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!

Human resource departments are not doing enough to get out in front and help their organizations change and improve the way they work, according to business consultant Brad Power.

Some business leaders see their human resources department more as a bureaucracy where innovative thinking is not encouraged. Others say human resources is not used enough.

In order to integrate an attitude of constant improvement in a company, three areas need to be considered, according to Dave Ulrich, a professor and recognized leader in human resources – the people working there, the rewards given to them and the kinds of training they get.

Companies need to hire and promote people who take to heart the company’s mindset and behaviors, and let go the people who don’t. And so if the company hires people who value constant improvement it sends a clear signal about what the company thinks is important. When people see what is going on, they will change the way they work and what they do to fit what they see. The problem here is that the human resources professionals often are limited in what they can do – they have to follow the requirements set down by their manager. And these requirements tend to revolve around expertise, not the staff’s skills sets or behaviors.

Another way to instill constant improvement in a company is through rewards, which also can change the way people behave. Through rewards, companies can recognize workers who have achieved measured goals. To have constant improvement, workers not only have to do their work, but improve on it as well. But, again, human resources often has been limited to what it can provide here because it does not usually have the kind of experience or permission to work with managers in changing rewards to encourage improvement.

The third area, training and development, also can be used to encourage constant improvement. Training and development also can be used to show workers what the company sees as important. But human resource departments normally cannot encourage improvement training unless it is pushed by the company’s leaders.

To become more effective, human resources needs to help a company’s leaders focus on customers, long-term results and investing in the workforce. Human resources must be able to have the ear of the company’s leadership to be able to work constant improvement into the equation.

When you’re looking for great temporary workers for your New York City company, call upon Winston Resources. We look forward to hearing from you!

With the job market as tight as it is, it may come as little surprise that there has been an appreciable increase in false statements made on resumes, according to hiring managers. It has become more of a widespread problem.

Job candidates tell outright falsehoods, or they will leave out important facts about their background or employment history. The most common falsehood is extending dates of employment to cover up gaps in work history.

Job candidates also will include on resumes or applications degrees or certifications they have not earned, list a college or university they have not attended, list particular technical skills they do not have or exaggerate, or lie about other accomplishments.

To head off these problems, employers need to include disclaimers about making false statements or omissions and that these fraudulent statements will automatically disqualify a candidate from consideration, according to Russell Thomas, an attorney specializing in employment law. Employers also should not neglect doing background checks. Naturally, the higher level the position, the more you want to do a thorough background check on the applicant.

Another way to verify statements made by applicants is to simply look at what’s in the public record, Thomas says. With all the social media that now exist, there are plenty of places to go to do this. You can check out MySpace, Facebook or YouTube for information. These sites can confirm what is on a person’s resume, or reveal false statements a person has made on a resume.

The interview also is a key place to look for discrepancies or misleading statements and try to verify statements, Thomas says. That is why good interviewing skills are important. The best thing to do is ask the applicant questions that he or she will not expect. The interview should be set up so that the applicant is the one doing most of the talking, while the interviewer is spending most of the time listening and observing.

Whatever you do as an employer, Thomas says, avoid the urge to overlook misrepresentations on an applicant’s resume. These misleading statements could be a sign of some deeper character flaw that may affect the person’s ability to do the job.

In this tough job market, employers need to be especially vigilant about fraudulent resumes, Thomas says.

Let Winston Resources source and vet candidates for positions at your Manhattan-area company. We can perform preliminary interviews and conduct background checks to verify statements regarding skills, education and job 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!

As changes in management techniques, the economy and technology lead to changes in the workforce, employers are struggling to keep abreast of guidelines on worker classification.

Because of this, the Society for Human Resource Management has called on the federal government to clarify the statutory and other regulations that classify workers as employees or independent contractors. It is a need that is urgent, according to Christine Walters, a Society member and employment law attorney, who testified before Congress about the issue.

Each time a company enters into a relationship with a new worker, there is the challenge of asking the right questions to ensure that the worker is classified correctly, Walters said. And it does happen that employers do, without knowing it, make mistakes in classifying workers, she said.

The work environment in the 21st century has created a host of worker arrangements, some brand new, that companies now have to deal with, including part-time employment, flex-time and telecommuting schedules, leased employees, direct-hire employees, temp workers associated with agencies, per diem workers, and independent contractors.

Further complicating the situation is the fact that there is a patchwork of federal laws that apply to independent contractor arrangements, including the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Internal Revenue Code, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the National Labor Relations Act, and state unemployment insurance codes.

The Family and Medical Leave Act allows employees to take up to 12 months of unpaid leave of absence for the birth of a child or a serious family illness. The Americans with Disabilities Act mandates that employers make changes to protect the rights of people with disabilities. The Fair Labor Standards Act makes requirements relating to the basic minimum wage and overtime pay. It affects both public and private employers. It requires that companies pay covered employees at least federal minimum wage and overtime pay. The National Labor Relations Act explains the rights that employees have to organize and to bargain collectively with their employer through the employees’ representatives.

There needs to be more guidance and education from the government about the laws affecting workforce arrangements, along with more enforcement of them, Walters said.

employees and managers to stay in touch regarding performance benchmarks via online journal entries. Such tools make it easier for firms to align their employees’ tasks, projects and responsibilities with clear goals. The tools also help track performance on a year-round, on-going basis.

