October 28, 2009

Edited and Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Published by Success Performance Solutions. Major Sponsor,

2008 Best Places to Work In Pennsylvania

What's Inside this issue of The TotalView:

1.  HR: It's Time to Face the Numbers

2.  Perfect Labor Storm Warnings

3.  Mike's Car Wash Cuts Turnover with Clues

4.  eSKill Office Skill Testing

5.  Quotes from the Hire Authorities

1. HR: It's Time to Face the Numbers

Every now and then I read an article so compelling that there is nothing I can do but share it.  Earlier this week I read such an article written by talent management and HR expert Dr. John Sullivan. It sent me back to my archives of articles. I've excerpted what I feel is the best of the article and include a link at the end if you want to read more.

Sullivan challenges  senior executives  to wake up and stop the "failure in the recruiting and retention elements of the talent management function." He expresses shock how severely senior executives respond when learning that users are dissatisfied, failure rates approach 50%, and a significant percentage of customers regret their buying decisions.  But when the same or worse metrics define the failure of a company's talent management process, they simply blow them off or accept them in stride.

What are some of the metrics that Sullivan uses to reach his rather provocative conclusions?

Here are a few details reported by Sullivan why so many businesses have numerous failures in talent management:

• 70% dissatisfied - 70% of the external customers (applicants) and 28% of the internal customers (hiring managers) indicate they are dissatisfied with the hiring process (Source: Staffing.org).
• 50% customer regret - 50% of the processes users (both managers and new hires) later regret their "buying" decision (Source: The Recruiting Roundtable). In addition, 25% of new hires later regret taking their new job within one year (Source: Challenger, Gray)
• 46% turnover - 46% of new hires leave their jobs within the first year (Source: eBullpen, LLC) and 50% of current employees are actively seeking or are planning to seek a new job (Source: Deloitte).
• 46% failure rate - 46% of U.S. new hires must be classified as failures within their first 18 months (fired, pressured to quit, required disciplinary action, etc.) (Source: Leadership IQ). In addition, 58% of the highest-priority hires, new executives hired from the outside, fail in their new position within 18 months (Source: Michael Watkins).
• Only a 19% success rate - only one out of five of the process output can be classified as unequivocal successes (Source: Leadership IQ).

Some additional data points to consider include:

• 66% regret hiring decisions - Nearly two-thirds of hiring managers come to regret their interview-based hiring decisions (Source: DDI)
• 50% new executive turnover - nearly half of new executive hires quit or are fired within the first 18 months at a new employer (Source: Corporate Leadership Council).
• Newly promoted executives don't do much better (40% of newly promoted managers and executives fail within 18 months of starting a new job (Source: Manchester, Inc).
• Less than 50% are qualified - a majority of managers surveyed (59%) believe that less than half of all candidates they interviewed were qualified (Source: eBullpen, LLC).
• 65% lie on resumes - the key data source that we rely on to source and narrow down applicants contains untrue information more than half the time (Source: The Risk Advisory Group)
• Resume-sorting failures - Of all the "perfect resumes" sent out by mystery shopper candidates, only 12% were actually scheduled for interviews (Source: Hodes' Healthcare).
• Bottom performers produce less - hiring and retaining below or even average performers have real opportunity costs because top performers can increase productivity, revenue, and profit by between 40% and 67% over average performers (Source: McKinsey & Co.).

Despite these dismal and costly numbers, Sullivan reports that "only 30% of organizations measure quality of hire, and only a handful specifically define and measure recruiting process failure." He implores management  that "It's time to adopt a business process management approach; start to measure successes and failures in the same way that other business processes already do."

Plan B, of course, Sullivan writes," is to ignore this warning and bear the burden.

To read the full article, click here.

Additional Reading:Profit Per Employee: Can HR be trusted by management to get the job done?

Perfect Labor Storm Warnings   

There were more nuns (150,000) than female doctors in the U.S. in 1972.  Today only about 60,000 nuns are active. And 28% of all medical doctors are female, compared with only 8% in 1970.

For more workforce and hiring trends. subscribe to the Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 blog.

Purchase the NEW Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 books (soft and hard cover versions) at PerfectLaborStorm.com.

Mike's Car Wash Cuts Turnover with Clues

The Wall Street Journal teams up each year with Winning Workplaces, an Evanston, Ill., nonprofit that helps small and midsize companies create better work environments, to identify 15 small employers who have built some of the most exemplary, innovative workplaces.
 
We were thrilled to learn last week that Mike's Car Wash, a 5-year user of our Clues users was honored and recognized as one of Top Small Workplaces 2009.

LISTEN HERE to Tom Wiederin, Mike's HR and recruiting manager describe how Clues has helped reduce turnover.
 
In an article published in the September 28, 2009 edition of the Wall Street Journal, Mike's Car Wash was cited for achieving "stellar service by rigorously vetting even entry-level job candidates and then reducing turnover through heavy training and incentives....If there's anything we've learned the hard way, it's that turnover hurts profits and customer service," says Bill Dahm, chief executive and co-owner of the second-generation family business.

The company hires roughly one of every 100 applicants. All candidates are interviewed by at least two people and take two computerized tests: one gauging personality and one testing basic math skills. (While not mentioned by name, Mike's has been using People Clues, both CandidClues and JobClues.
 
We congratulate Mike's Car Wash and wish them continued success.

Social Media and Manager Training for the "Wired and Tired"


Attention Meeting Planners, Program Chairs, HR Professionals

Don't miss out on the opportunity to schedule Ira S Wolfe for your next meeting on one of the following hot topics:

Geeks, Geezers, and Googlization

When Boomers and Young Workers Collide

Social Media 101: Link Me, Tweet Me, Nudge Me

Marketing Your Business: Using Facebook

Learn more about these seminars. Contact us today.

Test for Office Skills Accurate & Affordable   

eSkill assessments are an effective method of ensuring your candidates have the skills needed for your jobs before an extensive interview process. eSkill's online testing tool creates valid, job-based tests by combining multiple subjects and skill levels as needed into a single assessment.  

• Accounting
• Bookkeeping
• Arithmetic
• English and grammar

Click here to learn more

Quotes from Hire Authorities

"Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What's a sun dial in the shade?"

Benjamin Franklin

 

Become a fan   

Follow us on

Ira S. Wolfe Copyright 2009 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission only.