f you are in human resources, and you want to give your employees a voice, to really let them know that their opinions matter, there are several things you can do, according to business analyst Sherry Benjamins.

One is to have gatherings similar to town hall meetings where employees can communicate with each other and give their opinions to company leaders. One company followed up on these town halls by creating a website where employees could access the company’s business strategy and give their input.

Employees also need to be kept informed, especially during a downturn. They need to know what is happening and how the business intends to confront it. Without this, information is replaced by rumor.

Another way to emphasize employee involvement is by setting goals each quarter with employee input. They don’t have to be huge goals.

Recognition programs are also important to show workers that they are valued. Managers should be educated on how to recognize employees. Also, investing in employee training shows that they are valued within the company.

Another small way to show appreciation to employees is with a simple, handwritten  thank you note. It may seem a bit old fashioned today, but this seemingly minor courtesy can go a long way toward making employees feel valued.

Also, employees should be given the chance to tackle problems that face the business. This could be done by setting up teams with workers from different departments. You could post the problem to be solved on the company Intranet and then ask for volunteers. The team’s solutions could be advertised at a company-wide meeting. And if the team comes up with a good solution to the problem and is supported with solid analysis, it should be implemented.

Another way to show that you value your employees is by looking after their health and wellness. You can do this by setting up a wellness committee made up of volunteer employees. They can research healthcare plans that address wellness issues and even set up wellness activities.

Another way of showing how important your employees are to the company is by keeping them up to date on career opportunities at the firm. The company can provide information on career paths at the business, and an online job posting network. The company can offer career coaching to employees using mentors.

Want some more tips on how motivate regular as well as temporary employees? Contact Bayside Solutions. We’ve been recruiting great workers for some of San Francisco’s best employers since 2001 so you may count on the fact that we know a thing or two about employee motivation. Contact us today!

For many employees, compliance training is a necessary evil, something that you just need to grit your teeth over and get through. And for the most part, that attitude carries over into outcomes – compliance programs generally are not very effective when it comes to time, money and results.

Businesses spend a lot of money on these programs. In 2010, for example, companies spent more than $170 billion on worker training and development programs, about 10 percent of which was for compliance training.

So, given that compliance training as it currently is organized could use a shot in the arm, what can be done to improve it?

The first thing to look at is the content. Does the material covered apply to real situations, real responsibilities and risks that people actually face on the job, rather than just a general overview of abstract concepts and generalities?

If workers need to learn straightforward facts and figures as part of the training, the information should be made available in written form, whether online or as a hard copy. There also should be some way for the workers to confirm that they have received the information, as well as follow up to the initial learning, with periodic reminders. Workers also should be able to ask questions and get answers. Doing this will help employees to better absorb the information, because it will make the training more of an ongoing enterprise rather than just a one-time data dump.

Any individual training session should revolve around only a few key themes or ideas, rather than introducing a laundry list of items. Also, the classes should give the workers the opportunity to put the learning into practice, through some type of simulation or role playing, for example, so that they can put their knowledge to use, further helping them absorb the information.

Also, the learning should receive reinforcement with follow-up notices, where key ideas are repeated and emphasized, so that the learning becomes a continual process. These reminders will help to prevent employees from falling back into old habits.

Bayside Solutions has been helping Bay Area companies find great temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire employees since 2001 and we look forward helping your firm in 2012 and beyond. Contact us today!

Human resources is a people business. You have to deal with employees in a number of different ways, from dealing with routine administrative activities to performance issues. As a result, knowing how to communicate effectively is important. And finding out what is really going on in a situation is critical.

Sometimes that becomes difficult, because no matter how much companies stress the value of employee integrity and ethical considerations, people can be less than truthful. So, having some understanding regarding why workers might want to shade the truth would certainly be helpful in more effective communication and problem resolution, says business consultant Ron Ashkenas.

We all have different criteria about what is truthful. And it is these differing perspectives that often lead to breakdowns. What might lead an employee to be less than truthful?

One instance that is easily understandable is when a person does not want to be seen in a negative way. So, if he has made a mistake, he might create excuses and rationalizations about it, rather than admitting the real cause. For example, Ashkenas relates the story of a manager who was behind schedule on a big project. The delay was due mostly to his lack of discipline, but his reason for the delay was a snowstorm.

Another reason for shading the truth is the unwillingness to subject others to criticism. This was the case with a manager who refused to criticize her workers during performance reviews. Her excuse was that it was better to offer support for good practices, rather than highlight weaknesses. Yet, without telling them their weaknesses, there was no way they could make improvements.

