Well, recruiters, recent reports show jobless claims are at a six month low, while job growth is short of estimates. With fewer new positions and fewer new hires, it’s time to focus on developing and retaining the top talent you’ve already got.

Previous surveys have shown that 60% of employees plan to leave their jobs when the market gets better. This may not concern you in light of lagging job growth, but think about this: 25% of employer-identified, high-potential employees plan to leave their current companies within the year. If you want to keep these top performers, you need to focus on engagement strategies.

Engagement isn’t just a warm and fuzzy theory. Engagement is a series of strategic actions that produce real, tangible financial results for businesses. Engaged employees are better for the bottom line; they outperform disengaged employees by 20-28%. In one study, companies with engaged employees showed a 19% increase in operating income over a 12-month period, compared to a 33% decrease in organizations with disengaged employees. In fact, the cost of disengagement to U.S. employers is estimated to be as much as $350 billion per year.

So how do you create a culture of engagement? Here are a few tips:

1. Make a strong first impression. Effective onboarding and coaching of new hires allows your employees to get started on the right track, and it has a tremendous impact on morale. The best onboarding programs allow new hires to assimilate into the culture through a combination of training and mentoring. iCIMS’ executives actually sit down and talk with each new hire class. This might not be realistic for larger companies, but the gesture is not lost on our new hires.
2. Continue the dialogue and help them grow. Allow for two-way feedback and stay invested in your employees’ development, so they never become bored or complacent. Keep them challenged by offering opportunities for growth and training. Provide clear career development opportunities and conduct frequent career conversations to determine how their goals are evolving.
3. Reward exemplary performance. Implement competitive compensation and benefits. If you’re not sure what a competitive salary for a certain position is, utilize a service such as Payscale. You should also consider implementing merit-based pay raises and award programs to keep employees motivated. But compensation doesn’t just have to be monetary in nature; a little recognition can go a long way, too. You should make sure your employees are shown appreciation for their accomplishments, and that they understand their role in the company’s success. Recognition should be given quickly and often. The once-a-year performance review is becoming a thing of the past; many would argue that the future is in more frequent or social performance reviews.
4. Foster connectivity among employees. Allow for cross-departmental collaboration that will lead to inspiration and deeper involvement with the organization and its goals. The more invested employees are in your company’s initiatives and the more involved they are in the successes across departments, the more satisfied they will be. iCIMS has implemented a program called iLead, which has been an effective way for our employees to develop leadership and project management skills while working across departments. An iLead is a high visibility, cross-departmental initiative, and the application process is competitive. The skills developed through participation in these initiatives have proven to be invaluable.
5. Provide leadership that inspires trust. This is particularly important at the executive level. Executives should provide a clear vision and frequent, thorough communication. They must be consistent and transparent. Large group meetings are a great way for executives to boost morale and give employees insight and awareness of company strategy. Additionally, company leaders should allow decisions to be made at the lowest level possible, so employees at all levels are invested in the company’s initiatives. The more informed, involved, and empowered your employees feel, the more likely they’ll be to stay motivated and satisfied with your company.

As difficult as it may be to discover new talent, the real challenge is retaining the talent you already have in your organization. With a deliberate, active culture of engagement in place, you’ll be sure to keep more of your top talent!

Individual or team productivity is influenced by many factors that companies overlook day in and day out. In his recent article on ERE.net, Dr. John Sullivan explains, “Increasing productivity is one of the most critical goals in business.” Well, he is absolutely right. The goal of all business, big or small, should be to facilitate productivity, so that employees produce quality work on a consistent basis.

Dr. John Sullivan has compiled a list of 22 essential factors that have a huge impact on individual or team performance. He broke these factors down into six categories: Foundations of Productivity, Direction and Guidance Factors, Support Factors, Skills, Communications, and Information Factors, Resourcing Factors, and Miscellaneous Factors. There are two factors I would especially like to focus a bit on:

1. High performing and innovative employees are the foundation of productivity
2. Technology, tools, and equipment can limit or bolster productivity

 
So how do businesses implement these essential factors? For starters, some HR departments are choosing to use efficient software that will easily produce the best candidate fits through skill-matching for each position posted. When the right choice is made, the chances are higher that the employee will remain productive throughout his or her tenure at the company. Further, these companies are looking to technology to facilitate the number of tasks HR Professionals must complete, so HR staff can spend more time on employee engagement programs.

