embraced, you have to know who's your employee leader/mentor and he can be the one who gives the feedback. There are studies that shows that the feedback that comes from the leader/ stakeholder is more effective than the feedback from HR or others. Dinner with THE BOSS is a motivator factor that shows your employee that their work is valued, that you care about them.
Recently I read an article about a firm from UK where the turnover rate is under 0.5% and the answer at the question:"Why do you love working here?", the common answer was: "Our boss knows who we are, knows our family". So..get to know your employees! 
Another motivator factor is the work conditions. Invest in the offices, in what other little things you can put in your office to make your employees happy - massage chair, a nice area where you can relax and have your meal.
Events also for your employees family, can give them a reason to stay in the company. They can be a little expensive but if it grows the performance it's totally worth it (Easter / Christmas Party, food fest, open doors day).
Training and development -  for the young generation, a big part of their needs is the opportunity to develop themselves.Investing in training gives the benefit of improving their work and keep them happy.

But what can you do new in this field? I've tried to find out what other HR departments are doing and I managed to see some good ideas like:

• a company in automotive industry supports their employees in development of their hobbies: one of the employees knits baby clothes so the company made it public inside their organizations but also on LinkedIn page. The same company declared March - the women month and shared on LinkedIn page the female employees and the importance for the organizations(more info here.)  
• Also they made their employees ambassadors of the organization publicly because the idea that we hide our employees because we are afraid they will be stolen by our competitors doesn't exists and they are celebrating their  employees and the work they do for the company (Example A and Example B )
• another company made an inside library and every month each of the employees makes a list with what books they want and the company buys them.
• Endava has a week of training and events for all the employees in all their offices.
• Delphi Technologies has a annual party for the employees and their family
• Amazon - almost every week they are promoting their employees on LinkedIn

What do you do to make your employees happy? What new things do you have in your company?

About onboarding

We often hear about on-boarding in HR field and what strategies we have to use that our on-boarding process to be useful.

What is on-boarding?

There are a lot of definitions but the most simple is that on-boarding is bringing the new hire in to your organization.

We all know how hard is nowadays to find and to keep a good candidate. The first step in retention is On-boarding. 

When this process starts?

In my opinion the on-boarding process starts when your candidate becomes your new employee (when he agrees with your offer). In this moment you have to give him the access to some information regarding your company's values, culture and regulations.  There are company that have a "new hire map" that includes some brochures with information like: the history of the company, the internal regulations, the values, also an organizational chart with pictures. Others company have an internal portal where he can find all the information he needs.  But don't forget to have prepared the desk of your new employee! The biggest mistake that we can do is to not be prepared for him because this is the first step in losing him. Make sure that in his first day he has his desk, his computer, telephone waiting for him.

Another step is: the tour of your organization. In his first day, you can make a tour with your new employee and present him the departments, where is the lunch area etc. Don't forget, prior to this to introduce him in your organization- you can use an email where you present him, his credentials etc.

In this process you have include also the CEO and the manager of the department because they are the ones that can convey the mission and the values of the organization. Also make sure that the manager of the new employee makes time for a 1 on 1 meeting with the new hire to tell him what are his tasks, what expectations he has and especially ensure you that he feels part of the team.

But every organization is different, so you have to find your unique welcome process!!

After this it is necessary to follow up the process, with an 1 on 1 meeting with the HR to see what is his point of view, how he sees the company, is he happy in his team, has he managed to hit his KPI's? After this meeting you can make a strategy in keeping him or in improve his work and his expectations.

This process can last up to 12 month, this depends on your organization.

What gives back this process to your organization?

⇪ It can be a part of your retention strategy. An article from www.humanresourcestoday.com relates that the average cost of on-boarding a new employee according to urbanbound.com includes:

• 22% - the average employee turnover rate for the first 45 days
• 46% - the average employee turnover rate for the first 18 months

⇪ Promotes your company
⇪ Increases your employee engagement

⇪ It is part of your recruitment strategy. It can attracts new talents in your organizations

⇪ Increases communication in the team and between departments

Do you have an on - boarding process? What do you do regarding this step in HR field?

Dealing with difficult employees

Every day, the HR department has this wonderful challenge: dealing with difficult employees and we have to find the best solution and strategy to make them be part of the team.

How do we do that? Well, we don't have a magic wand that help us to get rid of daily problems, but we have some instruments that can help us to find the solution to our little problem. 

The first step is to understand that we all are different and for you to know how to deal with a difficult employee is to know them. In every organizations we have a lot of behaviors:

The overly ambitions       The dramatic one
The hilarious one                                The quiet one
                    The cynical one                                   The overly talking

Another important step is to not ignore the problem. It is easy to ignore a problem but if you let it resolve by itself it might became bigger and if at beginning it involves one person or two after it evolves it might involve much more.  An entire angry department doesn't sound that great.

After you find out what the problem is you have to take and give feedback. This means that you might have found only one side of the problem and that not give you the solution. Have a 1 on 1 meeting with the employee, find out why he is behaving like that and after have a meeting with the department manager and his colleagues. Take the feedback from all persons involved and don't forget to give back your feedback. It is important for this meetings to have an ending conclusion which is  also communicated to your difficult employee.

