Human Resource Generalist vs Recruiter— not always the same

Posted on June 25, 2022July 3, 2022 by admin

Human Resource Generalist vs Recruiter— not always the same

Human Resource Generalist is a broad term used to characterise a professional who performs duties that relate to human capital at organisations.

Recruiters are human resource professionals who specialise in sourcing and hiring staff. All recruiters are inherently human resource professionals, but not all HR professionals are recruiters.

Working in HR means performing a variety of HR functions. Not every HR Generalist is involved with the hiring process. This is not to say that none are. Recruitment is one function of HR. They are called HR Generalists because they are not specialists in one specific aspect of HR. They can be, but this is not always the case.

While HR Generalists may perform recruitment duties, they serve many other duties such as job enrichment, employee engagement, training, performance management, benefits administration, determining compensable factors, negotiations, strategic planning, contingency, and succession planning, orienting new employees, development of policies and procedures, job analyses, identifying and bridging gaps in staffing within the organisation, managing grievances and so much more.

This means that HR Generalists may perform the abovementioned duties in their current role at any given time, and it may have nothing to do with recruiting staff. A recruiter’s sole focus is sourcing staff to fill a position.

The recruiter may or may not be a full-cycle recruiter. Therefore, the recruiter may not create the job or be responsible for hiring. Sometimes, a recruiter may just connect you with a hiring manager. Other times, they may take care of the entire hiring process. Some organisations have internal recruiters. Others have external recruiters. Some companies separate recruitment from HR, just like with compensation specialists.

So, you are much more likely to succeed in your job search when you contact a recruiter than an HR Generalist because HR Generalists could be performing many other duties that are not recruitment.

To conclude, every person is unique, which means that every person working in HR or Recruitment is unique too. There are similarities and differences, but different successful people can still give substantially different advice.

4 Tips for Helping Employees That Are Burnt Out

Posted on June 25, 2022August 24, 2022 by admin

4 Tips for Helping Employees That Are Burnt Out

1. Offer rewards that work against burnout

Sounds logical, but remember that the continued pressure to work harder to achieve a reward can lead to employee burnout. Rewards of that nature have their place, but if all perks and rewards are performance-based, you set employees on a path of burnout.

Some rewards should exist simply because people matter, not just what they can do.

Whether it’s a gift card, extra break time, or some bonus paid vacation hours; you are letting a person know they have value whether or not they created monetary value for you.

2. Temper your bottom-line enthusiasm when scheduling

You have a business to run and customers to satisfy — that’s understood. It’s easy to put that as the most important consideration and create conditions that burn through employees.

Maybe reconsider that approach. Take it easy on how you schedule shifts.

Communicate as early as possible so employees aren’t saddled with a massive pile of last-minute stress every week. That stress adds up. They might be able to handle the work, but the last-minute changes and requests are causing burnout.

3. Consider employee off-job obligations

You probably know how to value and respect your employees’ personal lives and time. That’s been drummed into you over the years.

So consider this: do you value the other jobs the employee has to do that aren’t for you?

Be considerate. While the other work should never conflict or interfere with what you pay an employee to do, keep in mind that juggling multiple jobs to make ends meet creates a sense of depression, hopelessness, and weariness.

Talk to your employee. Find out how you can work with them in the situation. Clarify what you expect, but also let them know what you aren’t demanding of them.

4. Make goals available for all

Some jobs give employees the chance to advance to a higher position. But some jobs are “dead-end jobs.” They don’t have any opportunity for advancement. That job is the end of the line unless you work elsewhere.

You need to create goals for your employees, which may include some of the following:

Monetary Goals. Everyone can use the extra money. So, at the very least, make employee raises regular and realistic. At least it provides a chance for a wage increase.

Experiential Training Goals. Make conferences or valuable experiential training opportunities available as a long-term goal. This isn’t just bringing in HR over the lunch hour with worksheets but sending an employee to a conference elsewhere to be energised and get excited about work again.

Micro-Position Goals. While you might not be able to create bona fide managerial positions (vertical) to promote people, you can develop micro-positions (horizontal) for employees.

This is particularly useful if you have employees struggling to grasp their jobs since you can use micro-positions to get each employee to focus on specific things in addition to the regular position.

Things Business Owners Need To Know About Job Abandonment

Posted on June 24, 2022August 24, 2022 by admin

Things Business Owners Need To Know About Job Abandonment

Let’s examine why job abandonment is increasing and what you can do about it as a company owner. Because, if you have employees, you absolutely will be dealing with this issue.

What causes job abandonment

Overworked. Your employee told you they were getting too many hours, had too much work, with insufficient help, and were burned out.

Unhappy with their job. For whatever reason, they don’t like their job. Bad management, poor workplace culture, frustrations with coworkers, insufficient pay, no incentive or job advancement opportunity, terrible shift schedules, or boredom. They simply don’t want to be there anymore.

Underperformance. Employees who aren’t motivated, underperform, or do the bare minimum may sometimes lack the motivation to even show up for work.

