Latest Resource : Predicting Employee Performance

As the calendar turns to 2017, forward-looking HR leaders are focused on one question: How many of our employees will still be here next January?

High turnover, including voluntary separations, is a growing challenge. In the retail and food service sectors, two out of three hourly workers will be gone in a year, and the costs can be enormous.

That begs another question: Who should we hire to replace them?

More and more companies are now using employee assessments to help predict which applicants are more likely to succeed — and which ones to avoid. According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of large U.S. employers using pre-hire assessments has more than doubled in the past 15 years.

“Eight of the top 10 U.S. private employers now administer pre-hire ... FULL ARTICLE >

Latest Resource : Three Tips to Prevent New-Hire Surprises

Did you know that pre-hire assessments have been in use since the third century? According to a Harvard Business Review article, Chinese imperial leaders of the Han dynasty used them to assess “knowledge, intellect, and moral integrity when selecting civil servants.”
Today, 76% of medium to large companies use pre-hire assessments to evaluate job candidates. And this is much more than just evaluating someone’s knowledge or skill; this is about preventing surprises after the “honeymoon period” (the first six to nine months on the job, when the new employee is on their best behavior).

It’s at the end of that six-to-nine-month time frame that the real personality of your new employee starts to emerge. That’s when they feel settled in enough to relax and let down their best-behavior guard. And that’s when the su... FULL ARTICLE >

Latest Resource : Five Things Background Checks Don’t Tell You (that you need to know)

You probably run a background check on your employment candidates. After all, you don’t want to hire someone with an undisclosed criminal record, so the check is simply sensible risk-management practice.
But the fact is, a background check only tells you about the people who got caught.

What about the people who haven’t gotten caught? The ones who are a bit smarter, a bit faster, a bit more cautious in their behavior?
Here are five things background checks won’t tell you about your candidates.

1. If you’re in retail, you know about inventory shrinkage. Obviously customer shoplifting is a big part of shrinkage – but did you know that employee theft is only slightly less expensive for you than shoplifting: 34.5% versus 38% for shoplifting? (These numbers are from the National Retail Federatio... FULL ARTICLE >

Latest Resource : Why your business is like a rowing team

Have you ever watched teams of rowers – especially the larger boats (called “sculls”) crewed by eight rowers plus the Coxswain?
There’s more to that smooth, even, gliding movement than meets the eye.
And that’s why, in redesigning the Plotkin™ website, we chose a rowing team to represent our mission.

A rowing team – and your business – needs more than just quality, skilled people.

You need those people in the right seats, doing the jobs they’re most suited to do.

The Coxswain is the CEO, setting strategy, steering the boat, and calling out tactics to the team.

The Stroke, next in line to the CEO, is competitive and skilled. This is your VP of Sales (or the equivalent in your organization), setting the pace for success.

 The Seven position, just after the Stroke, anticipates timing and ... FULL ARTICLE >