Online today!
Today I am very excited, as my German HR blogs launched. On a weekly basis, I will cover different HR themes and task. They are all little teasers under the huge bottom line of improving the HR reputation.
Many HR departments are struggling with their HR reputation, and the only way to change that, is to work on it. As a reputation is not given, it needs to be earned.
The first blog today are some thoughts about recruiting. On the one side, companies do receive many applications on job ads, but often they are not meeting the search. Therefore, you should have a thorough look on your job ad. Mostly they are written from the company’s perspective, but not from the job seekers perspective. Especially since job titles have no set definition. So for example, if you have an ad for an HR Manger, this could be a leader or not, responsible for 5 or 3000 employees. So rethink the job ad. What is important for the applicant? Many would like to know whom they are reporting to.
In addition, some HR recruiting systems are rather a hassle. People have to manually insert their CV data into a given form. Who would really want to do that and what is the benefit of it? We are hiring human beings so let them have some individuality and read their uploaded CVs. It might also give you some inside information.
Before forwarding CVs to the searching manager, make sure HR had a look and gave a short summary of important facts. As mentioned before, we are working the HR reputation. A sound HR recruiting software is definitely a good investment. Applications that do not fit at all, do not hand them trough and provide a fast reply to the candidate, as this is also linked to your Employer Branding.
All the communication with your candidates should be considered as one part of your Employer Branding!
Have fun with my weekly blog!
16. März 2021
Sourdough
Or - how to create team spirit with sourdough!
To start off, the team is rather special. It consist of 24 people in a chat group app, who attended the same class 34 years ago – including the teacher. Thanks to social media and the www almost all class mates from the old days were found. As meetings are impossible, by the way, some live rather far away on different continents, the chat group lives from occasional short messages.
This is how it all started: Someone asked on a weekend how everyone is doing during the lockdown and someone posted a photo of sourdough as answer. Curious as the group is, they asked about the result and some days later, there was a photo from a perfect backed German bread.
Surely, this raced the obvious question for the recipe and a few hours later, it was provided with a story-telling recipe on how to start sourdough. The challenge was born!
Besides having to attend the dough, the group received the order to send in feedbacks after three days, if they succeeded in getting the sourdough alive. Scattered around the world, as they were, everyone started his little sourdough experiment and after three days, shared their first results. Yes, the results were very different and an enlightening discussion started in the evening about the causes.
In addition, all were looking forward to the fifth day, when they were supposed to receive the next instructions for the bread backing experiment. These updates came as little self-made videos, which were very helpful to explain the right condition of the dough. There were at least two more days of work and waiting until the first bread was baked. The results were devastating! Most breads made good rocks rather than a tasty bread and everyone learned that patience is a very important skill when baking bread.
Again, numerous messages flooded around, asking each other for advice and posting pictures of baked bread. This went on for at least three weeks, without anyone fostering or mentoring the topic. At the end, all succeeded and some bakeries lost their customers, at least for a while.
Sometimes in live you do not need a complicated marketing idea and big setup to create team spirit, just a small idea, the right timing, and openhearted people!
9. März 2021
Occupational health and safety procedures and the pitfall from the Maternity Protection Act
This is the second blog on risk assessment in the company. Today we want to deal with a very special sub-topic.
This is not in the provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (ArbSchG), but in the Maternity Protection Act. According to §10 Abs. MuSchG in connection with §10 Abs. 1 MuSchG and § 5 ArbSchG you have to prepare a risk assessment for pregnant women and breastfeeding women as well as for their child. Regardless of whether the company employs women at all, or whether there are pregnant women or nursing mothers.
The same applies here as for the general risk assessment. The assessment is abstract, i.e. it must be applicable to each case. The result of the assessment must ultimately be whether a pregnant or breastfeeding woman can continue to occupy the job unchanged, or whether adjustments are necessary or whether it is even not possible to perform this activity. How these adaptations (protective measures) should look like does not have to be documented in the assessment, but is necessary if it comes to a specific case. Here, every company has to decide for itself whether it wants to create the complete documentation directly in the first step or whether it only takes the topic up again when necessary.
If a company has no risk assessment at all, this is an administrative offense and can be punished with a fine (Section 32 MuschG) of currently 5 thousand euros (§ 32 (2) MuSchG). In other cases, the fine can be up to 30 thousand euros.
When creating the risk assessment, equivalent jobs can be combined and only one risk assessment is sufficient. Equivalent does not mean, however, that you only need one assessment for every office workstation. A job with a call center character is not to be seen as equivalent to an activity with no or hardly any telephone contact.
Existing risk assessments need to be adjusted, especially with regard to the change in jobs caused by the corona pandemic!
2. März 2021
Master the entire repertoire of leadership styles
Today my blog we take a different look at the topic of leadership. Whether you research the Internet, open a current magazine or pick up a book, the focus is on the topic of "leadership", how leadership should be lived today, how a company is ideally leaded.
Let us have a look at reality. The main focus here is not on different leadership styles, but on the situation in a company. The following scenario: You are new to a company as a manager. It is completely irrelevant whether you are the new CEO, senior manager or some other role in the area of leadership responsibility. The only important thing is that you, as a manager, have the responsibility to achieve the required output with the existing team.