No matter where you read, critics all have the same opinion - hiring the right people is key to a successful business. Similarly, choosing the right technologies to feed the HR department and employee engagement is essential, as some can be entirely too cumbersome to use effectively. Technology solutions can facilitate the pre and post-hire process, automating the administrative work that HR professionals get bogged down with. As Bob Dylan once said, “The times they are a changin’.” We live in a technological world; we might as well embrace it. Make life easier and use the tools that are available to you!

Further, time is money, and flies by faster than any of us ever realize. Making the most out of time is essential to a productive business. For example, the less time it takes to recruit new and qualified talent, the better. Accomplishing weekly or monthly goals in a timely manner only leaves extra hours to get a head start on a new project. Keeping the ball rolling will ultimately increase productivity and open doors to new opportunities for company-wide success.

To wrap things up, always show your employees some recognition, your business will thank you. I guarantee that a little “Keep up the good work!” will make that employee feel like a million dollars. In the end, numbers don’t lie. If a company exhibits all of these qualities, productivity will flourish!

I first became introduced to the idea of a company “intranet” or a “private computer network” at my last job at a local credit union. It was used as the main page for an employee to access any resources they needed to conduct work, but lacked any effort towards employee engagement. When I joined the iCIMS family, I became aware of how company intranets, or employee portals, can be useful in engaging personnel if used to its full potential. Not only can it be informative, but also encouraging for employees to get more involved within the company.

iCIMS’ own employee portal – the iWatercooler, has a weekly corporate blog update to keep employees “in the know” on what’s happening in each department, along with open discussions on clients, HR industry trends, happy hour locations and more. While ultimately reducing mass emails (which everyone appreciates!) the portal serves as a hub with all information in one central location.

In fact, the iWatercooler has had a lot of positive feedback.  Not to toot our own horn, but just this month, iCIMS received a “2011 Communicator Award of Distinction for Interactive Employee Portal” in the corporate communications category; recognizing “creative excellence” for communications professionals. iWatercooler has become a daily newsfeed for our employees, and as a bonus, has even been recognized for its unique qualities.

You can have this too. An employee portal has so much more to offer, and after experiencing it firsthand, I feel that most companies should offer a similar outlet for communication among coworkers. At the click of a button, all employees can find out exactly what’s going on in the company, including employee events, new sales that have recently been made, weekly blog updates from different departments, and so on. One great feature I would recommend you try is an open chat forum where fun after work activities can be posted and questions can be answered. There may be more than a few fellow coworkers that can answer the question, providing the most information possible. This allows everyone to work together and bounce ideas off one another in order to make a company the best they can be.

Employee portals can also help strengthen a company to be the best it can be. The thoughts, words, and feelings of all employees can be let out to fuel a positive and informative work environment. A happy worker makes a happy and successful work place. Keeping employees happy while still promoting their personalities, creativeness, and forward thinking is truly a recipe for success.

When it comes to employee communications, there are so many ways to get your message across creatively. Depending on your budget and the company's culture, the possibilities are endless! From over the top communication campaigns like wall murals that detail a high level strat plan, to email and video campaigns that create buzz for new employee programs, and of course, morale boosting events like Office Olympics, there are so many ways to keep employees engaged and informed. While new campaigns and creative outlets keep things interesting, a steady, one-source hub for day-to-day communication is vital to keep communication on point and on source.  

In the office, we recently launched the iCIMS Employee Portal. Over the course of the past three months, it took the collaboration of employees from across the organization to pull together what we needed to jam-pack the site with relevant content. Our goal was to create a single source where employees could go to find everything they needed to do their job, communicate with one another, and build a sense of community. 

A big part of this project centered on communication – we essentially turned the way we communicated with each other inside out and pushed aside our mass distribution lists. This now requires employees who would normally send a company-wide announcement via their Outlook email to post their news to the portal instead. This helps reduce the amount of mass email. In a way, the employee portal takes all of the communication that already existed and funnels it into one key location – where everything is documented and searchable. In fact, employees can now pick which communications they want to view by choosing to subscribe to specific pages and then, they will receive notifications once there’s been an update. Thus, reducing inbox inundation. 

