Bringing the Right People on Board Marcia Simmering Dickerson, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Management Louisiana Tech University

The Human Resource Management Process Recruiting Selection Attracting Qualified Employees Determining Human Resource Needs Job Analysis & Human Resource Planning Compensation Employee Separation Keeping Qualified Employees Developing Qualified Employees Training Performance Appraisal

You can’t do it all yourself… Utilizing your time effectively  What is your comparative advantage? Why are you in business?  What in your business can only YOU do? What can you do, but it would be better for your business to hire someone else to do?  Delegate effectively…let go!  What can’t you do as well? What do you need help with?

You can’t do it all yourself… Utilizing Outsiders Advisory council/Board of directors  May be unpaid, or paid on retainer  Meet once or twice per year  Provide objective & professional advice to owner/manager  Clearly establish expectations (advice/vote?) Professional Business Consultants  Legal advice  Financial advice  Business expertise (marketing, HR, PR)  Technical expertise (CIS)

You can’t do it all yourself… Outsourcing services What can you delegate? (Either because you don’t have time or don’t have the expertise)  Janitorial services  Landscaping services  Marketing/advertising/PR  Bookkeeping/financial planning/taxes  Recruitment/HR

Determining Human Resources Needs: Job Analysis Job analysis allows you to create:  Job descriptions Tasks, duties, and responsibilities of the job What is the job? What are the essential functions the employees will need to perform successfully? Consider asking new hires to create their own job descriptions  Job specifications Knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform the job Consider the importance of experience in start-ups Hiring criteria should be related to job performance or they may get you in legal trouble (EEOC laws) O*Net is a good resource (

Determining Human Resources Needs: Organizational Chart Pictorial representation of the organization Establishes chain of command & reporting relationships Encourage potential funder’s confidence that you can & will staff with qualified employees

Small Home Construction Business Owner Rental Properties Manager Draftsman Construction Manager On-Site Supervisor – Property #1 On-Site Supervisor – Property #2 On-Site Supervisor – Property #3 Bookkeeper Assistant

Determining Human Resources Needs: HR Planning How do you know how many employees (and with what skills) will you will need for the future? Forecasting Demand and Supply  Internal factors (e.g., expected sales, number of clients, number of items manufactured)  External factors (e.g., labor supply, level of unemployment, changing demographics of workforce, strength of competitors)

Attracting Qualified Employees: Recruitment Where will you recruit?  Walk-ins  Referrals  Newspaper ads  State employment agencies  University recruitment fairs  Internet sites  Search firms Flypaper approach or realistic job preview?

Attracting Qualified Employees: Selection Application forms (make sure they ask only job-related information, not age, gender, ethnicity, etc.) nt&file=/BusinessTools/tools/emplap_m.jsp nt&file=/BusinessTools/tools/emplap_m.jsp Use selection tools to differentiate between applicants

Attracting Qualified Employees: Selection through Structured Interviews Before the interview:  Identify and define the KSAO needed for job  Develop key behavioral questions for each KSAO  For each KSAO, develop a list of things to look for in applicant’s responses After the interview:  Review your notes immediately  Evaluate the applicant on each KSAO  Determine each applicant’s probability of success and make a hiring decision KSAO: Knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics

Developing Qualified Employees: Training Providing company-specific skills upon hiring Renewal of skills, keeping up with new technology & regulations Ways to train:  On-the-job training: coaching, shadowing, apprenticeships  Off-the-job training: courses, online training, videos, role- plays Training resource:

Developing Qualified Employees: Performance Appraisal Objective performance measures  quantifiable outcomes (output, scrap, waste, sales, customer complaints, or rejection rates) Subjective performance measures  trait rating scales  behavioral observation scales (BOS)

Performance Appraisal Scales

Developing Qualified Employees: Sharing Performance Feedback Managers often fail to effectively give employees performance feedback Informal versus formal feedback 360-degree feedback  boss, subordinates, peers, and the employee  best for employee development

Keeping Qualified Employees: Compensation How much should I pay? Job evaluation is used to determine the worth of jobs Wage surveys indicate “going wage” see Should workers be paid at, below, or above current market wage? Paying above “going wage”…  attracts a larger, more qualified pool of applicants  increases the rate of job acceptance  decreases the time it takes to fill positions  increases the time that employees stay

Keeping Qualified Employees: Compensation How can I use pay to motivate? Linking Pay with performance  Enhances motivation and performance  Retains high performers while low performers are more likely to leave Examples of performance-contingent pay  Piecework  Commissions  Profit sharing  Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)

Keeping Qualified Employees: Compensation What Benefits should I offer? Benefits = Compensation other than direct wages Some employee benefits are legally mandated:  Social Security  Worker’s compensation  Unemployment insurance  Family & medical leave (if company is > 50 employees) Health care is not mandated (but highly desirable for motivating & retaining employees) Survey employees to find out what benefits would encourage them to stay with the company Survey competitors to find out what others offer

Keeping Qualified Employees: Separation Voluntary (“quits”) Involuntary  Avoiding Wrongful discharge fire.brc fire.brc  Unemployment insurance

Keeping Qualified Employees: Separation Encouraging Retention Exit Interviews: ask why they are leaving to prevent same problem in the future Potential reasons for voluntary turnover:  Compensation (31% leave for more $)  Management skills (29% leave because they don’t like or respect management) Communicate your goals, performance expectations and especially your appreciation!

Other useful sites Legally mandated posters for worksite Using Microsoft word to create forms Developing interview questions terviewprep