People also shade the truth when it might have a negative impact on the bottom line of the business. This might occur when a salesman doesn’t mention supply problems in making a sale to a customer, or when a CEO fudges on the problems of integrating an acquisition. Letting people know what is really going on could hurt reputations and obviously even cause the failure of the project or sale. So, many opt to give only a portion of the truth and then try to determine how to handle the problems later.

Ashkenas says it’s easy to make judgments about these behaviors and demand that people be utterly truthful always. But that is not in our nature, and it is not in the nature of businesses either. The best course, he says, is to try to become more alert as to why people might be less than honest.

When you need high tech professionals for your San Francisco-are company, contact the recruiters at Bayside Solutions. We can find great workers for your long- and short-term temporary needs as well as direct-hire recruitment. Contact us today!

Human resource professionals who work to reduce employee turnover know that an employee’s manager is a key piece of the retention puzzle. Although keeping employees at a company ultimately involves more than just one person or incentive, managers have a big effect on whether workers stay or go.

It has been said that employees quit their bosses, not their jobs, and that quote has a lot of truth to it. Despite the rough economy, many workers are still leaving their jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are no statistics on exactly why these people left their jobs, but Richard Finnegan of the Retention Institute suspects that bad managers had more than a little to do with it. The relationship that a manager creates with his workers is the prime factor in whether a worker will leave or stay, Finnegan says. Moreover, the people leaving were probably some of the best workers in the companies they left, Finnegan says. A recent survey has shown that 25 percent of top workers were looking for work last year, compared to just 15 percent in 2005.

Finnegan says that when companies have problems with retention, they usually go to their human resources department to develop some new policy or incentive to help tackle the problem. But these kinds of things are of little help when, instead, the companies should be getting their managers involved in the process.

To keep employees, there are no magic bullets, no simple solutions, according to human resource professionals. It takes an effort by many different people, and changing the culture of the organization. For example, at one retirement community, there was a problem retaining nursing staff. So, the human resources director, Jane Holda, conducted interviews to find out what factors were contributing to the turnover.

Then, the organization began a training program that focused on building trust among its managers and directors. The managers were held accountable for building trust with their workers, and this activity was incorporated into their performance review, Holda says. In addition, managers were asked to evaluate their own ethics and integrity, while workers were asked about managers’ approachability, how interested they were in employees’ problems, and whether they followed up on inquiries.

When you’re looking for reliable and skilled professionals for your Bay Area company, look no further than Bayside Solutions. We can source temporary and direct-hire workers for your assignment needs. We look forward to hearing from you!

The focus on social media has been for companies to send their message to the outside, attracting new talent or generating publicity. But in a development important for human resource departments, it turns out that companies increasingly are turning to social media in-house as a way to connect employees and tap the energy and creativity of the company workforce, according to David Ferris of Workforce Management.

One example of this has been at the giant grocery store chain SuperValue, which has about 135,000 employees spread over 44 states. Because it is such a huge organization, connecting people had become a problem, Ferris says. So the company set up a social media platform called Yammer which was used internally. It is helping the company boost sales, according to SuperValue officials. The company uses Yammer to set up working groups. These groups might consist of managers from similar departments, like liquor or deli, or managers whose stores serve similar markets, such as college towns.

A recent survey of Fortune 500 companies showed that almost three-fourths of them are planning to put more emphasis on social media.

But social media experts say to avoid problems with this technology, don’t put the cart before the horse; that is, don’t get so caught up in the kind of technology you are going to use and forget about the purpose you want your social media to serve. The technology doesn’t matter nearly as much as what you want to use it for. The first thing you need to do, they say, is set up goals for what you want to accomplish, and to make those goals as specific as possible – with specific problems and specific people.

Too often, what happens is that companies set up the social media without any overall purpose in mind. Workers then tend to post randomly and no real conversation really develops. Managers use it simply to issue orders. As a result it proves useless, leading management to abandon the entire idea.

But used effectively, social media can become a real change agent, as shown by SuperValue, generating good ideas from workers, Ferris says. It can also help to attract younger workers to the company, build loyalty among employees and promote a strong company culture.

If your San Francisco-area company needs skilled and reliable technology workers, contact a recruiter at Bayside Solutions. We can source, vet and place workers for your temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire needs. We look forward to hearing from you!

A recent survey of interest to human resource departments has found that employees are not getting on board with all of the healthcare investments being made by businesses.

