Archive for the ‘Articles about HR’ Category

Key aspects of human resource management

Sunday, August 17th, 2008

Great all-in-all review of all possible aspects of “life-cycles” in HR niche. The set of articles discuss all possible aspects of HR from searching perspective candidate to retirement plans. The review covers the key topics in HR management and how to keep business performance while your company hire new people or someone leave company.

  1. Life cycles in HR
  2. In-Between Happenings in Hiring the Best Employee
  3. Two Programs for Searching Future Employees before Graduation
  4. Five Helpful Tips on Job Sites’ Resume Browsing
  5. How It Helps Searching Employees from Existing Contacts
  6. Contributions of Training to Employee Performance and Organizational Management
  7. What a Holistic Education and Training Program can do for Organizational and Employee Development
  8. Giving Employees Time to Practice: An efficient Way to Enhance Productivity
  9. Choosing Training Models for Your Training and Hiring Needs.
  10. Management Tools to Enhance Employee Efficiency
  11. How to Align Employee Values and Aspirations towards Your Company Goals and Vision
  12. Managing Job Quality to Control Employee Output
  13. Using Various Rewards and Profit-Sharing Strategies in Motivating Employees
  14. A Pursuit to a Perfect Workplace
  15. Ensuring Employee’s Continued Success through Additional Training Programs
  16. Coping with employee loss
  17. Holiday fun at work
  18. Caring for employees’ health
  19. Employees on maternity leave
  20. Dealing with the resignation of an employee
  21. Appreciate the people in your company through proper recognition
  22. What should you do after an employee gets fired?
  23. Why people leave a company and stay with the competitor
  24. Make your employees stay through your retirement plan

Automation for HR specialist

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

People in HR, as well as other people who work with computer face sometime routine tasks that they wish they could automate. For problems are easy to automate, for instance, you can create blanks for some processes that will make your life easier, but there are always routine tasks that require a lot of time and can be hardly automated.

If your goal is to fill forms on career sites, then filling the form again and again can be a really routine. But you can always use some task automation tools, that will help you to fill in necessary data, select necessary options in check lists, finally giving you more free time for real HR job.

The tool called iTestBot was released by AKS-Labs. This application was primary designed for software engineers who going to test the application again and again, but also it is a powerful routine tasks solver. Learn more how it helps with solving routine tasks.

Pertinent Facts about Balanced Scorecard

Sunday, June 22nd, 2008

The Balanced Scorecard is a tool businesses should know how to use. By applying key concepts here, growth in terms of performance and productivity should not be hard to achieve.

There are many theories and such that have emerged in the world of business over the years. And this is far from coming to an end because at this very point in time, there is surely another emerging business theory being put into practice at just about any area of the world today. However, amongst all these theories and concepts, a select few just might be effective as to the results that they bring for their respective companies and organizations. One of these is sure to be the Balanced Scorecard. Yes, you may have heard about the tool in theory, but you just might not know everything there is to know about the tool itself. Here are some facts about Balanced Scorecard that you should be aware of.

Just like any other tool that is being used in the world of business, the Balanced Scorecard has adjustable properties; all of which are made adjustable and modifiable to suit the individual and collective needs of businesses worldwide. In spite of this, though, the Balanced Scorecard operates in the same way in terms of its application. Even if you run just a small business or a fairly huge one, the same concept underlies the application of the tool itself.

Firstly, the Balanced Scorecard begins with the mission statement. This mission statement has to be stated exactly, concretely, and precisely. What’s more, the mission statement should be shared by every single member in the organization. Thus, you have to make sure your mission statement is well-worded because everything else in the process depends on this.

The second thing you should pay attention to is your financial balance or your cash flow. This is one of the first things that the financial stakeholders of your company would look for in your Balanced Scorecard. Thus, the figures here should also be as accurate as possible. Think of this as your company’s financial target, so to speak.

Thirdly, you also have to pay attention to the reputation of your company or organization itself. Just how do you want to appear in the eyes of customers and clients? Or perhaps, in the eyes of your beneficiaries? Image is very important here because you just cannot deny the fact that first impressions do count, even if they do not really last. Thus, prepare a brief but concise description of your organization, in the very image you want to appear in your customers’ eyes.

The fourth thing to look into pertains to methods and processes the company must undertake to keep the stakeholders happy and content. Brainstorming is very important during this stage because you have to take into consideration all processes needed to satisfy your stakeholders here. From the bottom of the chain of command all the way up to management tasks, all of these aspects will have to be taken into thorough consideration.

