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A Paperless Workplace Is Good Business

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Wasted time. Wasted money.  No one likes waste–the mere mention of the word evokes the feeling of regret. But across the world we do it every day. Often times, as individuals, we waste because we cannot find an alternative. But for small businesses today, much time and money is wasted by ignoring the obvious, glaring alternative of transitioning to a paperless workplace.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, paper and paperboard products accounted for roughly 69 million tons (or 27 percent) of the U.S. municipal waste stream in 2012–nearly twice the amount of the next most wasted material, food. On average, each U.S. citizen is responsible for 1.2 lbs. of paper waste per day. And while recycling efforts have helped to mitigate paper waste, the best approach to reducing waste is to avoid generating it in the first place.

Paperless Possibilities

The Information Age has ushered in new possibilities for conservation. In the vast majority of cases–especially with the broad adoption of e-signatures and cloud drives–paper documents are not necessary. Yet, too many businesses have been slow in transitioning to a paperless workplace.

Small and medium-sized businesses in the U.S. employ around 56.1 million people. Imagine if these businesses fully embraced a paperless work environment. Yes, this would sharply reduce waste by businesses, but more importantly it would influence how employees think about paper use outside the office.

Do I really need the newspaper delivered?

Do I need to receive a paper bill?

Do I have to print this off?

Where else can I save paper?

An environmentally responsible employer brand is one benefit of moving to a paperless work environment, but there are cost savings to be realized with the transition as well. Paperless solutions not only remove the need to use paper for common tasks and processes, many times they automate those same processes as well. So in addition to the savings associated with not buying paper and print cartridges, a business can return higher profits through increased process efficiency.

A Culture of Conservation

Your business can take the first step in becoming a paperless workplace by first creating a culture of conservation. Here are a few ideas on how to use less paper in your office:

  • Purchase printer and copier units that can print on both sides of a sheet of paper.
  • Set all computers and copiers to default to double-sided printing.
  • Use email instead of paper or faxes.
  • Don’t print email messages.
  • Work on drafts electronically, using “edit” and “comment” features.
  • Choose reusable cups, plates, and utensils instead of disposable paper and plastic items for your office break room.
  • Use paper towels made with post-consumer recycled material or use cloth napkins.
  • Choose reusable lunch bags or coolers.

To make the full leap to a paperless workplace,  you’ll need to explore how new technologies can further remove your reliance on paper. From communications and marketing to document storage and employee management, virtually every aspect of your business can be enhanced by investing in technology. And the best part? Many of these technologies are very affordable… and sometimes even free.

So stop wasting time and money, transform your business into a paperless workplace. You have nothing to lose–except paper…lots of expensive paper.

ExactHire provides paperless HR solutions to help small businesses achieve greater efficiency. Please contact us today to learn how you can stop wasting time and money by going paperless!

 

5 Steps To Assess Employer Brand For Small Biz Owners

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As a leader of a small business, you are likely familiar with the importance of brand as it relates to your business’s profitability and growth. Your consumer brand represents who you are as a business to your customers and prospective customers; this includes how you stand apart from similar businesses, and what your goals are in delivering your product or service. A bad brand is a bad business; where one goes, the other will quickly follow–most business owners understand this.

But what about your employer brand? What is this, and how does it affect the health of your business?

Your employer brand is essentially the same as your consumer brand; however, an employer brand represents who you are as a business to your employees and prospective employees. In other words, your consumer brand makes and fulfills (hopefully) a promise to individuals with the goal of gaining their continued business, and an employer brand makes and fulfills (hopefully) a promise to individuals with the goal of gaining and keeping their talent through employment.

Your Employer Brand Right Now

Though the word “brand” is sometimes cast in a negative light, building a brand is a universal practice for businesses–even if it’s not realized by the business itself. Negative connotations associated with brand likely come to mind when we confuse it with the marketing strategies and tactics used to promote the brand. So putting aside marketing strategies and tactics–logos, slogans, messaging, materials, advertisements, et al.– consider these three questions as a quick and dirty way to assess your employer brand:

(Note: These can be used to assess your consumer brand, too, with a few tweaks.)
  • What is the purpose of our business?
  • How is working at our business different than other businesses with similar purposes?
  • How do people feel about our business before, during, and after working here?