The team as you find it is your orchestra and after a certain training period you have to be able to present a piece of music with your orchestra, which, in the best case scenario, your audience, in this case your customers, will be enthusiastic about. Now there are completely different characters in your orchestra who all perform differently. One of them is gifted with his instrument and can implement everything immediately, the other does not listen to what the others are playing and so has his own rhythm. The next one is rather mediocre, but can keep up quite well. The next one has his own interpretation of notes and time and tends to play in his own world. The next one is actually good, but always waits for a hint from the conductor so as not to miss his entry. You can guess what I am getting at: your orchestra plays horrific!
You cannot simply exchange all members; you would lose all of your knowledge. This means you have to manage to promote, motivate and address each member of the orchestra in the way that individual member needs in order to be able to show his optimal performance in the team. You will not achieve this goal with a single leadership style; you have to use the entire repertoire of the various leadership styles!
This requires both patience and empathy (see blog from January 12th, 2021). But in the end you will have an orchestra sitting in front of you that pulls the audience from their seats! In the end, that counts, a situational leadership in which employees can show their best individual performance. Then your orchestra will play with passion and dedication and the trained listener can clearly hear the difference.
You say that is impossible? It should always be a goal that you are trying to achieve. However, you may not be able to achieve it, because with the next piece of music, suddenly completely different problems arise and there are new challenges. Then you start all over again. In the course of time, however, the difficulties in adapting become less and less, new members can be integrated more easily and the repertoire of skills increases.
In this sense, good luck with your orchestra!
23. Februar 2021
Tax-free extras for employees
While you find numerous ideas regarding retention, there are also very simple methods of employee retention, some exist since decades by tax legislation.
First, let me pointed out that the EUR 44.00 of non-monetary benefit is quickly used up in accordance with § 8 Abs. 2 Satz 11 EStG (Income Tax Act). All points mentioned below that relate to this are therefore marked separately.
Non-monetary benefits
Non-monetary benefits primarily include vouchers for goods or services that cannot be converted into money. These consist of, for example, shopping vouchers or fuel vouchers, plain baked goods such as rolls and raisin bread as well as hot drinks for immediate consumption (BFH judgment of 03.07.2019 - VI R 36/17). On the other hand, sandwiches are taxed.
Kindergarten fees
According to § 3 Nr. 33 EStG , companies can, in addition to the wages owed to the employees, take over the costs for kindergarten, childminder, day-care, without the employee having to pay tax on the additional money. The tax bonus only applies to children who have not yet started school. The tax exemption of the grant is not limited in amount. Here it is advisable to transfer the contribution directly from the employer to the institution.
Employee loan
Employers can grant employee loans free of tax and social security contributions up to an amount of 2,600 euros. For higher amounts, please refer to BMF, May 19, 2015, IV C 5 - S 2334/07/0009 for the assessment of tax liability. The EUR 44 limit for non-monetary benefits may also apply.
In addition to any interest rate advantages, employee loans have other advantages for employees, which are primarily the variable repayments. While special repayments are particularly problematic for normal loan agreements, employee loans offer greater or unlimited flexibility.
Health promotion
Health care is also promoted (§ 3 No. 34 EStG), namely those that are recognized by the statutory health insurance companies, such as yoga, stress management, back training or smoking cessation. Up to 600 euros per year per employee are exempt from taxes and social security contributions.
BahnCard (German railcard)
Companies can also provide employees who travel a lot with a tax-free BahnCard for private use if the discounts for business trips exceed the costs for the BahnCard during the validity period of the BahnCard or if this is expected when purchasing the BahnCard. This means that it is advisable to create a forecast assessment when purchasing the BahnCard and to store it for audit.
Short-term support
According to § 3 Nr. 34a EStG, an employer can pay up to 600 euros per year for short-term care by service providers such as caregivers or babysitters if the children are under 14 years of age, or with a physical, mental or emotional disability, or for those in need to care for relatives. Prerequisite: The supervision is necessary for compelling and professional reasons.
Electric cars
Employers may provide the electrical charging of a private electric vehicle or hybrid electric vehicle tax-free (§ 3 Nr. 46 EStG). The same applies to a provided charging device; for private use.
The introduction of time accounts is a little more complex but no less attractive. There is also a special opportunity for tax savings with company cars with the help of the personal contribution. More about this in a separate blog.
16. Februar 2021
Risk assessment in companies, a chore?
Another German law specific topic this week:
The duty of risk assessment in companies is relatively old. The specification results from the Occupational Safety and Health Act (ArbSchG) and applies to all companies, regardless of their size. Primarily, it is about "Occupational health and safety measures within the meaning of this law are measures to prevent accidents at work and work-related health hazards, including measures for the humane organization of work." [§ 2 ArbSchG]
However, a new addition is the psychological workload [Section 5, Paragraph (3) No. 6 ArbSchG]. The employer now has the duty to assess the risk [Section 5, Paragraph (1) ArbSchG] and he must document the assessment. This has been in law since 2013, but is unknown to many.
What is meant by psychological workload?
Psychological stress is defined as the totality of all detectable influences that come from the outside and affect people psychologically.
But what is meant by psychological workload? It is about the demarcation between exposure as a neutral point and the hazard as a negative impact.
Furthermore, the assessment is not based on the employee, but on the workplace, i.e. the working conditions, regardless of person and neutral.
