Jul 4, 2016 | IT
Many of us have experienced that gut-wrenching moment when a senior leader i.e. that someone who is responsible for employee relationships drops the envelope on your desk announcing their resignation. Even if that leader’s departure is expected, it can still send shock-waves through the organisation.
It can have a huge impact on your team so what do you do? We might communicate to clients, but fall flat when it comes to reassuring our employees. Reasons for this can vary; it may be that as a team we feel vulnerable and don’t like to show it, or perhaps we simply don’t know what to say. As managers we will probably feel worried about what our employees are feeling and thinking when a major personnel change threatens stability.
So, what is the best way to react when a senior leader heads for the exit?— here are five tactics to focus your people and yourself :
Stay calm — During the meeting when your senior person resigns, ask them to keep the news confidential until you develop a communication plan (for employees and clients).
Assess the situation — Book an immediate meeting with your senior managers to identify main areas; a beloved leader whose absence might cause major employee disengagement? Did they possess some sort of irreplaceable organizational knowledge or skills? If so, how will you fill those gaps?
Collaborate — Depending on the size of your team and its structure, work with your senior people to develop a plan to communicate the news to your indirect reports. Internally talk about the relationships; you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see how readily your team steps up to assume new responsibilities.
Communicate — Work out the best medium to announce the news based on the departed leader’s seniority, tenure and roles. Whatever you decide, remember to include all team members in the announcement. Assure employees that the company is on solid footing and the departure has nothing to do with instability. Just as critical, remind clients that it’s business as usual. Explain how their account will be managed in light of the resignation, as well as your strategy for replacing that lost expertise.
Follow through — Execute your transition plan to the letter and keep key team members updated on its progress. Expect this process to play out over a couple of months and don’t underestimate the potential cultural impact. If the departed leader was well-liked and seen as a key to your organization’s success, employees will need consistent reassurances that their jobs are safe and your bottom line will remain stable.
Ultimately when an influential leader resigns no matter how well you handle the situation you will find that some employees will decide to move on.
Langley James can help you find highly skilled permanent, contract and fixed term IT professionals from our exclusive database of more than 900,000 registered users. Give us a call on 0207 780 6600 or visit www.langleyjames.com
Jun 27, 2016 | IT
Whichever way you voted and whatever you feel about how the referendum has ended, we are now leaving the European Union and we all have to face the consequences. We are entering a period of uncertainty and in general, business does not like uncertainty, but life goes on regardless!
If you are recruiting you will find that candidates tend to be harder to find when times are uncertain as permanent employees tend to stay put.
If your business is uncertain about recruitment but the job still needs doing there are options you can consider:
Fixed Term Contract – This allows you to have control and means that you have a “tie-in period” you are also able to budget in the same way as you would for a permanent employee offering a similar salary level. The fixed-term contract is managed through your payroll and the employee will be entitled to the same benefits as a permanent member of staff, the only difference is that their contract will have an end date. This type of contract is often used to cover Maternity leave. If you choose this option our fee is pro-rata and you can extend end dates to suit business needs.
Contractors– Contractors can be a short-term solution to your “gap”. Highly skilled contractors are much sought after in this type of climate. Contractors are predominantly self-employed and are responsible for their own tax so will not be part of your payroll but a “cost” to your business. They generally charge an employer a day rate and although may appear expensive, will allow you flexibility. If you are considering recruiting a contractor the best time to do this is as soon as possible. Historically we have experienced upsurges of employers battling it out for the most skilled contractors who can literally take their pick of jobs when the demand is high.
NB: Some contractors are willing to take a fixed-term contract which we can arrange on your behalf; this gives you the employer, peace of mind that a contractor will see your job through when other employers will try to entice a contractor to their project by offering an increased daily rate.
Langley James can help you with all your IT recruitment needs we have our own internal database of more than 800,000 IT professionals available on daily, weekly and monthly contracts give us a call today on 0207 788 6600 or go to www.langleyjames.com.
Jun 21, 2016 | IT
The UK has its highest ever employment rate of 74%, with a record 31.4 million people in work.
Over the past year, the number of people in work has risen 588,000, with nearly 75% of the rise in employment in the past year being full-time.
Today’s official figures show that over the last year more than half-a-million more people are now in work, bringing employment to a new record high of 31.4 million. This growth has been driven by a rise in full-time jobs and the number of vacancies has reached more than 750,000.
Unemployment now stands at 5.1% – the lowest since early 2006 – and long-term unemployment has fallen by 25% over the year to 488,000, the lowest in six years.
Wages have grown slowly, however, rising 2% over the last year.
“Average earnings growth has also fallen to 2%, which is close to the underlying rate of pay growth that we’ve seen over the last few years. This is not surprising because the fundamental conditions required for a step change in pay growth are simply not there. Most employers still believe there are enough competent applicants out there to fill their vacancies, and, furthermore, productivity growth remains relatively weak. Conditions remain good for firms to invest in training and development and upgrading the skill content of jobs.”
“The UK jobs landscape is changing. Strong sterling is already severely dampening our ability to manufacture and sell goods overseas. Scotland’s oil industry has been hit hard by falling prices. Meanwhile, the IT and Technology sectors are booming with new vacancies opening faster than we can fill them. As the number of jobseekers still available to fill new openings decreases, upskilling workers will become a crucial component of fixing the skills shortage.
“Improving wages are a bright spot on the horizon for workers and this means employers will have to start increasing salary packages. If you are unsure of what salary you need to budget for an IT support, Development or Senior Manager role give us a call to talk through your vacancy at Langley James 0207 788 6600 or visit www.langleyjames.com
Jun 21, 2016 | IT
Following the attacks at an Orlando nightclub the question is where is this behaviour allowed to breed? As an employer or manager we need to be aware that homophobic comments by employees or third parties can get employers into hot water: the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Romanian football club FC Steaua was engaging in discriminatory hiring practices after one of its well-known shareholders said that he would rather close the club than hire a gay player.
While it was established that the shareholder in question was not responsible for recruitment, he was perceived by the public as somebody who played a leading role in the club. The failure of the club to condemn and distance itself from his remarks was very damaging and the ECJ found that a case of discrimination could be inferred against the club from his comments.
In contrast to the US, where it is still legal in 29 states for an employer to discriminate against and fire workers for being gay, UK workers are protected against discrimination, victimisation and harassment because of sexual orientation by the Equality Act 2010. The Act doesn’t just protect the rights of gay workers: tribunals have also found in favour of heterosexual employees, such as in the case of a female employee who was made redundant from a gay bar and immediately replaced with a gay male employee.
Employers can be liable for the conduct of their employees and third parties, unless they can show that they have taken sufficient steps to prevent the discrimination, victimisation or harassment from taking place. Such steps would include: properly investigating complaints of unlawful behaviour, taking disciplinary action against any employee found to be discriminating against or harassing another, and implementing and adhering to rigorous equal opportunities and anti-harassment policies.
Employers should be aware that homophobic workplace ‘banter’ can amount to sexual orientation harassment even when the victim is neither gay nor perceived to be gay (for example one case, in which the heterosexual claimant was repeatedly called a “faggot” by colleagues). In a 2011 case, a tribunal found that an employer had harassed a (heterosexual) employee because of sexual orientation, when two of its employees used his iPhone without his permission and changed his status update on Facebook to read “finally came out of the closet, I am gay and proud”. The employee was not gay and did not believe that his colleagues thought he was.
This high-profile tweet is a reminder of the prevalence of social media and of the speed with which discriminatory comments can capture the public’s attention. In light of the huge increase in popularity and use of social media, employers should consider adopting a social media policy that sets clear standards for employee use of social media, and reminds employees that inappropriate online conduct can constitute a disciplinary offence.
Such a policy should provide example of inappropriate conduct, include prohibitions on negative, defamatory or discriminatory comments about the company and its employees, and should cross refer to the employer’s bullying and harassment and equal opportunities policies and as a best practice should be presented to all employees at induction stage.
If due to such conduct your organisation has to recruit Langley James can assist you in finding high calibre IT support and Development professionals please call 0207 788 6600 or go to www.langleyjames.com to see how we can help you.
Jun 6, 2016 | IT
With UEFA Euro 2016 Cup just around the corner, employers need to keep an eye out for staff absences caused by these sporting events. Find out what you can do to encourage employees to enjoy the celebrations, without disrupting your business.
The country set to be gripped by football mania (to be closely followed by The Olympics 2016) employers need to keep an eye out for staff absences prompted by the beautiful game.
England’s Group B fixtures for the most part will be taking place initially at weekends, the third game is Thursday June 16 th 2pm however not all your employees will be following England! It may be useful for employers to make a note of the following dates to help you plan in advance and to look out for an increase in absences:
GROUP A
Friday, June 10: France v Romania (20:00, Stade de France, Paris)
Saturday, June 11: Albania v Switzerland (14:00, Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens)
Wednesday, June 15: Romania v Switzerland (17:00, Parc des Princes, Paris)
Wednesday, June 15: France v Albania (20:00, Stade Velodrome, Marseille)
Sunday, June 19: Romania v Albania (20:00, Stade de Lyon)
Sunday, June 19: Switzerland v France (20:00, Stade Pierre Mauroy, Lille)
GROUP B
Saturday, June 11: Wales v Slovakia (17:00, Stade de Bordeaux)
Saturday, June 11: England v Russia (20:00, Stade Velodrome, Marseille)
Wednesday, June 15: Russia v Slovakia (14:00, Stade Pierre Mauroy, Lille)
Thursday, June 16: England v Wales (14:00, Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens)
Monday, June 20: Russia v Wales (20:00, Stadium de Toulouse)
Monday, June 20: Slovakia v England (20:00, Stade Geoffroy Guichard, St Etienne)
GROUP C
Sunday, June 12: Poland v Northern Ireland (17:00, Stade de Nice)
Sunday, June 12: Germany v Ukraine (20:00, Stade Pierre Mauroy, Lille)
Thursday, June 16: Ukraine v Northern Ireland (17:00, Stade de Lyon)
Thursday, June 16: Germany v Poland (20:00, Stade de France, Paris)
Tuesday, June 21: Ukraine v Poland (17:00, Stade Velodrome, Marseille)
Tuesday, June 21: Northern Ireland v Germany (17:00, Parc des Princes, Paris)
GROUP D
Sunday, June 12: Turkey v Croatia (14:00, Parc des Princes, Paris)
Monday, June 13: Spain v Czech Republic (14:00, Stadium de Toulouse)
Friday, June 17: Czech Republic v Croatia (17:00, Stade Geoffroy Guichard, St
Etienne)
Friday, June 17: Spain v Turkey (20:00, Stade de Nice)
Tuesday, June 21: Czech Republic v Turkey (20:00, Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens)
Tuesday, June 21: Croatia v Spain (20:00, Stade de Bordeaux)
GROUP E
Monday, June 13: Republic of Ireland v Sweden (17:00, Stade de France, Paris)
Monday, June 13: Belgium v Italy (20:00, Stade de Lyon)
Friday, June 17: Italy v Sweden (14:00, Stadium de Toulouse)
Saturday, June 18: Belgium v Republic of Ireland (14:00, Stade de Bordeaux)
Wednesday, June 22: Italy v Republic of Ireland (20:00, Stade Pierre Mauroy, Lille)
Wednesday, June 22: Sweden v Belgium (20:00, Stade de Nice)
GROUP F
Tuesday, June 14: Austria v Hungary (17:00, Stade de Bordeaux)
Tuesday, June 14: Portugal v Iceland (20:00, Stade Geoffroy Guichard, St Etienne)
Saturday, June 18: Iceland v Hungary (17:00, Stade Velodrome, Marseille)
Saturday, June 18: Portugal v Austria (20:00, Parc des Princes, Paris)
Wednesday, June 22: Iceland v Austria (17:00, Stade de France)
Wednesday, June 22: Hungary v Portugal (17:00, Stade de Lyon)
LAST 16
Match 1: Runner-up Group A v Runner-up C (14:00, June 25, St-Etienne)
Match 2: Winner B v Third-place A/C/D (17:00, June 25, Paris)
Match 3: Winner D v Third-place B/E/F (20:00, June 25, Lens)
Match 4: Winner A v Third-place C/D/E (14:00, June 26, Lyon)
Match 5: Winner C v Third-place A/B/F (17:00, June 26, Lille)
Match 6: Winner F v Runner-up E (20:00, June 26, Toulouse)
Match 7: Winner E v Runner-up D (17:00, June 27, St-Denis)
Match 8: Runner-up B v Runner-up F (20:00, June 27, Nice)
QUARTER-FINALS
Match 1: Winner Match 1 v Winner Match 3 (20:00, June 30, Marseille)
Match 2: Winner Match 2 v Winner Match 6 (2000, July 1, Lille)
Match 3: Winner Match 5 v Winner Match 7 (20:00, July 2, Bordeaux)
Match 4: Winner Match 4 v Winner Match 8 (2000, July 3, St-Denis)
SEMI-FINALS
Winner QF1 v Winner QF2 (20:00, July 6, Lyon)
Winner QF3 v Winner QF4 (20:00, July 7, Marseille)
FINAL
Winner SF1 v Winner SF2 (20:00, July 10, St-Denis)
As an employer you have a number of options open to you:
Use annual leave
Invite staff to book annual leave if they wish to watch sporting fixtures that occur during work time. Encourage staff to book holidays with sufficient notice if they are going to need time off. This will help you to plan ahead for any staff shortages. You could also offer unpaid leave if you have enough staff to cover absences.
Allow flexible working
Let employees leave early to watch sporting fixtures, but ask them to either start earlier, finish later or a combination of both on the same or another day during that week to make up the missing time. Other flexible approaches include allowing staff to swap shifts, if feasible.
Do nothing
You could take the view that any unauthorised absence is just that and, if staff choose to be absent on that day without taking a holiday, they leave themselves open to disciplinary action.
Watching sporting events at work
Install a TV screen or projector screen so that employees can watch a game and use the occasion as a team-building event, so no one has to take days off. Or, if you don’t have a TV, let them listen to it on the radio. However, you should be aware with either of these options that you will need either a TV licence or a licence from the Performing Rights Society for radio use. And remember, not everyone will enjoy watching sports, so be mindful of others when making arrangements.
Use it as a perk
While you have no obligation to cater for your employees; sporting interests, you could aid motivation by using an hour or two's time off to watch a sporting event as an incentive, perhaps based upon individual or group performance.
Review your internet policy
Employees may try to watch sporting events online or follow instant updates on news and social media sites, so you should remind them of your internet use and monitoring policies. It is up to you to decide whether you’re happy for your employees to keep track of events online; this might cause less disruption than people taking time off, but it is worth bearing in mind that if staff are streaming live sporting fixtures on a company-owned computer, you should have a TV licence to do so.
Remember that not all employees will be supporting the England team. So, to avoid any discrimination, it will be important that, whatever you decide to do, you offer the same concessions to all employees who wish to watch fixtures involving their chosen country.
Jun 6, 2016 | IT
Problem – “Some Employees are minimal and you can’t get any improvement”
Solution – rebuild your business one employee at a time
Minimal employees have become the bane of business. These employees do just enough to get by and no more. A business with good market share and potential, a good strategy but with poor results then it almost always points to minimal employees. Sometimes owners/management see this but often it takes an outsider to point it out. Once this is understood to be the problem the question is – How to be rid of these bottom-feeders and get some good people in their place? The answer is to build it employee by employee. The following are some key concepts when considering a personnel ‘upgrade’:
1. Understand that minimal employees cause discontentment with productive employees. Good employees often leave because of minimal employees. Having a minimal employee can hurt the entire operation. Realising this is important when difficult decisions need to be made.
2. Understand that most businesses cannot shut down as they reorganize or redesign. Using the analogy of a flying plane: you cannot stop the plane to fix it – you have to fix it while it is flying. The rule here is ‘don’t shoot yourself in the foot’. Usually this means don’t fire or lay-off until you have replacements.
3. View employees as resources and profit centres – not just expenses. Minimal employees are usually cheaper but deliver much less value.
4. Review your staffing at least once a week. (depending on the circumstances this may be necessary more often.) Go through each employee and determine his or her appropriateness for the business. Use a spreadsheet, keep notes and strategies current so they can be constantly reviewed. Highlight those employees that are ‘on the bubble’ or are delivering questionable value.
5. Do evaluations and reviews every three months. Once or twice a year is simply not enough.
6. Measure and evaluate your people weekly. Producers welcome the attention and ‘bottomfeeders’ will do all they can to avoid the scrutiny. Find some criteria for even those hard to measure job classifications – like service rep.
7. Find out if the poor producers have potential. Time and time management want to let someone go but not looking at potential. Sometimes they are amazed when they see a minimal employee blossom. It is usually better to give the minimal employee a chance or opportunity – if they do not want it they will often quit.
8. Understand that accountability is the employee’s responsibility – not management’s. It is management’s responsibility to do something about the lack of accountability if it is not there. This makes it much easier to deal with those tough decisions when the time comes.
9. Have a training and career plan for each employee.
10. Recruit right. The key to building a successful staffing is to make sure each new recruit is worth recruitig and is better than what you have. Here at Langley James we will go to extraordinary lengths to assist you in Recruit Someone Worth Recruiting. Consider work ethic, values, maturity, drive, creativity, etc. Truly amazing things happen when you replace a ‘bad apple’ with a good employee.
11. Look for ‘breakthrough’ employees that can bring high value quickly. This is usually a factor of skill, experience and work ethic. This can bring a corresponding sharp spike in performance.
12. Set up a system where employees can train or mentor each other. This tends to raise the standard throughout the business.
13. Constantly evaluate what your market and customers demand. Make sure you are hiring to meet this demand.
14. Make the processes automatic – daily if possible. If you stay focused the results will come. Focus on the process!
15. Be persistent.
May 24, 2016 | IT
A lot can be learnt from exit interviews. Exit interviews are not a waste of time, although many deem them to be. It is an important exercise in order to determine if there is anything you can do differently going forward with your remaining team. It is important to remain impartial during the interview, and to ensure a balance between obtaining the relevant information whilst allowing the departing employee the positive closure they need.
The ultimate aim of the exit interview is to determine the reasons for the departure of your employee, on the basis that criticism is a useful driver for organisational improvement. A successful exit interview can give you an insight into the current working environment, culture, management approach and processes. Relationships amongst the team is a likely factor to be discussed. Some employees may be more forthcoming in providing information so do bare this in mind.
Try to keep the interview structured and contained. The objective of the meeting is to gain the relevant information. Ensure that the interview can:
- Identify what your organisation is doing well
- Identify any areas that can be improved
- Confirm the skills and experience a replacement employee will need in order take over the role and move forward.
- Provide an understanding to you of why the employee is leaving
- Allow the departing employee to say goodbye on good terms.
Finally, don’t take anything personally, and try to remain impartial. It can be difficult to hear an employee talking negatively about the organisation, but if this is the case, turn it around and use the information positively, make changes accordingly and move forward with the remaining team. Any feedback is useful whether positive or not.
Let us know your thoughts on the issue. You can join in the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.
If you need help in recruiting for both permanent and contract staff, please contact us on 0207 788 6600 and one of our expert consultants will be ready to help.
You can view all our latest vacancies here.
May 10, 2016 | IT
36% of people have had a pay rise this year according to Mori iPSOS. Out of the 1600 people who were surveyed, one-in-three report their pay to have been frozen this year, while 3 percent are suffering a pay cut. Although 64 percent are reporting their pay to have been revised higher, only 23 percent are reporting an increase of more than 2%.
The survey responses collectively point to employee pay reviews leading to an average pre-tax salary increase of just 1.3% this year, higher than the 1.0% increase signalled for 2015 but below the 1.5% rate recorded in 2014.
It is reported that pay reviews in the public sector in April continued to lag behind those in the private sector, with salary growth rates of 1.6% and 0.9% signalled respectively, although both are up on 2015. Shockingly, the proportion of employees in the public sector reporting a pay cut or freeze rises to 51 percent compared to 28 percent in the private sector.
It was also recently reported that less than half happy with what they’re earning, and the vast majority are looking to change jobs in the next two years.
It is widely known that now more than ever before, employers are focusing on retaining and developing strategies in order to retain their staff in an increasingly competitive market.
Let us know your thoughts on the issue. You can join in the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.
If you need help in recruiting for both permanent and contract staff, please contact us on 0207 788 6600 and one of our expert consultants will be ready to help.
You can view all our latest vacancies here.
Apr 11, 2016 | IT
The UK Government’s recent ‘Productivity Plan’ was attacked as lacking in original ideas and clear goals, and was slammed as “nothing more than a list of recycled policies”, by a group of MPs. It is clear that the UK is facing a long-term productivity problem which is being made worse by the financial crisis that the country has faced over the years. The economic downturn was labelled by MPs as “the most damaging financial crisis seen in generations”.
It seems as though the battle between productivity and the economy is transpiring as nothing more than a vicious circle. High levels of productivity contributes to growth, and growth prompts high levels of productivity. The Government’s efforts to “fix the foundations and create a more prosperous nation” is under severe criticism. Is it time to take the growing issue into our own hands?
Learning and Development
It is reported by the OECD that the UK suffers from several weaknesses in its overall skills base which is what is heavily contributing to the longstanding productivity gap with other European countries and the United States. According to the report, numeracy and literacy skills in England and Northern Ireland are among the lowest, and the standard and level of intermediate professional and technical skills are set to drop to 28th out of 30 European countries.
The rapid pace at which working environments are changing due to technology, laws, policies and global competition means that skill sets must be continually updated. Learning and development is a crucial organisational strategy that ensures a sustainable and successful organisation through the identification of core skills and competency required in order for staff to achieve to the best of their capability, and the implementation of development plans.
An employee is more likely to perform to a higher standard and demonstrate a higher level of productivity if they are confident they have the knowledge and capability to achieve in their role.
Company Vision
Any good business has a clear vision, and through this vision goals can be set. Goals can be set for both the business as a whole and for each employee as individuals benefiting everyone. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. A lack of clear vision and goals can be detrimental to productivity, satisfaction and ultimately retention. Productivity levels begin to deteriorate when people feel little purpose or as though their contributions are meaningless.
Begin by assessing the current state of your business and determining what your team expects of you, and what you need from your team in order to reach your objectives. Determine also, any personal career goals your employees may have and how they want to reach their goals. This way, when you set objectives for both the business and for individual employees, you can tailor them so that they benefit all parties. Productivity levels in likely to increase when an individual feels that they are not only contributing to the companies targets, but are working towards reaching personal goals too. Read more on implementing career development plans.
Setting KPIs is a great way of measuring and determining whether employees are meeting targets and fulfilling objectives, but be careful not to create additional stress or pressure to the employee, you will ultimately achieve the opposite of what you are trying to if you do. Set provisions in place in that cater for those who may underachieve, nurture these employees, identifying where the employee is struggling and aiding them in achieving goals, or adjusting objectives where necessary. Help your team reach their full potential rather than firing those who are underachieving. Don’t forget, a high turnover costs more to a company than simply nurturing and retaining your staff. Set goals that will not only benefit the business as a whole, but help your employees grow and reach their personal targets to the best of their potential.
Workplace Stress
Stress is detrimental to all aspects of an employee’s performance. According to research conducted by Towers Watson, employees suffering from high levels of stress have lower engagement levels, are less productive, and ultimately absenteeism levels are far greater compared to those who are not working under excessive pressure. Stress is inevitable in most working environments. They key to retaining and maintaining satisfaction and productivity levels among employees is helping your staff to manage stress more effectively. Time management plays a pivotal role in reducing stress. An overwhelming workload, too many demands and feeling like there is not enough time will undoubtedly trigger a sense of frustration and panic, and helping your employees to organise, prioritise and plan more effectively is the first step in managing productivity levels.
Of course, stress can have a positive effect on some, kick-starting adrenaline and motivating an individual to perform quicker in order to meet demands and requirements. But poor management and too much exposure to stress will eventually induce a lack of engagement and productivity, as well as negatively influencing loyalty and commitment to the company. Read more on stress management.
Lack of Effective Communication
One of the fundamentals to enhancing productivity is creating satisfaction, and the key to achieving that is by creating clear and effective communication. An effective system of communication means that all employees must have full knowledge of the hierarchy. Each member of staff must be aware of who they can talk to in regards to any issues they may be facing, and ensuring accessibility to the mentors and managers who deal with their issues is of paramount importance.
Creating clear communications refers to both interpersonal communication, and communication through technologies. Utilise technologies and systems that help employees compete tasks more efficiently whilst allowing them to share information, ideas and help and support colleagues. Tools such as Yammer and Office 365 are a great way of allowing staff to share and communicate efficiently. When communicating with employees, ensure that every comment you make is actionable; provide feedback to employees on a regular basis; and ensure that any criticisms are constructive. Following these three simple steps will promote open communication and encourage honesty. Read more on open communication.
If you are looking for someone to join your team who can help you manage employee productivity, satisfaction and retention, then call us today on 0207 788 6600 and we can help you find the right HR professional for the role.
Apr 6, 2016 | IT
Have you become an interview robot? It can be easy forget the aim of what you are wanting to achieve when conducting an interview – especially when you have sat through so many. If you are in need of an interview refresher, you have come to the right place. It can be difficult to determine what will equate to a good IT candidate. Here we have compiled a few pointers to finding a great candidate and the best questions to ask in order to prize out the information you really need from the candidate.
- “Outline any current issues or trends in technology”
Ask the candidate to outline some current issues that are impacting upon the technology industry. You are not focusing on the specific issues they discuss, but their ability to identify these issues is key. This demonstrates reactiveness and outlines how the candidate would react to any changes in technology that would impact upon them.
- “What did you do when you were asked to undertake a task you didn’t understand?”
This question provides the candidate with an opportunity to demonstrate how they problem solve and overcome issues when faced with them. You can assess how well you feel the candidate overcame the issue. Did the candidate overcome the issue through thought-out strategy and planning? Or did the candidate leave the issue to spiral until someone else became involved. Determining the quality of a candidate’s problem solving skills is crucial in determining whether they will be a good fit for the role and for your organisation.
- “Outline a time you were asked to complete a task or project that you had no previous experience in”
This could be regarding a new technology, a new industry or a project they had never undertaken before. This is a great follow up from the previous questions as it allows the candidate to further their explanation of how they respond to change and overcome issues. It is good to get to know how a candidate reacts to change to be able to gauge how well the candidate will settle into a new working environment. It is also a good way of assessing whether their answer confirms or contradicts their previous answers.
- “Do you get bored easily?”
A candidates instant reaction to this type of question is quite often ‘no’. It is assumed that boredom equates to a low performing, underachieving employee, so people will often steer clear of admitting to boredom. But in an industry such as technology, new tasks and projects are often arising, so a candidate who is frequently looking for new challenges can be a positive thing.
- “What do you expect the role to entail and what would you like the role to entail?”
This is an opportunity to manage expectations – do their expectations meet yours? At this point you can assess whether you feel the candidate understands the role and the task in hand, and also gives the candidate the chance to disclose any expectations they may have of the role. This question allows you to decide whether you feel they will perform well in the role and meet the required expectations. You also want to ensure that the candidate can get the most out of the role from a personal and professional level and will fulfil the candidate’s requirements too. If expectations do not match, it may be a big indicator that this person may not be right for the role, and may impact upon your decision as to whether to proceed any further with their application or not.
- “Where do you see yourself…?”
At this point you can give a timescale. 6 months? 1 year? 10 years? Whatever timescale you provide, it will indicate whether the candidate has any aspirations or goals, and whether they have the desire to achieve these goals. You want to find out what they want from their career. Does the candidate want to further their career through L&D, courses, qualifications or experience? At this point you can clarify whether you will be able to aid the candidate in reaching their goals. Again, this is all about managing expectations.
- Case study
Provide the candidate with a small case study outlining an issue the company may have faced in the past (this can be fictional) and ask them to provide you with a solution to the problem. It is not so much the final answer that you want to focus on, but how they break down the information you give to them and how they utilise the information effectively to come to a conclusion. This does not need to be a complex issue, the purpose of this is not put the candidate under a great amount of pressure or confuse them. It is good to encourage them to ask questions. It is important to observe the relevance of the questions and asses how they utilise the information to contribute towards the outcome.
- “Tell me about your hobbies and interests”
Do not overlook this step as unnecessary or unimportant. This is a chance put the candidate at ease, and a chance for you to get to know their personality. This question is a great way to allow the candidate to demonstrate their passion for something they enjoy doing and express their enthusiasm.
The interview process can be a stressful time for both the candidate and the interviewee. If you need help recruiting the best IT professionals, our expert consultants are on hand to help you at every step of the recruitment process. Call us on 0207 788 6600.
Apr 6, 2016 | IT
So we know that work life integration is on the rise, and goes hand in hand with remote working. But does it really work? New research that captured data from the UK, the United States and Germany revealed that almost 70% of people who described their team as “very successful” have more than half their team members in different locations, and collaborate freely and successfully regardless of their location. These figures demonstrate that being sat at the same desk each day with all workforce under the same roof does not necessarily equate to productivity.
As with any new way of working there are benefits and challenges. Remote working is increasing particularly within the digital sector. It is evident that remote working appeals to most employees. It allows flexibility, allows for both personal and work goals to be achieved and cuts down on wasted time and money spent on commuting.
But will employers reap the same reward from implementing a remote working plan. It is actually proving beneficial to both staff and employers, with firms who advocate remote working stating that it is a great way of attracting and retaining staff and increasing productivity. It also shows the employee that you trust them and demonstrates your confidence in them to which, in turn, will boost their confidence.
It is argued, however, that implementing remote working policies can be a challenge and that potential issues with technology pose a great threat to the employee’s productivity levels.
Although this is a growing concept that proves to be working for those organisations who practice this working method, most companies do not cater for this type of working environment. In fact, it is discouraged due to rules, regulations and set working hours. Perhaps now is the time to rethink the way we structure the working day, and allow more flexibility.
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Apr 6, 2016 | IT
98% of executives check their work emails during personal time outside of the workplace and 63% check emails as often as every hour according to research conducted by Gyro and Forbes Insight. Team Viewer and Harris Interactive furthered this, reporting that 61% of employees are willing to work during vacation. Reasoning for this was put down to the nature of their role. In particular, Managers and Directors feel they have no choice due to ongoing responsibilities.
Professionals are increasingly willing to blur the line between work and home. It is argued that if people love what they do then why should there be a strict divide between work and home? There has always been a strong emphasis on prioritising between work and lifestyle through creating a work-life balance. Whilst this concept remains a fundamental part of maintaining job satisfaction, minimising stress levels and ultimately maintaining good health and wellbeing, the focus is now on managing time effectively so that you can integrate the two without added stress.
Work-life integration is a concept that allows workers to accomplish both work requirements and personal requirements in a more blended process. It is about allowing flexibility meaning time does not have to be so rigidly split between working hours and non-working hours. This works well for those who are happy to take a 6am conference call but then take an hour out mid-afternoon for a gym session; or for those who prefer to be able to take calls from family members and friends, but then are willing to take work calls during holidays or attend to emails at night.
The rise of the remote worker has contributed significantly to the shift from a ‘work-life balance’ to integrating work duties and lifestyle. Technologies and platforms such as Office 365, Google Docs, Skype and social media platforms have played a big part in allowing remote working to take place and has made work life integration far more possible than ever before. It is suggested that by 2020 the number of people working from home at least once a week is set to increase by over 60%.
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