By answering these questions and, more importantly, asking your employees to answer these questions, you will have the building blocks of your employer brand. It is vital that you complete this before creating a strategy to strengthen and grow your brand. If your brand (what you are) is not in alignment with your brand marketing (what you are promising to be), then you will be misleading your job applicants and laying the groundwork for a bad brand image–that means low sales for your business, and low morale/high turnover for your employees.

5 Steps to Assess Your Employer Brand

  1. Develop a brief survey to determine the essence of your current brand using the three questions above
  2. Distribute the survey to all employees and business stakeholders in a way that allows for anonymous responses
  3. Collect and compile the responses to identify common brand perceptions
  4. Identify perceptions that are negative or threatening to your business
  5. Incorporate the assessment insights into a prioritized continual improvement plan

ExactHire provides hiring technology for small to medium-sized organizations. Our SaaS solutions include HireCentric ATS and OnboardCentric which can streamline your hiring and onboarding processes, while providing an exceptional experience for new employees. To learn more about how you can enhance your hiring process through the use of our software, contact us today!

Do Not Underpay Employees – 3 Reasons Why

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Everyone wants to save a buck nowadays, and companies are no different. I am in finance so I understand. I am always looking for ways to help save the company money or find more efficient ways to function in order to be “leaner” overall.  That being said, here is one place that you do not want to “skimp” too much – what you pay your staff. Do not underpay employees!

Inspire Hard Work

When an employee is making a salary that makes him/her happy, it creates a stable happy environment for everyone. This will keep the employee working hard which will create an overall positive atmosphere in the office. Hard working employees will motivate each other to keep improving as individuals, and as a whole organization.

Keep Your “A” Players

If you underpay your employees, they are likely to eventually seek out employment elsewhere. By making sure they are paid adequately, you are able to retain your “A” players and also inspire others to work hard and improve as well.

Appeal to the Best Prospects

Keeping the best employees and having a happy work environment will appeal to the best potential applicants when you have new positions available.  Your reputation as a great employer will help attract the best applicants for jobs based on how your current employees feel. This could be through word of mouth or other networking avenues.

These three simple motivators demonstrate the importance of fair pay for your employees. When you are ready to hire your next “A” player, please contact us to learn more about how our applicant tracking system can streamline the hiring process.

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Working From Home

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Most Americans wake up, take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, pack lunches, drop off the kids, drive to work, work, eat lunch, work some more, drive home and pick up the kids every day. The rat-race, Groundhog Day, déjà vu…. whatever you call it — it can be a drag. And if the employee is dragging, his/her work most likely is too. In this modern day and age, telecommuting is becoming a major benefit to employees and employers. Since the vast majority of the workforce is already using technology and SaaS (software as a service) programs, it is easy to transfer the daily workflow into the home office environment.

Gone are the days of loathing traffic every day! You can even work in pajamas!

You can mow the grass, go swimming, buy groceries, clean the house, or any other number of activities on your lunch break. Some practical benefits include reduced transportation costs, elimination of travel time, and comfortable clothing. These simple pleasures are translating into employees working longer hours, enjoying that work more, reducing personal stress-levels, and increasing productivity. To the dismay of some traditional thinkers, employees will work without micro-management. They might even work better that way.

Rush-Hour Relief

It is common to lose an hour or more each day during the commute to and from work. After an hour of public transit or driving alongside a myriad of road-rage, close-calls, and stop-and-go traffic the average employee can be grumpy or worn-out by 8AM. The employee has been up for hours without producing any work yet. On the other hand, an employee that telecommutes merely rolls out of bed and opens a laptop while brewing that first cup of coffee. Emails can be read in leisure while awakening the body and brain for a great day of working from home.