The working conditions can roughly be divided into 5 categories:
1. Work content and tasks: for example, scope for action, responsibility, qualifications, emotional demands
2. Work organization: for example, working hours, workflow, communication and cooperation
3. Social relationships - with colleagues as well as with superiors
4. Work environment - for example, factors such as noise or ergonomics
5. Forms of work - teleworking, fixed-term contracts and the like
For these 5 categories the mental workload needs to get assessed. There are various ways of carrying out the determination, e.g. through interviews, written surveys, observation or external service providers. The principle of neutrality is important.
The employers' liability insurance associations in the respective industries offer extensive assistance in this regard.
The legal obligation ends with the evaluation of the psychological risk, i.e. the legislature has not yet provided any obligation to improve the exposure.
An important note to all companies, especially to those who have already carried out a risk assessment in the past. Have you revised these since the corona pandemic? Have you already included and assessed the aspects that accrued during this time? Especially under Corona, psychological workloads have been revealed that were previously completely unknown.
9. Februar 2021
The tiresome topic of time recording vs. trust-based working time
Some companies have time recording, others have trust-based working hours with partially flexible working time models. The problem lies precisely with trust-based working hours. There is nothing wrong with this, on the contrary, it is based on trust on both sides. Especially in companies where the result counts and not the time someone is present, the solution fits the corporate culture - if it were not for labour law in Germany.
The judgment of the European Court of Justice on the case in Spain on the subject of time recording is known for a long time (ECJ, judgment of 14.05.2019, case C-55/18 [CCOO]). So far, however, there has been a lack of implementation in German laws. Now there has already been a first indicative court judgment from the Emden Labour Court (ArbG Emden, February 20, 2020 - 2 Ca 94/19.) It says, among other things, in the first and second guiding principle of the judgment:
“1) The employer's obligation to set up an objective, reliable and accessible system for recording working hours (cf. ECJ, judgment of 14.05.2019, case C-55/18 [CCOO]) results from the direct application of Art. 31 Paragraph 2 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
2) The obligation mentioned in guideline 1) applies to the employer without the need for implementation by the German legislature or a guideline-compliant interpretation of Section 16 (2) ArbZG. "
This is not a ruling by the Federal Labour Court, but the ruling nevertheless points the way for all companies that continue to pursue trust-based working hours. It is completely irrelevant whether this corresponds to the corporate culture or not. It is also of fundamental importance that in Germany we speak of so-called “case law” in the field of labour law. I.e. judicial decisions are based on previous decisions. Hence my advice in the blog about HR knowledge to regularly read the judgments of the BAG (Federal Labour Court).
This does not mean that a company has to implement an electronic time recording system. However, whether the request to employees to record their own working hours can be assessed as objective, reliable and accessible may be questioned. In case of doubt, sooner or later there will be a court decision that will bring clarity. Without recording, i.e. self-recording, it does not work at all. This was not permitted even before the ECJ judgment.
Companies today are faced with the question of whether they want to act proactively and introduce time recording, for example in connection with time accounts, or whether they wait and only react when a further court decision has been made and self-recording as the legal claim is not rated as sufficient.
2. Februar 2021
The "ideal" team
Today the blog is on the subject of teams. Everyone has already made the experience that there are teams that work extremely well and successfully together and teams that simply do not fit together. On the one hand, it may be due to the team leadership, but often the reason is the team composition.
In the case of teams, it is irrelevant whether we are talking about a department, a project team or a team in an agile context. They all have one basic character: they are employees who work together as a group over a long term.
If a team only consists of alpha characters, friction will inevitably arise. In an ideal team, everyone takes on a different role, with no role in competition with another role and only together, in total, the team can be successful.
On the one hand, there is the creative, the idea generator. This role is responsible for the ideas, the inspiration. He does not dwell on details and is already working on the next idea if the other one has not yet been implemented. But as an initiator, his role is essential for the team.
Then there is the accomplisher. He persistently pursues the goal, does not allow himself to be discouraged by setbacks and works on the open tasks. This role ensures that in the end everything is done and the project isn’t stopped before reaching the goal. The accomplisher is mostly of a calmer nature, who works in the background and is not particularly noticeable compared to the creative.
Then there is the organizer who holds the team together. He holds all the strings together and ensures that the big picture is not lost. He ensures that the various roles work together and coordinate proactively.
Then there is the problem solver. This role is more analytical. As soon as a problem arises, he finds the optimal solution. He has a lot of background knowledge and can apply this to the respective problem. The problem solver should not be confused with the creative, because the problem solver needs a specification, i.e. a problem, in order to successfully find a solution and would not start something completely new creatively.
Then there is the communicator, who ensures the right support outside and within the team, but is also responsible for the right mood and communication in the team. The communicator has important contacts and can remove one or the other hurdle at this level.
If these different roles work together, a team is much more successful than when people of the same nature work together. No role is more important than the other is.
Now, this model is not necessarily that easy to implement in a department, but for project teams this approach should be used in order to set up a successful team.
26. Januar 2021
What comes after the corona pandemic?
Today we peek into the crystal ball. The corona pandemic has shaken our lives and, above all, our self-image. Many things, which we never questioned, like the simple casual meeting of friends, suddenly became dangerous.
We can only guess the effects on the economy, especially on certain industries. However, there are already some signs visible today.
On the one hand, the much discussed digital change. Suddenly it is possible, after digital upgrading, to work digitally, i.e. outside the company location. In some cases an achievement employees have fought for many years. But is this really an achievement? Experience teaches us, that a change is only lasting and successful if the mindset, the attitude, is matching. A change that was forced from the outside does not change a mindset!
