Effective Exit Interviews

Exit interviews are conducted on the last couple of working days with the employees and are administered by the Human Resource (HR) department. We should give exiting employees that we are keeping information in strict confidence and they can speak their piece of the mind.

You are not conducting exit interviews to keep the employee nor persuade the employee to retract the resignation. You want to find out on what can be done further to mitigate or reduce the rate of resignation.

Always explain the purpose of exit interview

We need to address to the exiting employee that the exit interview is not conducted to put blame on anyone but to prevent further losses to valued employees. You want them to speak the truth as much as possible to have an accurate assessment or analysis for any changes ahead.

Conduct in private, and must be one-to-one

Never let employee think that you’re ganging up with someone to forcefully question him. More interviews might look intimidating and exiting employee might appear less reluctant in honest speeches.

Have a set of standard questions ready.

You need the information for further assessment and analysis. Set standard questions, however, if you feel that you need the employee to elaborate further, you should write it in where appropriate. The set of questions may change accordingly for different level of employees. You might want to understand a different point of view from the rank-and-file and also the management and executives employees.

Keep all info in strict confidence

As much as you don’t like others speaking behind your back, then do not be the shit-stirrer. No matter what the employees has said, all information should be dealt properly with strict confidence. Assure the exiting employees that information is used for assessment and be used anonymously. This shows the professionalism of the HR team too.

Tabulate all information

If the reasons on why the company cannot detain valued employees and are the key reasons on highlight, you might want to set up a committee from different HR functions to come together to explore possible ways to prevent further losses. Some actions can be acted upon immediately but of course, if there are major improvements to be acted upon, it takes time and justifications to convince the management for approval.

Should you allow the transfer of employees?

Employees always want freedom, and want to have a job rotation to have a learning exposure within the environment. They are increasingly becoming common, but sometimes you might need to question on whether it’s the right move.

There are some things you might want to factor into consideration

Team culture and dynamics

Will the new entrant be a good fit with the current culture of the team? Is the transfer happening because the employee is not performing in one aspect and is requesting for a transfer to explore other areas to excel in. Is the employee requesting a transfer a quitter because he defines himself not suitable for the role or does he have a thirst for knowledge?

These can be uncovered through the current team mates of the person requesting the transfer. It will help you assess his personality and work ethics.

If he is requesting for a transfer because the employee do not feel like he is performing in his current role, more training and adequate exchange of information and feedback could be used instead of a transfer.

Current problems in the current team

Understanding the fundamental reason for the request of transfer is important – especially if you understand it is because of the person they are reporting to. Talking to their peers could also give you a hint with regards to why the request for transfer is happening.

You might want to nip the problem in the bud rather than risk a lot more request for transfers or an increasing in resignation rate.

Conduct Interviews

You will want to ensure that the person work ethics and mindset is like the team before transferring the person to the team. You will want to have a better understanding of the motivational forces behind the transfer, and understand the person’s strengths and weakness would make a good fit for the team – hence you will want to treat the current employee like an external candidate.

You will want to know how have the current employee performed, and to have a proper justification of how are they able to value add to the team. Managers would also want to understand how the person have contributed to his current team, before deciding on accepting him into the team. If the potential employee is really keen on the transfer, the employee should have done adequate homework before attending the interview.

You could also consult the managers the employee is interested in joining. The manger, should also feel potential and to ensure good team synergy between the team members as well as the new entrant.

It’s A Sign – For A New Job!

It is never easy or know to if it’s the right time to move on from your current job. What more if you’re already comfortable in the environment. There are many reasons why people want to stay in their job and probably just for one reason that might trigger the move.

No matter how atrocious the environment is, if your boss values your effort and results, you know you’re putting effort for the right reason. During hard time, human like us, always hope for recognitions and your boss telling you, good job!

What tells you to move on, read on:

Work has no happy moment but dominated by complaints

Every other moment of gathering and dinners (or suppers) if you work late, you just rant and pouring out negative comments about your work. The last thing you want is to complain on and on but to share and highlight about your professional’s lessons learnt and discussions, so that you know you’re gaining new experiences every day.

Bad health symptoms start showing

Your physical health is a good indicator of your mental health too. Bad health symptoms do not show up immediately. It is accumulative, and you do not want to continuous affect you. Keep the balance yourself. Your boss will never tell you to take a break because he might not know your health conditions as well as you do.

You feel you can do more

You have more than what your boss sees and give your stakeholders good advices and offers to contribute more, yet you have been passed over for a promotion. You want to attempt to take up more challenging tasks to prove your You try to find out why, but in turn got shot down by your boss. This might also show that no matter how you contribute, you’ll get null.

No good work-life balance

I’m sure you have bosses who will tell you that work is part of your life. But c’mon, we have our own personal life at home or even out with friends. Spending lesser time with your family and friends due to work is a no-no. Always remember that any organisation can get your replaced if you fall apart, but your family will always be there for you.

Getting abuses

If you are experiencing any sort of abuses, be it verbal, sexual or any illegal behaviour. Do not fall into any sort of such victims. You’re not out there to work to suffer such abuses or insults. Never try to do any preventive measures or corrections, you will eventually be worrying day in and out with any abuses coming along and it will have built on to your mental stress.

Hiring the right person is key for start-ups – But how do you ensure that?

Being a start-up, your usage of resources is fundamental. You always think that the person whom you hire should and most importantly be able to contribute to the success and sustainability of your company. With this mindset, you set out in a search of looking for anyone with the skill set you are looking for.

The right people do not just come along with the right skill set, but also with other factors. You want to hire someone who will help establish the long-term success of your company.

These are other methods you could use to ensure you are hiring the right person for the start up.

Look within

That’s right! You should look within your current new hires. Being part of the team, and understanding the cultural fit – you should consider providing an incentive for your team to recommend someone else to join the team. The person they have recommended should have understood the team culture and the limitations of the company well, for them to provide some recommendation.

This is more important if you are looking to bring someone more senior into the company. Evaluate your current new hires and assess if they are suitable to have been promoted, and allowed to acquire that role.

You can also approach your customers for some recommendations, as they are the proper people who understand your deliverable.

Internship Program

Engage academic institutions to provide you interns. These interns would not just only bring about their academic knowledge and skills, but also about awareness of you as an employer. During their internship, you can assess their interest and skill set.

If there is a perfect fit, then you will be able to have a well-rounded new hire who does not require training.

Target competition

These group of people already have the skillset and knowledge required for the role. Getting your competitor’s employees is the best group to acquire with minimally training cost. However, they might be passive candidates – and if you are worried about face, you can always engage recruitment agencies like us to activate your search for you.

Explaining things to someone who do not get it?

There will come a time, when you will get to meet a new colleague. The new colleague is willing to learn, expressed strong interest in staying long in the company and is determined to prove their performance in the company. You have been assigned to be a mentor, and are accountable for her to adjust to the new environment.

However, repeated questions keep coming and you suddenly feel that the new entrant might not be the most suitable for the role. You really want to help her, but you remain clueless how.

Here’s How.

Understanding the root of the problem

Different people come in with different learning capacity. Some people have a preference over a learning style over the other. It is important that you understand that fact and respect the fact as well. If you feel that your training is not effective, you might want to understand further with regards on how else the person can be more receptive to it. You can instead ask “I understand that you are still experiencing some difficulties with regards to learning. Is there any other way I am able to better help you with?”

Sometimes, the problem could be you. You could have been a terrible person to instruct, or you do not explain to them the rationale of why things are done in a certain manner. If you are a terrible trainer, you could get someone else to do the coaching and guiding.

Training Evaluation

It is always a good idea to evaluate your employee’s training to understand which of the parts of training did your employee understand the best, and which one is not the best. Through understanding that, then you could cater your subsequent training to emphasize on the one that the employee might not be unsure of.

Encourage Questions

The worst thing you would want to do is to discourage an employee from asking questions. If employees are unsure, it would be good for them to clarify by asking questions. If your culture discourages questions, employees would deem what they deem fit which could result in operational errors. With operational errors, you would then encounter all the difficulties to rectify the errors over the long run.

The BAD boss

Sometimes, we all need a wake up call. If you are a boss or a manager leading a group of employees, read on to find out if any points are of relevance to you. If there are, you had better change it.

So many of the times, while talking to candidates moving from one company to another – it is obvious that management plays a big part in attracting as well as retaining employees.

Disrespectful Bosses

Being of a managerial level does not make you superior. Your title does not give you the superiority status, and if you want people to respect you – you just have got to earn their respect. If you think having the title make you superior, then you obviously do not deserve the title. 

Everyone is working really to get paid and are not begging you to get employment so everyone in the company, regardless of title deserves the fair share amount of respect. If you respect your bosses more than your colleagues, then you should also be doing your fair share of reflection.

This includes your inappropriate humour as well, about your other colleagues. Be sure to check with them on whether they are affected by your jokes about them.

Unreceptive Bosses

If you think your suggestions are the brightest and most feasible, and other suggestions provided by others have their shortcomings and you are their harshest critics, you might want to think again.

Besides, it can be quite annoying when you keep boasting about how you have climbed the hierarchy and you might appear stupid when people question how feasible your suggestions really are.

Micro managers AND Lazy Bosses

The reasons why we dislike bosses who micro manage are self-explanatory. But what is worse is not a micro manager but a lazy boss who always pushes the blame to employees when certain tasks and responsibilities are not done well, when it should have been his duty to oversee things.

Bad role models

Ever had a boss who stress the importance of punctuality, but is always late? Why should I be early, when you are always late too. Why should you be expecting things on people when you are unable to fulfil the requirement? If the policy is important, should you not advocate this yourself?

3 Recognition Rocks For Better Team Building

When it comes to building a solid team within the company, there are many factors to consider. For a start, people from different backgrounds are often thrown together in the office. It takes time for them to get used to each other and work with the vastly distinct personalities and skillsets belonging to each employee. The only thing that unifies them is their work. In order to get everyone to form meaningful and productive relationships within their working hours, it starts from the top.

One of the best ways to unite the company is to establish certain recognition rocks. Employees are always looking to be recognised for doing good jobs. It not only encourages them to perform future tasks with equal or more zest, but also creates an atmosphere of appreciation that will improve the working environment. In this case, prioritising recognition as one of the team building tools become crucial as it effectively reinforces positivity and motivation. Here are three recognition rocks that can be easily integrated into the company system to highlight that, at the end of the day, the higher management cares.

START AN EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH AWARD

The day to day interactions between employees are important for finding top candidates within the company, as they not only have to be good at their work, but also their interpersonal skills. It is not enough to be armed with technical skills in today’s workforce, as great leaders often show a good balance between the two. Having monthly awards will encourage the office to get to know each other better, and act as a tangible channel to appreciate the tasks or favours other colleagues do for them. It will also pick out certain features that a company is looking for in their upcoming leadership roles, allowing it to be conducive for future incentives.

SEND THANK YOU NOTES DURING LENGTHY DAYS

It does not take a lot for one to say “Thank you”, but it is also possible to concretise it with a simple handwritten note that will remind the employees that their efforts are appreciated. There will be some days when the workload gets overwhelming and the employees have to put in extra time to complete the projects. Sure, they are working on a payroll, but the quality of the work can greatly differ if they are enthusiastic about it. Nothing perks up a long day like a personalised note to say that their efforts are recognised and valued.

MAKE SURE THE PRAISE GETS TO THE EMPLOYEES

If there is a job that is done exceptionally well, it will be nice to acknowledge the actual group of employees behind the work. Too often, praise from upper management gets lost within the offices or stops at the higher management level, and the employees never really get a chance to feel properly valued from their superiors. Such comments can be powerful tools to encourage the employees. If there is a positive remark, consider repeating or passing it on, or even forwarding a simple email from the relevant people will do. It also helps to bridge the gap between departments and brings the company together as a whole.

The Customized Employee Solution

It has been a well-known fact that many factors affect employee retention. Generally, what an employee experience could be the deciding factor if he should or should not stay. The optimal way to improve employee experience is to provide the customized employee solution, based on the different needs and preferences of the individual employee.

Create a career planning for each individual employee

What is that that employees have chosen to work in your organization and what are they looking for, going forward upon joining? It is common for one to think that career advancements are one of the more prominent reasons, and this should be accounted for by having a career planning for each individual employee. Career planning need not be a vertical climb, but sometimes lateral growth is deemed to be more important to employees, who are seeking for more exposure.

The career planning should be properly documented, where the plan aims to motivate and employee employees. Companies, with a clear and proper documentation with regards to their career planning and have a proper communication with regards to their goals are more likely to stay in the company.

Employee Recognition and Feedback

I am sure you have come across companies who allow you to just work tirelessly and when you realize that what you do becomes very routine and mundane. This is important for employers to recognize that people wants to understand how well or how poorly they are doing. If your employees are not performing as expected, you should also have an aligned action plan to allow them to understand what they can do to improve themselves. Employee feedback should also not be done on an annual basis, but a very regular one so to ensure employees are aware that they have an impact in the organization.

The reward system implemented should also be fair in giving out to those who have earned their rewards. Companies should also be offering different rewards to meet different needs of individual employees. Rewards given should also be properly communicated so other employees are able to give the recognition as well. The company’s culture would also be to celebrate employee’s success.

Getting to know your employees on a personal level

Knowing your employees on a private level, would make them have a sense of belonging. It gives them on a deeper impression than their employers care about how the feel or what is going on in their personal lives. The friendship developed, would also cause any long-standing employee to reconsider when thinking of moving on to greener pastures.