The survey found that businesses are putting a lot of resources into helping their employees enhance their health, in areas such as health benefits, health programs in the workplace, and using other healthcare resources outside the company. But despite all of these efforts by the companies, employees have not taken the time or effort to learn about or get involved in the programs.

The study was done by the Midwest Business Group on Health. Midwest worked with five client companies employing more than 250,000 workers over a five-year period to compile the information.

The Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) is a non-profit, Chicago-based business coalition made up mostly of human resources and health benefits professionals  from more than 100 large, self-insured public and private employers. The coalition represents about three million people and more than $3 billion in healthcare benefits annually

To help companies get their workers more involved in their health, Midwest made a number of recommendations. It recommended that companies look at their corporate culture when putting healthcare programs in place at work so that these programs fit in with the culture at the company. Midwest also recommended that companies make efforts to improve their communication about healthcare not only with workers, but with the workers’ dependents and family members. Midwest also said companies need to offer more incentives as well to motivate workers to improve their health.

Also, Midwest recommended that companies make resources available to workers so that they can compare different health plans and actually see what their healthcare is costing them.

Midwest also recommended that companies develop initiatives to springboard off of clinical screening programs, such as tests for cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, and other conditions, to use the screenings to motivate employees to make lifestyles changes.

Midwest also suggested that companies provide resources to help employees deal with setbacks and stress on the job and at home.

If you’re looking for great employees for either short-term temporary or long-term assignments at your San Francisco-area company, contact Bayside Solutions. We have a large pool of skilled professionals ready, willing and very able to help your company thrive. Contact us today!

In looking at employee performance, some business analysts make the comparison between an employee and a gasoline tank. The point of the comparison is to describe the amount of fuel in the tank that employees have to use. And, the analysts say, the tanks are getting low.

People have physical and emotional resources that they use when they confront various situations, and people use these resources at work. When the tank needs fueling, we use things like vacations, support from friends and family, and a sense of fulfillment in our jobs to add fuel. What empties the fuel are such things as bosses who are hard to work for, worries about money, concerns about keeping a job, and heavy workloads.

When the tank is full, people have the energy and enthusiasm to take on new pressures and challenges. But when the tank is low, new pressures and tasks tend to create more problems for the person and become harder to achieve.

One example of this that was studied in detail was the response of workers when a hurricane hit, which naturally put a lot of additional stress on the employees. Research showed that the extra demands made on employees – things such as working longer hours to fill in for people who could not make it to work – caused more problems for people whose reserves were already depleted, whose gas tanks were already near empty. The extra stress actually caused a drop off in their efforts. But employees whose gas tanks were fuller were much more engaged when the hurricane hit.

When demands in the workplace increase, employees need to also increase their resources — their reserves – in order to be able to handle these demands, according to Dave Ulrich, a business analyst. When employees have more resources such as better control of their time, or the chance to learn and grow, they are better able to handle increased stress. The breakdown happens when demands outpace the resources, Ulrich says.

Several business analysts say that they see workers’ tanks nearing empty in the wake of increased demands at work after the recession. And while workers have been able to increase their productivity, the analysts say these increases will not continue if employees are not able to build up their reserves, if they are not able to put some gas in the tank.

Are you ramping up some projects for the coming year. Are you current employees working at capacity? Then consider adding skilled temporary workers with the help of  Bayside Solutions to your Bay Area firm. Contact one of our recruiters today!

If your human resources department is involved with overseeing volunteer programs for the company, here are several ideas for getting employees engaged within volunteer opportunities that don’t actually have them involved in some kind of volunteer assignment.

One thing a company can do is sponsor a kind of signature volunteer program that is of a short-term duration, but one that involves the entire company. For example, JP Morgan Chase has a volunteer program called Global Days of Service, which is a month-long effort of volunteer service each year by Chase employees around the globe. The Chase employees get together with family and friends to volunteer in a variety of service projects. In 2002, volunteers at Chase worked in more than 950 projects in 275 cities around the world.

In another kind of volunteer effort, companies can help out non-profit organizations by volunteering their skills and business expertise. An example here is America Online, which offers IT help to non-profits and schools. The goal is to help them more effectively use resources online for whatever purpose they have. .

To get the most out of your volunteer programs, your company should follow a three-point plan outlined by the Points of Light Foundation:

• First, your company should acknowledge that community service and employee volunteerism are not just the right thing to do, but important to your business achieving its goals.
• Next, your company needs to make a commitment to create and encourage volunteerism for all employees, and you need to look at community service the same as any other business function.
• Finally, you need to focus your efforts at serious social problems in the community.

