We are very pleased to welcome Marilyn
Walker, MS as our new director of the SPS Employee
Assessment Center. Marilyn has extensive experience
with assessments and most recently served as the
executive director of a regional social service agency.
NEW. Join Ira Wolfe on March 24 from noon
until 12:45 EST for the first of
a
series of tele-conference calls discussing "How to Hire
Competence with
Confidence". Learn first hand from Ira, author
of Understanding Business Values and Motivators.
Participation is limited to the first
50. Special Thank You Gift - each participant will
receive a CD-Rom (Value $49)- Understanding Business
Values and Motivators, The 6
Motivators Every Manager Needs to Know About.
To register, SPS Teleconference Sign-Up. In
the subject line, Type "I want to participate in the SPS
Teleconference Series at no charge".
Six Sigma - Isn't it time HR gets serious about turnover?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many companies believe that dealing with turnover
and disgruntled employees is just part of the cost of
doing business. But that is faulty logic.
In the 1980s many business believed errors and
product defects were just part of doing business, too.
Then in 1989 Motorola announced a five year goal of
reducing manufacturing defects. They called the plan
Six Sigma.
Six Sigma is a statistical concept. It measures the
quality of a process in terms of defects. Achieving six
sigma means your process is delivering only 3.4 defects
per million opportunities.
During the 1990s many organizations
improved quality and reduced costs by billions of dollars. General
Electric added more than $2 billion to the bottom line in 1999
alone.
Motorola saved more than $16 billion in the first 12
years of its Six Sigma efforts.
Ford reported more than $1 billion saved since
2000.
Six Sigma strives for zero defects. Since zero
defects are nearly impossible. Six Sigma set a goal of
99.9997% - just .0003% short of zero defects.
A sigma represents 691,462.5 defects
per million opportunities. This translates to a percentage of
nondefective outputs of only 30.854%.
A process functioning at the three
sigma level means you're allowing 66,807.2 errors per million
opportunities, or delivering 93.319% nondefective outputs.
Many might consider
this 94% accuracy as good enough. That is of course unless you
are one of those unlucky vacationers to arrive at your destination
without a stitch of clothes other than what is on your back because
your airlines lost your luggage. You see, the baggage handling
quality of many airlines is operating at three sigma.
The airlines are not alone. Most organizations in
the U.S. are operating at three to four sigma quality
levels. This means they could be losing up to 25% of
their total revenue due to processes that deliver too
many defects.
By now you might be thinking, "I agree Six Sigma is
a good thing but what the heck does it have to do with
human resources?"
The annualized rate of turnover in many
organizations runs between 15 and 20%. Healthcare
systems average between 13 and 27%. In several
industries like hospitality and call centers, turnover
rates of 50, 60 and even 100% are considered
acceptable "by industry standards".
By Six Sigma standards, these organizations are
operating at three, two and even one sigma in the
people management areas.
With compensation and benefits costing
organizations from 20 to 50 percent of total operating
costs, global competitiveness driving down margins,
employee skill shortages driving up competition, you
would think that organizations would begin
to "believe" in Six Sigma to control the runaway costs
of human resources processes.
But they don't. Many human resource
professionals resist even the thought of having metrics imposed
on their own performance. Worse, many organizations allow them
to get away with it. These efforts to avoid accountability for
organizationally challanging problems such as turnover has been
estimated to cost their organizations between 20 and 40% of budget.
Achieving zero defect may be improbable when
it comes to recruiting and retaining people. But
accepting quality levels in the one and two sigma levels
for employee turnover and retention is no longer
acceptable for any organization.
CriteriaOne: The Six Sigma of Selection and Performance Management? Avoid Hiring and Promoting the Wrong Employee with The Whole Person Approach - CriteriaOne Training for managers and consultants who want to learn to identify, select and retain talent- April 21-23, 2004
Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #116 to #120
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fact #116
Obesity is associated with 239 million restricted
activity days.
Source:HR Magazine, March 2004
"The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book: Why
Worker Shortages Won't Go Away" is HERE! Order your
copy today - $7.95 includes free shipping for limited
time only.
Order your copy of The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book today!
6 Simple Proven Motivators That Employees Really Value
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Read What People Everywhere Are Raving About!
Order your copy of "Understanding Business Values
and Motivators". (Yes, Understanding Business Values
and Motivators is finally here.)
Understanding Business Values and Motivators is
an introduction to understanding the six business
values and motivators that drives human performance.
In this book, Ira Wolfe describes how each of the
motivators affects peoples' behavior in the workplace
and how managers can tap into those motivators
to increase productivity and improve performance.
Order your copy today - only $12.95. Want a copy of
all your managers - call us for volume discounts.
Attention Consultants - call us about affiliate and
re-seller programs.
Preview Understanding Business Values and Motivators today.
Retailer Aims at Reducing Turnover More Than 16 Percent with SELECT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With retail stores in over 130 locations and 600-plus
employees and a revolving door of retail sales
associates, you can only imagine the frustration level in
the boardroom of one of the largest rental-purchase
retailers in North America.
