Bringing new people onboard is an important process, and should be done with care and planning. New workers should be brought up to speed, given the tools they need to be successful, and made to feel welcomed by the company.

What you should avoid, however, if you are in human resources, is a very long and very boring orientation session, something, for example, that usually runs for more than three hours. If it goes longer than that, says human resources specialist Meredith Soleau, you are going to fall victim to the law of diminishing returns. Some HR orientations run long because they show videos, some covering areas that may not even be all that important.

In fact, showing videos may signal to your employees that you don’t think their time is that important, especially if the videos are some generic, bland and boring production. More effective would be a presentation made by someone in human resources about the pertinent issues, presentations that have been well thought out, that are simple, clear, and direct, telling the employees what they need to know and why they need to know it.

An effective and efficient presentation would focus on a company’s major policies first – things such as accepted norms of behavior, harassment issues, professionalism, and performance goals. Covering the benefits package should not take hours either. If it does, it is probably too complicated.

For those employees who work on a shop floor, obviously safety is a primary concern, and there should be a safety manual to go over with the employees.

For job duties employees will perform in their departments, those should be left to the managers to introduce.

This emphasis on streamlining the process is meant to increase efficiency, not to downplay the importance of the onboarding process, which for the most part does not get enough attention from employers. But a lot of the onboarding process should be done by managers – things such as bringing the new hire up to speed on the job’s duties and what is expected of on the job, making the new hire feel welcome and an important part of the team.

If you’d like help with your orientation process, contact Winston Resources. We can help your Manhattan company look its procedures and suggest ways to make them more efficient. Contact us today!

Leadership has acquired even more emphasis in the current business climate, as it appears more and more that leaders are putting their own self-interest ahead of the organizations for which they are responsible.

What can you do to upgrade your leadership skills? Here are a few tips from business analysts John Coleman and Bill George.

One thing you can do is find a good mentor, Coleman and George say. This is very important for developing skills as a leader. A recent study showed that people who had mentors were more likely to succeed and to be happier in their careers than people who did not have mentors. When looking for a mentor, try to find someone with whom you get along well and who has your best interest at heart. And recognize that the character and values of your mentor are just as important as his or her success.

Another strategy for developing leadership skills is to form a leadership development group. This is a group of generally six to eight people who get together on a routine basis to talk about their challenges and what is important to them. It gives members of the group an opportunity to think exclusively about leadership, what defines a good leader, how good leaders face the difficulties that confront them and how good leaders have a long-term impact on their organizations.

Volunteering for a civic or service organization is another way to develop leadership skills. It gives you an opportunity to take a leadership role and to get in touch with people in the community, broadening your perspective and experience. It gives you experiences you cannot get just from work alone.

Travel also is a way to gain leadership skills, according to Coleman and George. In the age of globalization, being able to deal with people of diverse cultures has become almost a requirement of good leaders. A survey of top MBA candidates revealed that most of them had worked in at least four countries before they enrolled in graduate school, and they expected to work in several countries after they graduated.

Finally, if you want to develop your ability as a leader, you need to keep an open mind and a curiosity about the world. It’s not always about having the right answers, but in the age of information overload, about knowing what the right questions are

If you have managerial experience and want to move into a more important leadership position, contact a recruiter at Winston Resources. We can present your qualifications to some of Manhattan’s finest employers. We look forward to helping you take your career to the next level.

A representative from human resources needs to be on any performance improvement team that is worth the name, according to business analyst Brad Power.

In addition to people who know how things work, and people who know how to make them work better, Power says that there also should be on the team people who know how to get workers to accept and work with the new policies and procedures. These are people who know about how incentives work, how best to incorporate training programs, who know how best to communicate, and who know how to work within the corporate culture. These are all the people skills in which human resource workers specialize.

Studies have shown that efforts to make change happen in companies fail almost three-fourths of the time. The reason, Power says, is not because the new procedures were bad, but because the workers didn’t want to change the way they worked.

While Power says it is crucial to have human resources on any performance improvement team, few companies do. Part of the problem is with human resources itself. If it is to get involved in process improvement, human resources needs to change the way it operates.

It must change its standard defense for keeping things the way they are. This is a natural reaction for human resources – the department’s job is to maintain the policies and procedures of the company by making sure it complies with all the laws and regulations. But this is a role where human resources works against change, where it has to watch out for risks and threats. So if the company makes major changes in its operations and processes, a whole new set of risks and threats arises to which human resources needs to attend. It involves changes in job descriptions, terminations, training and development, etc.