How many companies are already working on complicated guidelines about when and under what conditions mobile working should be possible in the future? That has little to do with a changed mindset.
Not all companies are financially badly affected by the pandemic, but still use every opportunity to reduce costs under the term "Corona". It is vital to bear in mind, there will be a time after Corona and under the aspect of employer branding, such a strategy was certainly not beneficial. After the crisis a significant change in employees can be expected. The market will rearrange itself. Companies that have responded flexible to the changed employee needs and continue to do so, will benefit. After the pandemic, things will not be calmer, but completely new challenges will arise due to the loss of knowledge and a lack of employees.
Another aspect is, that many companies have frozen strategic concepts. At the same time, the market has developed and changed despite the pandemic. It will lead to a strategic backlog that will quickly overwhelm companies.
Accordingly, it is already important as a company to deal with the issues that are indicated by the end of the pandemic. Think about the effects and what countermeasures can be taken today. Do not wait for the situation to occur; prepare for it proactively. HR is also responsible here, because a lot affects current and future employees, the corporate culture and branding.
19. Januar 2021
Are we communicating?
Communication is the basis of human beings living together and the biggest cause of misunderstanding and fights. Is there something like a non-communication? No, there is not – even to remain silent is a form of communication.
Why is communication so important? Let us have a closer look. Whoever communicates actively, has the lead, this person is leading the communication and with that the information been given. If you do not communicate, you lose the lead of communication and with that the information. Non-communication is the root for assumptions, rumours, fake news! With that, the information being spread is not controllable and often loses the ground of reality.
Therefor active communication is vital for an organisation!
However, there are more pitfalls to avoid. Just because an information is actively communicated does not mean the receiver understands the message. The message might be too cryptic, or a wordplay, or an allusion. So even when you actively communicate, the message is not received the way it was intended. Let us get back to the blog regarding empathy. Try to anticipate what the listener will understand. Make sure the information you are communicating is clear and cannot be misunderstood. This is important for written as well as verbal communication, either with a whole group or just one-on-one.
Regular updates regarding business information towards the employees helps to create a positive and open culture. Something happens in the world, which could affect the company, communicate about it as fast as possible, even if you do not know the effects yet. Nevertheless, assure the people that you are aware of the tread or whatever the cause is and that you are following through. Do not assume people already know.
When you communicate new employees entering the company, also communicate about people leaving the company. Even if the exit was not on a friendly basis, an information no one else needs to know.
When using informal communication tools, emoji’s are funny, but do you know how many are out there and are you sure the reader understands the same message as you intend to send? This is also true for your private live!
In a company, you might consider some communication rules, especially in our fast moving digital world. Who has which authority to post information regarding the company. Those rules are very important nowadays.
My favourite quote regarding communication: “The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” by George Bernard Shaw. It phrases in one single sentence everything that can go wrong when communicating with each other.
Communication might be the base of interacting with each other, but that does not mean we ever learned to communicate perfectly. We all make many mistakes every single day in our communication.
12. Januar 2021
You cannot learn empathy, can you?
So far, the topics of my blog focused on so-called facts, i.e. on specialist knowledge and skills that can be learned. As already mentioned in the blog on competence models, there are also competencies you cannot learn. Nevertheless, today I would like to address the competence of empathy, because this competence is of particular importance for HR members.
What is empathy? Primarily, the ability to have compassion and understand emotional motivations. In particular, it is the ability to assess how one's own actions and communication influence other people. Such factors, if one is willing, can very well be learned.
Just start. You have a specific topic that you would like to discuss with a colleague. Think in advance of various possible statements with the same content but different tone. Let us take an example to make it clearer: In meetings, you notice that a colleague keeps using the filler word “you know”. You would like to address this. You could say:
Alternative 1: “You have to improve your expression and make sure that you don't keep saying “you know”. It sounds very unprofessional. "
Alternative 2: "May I give you feedback on your communication style? It struck me in meetings that you unconsciously insert the word “you know” a lot. You will certainly not notice that yourself. If you want, I can help you break the habit.”
Two statements with the same content. There are certainly many other ways to formulate this content. Now think about how the other person would react to the statement. Decide on a variant and conduct the interview. Observe how the other person reacts to your communication. Does it match the reaction you anticipated earlier? Wonderful, then you have taken the first step. So now go forward step by step.
Further suggestions come from psychology on how to strengthen one's empathy. E.g. through active listening, i.e. really listen, do not think about what you want to answer or tell yourself, and do not wander in your thoughts. Be silent and focus on what is said. Try to understand the emotion behind what is being said. Observe the other person's facial expressions and gestures. Give yourself your full attention. Is that difficult for you? Then practice in front of the TV!
Watch the next movie or series without sound try to understand the emotions. Read novels, not factual texts. You will see that over time you will find it easier to understand other people and to develop your empathy.
5. Januar 2021
HR-Knowledge
Training and development of employees is also a responsibility of the HR department, which carries out this responsibility mostly professionally. What about the HR department? In what ways do you expand your knowledge? Despite the fact that it falls by the wayside all too often, in the digital world it has become much easier than it used to be.
My first recommendation is to do some self-assessment. Several excellent suggestions are available for this, including this article on Forbes: "15 Big Career Questions To Ask Yourself Now That You're Not Going To The Office Every Day" or search for the term "Competency Model HR". Assess your own knowledge and skills, where do you discover gaps? Continuing your education in the subject area should not be hindered by any lack of a task in the company.