The fifth aspect involves planning. Planning takes place in the form of figuring out the courses of action to be undertaken to achieve the vision of the company itself. What would it take for all employees from all divisions to work productively together?

Lastly, you need to elaborate as much on the specific KPIs that are used on the Balanced Scorecard. In this way, the system is actually made more open to critical appraisal from all members of the organization. And since this is a continuous process, the application of this final step would indeed help in developing an efficient system. Just focus on these facts about Balanced Scorecard to get there.

Key Performance Metrics as Business Performance Indicators

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Having performance metrics as business performance indicators is a huge advantage for any company or organization. This is because the indicators show a company’s status towards achieving corporate goals.

If you are in the world of business, then you surely must have heard about performance metrics at one point or another. This is because companies can make use of performance metrics as business performance indicators. Simply put, we can use performance metrics to check on how the business is performing, especially in terms of growth and productivity.

Another term that can be used in place of business KPI is the business KSI or key success indicator. These are created for the sole purpose of measuring the performance of a business when compared against organizational goals and objectives that have been originally set by the business itself upon its foundation. Once the aspects aligning the performance of the business are measured, it would then be easier to identify where exactly the business currently is towards the realization of these corporate goals and objectives.

Upon the analysis of a business’s mission, there would come a need to name the very people behind the business itself. These people would be the business’s stakeholders and even the founders themselves. But when the goals are stated out loud, then the business would inevitably be ready to identify and define the methods that it will use in measuring its current progress towards the realization of corporate goals. These are then the business performance indicators at play.

There are certain characteristics you have to look for when selecting which KPIs to use for your business. Bear in mind that these have to be relevant KPIs because it would not make sense to use KPIs that are not relevant to your business, as well as your goals and objectives. Also, you have to remember that these KPIs are not goals per se. these are just quantifiable aspects that are set up to make clearer the status of the company against its goals and objectives. This is precisely why the identification of goals has to be done before the KPIs are developed and set up. The goals serve as guiding forces in this endeavor.

Furthermore, the KPIs have to be predetermined because it would not be worth your while to do this at a later time only to find out that the goal for a particular KPI has already been met or achieved. In the same setting, if your organization is not quite sure if it would be able to tell whether or not their goals would be achieved, then it would be senseless to come up with these KPIs. Thus, predetermination is a must here.

Lastly, there might come a time when your goals would become narrowly defined, especially when the organization gets closer and closer towards achieving certain goals. This does not mean that the business performance indicators should be modified significantly during the company’s progression towards the goal. Remember that the performance metrics here have been predetermined already, and this means they represent measures indicating progress. Since this is the case, then there really is no need for the company to modify these measures. As tempting as it is, your business performance indicators should remain as they were from the very beginning.

Focusing on Basics for Dashboards and KPI

Friday, June 13th, 2008

When developing dashboard KPI, there is an imminent need to focus on just the basics of KPIs here. This way, more informed decisions can be made faster.

KPI dashboards are tools that no company or organization should be without. This is because these dashboards contain the keys that make decision making all the more easier. The metrics provide the needed information for decision makers to make more informed decisions. After all, you never can tell when you would need to make sudden decisions that can mean the difference between success and failure for the company itself. Thus, KPI dashboards are very important tools for any company or organization to have. And they have very positive effects when it comes to the very experience of using them in companies.

However, a lot of companies actually incorporate so many metrics on their KPI dashboards. These companies do not really mean any harm in doing this. But what they do not realize is that the more metrics they include on the dashboard, the more confusing it would be to interpret the data represented by the metrics themselves. Thus, the better thing to do here is to choose just a few relevant metrics to include in your KPI dashboard.

It is very easy to get tempted to include a lot of KPIs in your dashboard. This is especially true when you see that you have a lot of data about your content, your models, specifications, colors, origination, and a lot more. When you feel very much tempted to include many KPIs for your dashboard, fight off the urge because less is more when it comes to dashboard KPIs. Just think about the time you can save when you have only a few KPIs to analyze and check out for representation. You also end up making decisions that are more profitable in the end.

Because you will be using just a few metrics for your dashboard, the issue at hand would now pertain to selecting which metrics you would include. Focus on the basics so that the members of the management staff can also focus on the aspects that drive the whole process of the trade from start to finish. You alone would know what particular metrics to use for your dashboard since businesses and organizations differ from one another. Of course, there are commonalities that you just cannot ignore. For instance, when it comes to the supply chain, these just might be the key indicators to include: cost reduction, shorter delivery time, on-time delivery, efficiency of manufacturing chain, better supplier management, and more. It is also important to portray all of these details in a certain format that can well present all information against indicators that have been pre-set, as well as historical trend data.