Community service programs have wide-ranging benefits. They help workers do their jobs better, acquire new skills, work in teams, think creatively, and help with job satisfaction. They also are an important factor in attracting and retaining good employees. And, as is well known, they also improve the company’s image and reputation.

Will you need skilled and reliable workers for your San Francisco-area business in 2012? Then give Bayside Solutions a call! We can place one worker for a short-term assignment, or several temporary workers for long-term assignments. We can even help find great full-time employees for direct-hire assignments. Contact us today!

Almost three years after the recession began, and with the economy still in the doldrums, a recent survey has shown that the bonds of trust between employees and management have weakened noticeably.

The survey showed that about 25 percent of workers are less involved with their managers than they were one year ago. The workers say their superiors do not communicate well with them, are disinterested and erratic in their management and play favorites.

Only about 10 percent of workers believed that their management would make the right calls in a time of crisis, according to the survey. Moreover, only about 15 percent said they thought their company’s leaders were ethical and honest. A little more than 10 percent thought that their leaders really listened to them and cared about them. And less than 10 percent thought their management was completely honest.

These figures are alarming, according to business experts, and point to a real need for management to take serious steps to get its workforce re-engaged. One of the ways companies can do this, they said, is to re-examine the organization’s values. Employees need to be able to believe in the values of the company. They need to feel that they share important values with their organization if they are to feel a loyalty to it and work enthusiastically for it.

The surveys revealed the strong connection between trust and shared values. In places where employees had more trust in their leaders, the survey showed a higher percentage that believed the values of the company reflected their own values.

Employee disconnect from a company can result in less production and hurt the firm’s bottom line. In the overall economy, employee apathy results in losses between $300 billion and $350 billion a year, according to experts.

Apathetic employees are less productive, have less loyalty to their organizations, are less happy in their personal lives, and are more anxious about their jobs and keeping their jobs.

A 2010 survey also showed that high-performing employees are more disenchanted as well and are looking at opportunities at other companies. According to the survey, about 25 percent were looking to leave their jobs within a year, compared to about 10 percent who said the same thing in 2006.

Bayside Solutions can provide San Francisco-area companies with skilled employees on a temporary, temp-to-hire or even direct-hire basis. Contact us today.

If there’s one thing that companies with successful retention rates for IT talent know, it’s that you have to make sure your IT employees feel like they’re part of the larger organization. Too often, the IT department is treated as a separate entity, and it’s crucial that they feel part of the business.

You should also make sure they understand how their efforts impact the bottom line and improve the profitability of the company. In other words, show your appreciation!

If you can create an inclusive, supportive environment, you will get both engagement and innovation from your IT staff. By differentiating your work environment, you will make your IT employees think twice about leaving and joining a more typical work environment – even if it offers a little more pay.

One great way to make your IT employees feel important to the company is to create incentives. These incentives aren’t necessarily monetary. They can be professional rewards.

• Organizations can improve retention rates and employee performance by making it easier for IT personnel to find new opportunities within the company.
• Some companies empower IT employees by giving them the opportunity to work on diverse, limited-term assignments, rather than in one department or function. Some organizations develop a talent exchange. This connects employees and other resources with appropriate projects, roles, and positions across the company.
• Companies that provide intensive training to promote skill building convey the message that professional development is important – and it is especially important to IT personnel, who work in a field that develops and changes rapidly.

Some incentive plans can be quickly implemented and will yield positive results almost immediately if executed well: project bonuses or other project-related incentives (which can be non-cash, like restaurant vouchers or gift cards); awards for outstanding performance; or public recognition of achievement through corporate communications outlets like newsletters and intranets.

IT employees tend to value family-oriented or quality-of-life rewards, such as extra paid time off or a paid family vacation as compensation for their efforts.

Of course, you can always use cash incentives such as stock options and annual bonuses. A recent survey found that more than 90% of companies provide some form of cash bonus or incentive plan for IT workers.

However, research also suggests that what matters most is not always how much money or how many perks are offered, but the way in which incentive programs are structured. An incentive must be attainable, relevant, and meaningful to impact performance and behavior. Giving the employee an opportunity to have input into the reward system he will be attempting is important in developing commitment. Employees who have been given some say in the design of their incentive programs will be more committed to seeing the program through to reap the rewards.

If you would like to learn more about the ins and outs of hiring IT talent, contact Bayside Solutions today.