Here it becomes evident what I am getting at, namely the well-known saying "reading educates". You can subscribe to newsletters from well-known HR publications, use the services offered by professional social media, and attend personnel fairs.
Specialist articles are also available from many commercial HR providers. Read! Starting with a topic. As more articles are read on a particular topic, the more opinions, contradictions and questions arise. Combine this with your own experiences and form your own opinion! Use the comment feature if it is available. It may occur, then, that you experience contradiction to your own comments or approval, and you learn from both.
Especially in HR, it makes sense to keep up with the latest Federal Labor Court rulings. Not only does this provide new insights, but also opens up new fields of action.
Whether it is agility or new work, there are a lot of buzzwords that you may not understand. Dig deeper. Learn about both the meaning and the impact of these requirements and ask yourself if your area is meeting them. It is not trivial because you must first understand what new requirements will result from this.
The key is to keep developing continuously. As a human resources department, you will only be able to be successful by gaining the necessary tools.
22. Dezember 2020
Competency model
Today's blog is about competencies and competency models. We will begin with the benefits and goals of a competency model, as we did with the other topics.
Competency models allow for a better definition of roles and, as a result, a more effective filling of those roles.
We distinguish personal, social, methodological, and technical competencies, with the main focus on knowledge, personality, and behaviour. Within a short time, it becomes evident that competencies vary with the different positions. Specifying a uniform competence model for the management level, for example, does not make sense. For example, a finance manager requires different skills than a sales manager.
Learnability is an essential factor when determining competency. There are some competencies that can be learned, such as knowledge. Then there are competencies that are primarily innate, unable to be developed through training.
For each of the categories above, there are multiple competencies that could be used to write a doctoral thesis. It is therefore essential to identify the most important competencies. During the introduction of a competency model, it would be beneficial to create a bigger overview with possible competencies for personal, behavioural, and professional competencies, including learnability. In the second step, you identify the ten most important competencies for a specific role, as evenly distributed as possible within the three groups. To work even more precisely, you can weight these individual competencies according to their characteristics.
The ten most important competencies should be defined for each position. It is only after the desired competencies are defined that the current job holder is assessed. Immediately, you can see the job holder's personnel development needs.
When it comes time to fill a position again, the competence model offers a more structured approach. Almost no one on the market has the exact skills you need, but since the skills were defined in advance according to learnable or innate, the search automatically focuses on innate skills.
Now a person's competencies aren't engraved on the forehead, but personally and behaviourally they have to be assessed in the hiring process. Therefore, a competency model also enables the selection process to be refocused.
The introduction of a competency model is certainly complex and time-consuming at the outset. However, it is best to start with the open positions and work your way up from the bottom to the top. Compelling competencies should be reviewed annually, just as job descriptions are.
15. Dezember 2020
Why pulse survey instead of employee survey?
Today in my blog, we look at the advantage of pulse surveys instead of employee surveys. Do you conduct large employee surveys every year or every two years? Participation is modest, but the effort is great.
The aim of employee surveys is to determine the mood in the company and identify any gaps and areas for improvement. There are usually as many fields as possible covered, from office space to staff management, with as few questions as possible, so that employees don't spend too much time answering.
Questions and answers are correspondingly qualitative. In reality, you are not able to do much with the answers as such, because, in the next step, you have to determine what the exact problem is before determining any possible solutions.
It is extremely time-consuming and rarely is the process carried out to the end with measurable success.
Alternatively, there are pulse surveys. A pulse survey is a short survey. In this case, the goal is to ask about the current situation with targeted, short questions about a certain topic. One might only focus on leadership or a canteen's quality, for example. Both the HR department and the employees will find such surveys much easier to implement. They will produce clearer results easier to act on.
The employee acceptance is also higher, and they are more likely to participate honestly with their answers. Hand on heart, how many employees only give positive answers to large employee surveys so that they are not bothered with any follow-up?
This does not mean that you will now conduct ten different pulse surveys during a calendar year instead of the large employee survey. This method should be used moderately and always consider which topic is the most urgent.
8. Dezember 2020
Sense or nonsense?
Sense or nonsense of HR processes:
Today, I'd like to discuss HR processes. It goes without saying that a company has many HR processes. Usually, they are known to HR staff and are observed intuitively. However, individual steps may also be documented. The best case scenario would be to have flow charts.
Basically, all processes should be documented! This is primarily to minimize operational risks. "Operational risk" is understood as "the risk of losses that may result from the inefficiency or failure of internal processes, people, and systems or as a result of external events." [Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon]
Despite its origins in finance and insurance, the definition is applicable to all companies. If your personnel processes are not documented, this results in a great deal of manual work when hiring new staff. When an employee is unexpectedly absent for a prolonged period of time and certain tasks are typically handled by this one person, the great search begins. Manual processes are also a leading cause of errors. You missed a step, you overlooked something. Those things happen. It is not without reason that an aircraft processes a checklist before every takeoff and landing several times a day, every time the same. Here, a mistake can be fatal.
As you document processes, you will find that some of them have become extremely complicated and cumbersome as they have grown over time. By documenting these processes, you have already identified some areas for improvement.
In some cases, HR software automatically creates processes; in others, you can design them yourself. Are flowcharts always necessary? If you work in an industry where these are not mandatory, make sure your documentation is simple and user-friendly. Make sure your processes are in order without making it a science. At least once a year, you should ensure that your processes are up-to-date.
