Category: Human Resources

Is your recruitment strategy killer, or just a buzz killer?

Posted on by thepeopleandcultureoffice in HR Consultant Kalgoorlie, Human Resource Consultant, Human Resources, Kalgoorlie, Outsource Human Resources, outsourcing, sme, The People & Culture Office, The People and Culture Office

Continuing on from our series of blog posts about Strategic Human Resources Management, this week we take a look at Recruitment & Retention Strategies. You can play catch-up with our previous posts here, here & here.

Right now, the reality for many businesses is that quality candidates, or just any candidates for that matter, are hard to come by. Whether that be because of a skills shortage, geographical location, that the vocation lacks a bit of “cool factor”, ineffective recruitment practices or the reputation of the employer; businesses approaching their talent acquisition efforts without having some sort of plan in place is an inefficient use of financial & people resources.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”

Hiring the right candidate for a role has never been more important as Millennials and Gen Z rapidly become the cornerstone of the workforce. Their fluid and transient approach to employment is a far cry from the ‘job for life’ attitude of the Baby Boomers, and as a result there is a continual flow of employees. And it means organisations have their work cut out for them.

You have to have a killer Recruitment & Retention strategy in place in order to thrive in today’s hiring quandary. Business has to be proactive, not reactive, to overcome the big challenges that modern-day recruiting faces.

An effective Recruitment & Retention strategy should focus on 3 key areas; how you source candidates, how you recruit candidates and then the clincher – keeping them, we drill down into this a bit below:

Create a (healthy) culture & brand – All companies need a strong identity & a part of that is cultivating a positive workplace culture. And it’s about showing this off to potential employees. Use your social media & website as your companies CV. Build a brand online & tell people about yourself, sell yourself as somewhere people will WANT to work. Want to read more on workplace culture? Click here. Looking for info on building a brand? Check out this post.

A killer digital strategy – Attracting candidates today is largely based on digital marketing. Create a strong digital campaign to showcase your brand and what it can offer for employees, use your social media accounts to leverage your message and to widen the net.

Make it easy for people to apply – People can be put off by a tedious or long-winded application form and drop off can be high on digital applications that ask too many questions that aren’t relevant.  Number 1 candidate bugbear is to have to basically copy & paste from their resume into the online application process. Also consider if the position really needs the applicant to address a 10 point selection criteria, yes they can be effective for more specialised roles to gain an insight into the candidates level of knowledge prior to interview, but if your HR department can’t determine a great administrator or labourer just by reading the applicants resume then there is something very very wrong. How long is your lead time from advertising – interview – offer? Drag your heels and you’ll not only miss out on that great candidate but turn people off from applying again. I’ve written some super informative blog posts about the recruitment process here, here, here

Make them want to stay – OK, you’ve got them through the door but what strategies are you engaging to make them want to stay? And it’s not all about dropping some serious coin; what opportunity are you offering employees? Are you helping them develop their skill & capacity? Do you offer the tools for them to do their job safely? Are your leaders the right people for the job? check out this blog on retaining top talent, and this one on employee recognition to learn more.

The strategy should also contain the following core aspects:

Growth Plans – In order to scale up your workforce, you’ll need to hire – which takes time and resources; identify which areas of your business will benefit most from increased headcount.

Skills Audit – Use your business objectives to identify developing areas of the business, then decide on the skills you will need to succeed; Your recruitment strategy should include ways to find and bring new skills into the company

Flexibility – Your strategy should include a plan for temporary staff and contractors to cover projects that are likely to change at short notice

Finding the right person for the job doesn’t need to be a difficult task. It’s just about having the right strategies in place to make it as streamlined as possible. The People & Culture Office can partner with you to develop your people & culture strategies to drive business success. Contact Simone today for further information.

Like what you see? Click around and discover how partnering with us can give your business a competitive advantage by aligning strategy with people & culture, or, give us a like on Facebook for regular updates on industry trends, blog posts & photo’s of me having coffee at my regular haunts and / or my dog & cat disrupting my work day

BASED IN KALGOORLIE, THE PEOPLE & CULTURE OFFICE IS AN INDEPENDENT HR CONSULTANT WHO CAN PARTNER WITH YOU TO OFFER A ONE STOP HR SOLUTION, WE ONLY CHARGE YOU FOR THE WORK WE PERFORM; NO CONTRACTS, NO ANNUAL OR MONTHLY FEES, JUST QUALITY SERVICE. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Are you social?