Balance

Job satisfaction is much higher when the employee has some control over the environment and daily schedule.  Working from home can make the joys of juggling children, a relationship, and work a lot easier.  Doctor appointments? Kids have school/ activity obligations? Need to get dinner started early? Somehow, these tasks are a lot easier to accommodate when you are operating from your home. Telecommuting is a wonderful way to ease the responsibilities of adulthood. However, going into the office two – three days a week can really improve the general office demeanor. Most of us like some personal interaction with our co-workers, at least when we aren’t missing our child’s game just to ‘show face’ at work. Workers are happy to get into the office and see their co-workers, maybe go out to lunch or meet up after work. And the office can be fun, especially on those days when Martha brings homemade cookies or Katie brings her famous lemonade. Balance can be just as important for the workplace as it is for the home life.

Technology

Smart phones, tablets, 3-D movies, touch-screens, and a little thing called the internet have all made our personal lives better. Businesses are also benefiting from the new technologies that are available today. Companies that utilize cloud-based data centers and SaaS applications are saving money on hardware and equipment. At the same time, these types of technologies allow employees to save time and money by working from home.

ExactHire provides SaaS recruiting and employee onboarding applications. For more information, please visit our resources section or contact us today.

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Making Your First Hire – Don’t Be Nervous

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So you are a small business and ready to grow – maybe you are currently the only employee or you have a few partners in your company.  Or maybe you are building a HR department from scratch. Either way, making your very first hire can be daunting, here are a few things to keep in mind to make sure this first hire (and future hires) are a success.

Find the right fit

At ExactHire, we are firm believers in finding a person who is the right fit for the job, as well as for the company culture. Upon reviewing resumes and narrowing down your choices to a select few candidates, make sure to ask yourself, how will this person fit in the company? How will he/she adapt to the job at hand? This is key especially at small companies where employees “wear many different hats” each day on the job. Employee assessments can be a great tool to find out if the applicants are likely going to fit in with your organization, too.

Follow your gut

Do not downplay the need to trust your intuition. If you are part of a growing company, you need to feel comfortable with each hire and adapting that person into his/her role on the team. If your gut is telling you that it might not be the best choice for the position, then make sure to listen to that instinct. It can be expensive to have to rehire after the fact and start training over if you make a wrong hiring decision. Remember, no one is perfect either, at some point in your HR career you will probably make a hiring “error” but following your gut will help avoid a lot of this trouble.

Test applicants accordingly

Along with testing applicants for culture fit by using assessments, you can use job skill tests to make sure their technical experience is right for the job responsibilities at hand.  This can be software-based testing such as Microsoft Office or Quickbooks; or, it can be skill-based such as basic math, spelling, data entry or telephone skills. It can also be job-specific, such as an IT programming language, accounting, legal, industrial or medical knowledge. Using a skill test will help narrow down your choices after you have found a good fit for the company culture.

Know HR regulations and laws

If this is truly your first hire, make sure you are aware of regulations and laws in your state.  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission can help with lots of topics on which you may have questions. Making sure not to discriminate in the hiring process as well as completing any reporting that is necessary, are important practices to keep your business compliant. This pertains to job advertisements, recruiting, application questions, pay rates, referrals and much more.

I know this may all seem overwhelming to think about, but in the long run it’s exciting! You are part of a growing organization – don’t make the hiring process a nerve wrecking one (for you or the applicant). Have fun and follow these simple rules to get the most out of it all.

For more information about assessments and skill tests, please contact ExactHire today.

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6 Ideas on How to Increase Organizational Productivity for 2014

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Can you believe it? 2013 has come to a close and what a great year it was! It’s time to think about making some organizational productivity resolutions for the New Year, both for yourself and for your company. Here are some ideas on how to get increases in efficiency from your entire staff during 2014:

Have employees take an assessment

(If they have not already taken one.) Employee assessments can give the employee and the manager a great deal of insight about why a person works the way he/she does. Also, it shows what motivates him/her, as well as, what negatives (or demotivators) you can avoid to keep an employee engaged and efficient all year long.

Switch up the office layout

Change is good and this is a fun and easy way to liven up the office. Maybe its hanging new art or painting a few office walls. Maybe it’s a larger change like switching up cubicles and offices for much of the staff. Think about how refreshing it would be to have a new “neighbor” in the office to get to know each day.