It is a complex and time-consuming process. As soon as the scaffolding is in place, all that remains is maintenance. You will save yourself a lot of time in the future. New employees in particular benefit greatly from such documentation. Organize the documentation correctly into the various personnel areas, otherwise you will get lost in the documents. Document all processes that occur annually and that you have an annual foundation for by asking “How was that?” Do you discover errors as you go through the process? - Great, fix it immediately.
The number of different processes that arise in a human resources department every year will amaze you.
1. Dezember 2020
The power of numbers - part two
Last week we created the basic framework for good HR controlling. In today's session, we are going to evaluate the data to determine what insights we can obtain.
Never put the cart before the horse, i.e. make various evaluations and then think about the kind of knowledge you might learn from them. This usually goes horribly wrong and is nothing but occupational therapy.
Let's talk about diversity first. What is the gender breakdown in your company, taking into account positions, full-time, part-time? Using this assessment, you can get an idea of where your company stands in terms of diversity and what actions might result in recruiting, but also in employee development.
Demographic developments are another topic of interest. How does the age structure in your various departments and hierarchies differ? Are there particularly high numbers of people in a particular age range who will then leave a large gap when they retire? How is the age structure reflected in recruitment? Demographic development opens up many opportunities for future recruitment.
Good HR controlling is essential for budget planning. Personnel costs are important for project cost planning in addition to annual or multi-year budgeting. If you know how to calculate the average personnel costs for different jobs, then you can predict the expected costs for a project in which different employees are involved with different hourly quotas. You can easily figure out the personnel costs associated with an expansion. Basically, a good database is essential for next year's budget planning.
Sick leave data can also provide insight. The data make less sense, however, when viewed alone, but in this case it is beneficial to compare the information with that of the health insurance companies. Health insurance companies publish the average sick days by year. The comparison shows the company's position in the market, even though it is a retrospect. In analyzing the illness data of the departments in relation to the entire company, you will find that there are large deviations. There should be action taken if there is a high level of sick leave in individual departments. Causes can vary and must be determined.
The company's fluctuation is another key figure. High fluctuation is normal in some industries, such as the catering industry; however, high fluctuation in other industries is a sign that something is fundamentally wrong. Observing the fluctuations over a longer period of time will give you a better understanding of the changes and their effects.
The more you deal with key figures, the more you can identify trends and causes and intervene at an early stage.
24. November 2020
The power of numbers - part one
HR controlling is the topic of today's blog. The topic here has nothing to do with empathy or people; it has to do with numbers. Unfortunately, without a decent grasp of numbers and some not particularly challenging math skills, it won't work. Consequently, this topic is divided into two parts as the heading already indicates.
Let's take a closer look at HR controlling first by considering why we even need it. Controlling allows examining fields of action analytically, e.g. to increase efficiency.
As an example, let's take recruiting: You have a gut feeling as to where you should place your job advertisements (platforms) and how long it will take to fill a position. In general, you know the costs for filling a position and you can classify the reasons for rejection from applicants. Adding numbers to the picture, you may find that your assumption and the numbers speak different languages. There are many other areas of action that can be revealed through HR controlling besides budgeting.
But before you can analyse figures, you must collect them. The Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) contain some pitfalls. Additionally, according to Section 87 (1) No. 6 BetrVG, the works council has the right to codetermine when personal data is stored. Except for the data relevant to payroll, HR controlling does not require much personal information. It focuses more on organizational information.
When building a database, it is advisable to define the various criteria at the beginning. We will take the picture with the chains / pearls as an example. The characteristics of each pearl can be classified according to different criteria: shape, material, color, and weight. Each pearl can be assigned a criteria value [e.g., Shape: heart; Material: Plastic; Colour yellow; Weight: 20g]. If you had this information, you could, for example, plan what chains you could manufacture.
If we transfer this to a company, we will find names of departments, sub-departments, positions, etc. A more precise definition here will result in a more accurate data volume later. Close collaboration with the controlling department is recommended. Your role as a human resources manager should include lots of involvement with this corporate division!
When you have found the necessary definitions, the existing employees must now be assigned according to those definitions. Excel can be used to do this, but because of the amount of data, it is not recommended. Once again, we observe that there is no way around good HR software. It is important for HR controlling to be linked with payroll accounting because the transaction data (hires, departures, transfers) are crucial.
Once you've got the structure, it's time to figure out the content. This will be discussed in the next blog post.
17. November 2020
Who will be the successor?
In personnel strategy, succession planning also plays a crucial role. Taking over tasks when an employee is absent for a long time is not succession planning. Take a look three to five years into the future when planning succession.
Succession planning would neither make sense nor be financially viable if every senior management position in the company was subjected to succession planning. Thus, key positions are the only ones to be considered. But what are key positions? Job openings for positions like these are difficult to fill because, for example, the level of knowledge is very company-specific, and if the employee leaves, there is a risk that the company may lose a lot of value. Remember: not every key position is a management role. IT is an example of a field where key positions are hidden.
After the key positions are identified, succession planning can begin. The next step is to define the necessary knowledge and competencies (requirement profile) for this position. Be sure to consider personal skills as well! Hopefully, the job descriptions will provide you with all of the information you need. Otherwise, it is a good exercise to create a job description.
Once the knowledge and competencies have been identified, the next step is to consider how the employee can acquire them. For example, through training courses or positions and responsibilities within the company (development paths). As a rule of thumb, succession planning involves moving backwards down the career ladder from a key position. In the end, you have a career plan for each key position that shows what steps and positions an employee has to take in order to be considered as a successor for the key position.