Posted on by thepeopleandcultureoffice in HR Consultant Kalgoorlie, Human Resource Consultant, Human Resources, Kalgoorlie, Outsource Human Resources, outsourcing, sme, The People & Culture Office, The People and Culture Office

Are you social? What has worked in the past might not be cutting the mustard anymore and it’s time to change things up. It’s time to get social media working for you so potential employees can find you & see what you’re about. Get a social media plan in place. Contact me for recommendations. 

Like what you see? Click around and discover how partnering with us can give your business a competitive advantage by aligning strategy with people & culture, or, give us a like on Facebook for regular updates on industry trends, blog posts & photo’s of me having coffee at my regular haunts and / or my dog & cat disrupting my work day

BASED IN KALGOORLIE, THE PEOPLE & CULTURE OFFICE IS AN INDEPENDENT HR CONSULTANT WHO CAN PARTNER WITH YOU TO OFFER A ONE STOP HR SOLUTION, WE ONLY CHARGE YOU FOR THE WORK WE PERFORM; NO CONTRACTS, NO ANNUAL OR MONTHLY FEES, JUST QUALITY SERVICE. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE



In celebration of International Women’s Day

Posted on by thepeopleandcultureoffice in HR Consultant Kalgoorlie, Human Resource Consultant, Human Resources, Kalgoorlie, The People & Culture Office, The People and Culture Office

I spent the ’90s in my 20’s and was fed the “you can have it all” message on a steady stream from womens magazines. From Cleo to Marie Claire the message was the same, the modern woman is a superwoman; kids, career, a home lifted from the pages of Home Beautiful. It was all there for the taking and there was an expectation you would.

Never a shrinking violet or raised to be subservient I embraced the message with gusto, I had my boys at 20 & 22, built our first family home at 21 and was promoted to my first senior position at 23. As far as the rhetoric was concerned I had it all.

Around the turn of the millennium I started to revolt on the message, much preferring the “you can have it all but not at the same time” message. Instead of killing myself to be the perfect wife, mother, homemaker I started spreading the load, my husband left his job with a local contractor that saw him work 15 hour days, sometimes for 40 days straight, for a position working an even time roster so he could spend more time with our children. Now upper primary school aged, our boys were taught how to use the washing machine & basic cooking skills. Everyone started to ensure our home life was more equal, and that’s what International Women’s Day (& feminism) is about – Equality.

International Women’s Day is a time for everyone, regardless of gender, to celebrate the progress women have made towards equality and to remember how much further there is to go. Male support, especially when men are prepared to use their privilege to support gender equality, is a welcome amplification of women’s voices. And remember, feminism isn’t just about improving the lives of women, it’s about dismantling ALL damaging gender stereotypes and roles. Achieving gender equality should be as important for men as it is for women. Greater work / life balance is about creating policies that benefit everyone, not just women.

Removing gender stereotypes at work is equally about negative stereotypes of males in predominately female industries such as nursing, hairdressing, care giving and childcare as it is vice versa with females in male dominated industries such as mining, science & technology and mechanical trades.

Equality is an issue for everyone. It’s a societal issue built around how workplaces and job roles are structured; the gender stereotypes our children are fed via our beliefs, the toys and games they play and media imagery they are presented with. The shift starts with you.

So grab a cuppa (or wine) & settle in to read what a bunch of amazing women have to say about IWD.

Footnote – my intent with this post was to have equal amounts of males & females from a variety of age groups sharing their thoughts or experiences as they relate to International Women’s Day. Well, you may have noticed a distinct lack of males in the 30+ age group, and it’s not from lack of trying. When I put the call out to half a dozen or so males it was done thinking that these males, whom I’d so respected within the business world, shared a desire for equality, they were all in senior roles, they all had females in their teams, never once in my interaction with them was I given pause to believe they held slightly sexist views. And here-in lies the problem, you probably got to the stat about the gender pay gap remaining virtually unchanged for the past 20 years and thought, WHAT THE HECK! WHY? HOW? Well when the change needs to be made at the top first and fed down as a cultural shift from our business leaders, and business is predominately led by males aged 30 + age group , and then you consider that 100% of my admittedly small sample size of the population declined to write something, then you start to see why.