Keep it professional - don't forget it is a business problem not a personal one. We all know that is difficult to let your personal side away but at work we have to do it.

Stick to your HR policy - if you have a HR policy you have to stick to it because you might create confusion and also you might leave the impression that you apply them discretionary. This thing get us to another step: be consistent in your decisions, in your procedures, don't change them in the middle of the game.
One of the most important thing, in my opinion is LISTEN. Listen your difficult people, see what's bothers them. Why is he being so difficult. It may be a little thing and you can solve it quickly.

How are you dealing with your special employees? What are you doing to get them be part of the team?   

Managing change

Today I had one of the most popular problem that we the HR people deal with: change and how we are managing the change in the company.

When you work in a company, were the average age is 47  years it is difficult to make the employees to embrace the new changes. But we have to find the means to do that.

Recently I read an article that was inspiring for me (sadly I don't remember the name or who wrote it).

In this article the most important thing was a chart with the variables of the change process that helped me to understand what strategies I have to use to make my employees to be able to embrace the changes.

Managing complex change involves 5 variables:

1. Vision

2. Skills

3. Incentives

4. Resources

5. Action plan

Let's analyze each of them:

Vision - when you want to make a change you always start from a vision. Where you are and where/ what you want to become. This vision is necessary to be visible, to be known by every one that is implicated in the process of change.

Skills - you must have the skills in your "change team". When you want to make a big change in your company you have to use the key people, the people that have the skills to complete this project. Otherwise the project is doomed before you start it.

Incentives - don't forget that every one of us is motivated by something. You have to take time and analyse what motivates your change team, and use rewards to complete the change.

Resources - one of the most important thing when you start a project that involves changes is to analyse what resources you need from the start of the project until the end of it and what is the most efficient way of using them.

Action plan - we usually start a project without making a plan. The action plan gives your change team all the information about the project and all the steps that are necessary in order to do it. Yes, in a project you have the project manager but I think that an important thing is to let all the team members have an input in this plan.

But what happens when you lack one of this variables? well...

When you lack the vision you will have confusion in your team, when you don't have the skills you will have an anxious team, when you don't have the resources you will find frustration and when you don't use incentives you will deal with resistance. And when you don't have an action plan you will have a false start

   The conclusion is that we need to have all this five variables in order to succeed in implementing the change in our company. After you have all this variables you can find the proper strategy to use in order to make the changes in your company easy to implement. But don't forget to work with your team in all you do.

Rate de recuperare a investitiei (ROI)

Atunci cand venim cu ideea unui nou proiect, de multe ori auzim intrebarea: Si in cat timp ne recuperam investitia?

Raspunsul la aceasta intrebare vine din calcularea ratei de recuperare a investitiei (ROI).

Metoda a fost promovata inca din anul 1920 de catre DuPont Corporation din USA care a folosit un model de calcul foarte apropiat de ceea ce a devenit astazi. Incepand cu anii 2000, ROI este unul dintre principalii indicatori folositi in masurarea eficientei proiectelor de investitii.

ROI este folosita pentru a evalua eficacitatea investitiei si este definita dupa formula:

ROI = (Valoarea castigata - Cost)/ cost *100

unde,

              Valoarea castigata = Valoarea obiectiv calculata + Valoarea perceputa
              Costul = Costul initial + Costul schimbarii
              Valoarea obiectiv calculata = Suma tuturor castigurilor atat fixe cat si variabile raportate la perioada de referinta
             Costul = Suma tuturor costurilor fixe si variabile raportate la perioada de referinta

Sa luam si un exemplu:
      Valoarea castigata de investitia in proiect in primii 2 ani de la implementare este de  100.000 euro iar costul total al investitiei este de 30.000 euro
       ROI = (100.000 - 30.000)/30.000*100 = 233%
       
      Cum interpretam acest lucru: la fiecare euro investit am obtinut suplimentar 2.33 euro

Durata de recuperare a investitiei indica numarul de luni/ ani in care plus valoare va fi egala cu costul.

Metode de calcul e relativ simpla - folosim regula de 3 simpla

In cazul exemplului nostru:
      2 ani = 24 de luni
      24 de luni ..............100 000
      x luni.................30 000
               x = 7.2 luni

Deci investitia mea initiala de 30 000 de euro o voi recupera in 7.2 luni. Suna bine nu? 😊

 AVANTAJE:

⇪ Usor de folosit;

⇪ Se pot alege cu usurinta variabilele;

⇪ Formula este usor de inteles;

⇪ Este o verificare rapida a unei investitii

⇪ Ajuta la compararea diferitelor proiecte in ceea ce priveste rentabilitatea si utilizarea activelor implicate;

⇪ Este considerata a fi cea mai importanta metoda de masurare a performantei unei divizii de investitii;

⇪ Poate ajuta la masurarea concurentei pe piata.

DEZAVANTAJE:

⇪ Metoda poate fi usor manipulata;

⇪ Pentru a putea face comparatie intre investitii, proiecte, trebuie sa folosesti aceleasi variabile si acest lucru poate varia in functie de cine calculeaza si ce varianta de calcul foloseste;

⇪ Nu include riscurile asociate cu capitalul uman, cu mediul de afaceri;

⇪ Nu ia in variabila timpul.