Use an ATS system to make hiring easier

This is an obvious one from our company but if you haven’t already heard, there are TONS of benefits to using applicant tracking software (ATS). It is simple and makes it easy to streamline your hiring process. It’s consistent, compliant and efficient! This will especially help with human resources staff and hiring managers, but the benefits will affect the whole organization.

Have REGULAR brainstorming meetings

This keeps everyone feeling like part of the team on an ongoing basis. It’s a wise idea to take time every quarter to assemble as a group (or subgroups by department) and brainstorm on how to resolve the current issues and opportunities for the company. Don’t just meet once and call it done for the year…build it into your schedule on a regular basis. This helps keep creative juices flowing on all levels and in all business units of the company year round.

Implement employee onboarding software to reduce hiring stress

Again, this is one specifically helps managers and HR, but using a paperless onboarding system can save tons of time and money for the company. This will increase productivity by allowing all new hires to be efficiently added to the team.

Hold an offsite work retreat

We all know the importance of feeling like part of a group, but take it a step further by having a company retreat. Holding it offsite is a fantastic way to recharge as a group. This can be a team building exercise, a nice dinner meeting or even just a brainstorming session at a new location. All of these will help refresh your thoughts and perspectives for the company’s goals and issues. This activity does the ExactHire team a great deal of good when we meet offsite in the fall each year.

All companies are looking to stay productive, increase job fit and offer a fun work environment. We hope you use some of these ideas, as well as our products to ensure you have a successful 2014. For more information, please visit our resources section or contact us.

Image credit: Flickr Chinese Dragon Year Statue by epSos.de (contact)

Equal Employment Opportunities Make Good Business Sense

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Individuals in Human Resources already know there are laws that prohibit discrimination in the workplace against existing employees, but equal employment opportunity also relates to hiring and recruiting new employees, as well. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against someone (applicant or employee) because of his/her race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information (EEOC.gov).

How does EEO affect the hiring process?
Here are a few considerations when examining your selection process to ensure that you are in compliance with EEOC regulations:

  • Employment Applications – Nothing on the application can ask about or refer to a class of people in a way that could be construed as being discriminatory. Avoid asking questions that may single out a group based on gender, age, religion, sex…and the other federal law factors mentioned above.
  • Job Ads – Remember when posting a job advertisement not to hone in on a specific group, such as recent college grads (may seem like you are not inclusive of all ages) or women (though some jobs may seem like they have been traditionally held by a certain gender group in the past, you cannot focus the job ad to that sex).
  • Applicant Referrals – Word of mouth job advertising can be tricky. If you have a workforce that is a similar demographic, and you exclusively, or very heavily, recruit based only on employee referrals, you are likely going to minimize diversity across your workforce and run into issues of adverse impact.
  • Talent Acquisition – If all your recruiting is targeted to a certain age group, gender, race or other protected group, then you are violating the laws for equal employment opportunity. Make sure, when sourcing applicants, that you use a wide variety of external ad sources so that you do not disproportionately exclude any type of applicant based on the protected classes above.

Just a few other potentially inflammatory EEOC-related issues to keep in mind:

  • Promotions – When promoting an employee, do not make a decision based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information; but rather, on experience and/or performance/merit. In human resources, it is important to keep a documented history of performance reviews to support any promotion decisions.
  • Benefits – Regardless of age, religion, gender (including pregnancy), and the other factors mentioned throughout this blog, all employees and applicants should be offered the same benefits. Think of benefits such as health care plans, 401k and stock options that may be offered to an incoming applicant. This includes a woman getting the same pay as a man for the same job, as just one example.
  • Discipline – When it comes to the discipline of employees, the rules need to be just, legal and applied consistently across the board. This will eliminate discrimination issues as well as harassment in the workplace.

Remember to put processes and training programs in place to stay compliant with federal anti-discrimination laws beyond the recruiting process, as well.

How can ExactHire help with EOE requirements?

Using an applicant tracking system can help to streamline and ease the challenges that can sometimes be associated with compliance reporting. An ATS also has tools in place to automate the process of posting jobs to a diverse set of external ad sources so that you can more easily amass a diverse group of engaged applicants. We can show you tools to find diversity and inclusion ad sources as well as coach you on how to build reports to help you stay compliant with EEOC laws.

