Sunday, May 29, 2016

Are You Hanging On To Employees Longer Than You Should?

Many employers may have a difficult time letting go of an employee, even when that employee has become extremely problematic, unproductive, incompetent at his or her job, or is the subject of extensive disciplinary actions. These employees are not interested in being part of the team. They simply generate chaos and hinder production. You can spot these employees because they don't respond to constructive feedback, tend to renege on agreements, refuse to take responsibility for their own actions and don't take others' needs into consideration.

What employers with dead weight do not often realize is holding on to such employees is not beneficial to them or their business. In actual fact, keeping these employees on does far more harm than good.

Reasons You May Be Hesitant to Let an Employee Go

It is not uncommon for a dead weight employee to try and make him- or herself appear irreplaceable or invaluable to the company where he or she works. Many times this makes it harder for a boss to identify dead weight and let the employee go.

Resolving this problem starts with looking at some of the reasons you may be hesitant to let an employee go:

  • The employee has been with your company for a very long time
  • The employee is a family member or friend
  • The employee has developed such a positive rapport with your clients, you're worried about the potential backlash
  • The employee has proprietary information you're worried will leak out
  • You can't imagine anyone else doing the employee's job
  • You're worried about the income you may lose
  • You are afraid of violating labor laws
  • You don't like confrontation
  • You've begun to second guess your decision

Let me tell you this with certainty, even if you feel terminating a dead weight employee may cost you in income, staff or clients, the exact opposite is probably true. Getting rid of a bad apple in the mix will usually improve conditions. At the very least, you will prevent ill-will amongst your staff, save yourself a lot of lost time and frustration, and even reduce the risk of losing good employees and clients.

Signs You Have An Employee Who Needs to Be Replaced

As long as you can identify a dead weight employee, you can take action to remedy the situation. Some of the most easily-spotted signs you have an employee who needs to be replaced includes:

  • Continual dishonesty and lies of commission or omission
  • Incompetence on the job, despite extensive training, coaching, practice and a reasonable amount of time for the employee to adjust and adapt
  • Flat out refusal to do the job or operate as a member of your team
  • Undependable; cannot be counted upon to be on-time, adhere to deadlines or keep commitments
  • Engages in unethical behavior such as: harassment, in-office bullying, or other activities in violation of your company's code of conduct

If you have an employee who fits into this category, it is likely he or she needs to be replaced.

Bringing In a Competent Replacement

Most employees are willing to work hard, be a contributing member of your team and help your business thrive. This should make it relatively easy to bring in a competent replacement for any dead weight employee you need to terminate. Once you have made the decision to free yourself of the bad apples, we are here to help.

The People Link is a professional recruitment service specializing in finding and placing qualified healthcare candidates in positions throughout the U.S. All you need to do is let us know what you are looking for and we can help you find it. To learn more about the various services we offer, please visit our website or call Mya at 888-773-0014 for a free, no-obligation consultation. 

Saturday, May 21, 2016

How to Spot Promise in a Potential Employee

Hiring can be a difficult task at times, particularly when you aren't 100 percent sure the characteristics you are looking for or the qualities you really seek. Although many employers would agree that hiring a skilled, qualified and experienced employee is a guaranteed bet, other factors must be considered. Keep in mind, the promise in a potential employee cannot necessarily be seen on his or her resume.

When it is your job to interview potential employees, day in and day out, you kind of develop a knack for being able to spot potential. Again, when I say potential, I'm not talking simply about which individual has the highest skill level or the most experience. What I'm referring to is being able to determine which of the potential employees you are interviewing is going to be of the greatest benefit to you and your company? Which individual will be willing to work the hardest, excel at the tasks he or she is given, and become part of your dedicated team? How do you spot these precious gems? What type of people do you want to avoid?

If you know how to spot promise in a potential employee, you'll have a much greater chance of being able to successfully staff your office, build your company up and ultimately succeed.

Signs You Have a Motivated Job Applicant

Spotting a motivated job applicant doesn't take much when you know the signs. Much of what will tell you whether an applicant is motivated or not is in what he or she says. Be careful not to overlook these key signs when doing job interviews, or you may miss out on potentially wonderful assets.

  • Expresses sincere interest in the company, what it does and how they fit in.
  • Talks about their own strengths and skills, and how this would help in aiding the company's expansion and success once they are brought on board.
  • Speaks about their motivation, i.e. why they got into this particular profession and the goals they would like to achieve (both personally and as part of your group).
  • Has a personal conviction about their potential position and willingness to do the tasks assigned.