When you need to tap into the “hidden talent market” for your New York City company, contact Winston Resources. We have many excellent contract professionals available to serve at your firm on a temporary, temp-to-hire or direct-hire basis. We look forward to hearing from you.

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!

As with any business, occasionally you will have employees resign for any one of a number of reasons. When this happens it raises issues with how to handle the resignation, such as how to announce it, and when.

If the employee has not submitted the resignation in writing, you need first of all to get it in written form, including the final day the employee will be working. This provides protection for the company for such things as unemployment claims.

If you decide to let the employee work for the final two weeks, or whatever time period is decided upon, he or she can be very useful in making the transition for after he or she is gone.

The employee can tie things up and bring people up to date on what projects, what has been accomplished, what needs to be done, and what problems might arise. If someone is taking over the person’s duties, he or she can explain to the new person what needs to be done. And if the person who is leaving worked with customers, he or she can provide and introduction to the new person filling in.

You should notify other workers in the person’s department first about the resignation, and inform them when the person’s last day will be. You can ask the other department members to help take care of any issue still hanging, and then also work out what duties other people will have to assume to pick up the slack.

You should also give the other employees some idea of how long it will take to find someone else for the position.

You can notify the rest of the staff about the resignation through e-mail. Generally, a notice like this tells the other employees that a person is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities at another company. Then, it usually includes some words of praise for the employee and well wishes for his or future endeavors. If there is going to be some kind of farewell gathering, the e-mail could give the details on that. You should, however, check with the person who is resigning to get his or her approval on the e-mail and the information in it. After this, you would conduct the exit interview.

All of this helps to give a sense of closure for everyone, and it shows all of the employees how they are valued within the company.

Call Winston Resources when you need to fill positions in your Manhattan company. We can provide you with top marketing, administrative, healthcare, IT, accounting, legal, human resources, publishing, and real estate professionals. Contact us today to learn more about how strategic staffing can help your business succeed.

In the past, contingent workers were looked at as last-minute, stop-gap measures, something to plug a hole to keep things running. But that is not the case any longer. Companies are using contingent workers in increasing numbers for all kinds of jobs, integrating them into their business operations like never before.

As this process has been taking place, human resource departments have been looking at ways to use these workers to the company’s best advantage and to help the company get the best return on investment.

Companies have developed best practices for the use of contingent labor. These strategies better help companies handle production when demand is greater and when demand falls off. The strategies also help in planning to use contingent labor take in vacant positions until full-time people are hired. Other strategies involve taking on someone as a temporary worker to screen him or her for a possible permanent position. Other strategies use contingent labor for areas where there is a lot of turnover, incorporating the turnover rate into the planning process.

Companies that are effective at using their contingent labor work to predict when they will need temporary workers and work them into the big-picture. These companies try to figure out when business will pick up and slow down before it happens, as well as when more labor will be needed for projects.

These companies also set up specific budgets for their temporary labor and they set up a system to monitor their contingent workforce and what they are spending on it.

Companies that are most effective using contingent labor are now moving away from using multiple staffing firms. Instead, they use one firm as their primary contact, and then that staffing company works with others in the area to find the specialized labor that each service is best at delivering. The primary service sets up strategic partnerships with the other firms in order to best supply the needed labor to the client company. This arrangement generally works best when companies use a high level of temporary workers, which is usually 20 or more people.

Are you a New York City-area employer looking to bring in some high-level talent into your organization? Winston Resources can help. We provide top-notch workers for you within temporary, temp-to-hire or direct-hire assignments. Contact us today!

Sometimes when the HR department at your company tries to apply a best practice in use somewhere else, it doesn’t seem to work out quite the way the department had planned.

That was the experience at one HR shop, where they were having trouble with succession planning and talent management. Human resources managers had spent many hours studying the best practices at other companies and copied the best parts of what they had seen. But what had worked well at other places didn’t do as well at their place.

It is not difficult to see why there might be difficulty in transferring practices from one place to another. Each organization is different, with its own particular market, structures, history, leadership and culture. But, even so, there are commonalities among all businesses. Without such similarities, no one would be able to learn anything. Yet, some firms are better at copying the techniques of others. The question is why some companies are more successful at transferring best practices than others.

If your human resources department is having difficulty with this, it might be for one of the following reasons:

One reason may be that you’re not adapting the process to your company. Before incorporating a new process, you must first fit it to the new environment. Because companies are different, it is seldom that one company can simply take another’s process and use it “off the shelf,” without any effort to customize it. You need not only to learn the process, but also to understand the guiding principles that inform the process. It takes more than just sending a few managers for training, but to actually determine how you can apply the process to your company in a way that makes sense.

Another reason a transfer may fail is that there is no support or commitment from the leadership of the company to making the borrowed process work.

In the human resources department with the succession planning problem, HR was committed to implementing it, but line management was not.  For most, it became a task of filling out forms.  They looked nice, but really weren’t used for making any important decisions about filling positions.

So, to really benefit from borrowing best practices, they must be adapted to your company and fully supported by the leadership.

When you need your next employee, contact Winston Resources. We know “the good guys” and we can find your excellent employees for your New York City-area company for full-time, temporary and temp-to-hire positions. We look forward to hearing from you.