For more information on our applicant tracking software, please visit our resources section or contact ExactHire.

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5 Reasons Why Companies Need Human Resources

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I was talking with a friend yesterday who does “life coaching,” and she asked a great question … “Why do you like your job so much?” My answer was simple…ExactHire is a small company so everyone here has to wear many different “hats” and no day is ever the same. We have fun together and work as a team!

The more I thought about it, I was struck by the ironic fact that we work in the Human Resources (HR) industry but don’t have a specific Human Resources department or even an HR manager. Every company needs to practice HR-related activities, but that does not mean each organization is required to have a designated person or department for this function; it really just depends on the size of the company. At ExactHire, since we are a small business, we split the standard human resources duties among several staff members, and also utilize a professional employment organization (PEO).

Regardless of the size of your company, it is imperative that you consider how the following HR-related responsibilities are being handled for your business. That way, you can be confident that the employment brand you are presenting to individuals is positive.

Download ExactHire Company Culture E-book

Recruiting New Employees

At some point, every business needs to recruit new employees…whether due to growth or turnover. An effective recruiting process is key to an organization’s ability to grow and succeed. After all, how can you take on new projects / clients without more employees? In your business, who seeks out job applicants and screens them? You may have a designated recruiter in HR; or, individual departmental hiring managers may handle this duty for their respective areas. Applicant tracking systems (ATS software) can make the process of sourcing and screening job applicants streamlined and paperless, but someone in your business, preferably with an HR background, still needs to champion the recruitment function at your company.

Administering Employment Paperwork

I know…employment paperwork = BORING! But without it, your employees (and you!) wouldn’t get paid, taxes wouldn’t be properly recorded and benefits would not be available to your staff. Don’t forget about worker’s compensation and unemployment – those items require lots of time and paperwork, too! Also, HR should help to keep your business in compliance with federal and state laws. Many small companies can be overwhelmed with these compliance-related tasks, but it is still necessary to perform these responsibilities. Consider a paperless employee onboarding software solution, to make hiring new employees much easier on everyone involved.

Training & Employee Development

When a new employee is hired, who leads the orientation session(s) in your company? Normally, it’s the head of the employee’s department and/or the HR manager. Without HR, new employees might fail to learn critical company policies, and might fall short of feeling truly assimilated into the organization’s culture. Human resources professionals often head up other training programs such as health and safety programs for employees; as well as, sexual harassment or performance management training, too.

Compensation & Benefits Administration

When first accepting an offer with a company, some of the initial questions asked by new employees include “What is the pay?” and “What are the benefits?” HR typically handles all types of employee benefits, from insurance to 401k to educating employees about a flexible spending account. Medical, dental, vision, life, disability…the list of insurance types alone can get very long. Your human resources department coordinates these policies with the broker/provider and on behalf of the employee. HR business partners also manage benefit open enrollment for employees. When you have an issue with insurance, or a change in deductions for a flex account, or want to increase your 401K contribution, you will likely always seek out your HR guru first. Make sure your business has a “guru” resource.

Employee Relations & Evaluating Performance

Lastly, but certainly, not least – HR is usually tasked with championing a consistent and helpful performance evaluation process for employees. This is a big one! If policies are not being followed, the HR manager, in conjunction with hiring managers/department heads, has to step in and correct the situation…whether it’s a safety issue; or, perhaps an employee not showing up to work on time.

This wheelhouse also includes how well an employee is performing his/her function. Maybe the manager thought an employee would be a good fit for a position but it is not working out as expected. Could that employee thrive elsewhere in the company? Using an employee assessment recommended by HR, the organization may be able to help find the right fit for the department among other candidates; or, a new place for the existing employee. Performance evaluation also serves as a mechanism to review progress, and then effectively and sufficiently reward those that are doing a great job for a business.

As you can tell, there are MANY important duties that human resources performs in any company, of any size. Individuals tasked with these types of duties play the role of cheerleader for the employee, and also serve as the middleman between management and the employee. If you are not sure what you can do to improve your employment brand, ExactHire offers several web-based software tools to streamline HR-related tasks…making them easier and more efficient. Contact us today for more information or visit our resources section.

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