Compare this planning with your existing employees. Are there any employees who are already on this path? Then you will be able to pinpoint very precisely what steps need to be taken so that this employee can take on the key position in three to five years from now.
In most cases, succession planning does not mean that your development candidate will succeed in a few years' time unless the current key position holder is retiring in the next few years. Of course, the first step is to bind the potential successor to the company through an intriguing job assignment. You certainly don't want your successor leaving midstream. However, this is a very common occurrence. It is therefore crucial that you react flexibly and quickly create a new plan.
10. November 2020
Developing a personnel strategy is not rocket science
The personnel strategy deals with the future direction of the company, both in terms of the organization and the employees. Wouldn't it be great if you had a glass ball on your desk that answered all your questions? I always joked that my crystal ball broke. Luckily, there are other factors that can help.
It is, in principle, important to link the personnel strategy with the corporate strategy, regardless of whether the focus is on expansion or downsizing. Just this alone generates a wide range of issues.
In addition to the above, there are other factors that affect the future of a company, some of which are listed below as examples:
• Are there any social changes that may affect the company?
• Are there any political developments that could affect the company?
• How is the labor market doing?
• What is the demographic development of the country or region?
The answers to these questions outline what should be considered when planning the future. It is advisable to brainstorm several questions, external influences, and internal influences when creating a personnel strategy for the first time. You will then be able to answer these questions based on the available information.
As a next step, you should consider what would need to change within the company to reach this goal. To do so, it is important to understand the current situation. Based on this difference, action fields can be determined. Unfortunately, the list is often too long and cannot be funded. It is therefore necessary to assess these areas. Therefore, you have to evaluate how high the investment costs are for the options for action, how high the benefits are, and how high the risks are if they are not implemented. By doing so, you are able to make an overall assessment and determine the priorities.
Your first HR strategy is in place, and you can discuss it with management. In the following year you not only have the experience from the previous year, but you can now compare your strategy measures with reality and apply this knowledge to the following year's strategy.
3. November 2020
Employer Branding
Employer" branding should be actively designed so that good and qualified specialists will want to work for the company and employees will remain motivated to stay with the company.
Employer branding refers to the company's brand as an employer. In the past, a company's branding was restricted to its products. Branding is independent of the product's form or function. The company's products should be associated with the brand. When this happens, a company becomes known as a brand.
However, this knowledge says nothing about how a company appears as an employer and how it is perceived as an employer.
This is what the term employer branding is all about. A company's "employer" brand should be actively designed so that qualified candidates want to work for the company, and employees should remain enthusiastic and motivated about staying with it.
There are many measures that can be taken and introduced to address this issue, but that goes beyond the scope of this blog. Let me give you a few pointers.
Any action or measure to promote the brand "employer" is pointless if it suggests something that does not exist at the company. Do not make promises the company cannot keep, because that can quickly turn the company into a negative employer. Today, negative information travels much faster than positive information.
You should also consider employer branding as you go about your everyday business in addition to the many possible actions and measures. From job advertisements to communication, appearances at trade fairs and other events.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself before tackling the topic of employer branding and plan measures:
- What are the characteristics of your company as an employer or what characteristics do you want?
- What are the unique characteristics of your company as an employer?
- What makes people want to stay with your company?
- Where does your competition rank in terms of employer perception?
Answering these basic questions gives you a good idea of where the whole process is heading and you may have already identified some initial steps.
Employer branding is a long-term process, so it takes time. Your goal and the milestones you want to accomplish will be easier to fulfil if you plan them from the beginning.
27. Oktober 2020
Where do I have to go?
Onboarding - or the question: Where do I have to go?
The onboarding process does not begin on the first day of work, but well before that, when the employment contract has been signed and submitted. There are usually a few weeks left before the first day of work, and this time should be used effectively.
Are you still missing data for payroll accounting and regulations and declarations still have to be read? It is the perfect time to get started. In the ideal world, you would be able to do this online using HR software, but if not, you would have to go through the post.
Consult the specialist department and prepare an induction plan in advance, along with basic information on the time and place of the first day of work. It is best to have a permanent contact person within the first week of employment.
Is there anything special about your office, such as no canteen or no drinks? Let the new employee know in advance what special features he or she will need on his or her first day. The more information you provide ahead of time, the more welcome the new employee will feel.
If special equipment, technology, or factory clothing is needed, prepare everything before the first day of work. It is also important to define a deputy within the company. The first day of work for a new employee could be chaotic if the contact person is unexpectedly unavailable.
Create an overview, FAQ, for all employees. Come up with anything you can think of. It could be as basic as 'Where do I get new paper?' to 'Where are the sanitary rooms?' You can create something like this on paper, but it's easier and more convenient to have it available online. You'll see, even long-term employees are amazed at what's available. Make sure everyone is informed. Keep it open, and don't take 'common knowledge' for granted. The more information you store in a sensible way, the more time you will ultimately save in the HR department for unnecessary inquiries.
During the newcomers' first day, you should introduce a few but important things in a dosed manner. They should meet their line manager and the rest of the team.
Arrange a lunch together, if that is what is customary in your organization. It is inappropriate to send a new employee alone for lunch on the first day.
20. Oktober 2020
HR and Corporate Knowledge
How can HR be a strategic partner if it doesn't understand the topics?