What to Watch Out for During the Interview Process

Once you have reviewed a person's resume and determined he or she may be a potential candidate for a specific position within your company, your next step is to schedule an interview. Spotting promise during this interview is easy, so long as you know to watch out for these tell-tale signs:

  • Is the individual more concerned with the benefits he or she will be getting?
  • Is the individual talking a lot about time off? Schedules? Over-time?
  • Does he or she seem to have attention on what the bare minimum is to get paid?
  • Does the individual seem more interested in what he or she will get from the company, rather than what he or she can lend to its success?
  • Is the individual more interested in personal gain than providing an excellent service to the company and its public?

These are all potential signs an individual is less duty-motivated and not quite as team-oriented as you may want. What you want is to hire an employee who not only has integrity, personal conviction and takes pride in his or her own work, but one who realizes the success of the company is beneficial to all. Those individuals who are willing to work hard to contribute towards your company's growth are worth their weight in gold. Let the others go. They'll only pull you down in the long run.

Finding the Right Fit

Good employees do exist, if you know what to look for and where to look. The People Link is a professional recruitment service specializing in finding and placing qualified healthcare candidates in positions throughout the 50 states. To find out more about the services we offer, please visit our website or call 888-773-0014 for a free, no-obligation consultation. 

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

How to Maximize the Productivity of New Employees

Hiring new employees to fill key roles in your organization is extremely important. If positions are allowed to go unfilled, it can lead to heavy workloads, low morale, disgruntled staff, patients not receiving the high quality service for which your group is known and other long-term complications.

Although the hiring process can be lengthy at times, once you have found an ideal employee the question becomes how to maximize his or her production as quickly as possible. You don't want to have new hires fumbling around with low morale due to lack of productivity. What you want is for your new employees to become valuable assets to your team in very short order, as this will not only make your job easier, it will improve your employee retention rate and the ability to provide your patients with top-notch service. 

Ways to Help Your New Hires Succeed

When a new employee is hired, he or she is generally eager to please and willing to do what is necessary to meet or exceed the employer's expectations. It is your job as an employer to help make sure this happens, particularly if you want to retain the employees you worked so hard to procure. The first few days are crucial, but these tips can help you ensure the success of your new hires:

  1. Educate your new employees on the business itself, its core operations, as well as how their position interacts with other positions and the success of the organization. You want them to understand how your business creates value to the consumer, i.e. why you do what you do.
  2. Make sure your new employees understand their specific job description. This way they will know exactly what their job entitles (and what it doesn't), so no confusions will arise.
  3. Figure out reasonable expectations for your new employees and then clearly lay out these expectations. Many new employees fail simply because they are unaware of what is needed and  required of them.
  4. Take the time to train the employees and give them adequate time to learn. A new employee is not necessarily going to be able to jump right in and do the work as fast or efficiently as people who have been with you for years. Consider the learning curve.
  5. Eliminate any internal, organizational roadblocks or red tape which could prevent the employees from being able to do their jobs.
  6. Keep the employees motivated. When a new employee does something right, be sure to praise those actions as this will encourage such behavior to continue. When mistakes are made, correct and provide constructive feedback so the employee will learn and hopefully avoid similar behavior in the future.
  7. Do routine performance reviews or evaluations. These are simple way to identify and address any issues or concerns employees may have. It also provides you with an opportunity to maintain communication with your employees and potentially nip any problems in the bud.
  8. Be sure you and your staff are willing to have new employees join your team, and willing to listen to and potentially adopt any ideas which might streamline production.  New employees can sometimes bring a fresh perspective and level of experience your organization may not have previously enjoyed. Revel in it, rather than shunning it.
  9. Last, but not least, if you observe a new employee struggling, step in to find out what's going on. Was something missed in his or her training? Is he or she running into obstacles you can help resolve? Is there a personality conflict? Is he or she distracted by personal problems? Taking a few moments to help uncover or address an apparent obstacle can do wonders when it comes to improving work performance...a fact you would do well not to ignore.

Staff Retention Doesn't Have to Be a Mystery

Retaining new staff doesn't have to be difficult. It's really no mystery. If you have found the right employee, he or she is willing to learn and adapt to a new environment, and you take into account the ways you can help your new hires succeed, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised with the results. Most disciplinary actions or employee dismissals will result from lack of proper training/acclimation to the organization. Of course there are always exceptions. Hopefully those will be few and far in between.

Following these simple tips can help improve productivity among new hires and help your employees succeed, which is exactly what you want!

For help with getting open healthcare positions filled, please do not hesitate to call us at 888-773-0014 or visit our website for a complete list of the services we offer.  The People Link is a professional recruitment service specializing in finding and placing qualified physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, dentists and other healthcare candidates around the U.S.