Staffing Articles

Take advantage of age diversity, leverage its strengths

Published in the Rochester Business Journal
October 16, 2009
© HR Works, Inc.

Generational differences among employees can be advantageous to any organization. Diversity fosters creativity and expands an organization's approach to problem solving. An age-diverse work force also can help to ensure that a firm's talent pool is fully tapped.

But diversity also comes with challenges. Today's work force is made up of three very distinct generations of employees. Understanding the differences in approach and expectations of each age group can help your organization leverage the strengths of each and create a more satisfied and productive work force.

Talent on a Shoestring: Internships offer win-win opportunity for employers and students

Published in the Rochester Business Journal
August 21, 2009
© HR Works, Inc.

In an economy weighed down by uncertainty, layoffs and hiring freezes, smart companies in the Rochester area and across the country are turning to a group of highly motivated laborers willing to work hard for next to nothing and have fun doing it: interns.

Handling layoffs correctly can minimize damage to company morale

Published in the Rochester Business Journal
August 22, 2008
© HR Works, Inc.

Every day, it seems, we learn of more victims claimed by economic woes. The airlines announce repeated downsizings. General Motors plans to slash thousands of manufacturing jobs. Here in Rochester, Student Loan Corp. will eliminate one-quarter of its workforce. The list goes on.

Let’s face it: There’s no easy way to lose a job or to deliver the news. But when an employer handles layoffs with respect and attention to protocol, the company may ease employees’ pain, maintain morale among remaining workers, minimize the company’s legal risks and preserve its reputation.

How small companies recruit star performers

Published in the Rochester Business Journal
March 28, 2008
© HR Works, Inc.

Is your small company still basing its recruitment strategies on job boards, newspaper ads, career fairs and mailed-in resumes? If so, you may as well classify yourself as a recruiting dinosaur, doomed to attract only mediocre applicants.

Successfully attracting to your company the best candidates, ideally, the 5 percent of the work force known to be innovators and game changers, requires a radical change in thinking, recruiting experts say.

How 'topgrading' improves the odds of hiring winners

Published in the Rochester Business Journal
December 26, 2007
© HR Works, Inc.

Two companies may be in the same industry working in the same city, yet only one is a recognized leader who owns a significant market share. Why do the two companies, selling the same products or services, perform so differently? Because the exceptional company employs exceptional managers and employees. Just as in sports, where championships are won by the teams that recruit well and fully develop the best talent, success in business also is based on cultivating a talented team.

Winning the war for talent

Published in the Rochester Business Journal
February 23, 2007
© HR Works, Inc.

As the pace of growth quickens at many local companies, so does the search for quality employees. Where employers once found it relatively easy to land top candidates, more are now encountering severe talent shortages in certain fields. Today, adopting a competitive approach to winning the talent war is essential if an organization is to ensure innovation; boost productivity, customer service and employee retention; and secure market position.

Retaining talent requires multifaceted approach, commitment from the top

Published in the Rochester Business Journal
January 15, 2007
© HR Works, Inc.

At this moment, as many as three-quarters of your employees may be looking for a new job, either actively or passively. While some may be alarmed by these figures, successful employers know that, if their companies are to maintain a competitive edge in this knowledge-based economy, they must attract and retain exceptional talent.

Employers must look well beyond pay and benefits and must treat employees much as they do customers. That means asking employees what they need and want, tapping into their innate desire to engage in rewarding work, and remaining flexible enough to offer to each employee the right blend of opportunities, rewards and workplace conditions.

The business case for hiring at-risk teens

Published in the Rochester Business Journal
August 6, 2004
© HR Works, Inc.

The Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection is a nationally recognized program with a track record of helping at-risk youth stay in school, achieve academic success, and earn their high school diplomas while working part time. Employers that participate enjoy government incentives, improved retention and loyalty, lower recruitment costs and a source of diversity, and feeders for apprenticeship, internship and scholarship programs.

Maximizing your e-recruiting efforts

Surveys show that 96 percent of all job seekers now use the Internet, making it their most commonly used search tactic.

The pluses are many: Posting jobs online can cost less than half as much as Sunday newspaper postings and far less than employment agency fees. Online ads can be longer, more descriptive, written any time of the day or night, and posted almost immediately. For employers, online recruiting allows far better targeting of candidates than does advertising in general newspapers, resulting in a greater percentage of qualified applicants.

The costs of not firing a mediocre employee

Great companies are not built with mediocre employees. Yet it's astonishing how often managers postpone firing poor performers and troublesome employees.

In exploring the reasons why CEOs fail, a 1999 article in Fortune magazine cited the CEOs' chronic failure to place the right person in the right job, and their repeated failure or unwillingness to fix people problems swiftly. Some of those CEOs later admitted to selective deafness - ignoring an inner voice that warned them of a problem, and refusing to listen to those around them who saw the difficulty long before the CEO did. This failure to deal with a subordinate who exhibits sustained poor performance can deeply harm a company and produce a ripple effect that hurts morale on many levels.

Maximizing internship opportunities in a tight labor market

What do Oprah Winfrey, professional golfer Tom Lehman and California Senator Dianne Feinstein have in common? They all completed internships. Winfrey began her career interning at WTVF in Nashville, Lehman learned how to organize fundraisers as an intern in the athletic department at the University of Minnesota, and Feinstein spent a year as an intern at The Coro Foundation.

For years, internships, co-ops and apprentice programs have been an integral part of the recruitment process for some organizations. These programs offer short-term supervised work experience usually related to a student's major field of study. They give employers a "previewing" opportunity offering an effectiveness unmatched by other recruitment efforts.

From now on, we’ll call HR Works first with our HR management outsourcing needs.