But any performance improvement team needs members who are human resource professionals, who know about the behavior of employees both individually and as an organization. They know what is important to employees. They can be of immense help to the team in assisting them to fit the needs and interests of employees into the needs of a new system that is more effective and efficient.

Let Winston Resources “be of immense help” to your New York City firm when it comes to sourcing, vetting and placing qualified and reliable workers for your company. We look forward to hearing from you!

Recent signs are showing that companies that develop a culture where coaching is encouraged and practiced well by everyone have better bottom lines. This may be something for human resources departments to think about and to get involved in creating such an atmosphere.

A recent study by the California-based advisory firm Bersin and Associates showed that companies where managers made efforts to frequently coach others had business results that were 21 percent better than those companies that did not. And companies that developed a corporate culture where coaching was encouraged had a bottom line 13 percent better than those that did not, as well as significantly better engagement, productivity and customer service among employees.

The study, surveying almost 200 companies, also revealed that nearly three-fourths those surveyed now do coaching in place of conventional performance reviews. However, the authors also noted that coaching effectively is not a skill that many managers have.

According to the study’s authors, coaching is a major challenge for businesses trying to improve performance, yet they don’t know how to get the support needed for it. To ensure that coaching becomes an integral part of a company’s culture, senior executives need to get involved in coaching. But this is a problem in itself as only about 10 percent of executives believe in the value of coaching to improve performance.

To reverse the problem, business leaders need to get involved and personally bang the drum for coaching, especially by starting up coaching programs in their companies, according to the report. The report also says that human resource departments also need to get involved to help create an atmosphere that supports and measures the effectiveness of coaching.

Good performance management centers around coaching, experts say. Performance reviews focus on the past, while coaching looks toward the future and how to improve. To coach effectively, managers need to be good listeners, help to reinforce the behavior they want to see, and also ask open ended questions.

If you’re Manhattan-area company is on the search for improved results in 2010, partner with Winston Resources. We can help you source and place great employees, help you with your payroll, help you with drug testing, and more. Contact us today!

If you are looking for work right now, you may want to take a look at larger companies.

Recent poll results show that larger companies – those with 500 employees or more — are more likely to be hiring than smaller companies. But the survey showed that almost 75 percent of companies are doing some hiring for full-time employees.

The survey of more than 2,000 companies was conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management to gauge the ongoing impact of the recession  on companies’ hiring and their bottom line.

Most of the hiring, about 75 percent, is for levels below management — hourly and salaried positions. More than half of the businesses surveyed are hiring for management positions. About 20 percent are hiring at executive levels.

Almost three-fourths of the companies surveyed said they had lost about 10 percent of their employees or fewer in 2011. That is actually up from 2010, where about two-thirds of companies said they had lost 10 percent or fewer employees. Only about one-tenth of the companies reported laying off between 10 and 20 percent of the workforce. About one-tenth of the companies surveyed reported laying off between 20 and 50 percent of their workforce.

As far as the financial health of businesses is concerned, most reported little change from 2010 to 2011. Two-thirds said things had pretty much stayed the same or had improved a little, while the other third said they had experienced a small decline.

In 2011, a majority of companies, nearly two-thirds, indicated that they were hiring to replace people, but only about a third  are hiring for new positions. Only about one-tenth of the companies surveyed said they were adding new duties to current positions.

The survey also showed that the small companies, those with fewer than 100 employees, were most likely to be hiring for new positions.

More than half of the new positions created require new skills, along with the same kinds of skills needed in the past. About 15 percent of the new jobs created, however, require completely new sets of skills. About one-fourth of the new jobs require the same skill sets as jobs did before the recession. When a job required new skills, almost two-thirds of the companies surveyed said they had difficulty finding people to fill the positions, especially smaller companies.

When you’re looking for work, look to Winston Resources. We have connections with hundreds of New York City’s best companies – both small and large – and we can help you get your foot in the door through a temporary, temp-to-hire or direct-hire assignment. Contact us today!

A recent Gallup poll has revealed that workers who are overweight or obese miss 450 million more work hours each year than workers who are normal weight.