So, with a whole new way to communicate, share, and find information, comes the topic of adoption – and it takes time. By monitoring the back end and understanding what people are interested in, we can tailor our messaging and build campaigns to help shift attention to important areas. The continuous promotion of the new site will be essential in moving the needle towards full adoption and help to do away with mass communication that blankets multiple organizations, if it’s not necessarily needed.   

By changing the way we communicate, we can better ensure that strategic messages are consolidated, which in turn paves the way for team initiatives and ensures proper alignment. By consolidating the information, we’re providing employees with one place to go to find key metrics, to pinpoint progress and to define accountability. By combining the portal as our single source for communication and knowledge as a baseline, we can build on that by integrating company-wide meetings, events, contests, and collateral, while knowing the site is our solid source, or baseline for need to know items. 

So, as we continue to work on the iCIMS Employee Portal, and increase adoption rates through fresh, relevant content, contests and consistent strategic messages, we hope to give employees an outlet to build and share their knowledge and provide a soapbox to state their case on current projects, programs, milestones – or simply plan the next company happy hour. 

How transparent are your HR initiatives?

And, I am not talking about your external recruitment and branding efforts. We will save those for another date. As an HR Professional, it’s likely that you are in charge of all of those fantastic employee benefit programs that everyone is so very grateful for.

When a new recruit starts, they are usually given a run down of all of the benefits available and how they can take advantage of those programs and opportunities. I know I was. Usually these recruits are excited to be starting at a company that cares enough about them to offer all of these great extras.

As time passes, the employee is no longer a new recruit. Theoretically, they have succeeded at their job and have contributed to company excellence. So, why have they become unhappy as compared with their first few weeks with the company? You may or may not have run into this at your company, but it is always something HR Professionals must keep in mind. What has happened to make your employee unhappy and how can you deter this from happening?

Easy. Reopen that Employee Benefits Handbook. In a recent survey, benefits were considered the second most important determinant of job satisfaction. Let's leverage that.

If employees have excelled in their position it is probably due to the time and dedication they have given to their career development, which probably includes improving their work efficiency, industry expertise and management skills. But we are human, and sometimes we forget about the other stuff. These employees may have forgotten all the good opportunities available at the company and that could be one reason for unhappiness.

One of the easiest ways to counter this problem is by reminding employees of company benefits that they may not be taking advantage of. Why not try sending out an email campaign: “Benefit of the Month”? As the holidays approach, send them a reminder of some discount programs that may be good for this time of year (e.g. www.workadvantage.com).

I know most HR Professionals are bogged down by day-to-day tasks or long-term strategic planning, so the idea of “reminding” employees of something you have already told them may not seem like the most productive use of your time. But, it may be necessary. Try a correspondence tool that can automate the process and send out mass messages. Or another great tool to try is an Employee Portal where employees can go on their free time to learn about benefit programs.

Why not try it? It’s an easy first step towards improving employee satisfaction!

From finding qualified candidates to handling organizational changes, HR departments have their hands full on a day to day basis.  But what keeps the average HR professional up at night?  A recent study showed that in the next six months 31% of HR managers cite “maintaining employee productivity and morale” as the leader and “dealing with healthcare costs and new legislation” at a close second with 26%. More surprising than the majority is what the polled aren’t worried about: Retaining top performers (with a measly 13% of the vote). Maybe none of them read this article: Retaining a Workforce That Wants to Quit.

Nonetheless, in an effort to ease the minds of the combined 44% concerned about engaging and retaining talent, we’ve put together these 6 essentials for success:

1. Develop an Employment Brand
   Strategically develop a cohesive employment brand reflecting your organization’s vision for the future and long term talent management needs.


2. Maintain a Robust Pipeline
   Effective pipelines are composed of qualified candidates ready to work at a moment’s notice. Ideally, pipelined candidates have already been screened or interviewed and your recruiters are waiting to match them with the ideal job opening.