In the introductory article, it was briefly mentioned that company knowledge is often expandable within the HR department.
Human resources activities are often confined to their own area and are not involved in the day-to-day operations of the company. Action is required from all sides because in many cases the company is unaware of the need to involve or inform HR if the issue does not directly relate to employees.
How can HR be a strategic partner if it doesn't even understand the topics? It is possible to walk through the company all the time, but that doesn't necessarily increase your knowledge. It is much more effective to take part in team meetings every now and then. This is likely to be unfamiliar to the employees at first, strange, and they may feel monitored as well. It takes time for cultures to change, for change management to become a habit. Make the most of such team meetings by asking questions, especially when you have no idea what is being discussed. Initially, listen to the employees to find out what is truly bothering them.
Now you may ask why? I hardly have time to do my work." Think back to the original question, "Reputation." By knowing where the problems are, you can provide much more targeted support. As you fill new positions, you can also be much more effective in selecting applicants.
You know much better within your company when implementing new initiatives makes sense in terms of time and perhaps also how they can be carried out. If you make yourself visible to your employees, they will come to you. Suddenly, you are a true business partner.
Although this change may not occur overnight, and there may also be a minority of company management who sees it as unnecessary, don't give up and keep going. It will be worth it in the end.
13. Oktober 2020
Careers page - where are you?
Does the company have a careers page? Have you ever tried to find an employment page on the homepage and ended up on an overview with job listings after several links?
When a career page is not visible on the homepage, it slides right into the "not so important" category. The applicant experience, therefore, is of paramount importance. It may be time to rethink this together with your marketing manager.
Are you directed to an overview with the job advertisements once you successfully find the career page link? This is not what you want! A career page welcomes the curious applicant, and perhaps also the curious client who wants to gain an understanding of the company. As an employer, the company briefly explains on its career page what its employees can expect. Your apprenticeship program, intern program, or working student program is indicated in this section. It is ideal to have quotes and photos of active employees. Are there any contact information?
Once you have that, you can forward to the advertisements. If desired, consider offering speculative applications.
Family businesses should note that a brief company history appears on the website of the business and that the company management briefly introduces itself. In the case of a family business, the applicant will feel irritated if he can only find out the name of the company management via the imprint. Here the company has left a lot of potential untouched in its external presentation.
You don't have to launch an awesome career page from the beginning. Nevertheless, it should always be updated and any photos used should reflect the company's reality!
6. Oktober 2020
Recruitment - It's all in the details
An ad for a new job was fine-tuned, published, but nothing happened. It is certain that you received applications, but not from the applicants you are seeking. Couldn't that be optimized?
Let's take the example of “HR Manager”. On the internet, you will find an unlimited number of job advertisements with varying definitions. They are looking for an HR Manager and HR Business Partner, respectively. This job ranges from supporting about five employees to almost three thousand. What is important in a job advertisement?
In drafting such a job description, the size of the company, the area of responsibility, both technical and the number of employees to supervise, and the reporting line should be considered. Is the applicant likely to be the supervisor? It comes down to asking what the applicant wants to know. To assess the scope of the position, what information does he need? Usually, job advertisements are written from the point of view of the company and do not emphasize such distinct features.
It is also important to specify the required qualifications. What are the essential qualifications? Does experience outweigh personality? What qualifications can be acquired easily and which cannot? This is where competency models come in handy!
Occasionally, positions are so unique that they are difficult to fill. Then you have to think about what basic skills the job seeker requires and what he or she could still learn from the position. It might seem like a long shot, but spending two years searching for the right candidate is not an advantage.
However, sometimes the problem lies elsewhere: Have you already applied to your company on a trial basis? Is it possible for the applicant to upload their cv and add a few basic details or does the cv need to be entered manually? An application that has been established in the same format in terms of its technical aspects may simplify the HR department's work, but good applicants might drop out if they are processed in this manner. Therefore, make your application process as simple and effective as possible and allow some individuality by allowing applicants to upload their files. In the end, you want to hire a person, not an automated machine.
Viewing applications takes time - for everyone. Why not forward applications to the department? That would be a bad idea! Remember how this blog series began with the aim of improving HR's reputation? The HR department performs the first screening, evaluates the applications and notes important points. Performing this task properly the first time will result in saving you time and effort later. Those applications that fall outside of your scope will automatically be rejected.
A company that is not a small business should always consider purchasing supporting software. There are many options available on the market, and each company can find an option that suits its needs. Not only does the software simplify handling, documentation, and reliability, it also reduces the time required.
Are operating departments not reporting back? Get in touch! It might not be as important and urgent to fill the position as originally thought? If there is a vacancy in a specialist department, there should be interest in filling it. In this case, "no time" is not an acceptable excuse, as sometimes you need to invest time before you can reap the benefits later. Be aware that an applicant may not just be interested in your company. If the process takes too long, the candidate may have already found another job and you will have to begin the process again.
In general, if the applicant hasn't heard from you for over two weeks, you should initiate an interim decision. Applicants who do not meet your criteria should promptly be rejected.
Job interviews conducted, candidates found. Excellent! Now what about the remainder of the applications? Can we just delete them? Take into account your employer branding. Provide your applicants with a friendly rejection letter.
Keep in mind your privacy policies. Almost all HR software providers have this feature, but any employer who receives applications by email should pay attention to it.
This topic will be covered in more detail in future articles, for example when it comes to career pages and employer branding.