In search of a solution in late 2002, management
turned their sights to using a pre-employment
assessment. On their laundry list of requirements for a
screening tool was validity for retail stores, availability
in multiple languages, cost-effectiveness, and on-line
delivery.
We recommended the SELECT Associate System.
With versions for Sales Associates, Sales Managers,
and Van Drivers, the SELECT Associate System was an
easy choice.
SELECT Associate System pre-screens candidates
for work integrity factors such as absenteeism,
honesty, and substance abuse and performance factors
like customer service attitude, energy level, initiative,
acceptance of diversity and others.
After twelve months, 500 job candidates and a
comparative analysis of both the hired and hired-and-
terminated employees, several high risk factors began
to separate the successful hires from the disappointing
terminations. By identifying the highest risk factors for
terminated employees, our client anticipates a
reduction of between 16 and 33 percent of bad hires by
simply avoiding those candidates who "flag" the
performance factors of initiative, energy, and positive
service attitude. (A flag in the SELECT system is
generated when a candidate answers a series of
statements in such a way that exposes a risky attitude
or counter-productive behavior.)
The most predictive factor was in the area of
initiative, defined as the ability to assert oneself
and "take responsibility." 33 percent of hired-and-then-
terminated sales associates "flagged" initiative. An
undesirable score indicates a lack of confidence and
overdependence on others for help and assistance. A
desirable score shows individuals with self-confidence
and self-reliance and could "take control" when
necessary.
17 percent of the terminated sales
associates "flagged" energy. An undesirable score
indicates a slow pace, low stamina or low energy
reserve. A desirable score indicates a drive to get the
job done, the proverbial self-starter.
17 percent of the terminated sales associates
also "flagged" positive sales attitude, defined as having
a positive outlook on customers and the sales/service
role. An undesirable score indicates defensiveness and
a negative attitude toward customers. A desirable
response indicates a positive, confident personality
projected to customers, displaying a confidence in
his/her ability to influence results.
What was the Achilles heel of the Retail Sales
Manager? Energy! An amazing 56 percent, or more
than 1 out of every 2 terminated managers, "flagged"
energy.
The value of using pre-employment assessments is
obvious when you consider the convenience and low
cost of screening out high-risk employees as early in
the hiring process as possible compared to the high
cost of hiring mistakes. What organizations and HR
managers often overlook is the depth of knowledge
available by studying and comparing assessment results
and response trends. A review of hiring and
terminations patterns provides valuable insights into
how to raise the quality of employees who are hired
and reducing the number of early terminations.
In addition to the reports generated by SELECT and
other assessment tools such as Counter-Productive
Behavior Index, FirstView(tm) and TotalView(tm)
Assessments, managers receive a list of recommended
interview questions based on the responses of the
candidates. These questions help keep managers
focused on critical incidents and job-related behaviors
and ultimately help avoid hiring mistakes. SELECT,
Counter-Productive Behavior Index, FirstView and
TotalView can be taken online or administered on paper
(and scored online after the candidate leaves).
To learn more about the SELECT Associate System, follow this link.
How Often Do You Find Yourself Saying, "What Questions Should I Ask During An Interview?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ask no more with Interview Generator(r).
Interviewers need to know what to look for in a
candidate's response. Online Interview Generator(r)
pairs specific "target behaviors" to over 60 competency
based interview questions.
Online Interview Generator(r) (IG) allows users to
create company and job specific customized behavioral
interview guides in minutes. Satisfied IG users include
hiring managers, employers, human resources
professionals, and consultants.
As an IG user, you can choose an already-
developed interview guide from our Job Library of over
40 standard job titles (from Administrative Assistant to
COO), then quickly and easily edit to fit
your open job. Or, you can choose to design your own
interview guide from "scratch" using our extensive
database of 65 competencies, and over 1,500 different
target behaviors (interview "answers"), and
corresponding interview questions.
IG is extremely versatile and flexible - it can be
used for selection in every industry, business and
organizational environment. IG is inexpensive and cost-
effective; clients can purchase interview units
separately, or through a site license.
Interested in a no-obligation online demo? Email us to
Schedule a Virtual Tour Of
Interview Generator. Ask about Performance
(Review) Facilitator, too.
In the comments box, type "Interview Generator".
View a sample Interview Guide created with Interview Generator.
What do employees value?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of the great benefits of understanding people's
values and motivators is that we can recognize
their "hot buttons," what "turns them on" and makes
them run. It's how a particular person is "wired."
Learn more here about what employees values with Business Values and Motivators and how to order your personalized report.
Announcing a Job Board even the small business owner can afford.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What is Total APS (tm)?
Within minutes, you can have your job posted to
the SPS Online Job Board. You send your candidates to
the Board where they submit their resume, cover letter
and respond to a series of customized filter questions.
No more opening resumes, answering phone calls from
candidates, screening and interviewing unqualified
candidates. All you need to do is log into your
account, check how many applicants applied, review
their qualifications and contact only those candidates
who "pass" your screening filters.
You can even select from three different
personality assessments:
