When To Check a Potential Employee’s Credit

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article | Employee Background Check | Employee Credit Check | When To Check a Potential Employee's CreditAs a hiring manager, you want to ensure you interview and employ the best workers possible. Naturally, you spend plenty of time reading resumes, contacting candidates, and performing thorough interviews. However, what you might not realize is that you sometimes need to perform a credit check on potential employees. Check out this quick guide to help you decide when to do so.

Job Positions That Benefit From Credit Checks

Employee credit checks are most common when a company is hiring someone who will directly deal with either the company’s finances or the clients’ finances. This may include people who work in upper management, call center representatives for banks and credit card companies, accountants, and more. Some employers even perform credit checks on the store clerks who run the cash registers.

What To Look For

When it comes to what to look for when performing a credit check on potential employees, it is really up to you. Most hiring managers first look for current or past bankruptcies as well as consider how many delinquent accounts the potential employee has. More scrupulous employees may also consider how much the person owes on mortgages or in student loans. Keep in mind that a credit report won’t always tell the whole story, though. If the candidate looks good otherwise, feel free to interview them to find out more information.

Make Sure It’s Legal

Before you spend money on a credit check services for employers, make sure you can legally look into your employees’ credit histories. Some cities and states don’t allow you to do so at all. In the ones that do, you must follow a protocol. This includes getting written approval to do the credit check from the potential employee, not looking further back than 10 years into the history, and providing the employee with a copy of the report you receive if he or she requests it.

While it is important to research a potential employee’s credit history if he or she will deal with any of your company’s financial information, keep in mind that poor credit doesn’t necessarily need to be a deal breaker. Remember to go with your gut feeling and to look at other important factors when choosing your new employees.

Six Factors to Consider When Hiring Employees for the First Time

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |Hiring Employees|Six Factors to Consider When Hiring Employees for the First TimeTaking on employees is a huge responsibility, particularly in smaller companies, where the employees that you hire can have a huge impact on business success. The effect that your hires have can be either positive or negative, so it’s important to choose wisely. And, taking on an extra pair of hands or more can boost company productivity and enable you to offer a wider range of services to your clients. Unfortunately, things going wrong means that you could run the risk of damaging crucial business relationships and massively losing out financially. The good news is that with the right preparation, you can prevent this from happening and get the most from hiring employees for your firm. Here’s an essential checklist of everything that you will need to do before taking on your first hire.

#1. Finding the Right Candidates:

Hiring the wrong person can lead to poor performance and damage to your small company with unnecessary training costs, wasted time and more. So, keep these tips in mind and improve your chance of getting it right the first time. Firstly, you should sit down and determine exactly what it is that you want your new employee to do. This will enable you to write a detailed job description and advert that will attract the best talent. Some key things to include are your company’s name, a job title, the salary, a description of the person required, a description of duties, and something about your company and what you do. And, your job advert should include a call to action – include clear details on how to apply, or a link to a page where your prospective candidate can start applying right away.

#2. Equal Opportunities:

Being an equal opportunities employer is more important than ever in today’s day and age. It is against the law for an employer to discriminate a person on the grounds of age, sex, race, marriage, disability, religion or sexual orientation. You should ensure that all stages of the application process are designed to treat everybody equally; make sure that job requirements do not include any marginal or unnecessary requirements that may exclude individuals due to these criteria.

#3. Employee Rights and Contracts:

Before a new employee begins working for you, it’s crucial that you make all the right preparations to ensure that they are able to work in an environment where their rights are understood and respected. You will need to collect necessary information, establish a contract, and ensure that you are aware of all the rights offered to employees. The contract that you draw up will cover the legal relationship between yourself and your employee, and should be drawn up once the offer of work is accepted. However, bear in mind that nothing needs to be written down for employee rights to exist; some come into effect from the moment that the offer is accepted, and others after the employee has been working for you for some time. Make sure that you have a solid understanding of basic employee rights and at which point during employment they will come into effect.

#4. Specific Rights:

Today, employees have a right not to be discriminated against in the workplace on the basis of sex, age, race, religion, disability or sexual orientation – these rights will come into effect from as soon as they accept your offer of employment. They also have a right to enjoy equal pay with the opposite sex, as long as it can be shown that they are doing work of equal value. Every employee is entitled to a notification of how their pay is made up, which is usually given in the form of a paycheck each month. And, employees have the right to not be unfairly dismissed during any period of their employment with you. Don’t forget that if employees become parents while working for you, they will be entitled to maternity or paternity leave. And, employees have the right to request flexible working conditions that should be taken into reasonable consideration.

#5. Insurance:

Once you start hiring employees, you’ll need to put more thought into the kind of insurance that you have to cover your company. Bear in mind that your regular liability insurance may not stretch as far as your employees, so it may be necessary for you to update your policy before bringing new hires on. Almost everybody who hires employees will require workers’ compensation insurance; this will keep both yourself and your employees covered in the event of an accident, injury, or illness that occurs as a result of work. The type of workers’ comp insurance that your company will require depends on the type of industry that you operate in. For example, the construction industry requires workers’ compensation at all times after hiring one or more employees, which includes the company owner. On the other hand, most businesses in the non-construction industry will require workers’ compensation after employing at least four members of staff. Check out this article to learn more about the workers’ comp requirements for employees in Florida.

#6. Freelancers and Contractors:

Last but not least, it’s becoming more and more commonplace for small businesses to save money by taking on freelancers and self-employed contractors, rather than full-time staff. However, there’s still plenty to think about – while workers’ comp might not be required in this situation, you will still likely be required to draw up a contract between yourself and the contractor to lay out exactly what is expected from both parties. Although this type of relationship is generally a lot more flexible compared to full-time employees, it’s still a wise idea to get everything down in writing so that disputes can be avoided further down the line. Make sure that you include their status as a contractor rather than an employee, and specific details about any project(s) that you have brought them in to work on.

Hiring employees is often a vital step towards growth for your small business, but make sure that you are fully prepared before you start.

Tips for finding the perfect hire?

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article | Anthony Fletcher | Tips for finding the perfect hire?

Finding someone perfect is one of the most difficult things one has today. Not only in terms of business but also generally in life. Whether it is your friends, your life partners or anyone, this is a pretty tough decision to make as it involves judging someone. It surely is hard but if done right it is not impossible and can be very easy.

To hire the perfect individual, you must look for their qualities and traits that can be of your benefit. Judging a fish for the ability to climb a tree is not the way to go. What you really have to do is focus on what they are applying for. For instance, if you are hiring a person looking to be a sales manager, focus on their communication skills and their thinking skills. What you do not have to focus on is how well the person knows the bookish definition. Those are important to some extent but are not the entire criteria. Same goes for innovations and technology. You need to find someone who is creative and thinks outside the box. Remember that there are millions of people who read the same books to become something, only those are truly successful who implement their knowledge in unique ways. What you have to look for is the quality of work in a person.

The perfect hire would be someone who clicks with you. Someone who picks up the pace as fast as you can. If someone is too slow then you will have an extra burden on your shoulder where you will have to spoon feed that person through everything. A hire is someone who should do the opposite of that. It is someone who is there to clean up the mess with you and be someone who makes your force strong. For that, you need to find a good match for your team. A person who is too fast and too initiative can also cause problems. This is because such people do not have the flexibility to mold and that is something very important when working with a team. Therefore, team management and team spirit is something which each perfect hire must have.

A person who is not willing to take risks is not ready for a job. This does not mean that you need to look for reckless behavior, this means that a perfect hire should have a very strong personality. If there is something that they are sure of would work in the benefit of the company and would cause no harm to it, they should take that chance instead of waiting for someone higher in the hierarchy to do it. This happens when your potential employee is sharp enough to do so. This brings us to another important quality which is being street smart. A perfect hire should be good with statistics, he should also be well educated with all concepts clear but what he absolutely needs to have is the ability to use all that in the best way. Knowing everything is easy but acting on it is not. Thus, you must look for these things in a hire.

A good screening system is what saves you from a lot of trouble. If this is not good then you can lose all the good potential hires and end up with the ones who aren’t suitable for that position. This is why you must make sure that everyone who is involved in the procedure of screening the best candidates has a clear idea as to what you are looking for so that they keep an eye out for the best of the lot. All of this sounds pretty corporate but this is because we are using corporate terms for all this. Every decision in life is made like that if we think about it. We narrow down the decision and then choose what is best. Due to this reason, it is very important to check for everything like this in the business world. The potential candidates should be the ones who truly deserve and those who actually fit and those who are willing to work as the company works.

Commitment is also a very important thing you should look for. If the hire lacks commitment that means that they will give you a tough time ahead. They will slack at work and will also not take their work seriously. Look for commitment and the rest will fall in place as well.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Anthony FletcherAnthony Fletcher, Sr is a former athlete and current business expert. He is the owner and president of My Future Consulting, Inc and Integrity Sports Agency and has over two decades of experience in executive management, innovative solutions, staff building, and recruitment. His consulting firm, founded on the philosophy that people are the most important part of a company, has revolutionized the future of staffing.

How Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Employees?

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |Productivity|How Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Employees?There are a whole lot of things that go into making a business truly success but if there’s one thing that’s perhaps more important than anything else: it’s your employees. The truth is that your employees are the very heart and soul of your business and if you’re not putting the effort into making sure that you’re taking care of them then you’re never going to be able to get the most out of them. Working with employees should always be a matter of give and take but that’s something that far too many business owners tend to forget about. They tend to assume that their employees exist to serve their needs and the needs of the business but forget that it’s also incredibly important that it’s also your job as an employer to serve your employees. That might sound something of a challenge and a lot of work but the truth is that it’s actually a whole lot more simple than you might expect. With that in mind, here are some things that you can do in order to make sure that you’re always getting the very best out of your employees.

Flexibility

For the longest time, we’ve all been working under the impression that a rigid working structure is the only way to ensure that a business is as productive and efficient as possible. And yes, it’s absolutely true that there are plenty of ways in which structure, discipline, and scheduling can make your business run a whole lot more smoothly. However, if you focus on those things exclusively then you’re going to create a stifling environment that leads to serious problems. You need to remember that work isn’t the only thing in your employee’s lives and forcing them to make compromises in every other aspect of their life for the sake of work is just going to leave them feeling frustrated and resentful of you and your business. Be willing to be flexible with things like working hours if employees have to fit their career around their families. The same goes for things like remote working. If an employee can work from home and that works best for them, that can often be the most efficient solution rather than dragging them into the office.

Support

One of the most important things that you need to remember is that your employees are not machines, they’re human beings and human beings have limits. Trying to push your employees to achieve their best work can be a good thing but if you push them too hard it’s going to leave them burnt out and exhausted. You need to make sure that you’re actually putting in the time and effort to look after and support your employees so that you’re not putting them at risk at any time. Sure, a dispassionate view might make you think that this is time and money you could be spending on something else but it’s important to remember that taking the time to look after your employees is far better than having to take time to look or new employees when they all burn out from being overworked.

StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |Productivity|How Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Employees?Training

One of the biggest mistakes that a lot of business owners make is that they find someone that they think would be a great fit for their business and then completely waste their potential by just leaving them to it and not providing them with the avenues for improvement and development. There really is no better way to foster a total sense of apathy among your workforce than not to provide them with the chase to actually improve and develop new skills. Offering training to your employees is essential if you want to make sure that they are the most qualified and well-equipped workforce in any situation. It doesn’t even need to be training that applies directly to your industry. Even things like free CPR classes can be incredibly valuable. Not just because they teach lifesaving skills but also because it shows your employees that you are willing to make an investment in their continued personal development.

Creating the best possible environment

Of course, it’s not just a matter of putting time and effort into your employees, you also need to think about the environment that they’re going to be working in as well. If your employees are in an office that’s miserable to work in then that’s going to have a pretty marked impact on their satisfaction levels as well as their ability to work. You need to make sure that your office has everything from adequate amounts of space to enough like that everyone can work comfortably. Whether you go for something like an open-plan office or something more traditional will depend on personal preference but make sure that you’re creating an environment where your employees can feel comfortable and can collaborate with each other as easily as possible. You should also make sure that your office is set out in such a way that your employees feel connected to you as their employers. Setting yourself entirely apart from them is just going to cause divisions within your business.

You may find yourself looking at this list and thinking that it’s a lot of work just to get the most out of your employees and wondering if it’s really worth it? However, that’s the wrong attitude to take. Yes, being able to get the most out of your employees can be a challenge and will almost certainly take a pretty significant amount of time and effort. However, if you don’t put that effort in then things could be far worse in the long run. If you just try to treat your employees like a resource to be used rather than real human beings that you collaborate with, they’re going to start to resent you and your business and before you know it they’re going to start walking away. Your employees aren’t machines, if you’re only thinking about what they can do for you, you’re never going to be able to get the most out of them.

Turn Your Managers Into High-Growth Coaches With These 4 Steps

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |Business Coaching|Turn Your Managers Into High-Growth Coaches With These 4 Steps Through our decades of business research, we’ve discovered that nothing elevates performance more than coaching. Any organization, division, or team can implement a coaching process that leads to greater growth and increased revenue. Of course, putting such a system in place requires thoughtful planning. Here are four steps to establishing a coaching process that is teachable, measurable, and leads to the creation of more high-growth coaches:

Step 1: Measure

Growth in coaching, growth in individuals, growth in outcomes, and growth in sales—these areas are what businesses are looking for when they embark on a process for improving the execution of coaching within their organizations. That is why measurement is the essential first step in our four-step coaching process.

The most important way that you can measure coaching acumen and execution is by surveying team members. By asking them about the consistency and effectiveness of the coaching they receive, you will better understand your organization’s current coaching environment. This not only helps you establish a baseline of performance, but also allows you to tailor your coaching process to better meet your needs.

Most organizations do not measure coaching, so they have no idea whether it’s already occurring or how well it’s being received by team members. Having this information will give you clarity about your company’s current coaching effectiveness and how it needs to improve.

Step 2: Educate and Train

In today’s business environment, continual development—giving up old skills and learning new ones—is absolutely critical to individual and organizational growth.

Unfortunately, too many companies view education and training as stand-alone events that will single-handedly provide what is needed to create behavior change and growth outcomes. But often, despite what is learned at an educational event, that knowledge is not applied and change is not implemented.

The education process must begin with building the coaches’ understanding of the importance of coaching. Coaches aren’t going to change their coaching behavior unless they emotionally buy in to the need to do so. It’s important that training and education is not a PowerPoint-and-quiz type of event, because you are trying to get coaches to give up their preconceived notions and make changes in the way they coach.

Step 3: Implement

It is easy to say, “Go forth and execute,” but, by default, most coaches return to old habits and behaviors. The best way to combat this tendency is to create a collaborative implementation environment that is driven by bringing together people who are trying to improve their coaching behavior. We refer to these gatherings as implementation huddles. The focus of these huddles is on the continued sharing of best coaching practices and open discussion of the challenges to overcome.

Implementation huddles provide coaches the ability to collaborate with one another about what is working and not working. They also create accountability for implementing the coaching activities, because it’s difficult for coaches to participate if they have not done the work. Moreover, they reinforce the importance of the coaching process.

Step 4: Track and Analyze

What would happen if doctors followed evidenced-based medicine best practices only 54 percent of the time? What if engineers provided bridge designs that met only 54 percent of the safety standards they were supposed to meet?

In most companies we’ve studied, coaches are doing only 54 percent of the necessary coaching activities. Further, when they are coaching their team members, 45 percent of coaches are falling short of the coaching quality standards they need to achieve in order to hit their performance goals.

By measuring coaching quantity and coaching quality, we have become acutely aware that most coaches don’t know how their actions and behaviors affect the growth of their teams. They don’t know what to do, how often to do it, or how to do it well. Because the vast majority of coaches in the business world don’t have the data and information they need, they have been underperforming for decades.

Analysis of this kind of coaching information not only allows a story to emerge but also solves a long-standing performance improvement mystery that, up to this point, has never been understood. That is, organizations would see different performance levels from teams, but the only data they could examine to explain this difference was on frontline performers. This information may answer the question in some cases, but without measurement of coach performance, there was a huge unknown variable.

We saw the impact of the coach when we analyzed data across sales departments of our client organizations. Forty-five percent of managers fell below necessary coaching quality standards to hit their sales number. When we considered the average sales goals of these coaches, this translated to $4.3 million left on the table due to inadequate coaching.

When it comes to creating high-growth coaches, these four steps, while independent, are inextricably linked. You cannot do just one of them and expect change. Simply put, if you want to build a high-growth culture, it takes consistent execution of the entire four-step process.

About the Authors

Bill Eckstrom, co-author of The Coaching Effect: What Great Leaders Do to Increase Sales, Enhance Performance, and Sustain Growth, is the founder of EcSell Institute, a research-based organization that works with leaders internationally to help them better understand, measure, and elevate coaching’s impact on performance. Bill was invited to the TEDx stage in 2017, and his talk “Why Comfort Will Ruin Your Life” was the fastest-growing TEDx Talk in the history of the event when it was released. To learn more, visit: www.ecsellinstitute.com

Sarah Wirth, co-author of The Coaching Effect: What Great Leaders Do to Increase Sales, Enhance Performance, and Sustain Growth, is vice president of client services at EcSell Institute. She has twenty years of experience in employee assessment, leadership development, sales executive coaching, and customer service. She has advised executives from across the globe, consulting with such organizations as Mercedes-Benz, Estee Lauder, Ritz-Carlton, The Cheesecake Factory, and many more. To learn more, visit: www.ecsellinstitute.com