All of these just might be jargon to the ear at this point in time. And managers like to have specific information at hand so that the decision-making process can be made more speedy and efficient. The following are common indicators: Perfect Order Lead Time, Perfect Order Fulfillment, Production On Time and Complete, Expedited Order Fulfillment, Supplier Fulfillment On Time and Complete, Customer Return Rate, and Cash to Cash Cycle Time.

Supply chain management will certainly improve with the usage of these indicators on your dashboard. And the same procedure should be exercises when developing dashboards and KPI for whatever facet of the organization. Keeping the basics in mind will surely bring a lot of benefits for the organization as a whole.

Knowing How to Control Business Performance with KPI

Friday, June 6th, 2008

The performance of any business greatly relies on KPI or key performance indicators. Thus, knowing how to manipulate these can bring significant results for your business’s performance.

We all want our businesses to become successful, especially in terms of profit and stature. What businessman would not want this for his business, right? Thus, it is of import to exhaust all possible resources to control the performance of a certain business, so that performance itself can be guided accordingly. One effective way to deal with this is through the implementation and usage of KPI or key performance indicators. But just how does this work? What should every businessman know on how to control business performance with KPI?

The underlying concept here involves a lot of factors. For business performance to be controlled in a positive way, these factors have to be addressed. These include: the design of your KPI, the gathering of data that is to be plotted onto your KPI system, and the analysis and usage of the gathered data.

Your KPI design is just about the most important factor to consider here. There are a lot of indicators that you can include in your design. What’s important here is to choose indicators that are relevant to your cause. Now, these can vary from one company to another, since different companies inevitably have different corporate goals and objectives. For the most part, these are the indicators that frequent the usual KPI designs of so many companies: total monthly company profit, regional company profit, customer social position, and customer education. Having these indicators is quite important because a number of people from the upper management would be looking into this from different perspectives. To illustrate, the CEO of the company might want to take a look into the total profit metric, which is understandable since the CEO heads the whole company. The regional manager, on the other hand, might be interested on just regional company profit, since this is the scope of his or her job itself. Thus, your KPI design should bear in mind the needs of all people who will be viewing them.

However, the road towards successful performance does not end with just having a reliable KPI system. The inputted data and information have to be sorted out, analyzed, and represented appropriately and accurately. Thus, the very person who’s in charge of the analysis and representation of data gathered should indeed be as qualified as he or she should be. The analyst should be aware of the goals of the implementation of all metrics in the design. The analyst should also know why that particular metric was chosen, and not some other related one.

Keeping tabs with the limits of your KPI system is also important. You have to understand that there are also limits that come with your KPI design, no matter how awesome this might have been when it first came into play. Thus, it is of much importance to make sure your KPI system remains up to date because what worked well yesterday just might not produce any significant results today. What’s more, your KPI design is not really equipped to provide detailed facts about your business so avid representation is needed here.

By keeping these factors in mind, you will now have an idea just how to control business performance with KPI. Use these to the fullest so that your business, in turn, can also realize its full potential.

Effective Means to Measure, Control, Improve Employees’ Productivity

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

To accurately measure, control, improve employees’ productivity, there is a need to implement productivity metrics. These quantifiable figures make it easier to measure the abstract concept of productivity.

We all know how important the productivity of employees in a certain workplace is. This is because the overall success of the company greatly relies on just how productive its employees are. And this is the primary reason behind the pressing need to measure, control, and improve employees’ productivity.

Measuring, controlling, and improving the productivity of your employees is not as easy as one may think. Organizations all over the world have long been trying to come up with concrete ways to measure the productivity of employees. This is quite hard because there are so many aspects of productivity that are quite difficult to quantify in the first place. However, over the course of time, many specialists and such have come up with what are known as Productivity Metrics, to accurately measure employee productivity.

So, what exactly are these metrics? And how do they measure productivity? The main thing to remember here is that for you to measure productivity accurately, you need to know a few things first. These include the purpose of such measurement, the method to be used for such measurement, and the desired result or outcome of the resultant action that will take place after such measurement. These technical terms translate to you having to know the reason behind measuring productivity, the method to use to measure productivity, and the desired outcome or course of action that will take place to address the results of the measurement. These are the underlying concepts behind productivity metrics.

To answer the question pertaining to purpose, you need to check the goals and objectives that the organization originally put up during its very foundation. As for the method of measurement, this would then be your very own productivity metrics already. These are the quantitative figures that you will be using to quantify and measure productivity. The resultant action, on the other hand, would depend on how far the organization is from realizing corporate goals and objectives. And because these productivity metrics are crucial for the success of the organization, then they can also be aptly termed as Critical Success Factors or CSFs.

With all of these aspects defined, the next logical step would be the implementation of the metrics themselves. For the metrics to be properly implemented, you should first identify each contributing element. These are: the metric’s name, the metric description, the measurement procedure, the measurement frequency, the threshold estimation, the current threshold, the target value, and the units. The metric name and its description show what needs to be measured. The measurement procedure explains how measurement would take place here, whereas frequency pertains to how often this measurement would take place. Threshold estimation focuses on the calculation of the thresholds of measurement. The current threshold, in the meantime, is the value rage within which the measurement is considered normal for the metric being measured. The target value pertains to the best value possible for the metric, while the unit pertains to the unit used in measuring the metric.

All of these aspects are put into play as part of the means to measure, control, and improve the productivity of employees. As long as these are properly put into place, there is much promise for the accurate measurement of productivity and for the development of appropriate solutions towards the improvement of productivity here.

Why It’s Important to Measure HR Performance with KPI

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

It is important to measure HR performance with KPI. The process keeps the company aligned towards achieving corporate goals and objectives.

It greatly helps to be familiar with KPI or key performance indicators. This is because it is important to measure HR performance with KPI. You have to understand that HR or human resource pertains to the human assets or the very workers that a certain company or organization has. To ensure the success and growth of the company, it is important to monitor and keep track of the performance of its workforce.

Thus, the reason behind measuring HR performance with KPI. With this procedure, the company can determine the strengths of the workforce and capitalize on them. This procedure also helps weed out the weaknesses in the workforce, and appropriate solutions can then be determined.

To further understand the importance of this procedure, the concept of KPI or key performance indicators should then be discussed. KPIs are actually metrics used in quantifying corporate objectives in line with the strategic performance of every worker and department in the workforce. These aspects are quite hard to quantify without the usage of KPIs, and this is primarily the reason behind the existence of KPIs. The figures being quantified here are actually used by the management to evaluate the present state of the organization against the corporate objectives and goals that were originally set.

KPIs also aid in determining the proper course of action when certain situations take place. In their most basic form, KPIs determine how the human assets of a company contribute to the overall performance of the company itself. Since this is the vital role played by KPIs, then it is very important to exert effort in determining the relevant KPIs to use. You have to understand that the needs of a company can shift at just about any time, so you have to be ready to implement changes as they are needed.

In any company, the workforce is indeed its most important asset. The workers are the frontliners, no matter what industry you belong to. The productivity of each employee has an impact on the company. If an employee is very productive at his job, then this would bring positive effects on the company. On the other hand, negative effects would arise when there is an employee who is not that productive.

The value of each employee is then quantified by HR departments. Oftentimes, the criteria used in quantifying the value of each employee include teamwork, initiative, quality of work, cooperation, and problem solving skills. These are the KPI used on the production side of the company. Other KPIs are used to determine the disposition employees have towards their jobs. These KPIs include job satisfaction and job security.

Other common KPIs used are training cost per employee, absence rate, turnover rate, resignation rate, average remuneration, revenue per employee, and the like.

Another thing to remember when you want to measure HR performance with KPI is the fact that the KPIs used can differ from one company to another. This is because companies have differences when it comes to corporate objectives, goals, and even their operations and mechanics. Thus, you cannot expect two companies to have the same KPIs, even if they are competitors in the same industry. However, if a company does develop an efficient system for their KPIs, then significant improvement and growth for the company can be noticed in good time.

Importance of Improving HR Performance with Balanced Scorecard

Sunday, April 20th, 2008

Improving HR performance with balanced scorecard is very important in ensuring growth for the company. The key here is to develop a balanced scorecard that motivates workers to perform better.

Improving HR performance with balanced scorecard is indeed possible in any company or organization. You have to understand that the human aspect is very important in ensuring growth and success for the company. The productivity of each and every employee influences the success of the company as a whole. Thus, it is vital for companies to implement balanced scorecards containing relevant key performance indicators to usher in growth and success along the way.

It is actually quite difficult to control something that you cannot measure. Being human and very unique in nature, it can be so hard quantifying the worth of each employee so that you can come up with a balanced scorecard for your company. Still, this can be done, as long as the KPIs or key performance indicators being used here are indeed relevant to what is being measured. What’s more important here is that the KPIs should be in accordance with the goals and objectives set by the company.

It remains a strong fact that performance measurement systems can provide motivation for the workforce. Over the years, studies have been shown on how performance and productivity rates shoot up when workers know that they are being watched and evaluated. Call it human nature, but we really do want to appear in a positive light. Thus, when we know that we are being evaluated, we try our best to perform as productively as we can. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and this is no exception at all. But generally speaking, most workers are motivated to perform better when they know they are being observed and evaluated.

At present, the performance scorecard is a system employed by companies in pursuing key success factors. Both internal and external benchmarking has to be employed so that the scorecard can be as balanced as possible. For the scorecard to be motivational, the data here should then be accurate and timely. Simplicity is the underlying concept here, to ensure validity of measurements. The design for data collection should also be simple as well so that it would be convenient to maintain the databases involved in the process. This way, data integrity can be assured as well. Here are some tips that can help in developing the balanced scorecard.

First, you have to take on a no status-quo mindset. Sticking to the basics is very important here for there are no gray areas with this mindset. You are either black or white. If you are not winning, then you most certainly are losing. This is the mindset you have to take on when developing a balanced scorecard. This way, there would be no biases whatsoever.

Second, it is important to define the key success factors in the company. These may include speed, quality, and cost, just to name a few.

Third, define the stretch goals that are related to the key success factors of the company. More often than not, these goals would also be in line with corporate goals and objectives.

Improving HR performance with balanced scorecard is indeed possible with these tips. Just remember that the whole endeavor is important in ensuring the success and growth of the company as a whole.

Measure ROI of HR Department Explained

Sunday, April 6th, 2008

How to measure ROI of HR department? This may be a less obvious question to raise but definitely eyebrow-raising. Nevertheless, this query, albeit simple, may have complex answers and explanations.

There can be no doubt that the HR department is significant in the productivity of enterprises and in meeting the goals of the company. This department is considered an investment of a company with the people working in the department as assets. However, similar to other departments, the HR office is subject to control and evaluation. Companies would still assess the return of investment of their HR departments. There can be no way of making an assessment other than using metrics or tools to determine not only the department’s worth but also its efficiency and efficacy.

Perhaps, the indication of the performance of HR departments can be assessed from the productivity level of production workers, including those in the management level. It also involves assessing the productivity level of individual workers in the organization. The role of the HR department can have influence to the performance of an individual worker, as measured using several factors including productivity.

The increased performance and productivity of individual workers may have something to do with the roles and responsibilities of the HR department. However, the rising employee turnover rate may also be a measure of the performance of the HR personnel. Higher turnover rates in any job position may mean that the HR department is not efficient in hiring qualified workers or loyal employees. However, the rising turnover rate of employees and employee position should not be solely credited to the failure of the HR department. The working environment and work policies are other factors for the negative impact in employee turnover.

In calculating the ROI of HR departments using the accounting method, an equation could be involved. This equation includes numerator and denominator in which the numerator is the earning or result, either actual or estimate, while the denominator is the amount of investment used. However, when this equation is used, it is more probable for the amount of investment to be quantified rather than the earning or result of the investment to derive the rate of investment return. Another thing is that the investment poured on HR department and for the HR personnel to use is not only a capital expenditure. The HR department incurs expenses from time to time for it to function. Because of these probable attributes, the ROI of HR department cannot be quantified easily. Instead of deriving the ROI using the standard equation, other metrics can be used to measure the rate of investment return of employee-management department.

KPI, which stands for key performance indicators, can be used in measuring the ROI of HR departments. The turnover rate of employees is one of the KPI’s in measuring the performance of the HR department. Other KPI’s may include cost per hire, acceptance rate, training cost per employee, revenue per employee, resignation rate, average remuneration, and absence rate. The management level or owners of companies may also have to consider the total costs incurred for the HR department to function.

Even if there are KPI’s that can help quantify and measure ROI of HR department, complexity is deriving the exact amount or rate still exists. However, even if there is difficulty, ROI of HR departments is still measurable. Approximation in amount or rate is a probable aftermath of the calculation. One last thing to remember is that the elements and nature of calculating the ROI of HR department may vary, depending on the goals and objectives originally set by the company concerned.