Like what you see? Click around and discover how partnering with us can give your business a competitive advantage by aligning strategy with people & culture, or, give us a like on Facebook for regular updates on industry trends, blog posts & photo’s of me having coffee at my regular haunts and / or my dog & cat disrupting my work day

BASED IN KALGOORLIE, THE PEOPLE & CULTURE OFFICE IS AN INDEPENDENT HR CONSULTANT WHO CAN PARTNER WITH YOU TO OFFER A ONE STOP HR SOLUTION, WE ONLY CHARGE YOU FOR THE WORK WE PERFORM; NO CONTRACTS, NO ANNUAL OR MONTHLY FEES, JUST QUALITY SERVICE. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

It’s gonna take money, a whole lot of spending money

Posted on by thepeopleandcultureoffice in HR Consultant Kalgoorlie, Human Resource Consultant, Human Resources, Kalgoorlie, Outsource Human Resources, outsourcing, sme, The People & Culture Office, The People and Culture Office
The People & Culture Office

Just incase I drew you in with my clever use of a George Harrison lyric, you can read the first 2 blog posts in this series here & here. This week we are going to look at Compensation & Benefits * queue a chorus of groans from all the bean counters out there *

According to a recent Employment Hero report 63% of employees say that remuneration is one of the top 3 considerations when selecting a new role. But it is not the make-or-break factor it once was, when it comes attraction and retention of employees additional benefits such as flexible work arrangements, training & development, salary sacrifice, reward programs & perks such as free snacks (🐷) go a long way to singling your business out as an employer of choice.

How an organisation pays and rewards its people has a big impact on its ability to attract the best talent, ensure that they are challenged and motivated and whether or not they will stay with your organisation. One of the first steps in making this happen is to develop a remuneration strategy.  The objective of a remuneration strategy is to support the overall organisation strategy, the HR strategy and the desired organisational culture. 

A successful compensation & benefits strategy will ensure that you are able to recruit the right people, with the right mix of skills, to ensure that your organisation can meet its business outcomes. To be effective, the strategy needs to consider the internal relativities between roles; the organisational needs & values and the external market.

Without an experienced HR professional in place to create a strategy SME’s can struggle with not only putting together a total compensation package, but, benchmarking a base salary that is competitive in the current market. The most fundamental stage in the overall management of remuneration is to ascertain what is an appropriate rate or amount to pay employees, and to ensure that this process is fair and objective whilst taking into account factors such as the industrial instrument, market availability of the relevant skill set, fairness & objectivity and whether the organisation links pay to performance.

The organisation’s structure, the market in which it operates, the culture, its position in the organisation’s life cycle and taxation to mention a few areas all impact on the strategy for the organisation. For example; a charity is unlikely to have a strategy with a high base salary, instead offering a base salary in the 25th – 50th percentile range in-conjunction with FBT free salary sacrifice arrangements or other benefits it can offer for free or at very low cost for the organisation.

Organisations also need to consider where they want to position themselves in the salary market – does your organisation want to be highly competitive? or rather, does your organisation want to be in the medium range of the market, but able to offer other non-monetary benefits such as working from home or flexible start / finish times? Where you position yourself can depend on both internal and external factors. For example:

  • capacity to pay high salaries
  • demand for, and scarcity of, skills now and in the future
  • competitors; and
  •  other pressures e.g. turnover, difficulty in attracting talent etc.

On that note, organisations are only as successful as their approach to hiring the right people, setting clear expectations, managing performance and recognising and rewarding employees for a job well done. If you would like a compensation & benefits strategy to tailored to your specific business needs contact Simone today.