3. Strive for an Ongoing Dialogue with Candidates
   Develop a cohesive CRM program to engage your pipelined candidates and strengthen your employment brand.


4. Training
   To increase employee engagement levels, strive to create a working environment where training, skill transferal and knowledge sharing are encouraged.


5. Compensation
   A compensation system is not one size fits all; rather rewards systems are best crafted around employees’ intrinsic motivators.


6. Open line of Communication
   Utilize Employee Engagement Surveys to gain a deeper understanding of your workforce’s career expectations and overarching goals.

Looking for more information about Engaging and Retaining Top Talent? Check out our complimentary White Paper!

Last August a friend and colleague of mine, Kaitlin Walsh, wrote about engagement in the American Workforce.  In her post, she wrote about a 2008 Gallup Management Research study which found that less than 1/3 of the American workforce is actively engaged in their jobs.  Given the apparent affect on morale this extended recession has had on workers, that number is probably even lower, now.  The Gallup study suggested that engaged employees have lower turnover, less absenteeism, more productivity, and higher profitability.

While all of that sounds nice it begs a practical question: How can I boost employee engagement?

This is a question well-satirized in the popular Dilbert comic...check it out here!

The responsibility for engaging employees falls to team leaders and managers.  This must be a day-to-day, consistent effort to ensure that employees are recognized for their achievements and feel aligned with the company.  While it may seem like management 101, here are a few tips I put together for managers to make their employees feel valued and recognized, leading to higher employee engagement:

• Get to know your employees—they have hobbies and interests just like you do, and while those hobbies might not be your cup of tea, it is important that you show an interest in their lives and try to understand what makes them happy.
• Show them your own personality, too—while too much chit-chat can counteract the productivity benefits you are trying to create, a little small talk can go a long way.  Giving your team-members a (small) glimpse of your life will help them to see that you’re human just like they are.  Employees who feel connected to their team and company are much more likely to experience goal-alignment and truly want to do well for you and for the company.
• Clearly define goals—explaining the company’s overall targets and how your team objectives contribute to those targets should be made crystal clear.  If you want to engage your employees, they have to see the relationship between their hard work and the success of the company.  
• Recognize employee contributions—it is important for every business to reinforce positive behaviors.  When an employee has done a great job, why not tell them exactly that?  It doesn’t hurt to throw in some small reward, either.  Where appropriate, consider buying an occasional lunch or letting out a bit early.
• Reward repeated positive behaviors—when an employee has consistently done well for your team and is committed to helping your organization succeed, make sure that you show them how much you appreciate those efforts. Give them an appropriate (financial) reward for their efforts but be sure to clearly explain why they are being rewarded.  This is an especially valuable tool now, as top contributors are starting to have other options for employment.

These tips are easy enough to implement although difficulty often lies in being consistent.  The appropriate attitude towards engaging employees is similar to that of getting physically fit.  It’s not enough to just go on a diet; you have to make lasting lifestyle changes.

For more information on employee engagement, download this free whitepaper on engaging and retaining top talent.

Two weeks ago, I sat at my desk proof reading away, while listening to some epic movie music on my iPod…don’t ask about the music choice. After, ensuring all of my “i”s were dotted and all of my “t”s were crossed, figuratively of course, I sent the document in for approval. I looked at my watch and what do you know, I still had an hour before lunch! Two hours from start to finish. Well, the document was on the shorter side, but this was still a big accomplishment for me, as writing doesn’t come quite as easily as I would like it to. In truth, I am the type of person who overanalyzes every word written on the page, which often leads to an evening on the couch with my computer on lap and ice cream in hand. It often takes quite some time before I am even the slightest bit satisfied with what I have written. But, by completing this type of work in a timely manner, with appropriate word choice and sentence structure, my confidence level went way up. I was finally “starting to get it”. I was finally starting to become more efficient at my job. When I finished the project, I first sung a sigh of relief, then reflected on how much I’ve learned since day one and lastly, questioned how this growth was possible. After a two minute thinking expedition, I landed on training and work environment. I had extensive and frequent trainings and I have been able to work in a healthy, comfortable work environment (in my case, the ability to listen to music while I work). The skills I have developed and the knowledge I have gained have not only helped me in my current job responsibilities, but they will also enable me to have a successful career. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still have a great deal to learn, but I now have the confidence to reach my professional goals. And, much of it is thanks to iCIMS.