This absentee rate has lead to about $153 billion in lost productivity each year. Less than 15 percent of the workforce is not overweight and does not have ongoing health issues because of the weight, according to the Gallup poll of more than 100,000 workers. The health problems of the overweight, and their high numbers, are a big hindrance to productivity, according to Gallup.

Because of this, it is imperative that companies take action to address these health problems, and many employers are. Many companies now have gyms in their buildings, wellness websites and free memberships to health clubs. But the problem is that often workers do not take advantage of these things. The problem is making sure they get some kind of physical activity on a consistent basis.

One example of a company that is making an active effort to get employees engaged with their health is PepsiCo. The company provides employees with an easy-to-use overview of their entire health background. The technology keeps tabs on employees’ insurance claims and other information in a personal online health assessment.

Based on this information, the company gives employees wellness information that is tailored to their particular situation and needs. For example, an employee who is pregnant would receive information about prenatal care, or an employee with high blood pressure would receive information on hypertension.

The company also provides employees with health coaches that workers may contact by telephone or in person, Hewlett says. These coaches can help the workers design health programs suited just for them. The program has helped more than 30,000 PepsiCo employees reduce or eliminate a health risk.

According to Gallup, workers who are overweight and have one or two chronic health problems have about 1.1 days a month when they are not well, and this increases to more than 3.5 days for workers who have three or more chronic health issues. Workers who have normal weight by comparison only have about a third of a day a month when they are not well.
 
The costs to business of unhealthy U.S. workers are more than four times higher than those of workers in the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom, about 20 percent of the workers are normal weight and have no chronic health issues.

When looking for reliable and talented workers for your temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire needs, contact Winston Resources. We’ve helped hundreds of companies in Manhattan and the NYC-area since 1967 and we’d be delighted to help yours. Contact us today!

When looking at job a candidate, there are many factors to consider in making a decision as to whether someone will be successful or not in the job. Naturally, education and training play a key role in making a hiring decision. But there are other factors as well. Personality and character traits – the so-called intangible elements – are also very important and need to be given serious consideration also.

These character traits can be the difference between a person who is mediocre in a job and one who is outstanding. A person who has strong problem-solving skills, yet may lack the specific educational or work experience required, still might be the one to hire because of his or her unique ability.

It may be well worth the effort to find a person who thinks outside the box, works well with others, thinks independently, and questions the way things are done. This is particularly important, according to human resource professionals, if you are in an industry that is changing quickly, or if your company is growing rapidly.

To find these qualities, human resource professionals recommend the following:

First, you need to figure out what particular qualities you seek. You need to establish these qualities even before the first candidate comes in for an interview. For example, do you want someone with good problem-solving ability? If the job is one where the person will need to increase sales of a flagging product or merge supply chains, it may be important that the person can think creatively. How important is it for the person to be calm under pressure? Is unpredictability a key element of the job, where there may be a lot of competition or a lot of change in demand? Then poise under pressure may be a key trait the person will need to succeed in the job.

And if the environment is unpredictable, how important is it that the person be a quick study, that her or she is able to learn and adapt quickly? How important is it that the person is able to work well with others and/or influence them?

You’ll need to develop questions that focus on the traits you seek. For example, if you see from a candidate’s work experience a time when he or she was navigating an unfamiliar landscape, you can ask how the candidate felt about and handled the situation.

When you’re looking for that special employee, let Winston Resources help your Manhattan-based company find the right candidate. We’ve been helping NYC companies find high-performing and reliable employees throughout our 44-year history. Contact us today!

f you work in human resources, you must often send memos and e-mails, create reports or PowerPoint presentations. Naturally, you want to make these writings as effective and powerful as possible. But how exactly do you go about doing that?

David Silverman, a former businessman and current business writing professor, has some advice on the topic.

First, he says, good writing contains a call to action. The purpose of business writing – good business writing, that is – is to get the recipient to do something – solve a problem, create a strategy, analyze or evaluate something. If your e-mail does not ask the recipient to do anything, why send it, Silverman asks.

His next piece of advice is – get to the point right away. The first line in your writing should explain what it is about and why you are sending it. You don’t want to create any mystery or suspense. What is the bottom line? Figure out what you want to say, and then say it. Don’t waste time with linguistic throat clearing.

His next piece of advice is not to assume anything. Often when we write we leave gaps in our explanations or in our assumptions because they seem obvious to us. Well, they may not be so obvious to the reader. Does the reader need to know that a certain project won’t work out if something else is not done, or that if a certain company goes under it will affect your firm? You need to fill in the gaps. One popular writing text suggests you imagine your reader peering over your shoulder as you write, asking you questions about what things mean. Do that, and then answer your reader’s questions.

If you then follow up on your original writing, don’t just assume everybody remembers what you originally wrote about. Fill them in again if necessary, Silverman says. If you are not sure everyone will understand the meaning of an acronym, explain it.

Another thing you need to be clear about, Silverman says, is exactly what your opinions are on the subject at hand, and what you want your reader to focus on. Your writing should give the reader options that he or she can respond to, Silverman says, instead of trying to make them read your mind.

Speaking of a “call to action”: if you need great workers for temporary, temp-to-hire or even direct-hire assignments in your Manhattan-area company, contact Winston Resources. We can fill your open positions with great people quickly and affordably. Contact us today!

A recent study by the firm of Towers Perrin on the human resources function in business came to the following conclusion – that the role of human resources is changing from a more isolated, independent department to one that is now more integrated with the other areas of the company, and one which works with managers throughout the company to help the business achieve its goals.

It used to be that human resources just handled things such as recruitment, personnel records, salary and benefits, and labor relations. It was a paper mill and counseling clinic, according to Nor Franco, an expert with more than 30 years’ experience in human resources.

But human resources now does more than just handle these employee functions. It has become a full-fledged strategic partner with other departments in the company in helping a firm achieve its goals. Training and development has acquired a new importance in beefing up the bottom line for businesses.

This has several advantages, Franco says.

In the past, employee problems and issues used to be handled by human resources, but now, with the changing role of the department, these tasks are being taken over more effectively by line managers. Employees are taking their grievances and conflicts to their managers and the managers are mediating these issues. This is a big improvement, because it is these managers who can best understand the issues affecting the workers and the context of these issues. The role of human resources now is to train the managers in how to mediate effectively and how to work to boost employee motivation.

Another advantage of these changes is that they allow the human resources department to focus more on the strategies and programs that will enable the business to become more competitive in the marketplace. Human resources can focus on bringing together and using the policies and goals of the company to make sure the business is prepared to face the challenges of its competitors.

Franco says there is no department better equipped to handle this mission than human resources. He added that as new markets develop and new businesses start, human resources will continue to evolve to meet the demands faced by these companies.

Let Winston Resources do the recruiting, vetting and placing of workers in your Manhattan business so that your human resources department can focus on critical and strategic initiatives. Contact us today!

Although getting laid off can be a traumatic experience, experts say you shouldn’t panic. You need to be calm and levelheaded to plan a course of action for while you are unemployed and to plan a strategy for finding another job.

There are several things you can do to help yourself get through this tough time, according to Chuck Koeber, a professor at Wichita State University.

One of the first things you should do is apply for unemployment benefits. If you wait to file, you might not get reimbursed for the time before you applied.

Many employers and unions have resources available for employees who have been laid off, such as job counseling. Check with your former employer and union to find out what they have available and how you can access them.

Labor departments, at the state or county level, also have resources for people who have been laid off, such as help centers. You should make use of these resources as well.

Have a plan, Koeber says. Draw up a written plan of action with the things you are going to do, the strategy you are going to follow, in looking for a job. And use the plan to schedule your time. Don’t just make things up as you go along. This will only extend the time it takes you to find a job, needlessly drawing out the anxiety that goes along with it. Do a self-assessment to help identify your skills and abilities. There are many sites on the internet than can help with this, such as www.jobskills.info.

Don’t shut yourself off from your family. Talk with your spouse and children about what has happened and how they feel about it. Ask for their support.

Keep an eye on your budget. You are going to have to make changes in your lifestyle. Try not to run up too much debt. Watch your credit card use. Try to stay away from using retirement funds. If you need some financial counseling, groups like the Consumer Credit Counseling Service can help.

If you are depressed, or otherwise emotionally disturbed as a result of what has happened, look for professional help. Many communities and universities offer low-cost counseling.

And don’t forget engaging the services of a staffing service such as Winston Resources. We can help you secure temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire assignments with some of New York City’s best companies. We often find that our temporary workers eventually find regular, full-time work via a temporary assignment. Contact us today!