Like what you see? Click around and discover how partnering with us can give your business a competitive advantage by aligning strategy with people & culture, or, give us a like on Facebook for regular updates on industry trends, blog posts & photo’s of me having coffee at my regular haunts and / or my dog & cat disrupting my work day 😂

HR Strategies & Planning | The People & Culture Office

BASED IN KALGOORLIE, THE PEOPLE & CULTURE OFFICE IS AN INDEPENDENT HR CONSULTANT WHO CAN PARTNER WITH YOU TO OFFER A ONE STOP HR SOLUTION, WE ONLY CHARGE YOU FOR THE WORK WE PERFORM; NO CONTRACTS, NO ANNUAL OR MONTHLY FEES, JUST QUALITY SERVICE. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Stop ghosting your candidates – the vlog

Posted on by thepeopleandcultureoffice in HR Consultant Kalgoorlie, Human Resource Consultant, Human Resources, Kalgoorlie, Outsource Human Resources, sme, The People & Culture Office, The People and Culture Office
HR Consultant | The People & Culture Office

I love recruitment, out of all the HR functions it’s my favourite, I tell people it’s because it’s mostly a positive experience, you know, up until you have to tell someone they were unsuccessful for a job.
A lot of companies and recruiters deal with this by just not getting back to candidates, whether by the old “only shortlisted candidates will be contacted” or just obvious ghosting, but what damage are they doing to their brand in doing so?
Want to learn more after watching the vlog? Read Stop Ghosting Your Candidates here.

Like what you see? Click around and discover how partnering with us can give your business a competitive advantage by aligning strategy with people & culture, or, give us a like on Facebook for regular updates on industry trends, blog posts & photo’s of me having coffee at my regular haunts and / or my dog & cat disrupting my work day 😂

BASED IN KALGOORLIE, THE PEOPLE & CULTURE OFFICE IS AN INDEPENDENT HR CONSULTANT WHO CAN PARTNER WITH YOU TO OFFER A ONE STOP HR SOLUTION, WE ONLY CHARGE YOU FOR THE WORK WE PERFORM; NO CONTRACTS, NO ANNUAL OR MONTHLY FEES, JUST QUALITY SERVICE. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

People | Process | Power

Posted on by thepeopleandcultureoffice in HR Consultant Kalgoorlie, Human Resource Consultant, Human Resources, Kalgoorlie, Outsource Human Resources, outsourcing, sme, The People & Culture Office, The People and Culture Office, Uncategorized
Workforce Planning | The People & Culture Office

Last week I wrote this post to give you an overview of strategic HR management and how each element adds value to your business, today we are going to take a closer look at one of those elements; Workforce Planning.

Put simply, workforce planning is “having the right people in the right place at the right time” The key principles to workforce planning are;

  • identifying future business directions and workforce needs
  • analysing and understanding the make-up of the current workforce
  • determining the necessary skills, capabilities and competencies required to achieve strategic and operational goals in the future
  • developing policies and strategies that will assist in achieving these goals

Workforce Planning provides management with a framework for making informed staffing decisions which are in line with the organisation’s strategic and operational goals. This is opposed to reactionary or “knee-jerk” staffing decisions that may seem right at the time, but eventually turn out to be ineffective in supporting the strategic directions of the organisation.

The planning process also provides a mechanism for integrating a range of human resource strategies that can assist with the attraction and retention of staff in a systematic, equitable and strategic way.

Sounds great Simone but how does this work within my business? Let’s say you are a mining contractor and you have just been awarded two separate contracts to develop and mine mid-sized open pit projects to commence in 4 – 6 months time. As part of the planning process HR would sit down with the operations manager and map out the project; what positions would be required & when needed throughout the project, what will the roster be, what will the manning of the crews look like and the duration of each contract. Armed with this information HR would go off and start to pull together workforce plan to ensure the organisations ability to meet the workforce need is approached in a systematic, proactive and cost effective way.

This may include looking at the current workforce skill set & capability to determine opportunities for promotion into Superintendent / Shift Supervisor positions, the number of new recruits required, remuneration structure, risks to attraction & retention of employees, whether there is a requirement for the creation of, or review of, HR policies & procedures and then the development of a recruitment schedule giving sufficient time for the recruitment process to occur, successful candidates to leave exisiting jobs and then mobilise to site. Systematic, Proactive and Cost Effective.

So obviously, and as with all business planning when approached with a measured and considered approach, workforce planning has numerous advantages – the ability to identify more effective and efficient use of people at work; enabling effective planning in relation to the “demographics” of the workforce to ensure business continuity; enabling proactive management as opposed to just-in-time management or management by crises; the development of a range of alternative courses of action to meet changing market environments; understanding issues associated with retention and turnover so increases or reductions in staff are managed appropriately and cost effectively with minimal impact on the workforce, individuals and to the business are just a few.