COVID (and other illnesses). Between sickness and quarantine, or even fears over health and safety, an employee may stop coming to work. They may not understand how sick and medical leave policies work, their rights, or what they need to do to let employers know they are sick.

Find something better. A tight labour force means a fiercely competitive market. The employee may have found something better and didn’t want to deal with telling you or going through the exit confrontation or process. It was easier just to take the new job and walk away from the old.

Ignorance and communication differences. Not every worker has a lot of experience in the labour market, mainly if they are younger and don’t know about giving notice or calling in sick.

Some inform you of their absence instead of asking you. It might be after the fact. Employees might not be great at communicating with managers. Expectations of older generations are assumed, while younger generations might not realise they ought to call or inform employers of their intentions.

How to deal with (and prevent) job abandonment

When an employee doesn’t tell you they have no plans to return to work, that’s job abandonment. But hold on — be sure you have legitimate job abandonment on your hands.

Do they fit your job abandonment definition in the employee handbook? Are you trying to communicate every way you can, and you hear nothing from them? Have they cleaned out their desk or work area?

Yeah, that’s a pretty good sign they’ve abandoned their job. So, as an employer, how do you deal with the reality that job abandonment will happen to you at some point?

For starters, always be sourcing.

You’re never done hiring employees. You are never fully staffed. You can never stop and take a breather from finding the next great worker. Always keep an eye out for people or places to find people who would be great employees. Don’t be afraid to contact and hire someone, even if you think you have enough staff to get by.

Set up abandonment policies and procedures

The first step to successfully dealing with absent employees is to create a policy. This includes defining job abandonment and what employees can expect if that occurs.

What to consider in your job abandonment policy?

Define what it is. Your employees need to know how you define job abandonment, so let them know how many days absent without communication is considered abandonment. How many times will you attempt to contact the employee before it’s considered abandonment? What is the employee’s responsibility when they need time off, wake up sick, or have an emergency?

Communication avenues. What communication forms are valid (email, text, phone call, friend, written note). Fallback options for employees who don’t have smartphones or might claim to have lost their phones should be part of the plan. Should they contact you until they’ve heard back that their message has been received?

Documenting communication. The documentation of communication attempts will be necessary in case there are dissenting opinions (employer or employee) if the claim of job abandonment meets any pushback. You might require medical verification forms, a doctor’s note, or anything else that would legitimise the employee’s claim that they did not abandon their job but could not communicate.

Differentiate between abandonment and being fired. Make it clear to employees that they were not fired if they abandoned their job. This matters in case they apply for unemployment. If an employee has left their job according to your policy, you’ll want to inform them with an appropriate employee termination letter. Again, however, you have to make it clear you didn’t fire them, but they simply abandoned their job per the policy.

4 Ways Workplaces Can Support Their Essential Staff

Posted on June 24, 2022June 25, 2022 by admin

4 Ways Workplaces Can Support Their Essential Staff

1. Keep front-line staff safe

Work injuries cost about $170 billion in 2019! Those are pre-pandemic numbers.

So, what are you doing as a company owner to keep people safe? Do you have a safety plan? An ongoing safety program? A safety officer or someone dedicated or assigned to monitor and improve safety?

Nothing happens by accident, except accidents.

2. Get serious about mental health

A 2020 survey revealed that 53% of adults in Europe were suffering from worry and stress due to the pandemic. Imagine what your front-line workers felt? We promise many of your employees already struggled with mental health issues, and bearing the brunt of responsibility by being on the front line has only added to it.

A 2017 email from Madalyn Parker to her boss, in which she explained she needed a few days off to focus on her mental health, went viral. Why?

Because we all recognise the need.

Getting serious about employee mental health might mean giving employees a day off as a mental health day. It might mean offering free professional counselling to employees who want to use it.

Mental health isn’t just something you think about in terms of burnout and how it costs you productivity and turnover. It’s about caring about the well-being of your essential employees with a keystone function. If they crumble, so do we.

3. Pay them well

Sadly, most front-line workers tend to earn lower wages in comparison to other workers. That’s completely backward.

We define them as incredibly important. We assign duties to them that the rest of the population relies on. We put them in harm’s way or ask them to perform their work when times are tough.

And we pay them less?

Too many essential workers watched others spend a year working from home via the internet while they could not have such an option. Being told you’re “essential” without seeing it backed up by action and pay is hollow and hurtful.

Show your front-line staff you can’t do without them by putting it in their paycheck and benefits.

4. Improve how you communicate

Poor employee communication is expensive for business owners, not just in the dollar amount because of mistakes or turnover, but also in efficiency and morale. If you’re not confident in your communication abilities, you have a couple of options:

Survey employees about how it’s going. Find a coach, mentor, or class to learn to improve. Communication is worth the effort always to be understanding and improving. It doesn’t matter how great you think you are as a communicator; there is always room for improvement.

The fact that you’re making an effort to improve is a signal to your front-line employees that they matter.

Author: admin