Ok, so what does this have to do with iCIMS 10th Anniversary…

In their announcement one month ago, iCIMS told the world about its ten years of excellence. And, as an employee here, I am thrilled to be celebrating iCIMS success. I enjoy working here and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that I am able to improve my mind every day at this company. So, I am excited to be part of this celebration. However, I am even more excited about how the outside world has reacted to iCIMS’ announcement. I would now like to share with you some of the positive feedback and supportive comments clients and partners have made. These sentiments truly reaffirm my belief that iCIMS upholds an unwavering commitment to both customer satisfaction, along with internal employee satisfaction. (Taken from Facebook, Twitter and Partner blogs).

Always impressed with the people at iCIMS. Very sharp, creative and friendly group of pros. Can you say HR Happy Hour tour?

Don't miss the #iCIMS10 video w/President & CEO, Colin Day http://tinyurl.com/ybl95y3. I'm impressed w/the iCARE program for the environment.

@iCIMS Congrats on 10 years!

@iCIMS I'm really liking the new GUI on the latest release.

Congrats to @iCIMS on its 10th anniversary http://www.icims.com/10thAnniversary/ #icims10.

Wow! Love the @iCIMS party over on @ere_net......what a way to celebrate…(am feeling pretty lucky that I got to use iCIMS.)

Congrats to our good friends and strategic partners at iCIMS, a global leader in talent management software!  And true to form, they are celebrating this occasion in grand style.  See below. I don’t know if this will encourage attendance or not, but I plan to be at the Chicago event. EmployeeScreenIQ

It’s refreshing to know that I work for a company that is so well-respected.

The next few months are going to be quite busy with the hustle and bustle of the Happy Hour/Anniversary tour. But, having the chance to recognize iCIMS success and more importantly, thank the clients and partners who have helped the company experience such growth, will make it all truly worth it.

Check out the iCIMS 10th Anniversary page here! Get ready for our first stop on the Happy Hour tour on April 8th in New York City, countdown: 14 days!

With today’s unstable economy, business leaders’ number one priority has become survival. Executives are slashing budgets, cutting costs and grasping at financial viability.  It is during these times of economic uncertainty that employee engagement requires the most attention yet most often goes over overlooked.

According to a 2008 Gallup Management Research study, less than 1/3 of the American workforce is actively engaged at their current positions. These figures are not unique to the United States; in fact, China experiences engagement levels as low as 10%. High levels of employee disengagement dramatically affect an organization’s bottom line: businesses are depending on less efficient workforces and productivity is suffering.

According to the Gallup Study, engaged employees have:

            51% lower turnover

            27% less absenteeism

            18% more productivity

            12% higher profitability

Employee disengagement has emerged as a serious problem in the current workplace but up until now little action has been taken, mainly because employers do not know how to remedy the problem. When it comes down to it, employee engagement is very difficult to measure and there are a myriad of factors contributing to the engagement levels of a given workforce. Here are a few overarching concepts that, when taken into consideration, can dramatically improve your workforce’s engagement level:

• First and foremost, all employees want to feel valued and appreciated. Feeling taken for granted is one of the largest contributors of disengagement. Employers often fall victim to the notion that their workforce is lucky to be employed during a time of soaring unemployment rates. This is a VERY dangerous state of mind.
• Employees want to see how their work contributes to larger business initiatives. Disengaged employees repeatedly state lack of clarity as a source of their dissatisfaction.
• Engaged employees require continual professional development and growth opportunities. Investing in the training and professional development of your workforce increases engagement levels; it shows employees that their growth is valued at the organization and you are willing to invest in their professional advancement.
• Employee Engagement Surveys are a critical part of measuring employee engagement, but not the end all be all. It is important to survey but it is more important to ACT on the data uncovered during these engagement surveys.

These four concepts only touch the surface of employee engagement. It is important to recognize that employees are the most valuable resource most organizations possess. An engaged employee is a higher performing employee and, in turn, a more profitable employee. Now is a great time to re-evaluate the current engagement level of your workforce and take action!