But say you’re a bit of a fly – by – the – seat – of – your – pants person? What are the risks associated with not having a planning mechanism in place? It would result in management resorting to make staffing decisions in an ad-hoc or reactionary way that does not support the longer-term goals of the organisation. This type of decision-making may lead to – a workforce that is inflexible and does not have the necessary capabilities to deliver future services necessary for an organisation to achieve its goals; an inability to attract and retain high quality staff, due to irrelevant or inconsistent human resource policies and practices; operational goals that are inconsistent with the organisation’s wider vision and strategic focus; staff development resources being funnelled to activities which do not support the strategic goals of the institution; under-utilisation of staff; increased staffing costs; a lack of leadership and succession planning and poor management decision-making. Eeeek!

“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” ― Alan Lakein, author

The People & Culture Office can assist you to create overall capability and ensure that your organisation has the skilled, committed, engaged employees it requires to achieve sustained competitive advantage. We will analyse your strategic plan and goals to identify opportunities to develop people and culture initiatives that will integrate with, and support the overarching business strategy. 

Like what you see? Click around and discover how partnering with us can give your business a competitive advantage by aligning strategy with people & culture, or, give us a like on Facebook for regular updates on industry trends, blog posts & photo’s of me having coffee at my regular haunts and / or my dog & cat disrupting my work day 🤣

Sounds like a plan, Stan

Posted on by thepeopleandcultureoffice in HR Consultant Kalgoorlie, Human Resource Consultant, Human Resources, Kalgoorlie, Outsource Human Resources, outsourcing, sme, The People & Culture Office, The People and Culture Office
HR Meeting | The People & Culture Office Kalgoorlie

Business owners, who woke up one morning, decided to start a business, and plowed on ahead with no plan, no idea of where they were headed & no structure for finances, products, clients or employees? Anyone……. Anyone…… As I thought, no-one, because who would be so blasé about their investment and reputation. Yet, going forward how many of you have employee centric plans in place? Such as, have you thought about skill requirements to ensure successful future growth? Have you thought about the documentation of your mission & values so you can ensure your employees, current and future, share them? Have you got a strategic or business plan in place and do you have employee related policies and performance management mechanisms in place to ensure they are met?

If you don’t know where you are headed, how can you expect your employees to join you for the ride?

When an organisation has made its business decisions in relation to its strategic goals, it has to determine how to make that vision a reality & to carry out its mission by executing each strategy. Each and every strategy that a business pursues will have specific HR needs and implications, an experienced HR professional will work with management to ensure there is a plan for the human resources needed to deliver on its strategic goals. This is known as strategic HR management.

There are a number of variables to be considered when managing business outcomes, these can include;

  • Organisational Structure
  • Job Design
  • Recruitment & Selection Processes
  • Recognition & Reward Programs
  • Training & Career Development
  • Performance Management Strategies
  • Employee Relations Strategies
  • Succession Planning

Organisations need to ensure that they have the skills, knowledge, abilities, motivation and commitment in its employees to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage over its competitors. Underpinning this is the contribution HR can make, from the identification of opportunities and constraints of the existing workforce through to the development of policies and practices to develop the core capabilities of the workforce, and to ensure this produces the behaviours, values and attitudes that will result in desired organisational performance.

The primary goal of strategic HR management is to implement strategic change.

The People & Culture Office can assist you to create overall capability and ensure that your organisation has the skilled, committed, engaged employees it requires to achieve sustained competitive advantage.

We will analyse your strategic plan and goals to identify opportunities to develop people and culture initiatives that will integrate with, and support the overarching business strategy. 

Like what you see? Click around and discover how partnering with us can give your business a competitive advantage by aligning strategy with people & culture, or, give us a like on Facebook for regular updates on industry trends, blog posts & photo’s of me having coffee at my regular haunts and / or my dog & cat disrupting my work day 😂

Invest in HR| The People & Culture Office
Business success through people

BASED IN KALGOORLIE, THE PEOPLE & CULTURE OFFICE IS AN INDEPENDENT HR CONSULTANT WHO CAN PARTNER WITH YOU TO OFFER A ONE STOP HR SOLUTION, WE ONLY CHARGE YOU FOR THE WORK WE PERFORM; NO CONTRACTS, NO ANNUAL OR MONTHLY FEES, JUST QUALITY SERVICE. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE