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"Keep Calm and Think Spring." |
| Message from the Editor |
"Extreme Winter Conditions Are Not Easy On The Pocketbook!" |
For most of the us this has been a rough and cold winter; that has its pros and cons. Extreme weather conditions mean more costs to businesses, governments, schools and residents. There�s overtime, busted pipes, property damage, school and business closings to consider, which was doubled this year because of the shortage of salt in many cities, etc. The pros for a tough winter are that colder temperatures kill off many germs and the spread of common viruses such as the flu. Also, we see less unwanted insects and rodents. The weather did, thankfully, add more overtime hours and new jobs for city workers, construction workers and anyone with a snow shovel on their truck! The turn of the season means warmer weather, longer days, higher spirits, and more people looking for work. With spring right around the corner let�s not wish this time away; let�s make the most of it. Think Spring. This is our motto for the next month while we wait patiently for the season of warmer weather and watch rebirth happen everywhere. Let�s embrace new growth and think outside of the box for new possibilities and opportunities as we reflect upon and casually tell winter goodbye. We value you as a client and are thankful you continue to trust us to be your premier pre-employment company. If you haven�t followed us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+ or YouTube, please look us up and join in as we share office humor, MBI news and events, industry updates and anything else we find important to share with you! Think Spring. |
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| HUMAN RESOURCE ARTICLES OF INTEREST |
Calculating the Dollar Costs of a Bad or Weak-performing Employee |
 Almost every manager, when asked, readily agrees that weak employees under perform average employees by a significant amount. From a talent management perspective, if the "performance differential" between the average employee and the worst employee is 33% or more, it makes clear business sense to invest in great performance management and recruiting in order to fix or replace weak performers. First, consult with the CFO's office (the king of metrics) and the COO's office with the goal of getting them to partner with you throughout the calculation process. With their help, you can avoid any major calculation errors and use their credibility in order to avoid any future criticism from finance professionals. Then, follow these six calculation steps: Determine what an average employee is worth; Determine the "weak performer differential" between an average employee and a weak employee in the same job; Quantify the value of the "weak performer differential" percentage; Determine the "weak performer differential" for other jobs; Add other "weak performer costs" to the calculation; and Determine whether weak performers can be improved quickly and inexpensively. It is surprising that only a few firms have taken the time to calculate the positive performance differential that is provided by top performers and the negative performance differential that the organization suffers because it keeps weak performers. The best approach is one that is customized and acceptable to your CFO and your executives. |
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The 7 Characteristics That Set Great Leaders Apart |
 No one is perfect, and that goes for our leaders too � even though we may wish differently for them. We want them to be near perfect in their ability to inspire us to do great work, accomplish important things for the organization, and lead us with humanity and unquestionable character. Great leaders spend a lot of time thinking about how to improve their organizations and the people within them. The characteristics below are adapted from Deb Cheslow�s book, Remarkable Courage: 1. Do the right things. Have integrity, stay true to your values even when everyone around you is floundering, or when popular opinion goes against what you know in your heart to be right.2. Take personal responsibility. Hold yourself accountable for your own and teams actions. Take the blame when things go wrong and give credit to your people when things go right. Attack root causes of problems and never blame others. 3. Do whatever it takes, but minimize collateral damage. Achieve outcomes without leaving your followers exhausted, damaged, or demoralized. 4. Develop followers. Build the skills and talents of others. Empower your staff to continually improve. 5. Never go it alone. Seek out the counsel of numerous advisors, both from similar and opposing perspectives, then devise solutions based upon a well-rounded view of the problem. 6. Leave people and things better than you found them. Always make a positive difference that benefits everyone. 7. Be courageous. Defy logic and conventional wisdom and blaze new trails. Don�t dwell on why something can�t be done, but only consider how it might be accomplished. |
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| BACKGROUND SCREENING NEWS |
Facebook Isn't Actually a Good Way to Judge Potential Employees, Say Researchers |
 A new study from researchers at Florida State University, Old Dominion University, Clemson University, and Accenture, suggests Facebook is bunk as a job performance predictor. The study involved the recruitment of 416 college students who were applying for full-time jobs and agreed to let the researchers capture screenshots of their Facebook Walls, Info Pages, Photos and Interests. The researchers asked 86 recruiters who attended the university's career fair to review the Facebook pages, judge the fresh-faced seniors' personality traits and rate how employable they seemed. Each recruiter looked at just five of the candidates, and got no other information about them. A year later, the researchers followed up with the now-graduates' supervisors and asked them to review their job performance. "Recruiter ratings of Facebook profiles correlate essentially zero with job performance," write the researchers. The recruiters looking at Facebook profiles tended to rate women higher than men, and white individuals higher than African-American and Hispanic candidates. But those ratings were not predictors of their actual job performance. "Our results suggest that Blacks and Hispanics might be adversely impacted by use of Facebook ratings," says researcher Philip Roth of Clemson. (The equally disturbing possibility here is that we'd see the same thing when those recruiters interviewed those people in person.) Roth says that human resources staff should warn managers away from using Facebook to review their applicants. |
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Workplace Privacy 2014: What's New and What Employers May Expect |
 New laws that went into effect on January 1, 2014, are a harbinger of what employers may expect to see in the coming year regarding workplace privacy: more restrictions on access to applicants' and employees' criminal history, credit information, and personal social media content. Employers will now be required to grapple with next-generation issues raised by the use of social media as a business tool and the increasing adoption of "bring-your-own-device" (BYOD) programs. The ever-shifting balance between employer prerogative and employee privacy likely will continue to move in a direction that favors employee privacy. First, legislators, enforcement agencies, and the plaintiffs' bar will likely continue their efforts to narrow the scope of information that employers can consider when making employment decisions about applicants and employees. Second, technology will continue to blur the lines between work and personal life, with personal life expanding into work life - not the other way around. However, the widening scope of the NLRA and the increasing number of countries with broad data protection laws will compel employers to tolerate this "intrusion" of personal life into work. Employers should: Review existing practices for collecting and using information; Implement a social media policy; Require that all U.S. employees execute a BYOD user agreement; and Evaluate whether local law will permit the employer to take the necessary steps to safeguard corporate and customer data before rolling out a BYOD program to non-U.S. employees. |
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