Rethinking Age in Hiring
We recently sent an email to our BEST BRIEFS newsletter subscribers on the topic of ageism, and it definitely touched a nerve. Here is the original email content, followed by some of the comments we received on the subject. Our Original Message On January 20th, President Biden was sworn in and is now officially the oldest President the U.S. has ever had at 78 years old. A few weeks later, a 43-year-old Quarterback, with a 68-year-old Head Coach, and an 82-year-old Offensive Consultant, won the Super Bowl. These events alone should have us rethink ageism, but unfortunately, it is alive and well, and COVID has made matters worse. Studies show that workers ages 55 and older have experienced increased ageism from employers, particularly amid the pandemic. As people start to enter their 50s, they are more attuned to discrimination in the workplace. So much so that 58% of workers aged 50 or older have noticed age discrimination firsthand. Yet they’re known as being the most engaged in the workplace, not to mention the most experienced. Though our article on the topic of ageism (“Focusing on Youth in Hiring is Hurting Your Organizational Health”) was published before COVID, the point remains – it is time to rethink age in hiring, especially in industries (i.e., horticulture) where experience and qualified talent is increasingly becoming difficult to secure. After all, where are the Mentors and Coaches badly needed by younger generations to be found? Comments We heard from several business leaders on this topic, and here are a few of their comments. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Personally, I achieved the most in my 50’s and 60’s: I wrote two of my three books, spoke 22 times across Canada and the U.S. won an award for Best U.S. Speaker in Canada from TEC, a Canadian CEO peer group, won five Best Place to Work and two diversity awards for United Way. I believe that individuals have to shake off society’s negative messages about getting older. We have to create our own “the best is yet to come mindset.” Oh, and my last book was all about companies that have strategies to maximize the creativity, productivity, and value of 50+ and previously retired employees. We make our own luck—and that applies to the organizations that don’t waste this valuable resource! • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • You are spot-on for highlighting ageism! It is the 60-year-old elephant in the room. I have been in meetings where it was disguised as “he/she probably isn’t up to date with technology as a reason for not considering an otherwise qualified candidate.” The older generation invented the computer. We darn sure have the intellectual capacity to learn some of the updates. Also, was there when the “Are you sure he/she will fit in with the younger members of our team?” Ageism comes in many flavors and is very active in today’s job market. Employers are crying for skilled workers who show up on time and give their best but overlook an audience right before them, ready and willing to contribute. Ageism is a cancer in the workplace. My new mantra is: I N D Y stands for “I’m Not Done Yet!” • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Special thanks to those who commented on our piece. Please complete the form below if you wish to subscribe to future BEST BRIEFS newsletters. In this unprecedented business environment and labor market, it may also be time to shift your thinking on recruiting and make an investment to bring on an experienced partner. One that can help you acquire the right talent and put your company in a position to grow. We can help. If your company is ready to strategically address, improve, and invest in the hiring of the most important part of any company – its people — contact us today!
To Be Strategic or Transactional? That is the Question
The Case for Human Resources in Strategic Planning Ask most business leaders and professionals, and they will describe human resources in transactional terms. “They are the department that hires people, fires people, manages our benefit plans, and tells us how much we can pay people.” A lot to unpack there for sure, but that perception misses the mark entirely. While it is true that human resources has a lot of transactional components, it is no different from any other department or function within a business. For example, consider your Accounting Department. Arguably it is one of the most critical roles within the business as it has the power of the purse. Its transactional tasks include logging debits and credits into the general ledger, the monthly close process, development of quarterly and annual statements, or logging receipts and outflows through the AR/AP departments. Human Resources also has its share of transactional components. Someone has to enter payroll weekly or biweekly, manage open enrollment, conduct onboarding, or even manage recruitment requisitions. If that is the extent of the value leadership perceives human resources brings to the table, there is a lot they are missing. We would argue that perception is precisely what is holding a business back from achieving its fullest potential. At its core, a business is its people. Try starting a business without any people at all? You can’t do it. You know why? You are a person. If you start a business, even a company of one, say a single shingle consulting business, then a human is part of that business. Humans are the brainchild of every initiative and action internally and externally to the company. Even with all the automation being implemented today, from software to robots, people must maintain, repair, and monitor them to ensure they continue to perform as intended. There is a strategic component that is often overlooked, and it begins with strategic workforce planning. When your business develops its strategic plan, you look at a 3-to-5-year horizon. With the fast pace of change in business today, it is almost always the case that many of the roles, skills, and competencies needed to fulfill that strategic vision do not currently exist. Absent strategic workforce planning, that vision is doomed to fail from the start. Strategic HR professionals can work closely with executive management to flesh out a human capital plan according to organizational goals. Such a plan may include developing career pathing to move key talent from current roles that will be going away and into the new positions that will be created. It may also have a compensation analysis and benchmarking strategy to determine what to pay roles that don’t yet exist in your business (or even, possibly, anywhere). Plus, learning development programs to teach existing employees the very knowledge and skills they need to succeed in roles they don’t even know are coming, employee relations strategies that will drive engagement and retain key talent, and manage the impact on your people as the organization marches towards that strategic vision. None of this is transactional. All of it requires a very strategic and planned approach aligned with the organization’s strategic plan, outcomes, and goals. As with many areas of your business, there are laws and regulations involved. The EPA places restrictions on the output of carcinogens that can be expelled by smokestacks of factories or waste that can be dumped into rivers and streams. The SEC restricts actions they consider insider trading. Even your sales teams have restrictions to protect consumers from “bait-and-switch” tactics. Human resources is no different— well, maybe a little different. Employment law is a fickle beast, constantly weaving and bobbing, changing all the time. A great example is a recent court case in Minnesota (Hill v. City of Plainview) that appears to have upended decades of legal precedent about the use of disclaimer statements that prevent an Employee Handbook from being interpreted as an employment contract. To the untrained and uninitiated in the ways of human resources, it can seem that the application of employment law bends with the proverbial wind. Though it is rare when significant landmark laws are passed (i.e., Affordable Care Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or even the Civil Rights Act), the way many of the laws are interpreted by the courts is what drives the most significant adjustments by businesses to comply with employment law. With the right strategic HR leadership in place, appropriate plans for implementing changes to employment law can be made that will protect the organization from costly fees, fines, and government-imposed remedies. Strategic human resources leadership can also guide your business by executing transactional HR tasks and even positively impacting the bottom line. For example, there is a time in the business lifecycle when outsourcing transactional HR tasks are more cost-effective. That does not mean every aspect of human resources should get outsourced. That would be a huge mistake. It means that a strategic HR leader should guide or even lead the research, selection, and implementation of an appropriate Administrative Service Organization (ASO) or Preferred Employer Organization (PEO) to handle these transactions. That strategic HR leader should lead the selection and implementation of appropriate Learning and Development (L&D) programs, develop and direct a total rewards strategy, and even the selection and relationship management of the suitable recruiting partners to align human capital needs with the strategic workforce plan. As an economy of scale is reached internally due to headcount and revenue size, it becomes more economically feasible to bring back the human resource tasks formerly outsourced to an ASO or PEO. The organization will further benefit from greater command and control over transactional HR tasks and align better with corporate strategy. There is no magic universal breakpoint to determine when to do this. You will have to look at your business’s demands, nature of employment, industry, and geographic reach as each impacts a company differently. However, the right strategic HR leader will make the correct business case, leading to the most beneficial outcomes. It’s a new year. We have
Conducting an Effective Virtual Interview
Tips you can use when interviewing candidates remotely. As today’s workforce moves from traditional offices to remote work, many businesses are adopting a new way of conducting interviews, and in some cases, even onboarding. While this trend is due in large part to the COVID-19 crisis, there are many positives to moving more of your interview process into a virtual format. Virtual interviews are a great way to work around scheduling conflicts or limit face to face interaction due to social distancing. Did you also know: Five minutes of live video interviewing is considered equal to a 200-question written assessment. Data is suggesting that video interviewing is six times faster and more productive than a phone interview. 93% of communication is non-verbal. 57% of candidates prefer live video interviews. (SOURCE: LinkedIn) We have compiled a few useful tips to help you navigate the process of conducting a virtual interview. 1. Test Your Tech Get familiar with the software you will be utilizing. Test your speaker, microphone, and video. Make sure to close out of other applications to enhance the speed of your operating systems. Conduct a run through with a peer to learn the program capabilities and gain feedback. If you do encounter issues where a glitch occurs and you can’t hear the response, be direct and honest. There could be a connection issue, so wait for the audio to resume and ask them to repeat what they said. It is essential to be upfront and obtain the answers necessary to make a thoughtful employment decision. 2. Create a Neutral Space For a professional atmosphere during the interview, it is vital to find a quiet place, free from distractions. Make sure you choose somewhere that people will not be wandering around in the background. Turn off or mute your phone and silence all notifications to give your full attention. An appropriate background should be neutral but not dull. You can still show some personality outside of a plain white wall by showcasing plants, bookshelves, or diplomas and awards behind you. Depending on the software, you can also choose or create a virtual background that is not distracting. 3. Lighting and Angles For a clear video, it is best to utilize natural lighting— facing you as much as possible. If the natural lighting is not possible, considering adding a lamp to your desk or a ring light to the top of your laptop. A well-lit subject exudes trust and friendliness. Have your computer placed above eye level and tilted slightly down. A quick fix is to use books to elevate your surface. This placement prevents the camera from being directed at your neck and nose and appears more natural like it would in a face to face conversation. As in a regular interview, sit up straight and make eye contact with the camera. Body language still matters to emanate a professional demeanor. 4. Keep Your Candidate Informed Notify your candidate ahead of time that the interview will be virtual. Send a calendar invite with a link to the software you will be using and instructions so they can practice ahead of time and test their tech. In the email, be sure to include who will be involved with the interview, their title, and the role they play so they can research ahead of time to prepare. This will allow candidates to become comfortable with the platform and ensure a smooth interview for both parties. 5. Showcase Your Culture During a virtual interview, candidates are not always able to view the office space and coworkers that they could be working with in the future. Consequently, it may be more difficult for a candidate to get a feel for the company culture. To showcase this, spend more time preparing a presentation to express the company’s mission and vision. You can also send the candidate employee testimonials and links to social media posts that capture the essence and spirit of your company. There are software and video options available for you to provide virtual tours of office and production facilities. This investment usually offers a healthy ROI and help you complete a hiring initiative from start to finish in a virtual format. 6. Remain Positive Virtual interviewing can be a first-time experience for you as well as the candidate, and there may be a few fumbles with the transition from in-person interviews to virtual. You are both working through this together and making the best out of the situation. Remain positive and express appreciation to the candidate. After this experience, you may find you enjoy virtual interviews more than other forms. Whether you use Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, FaceTime, or one of the many other video platforms, find the one that works best for your company and allows you to assess body language and professionalism. Virtual interviews also allow for more flexibility in scheduling across locations and time zones, which can help attract more qualified candidates from a broader region. Along with making the right employment decision in this new era of social distancing and stay in place, virtual meetings also have the benefit of lowering travel and venue costs, all of which are beneficial for your bottom line.
Lessons from the Tank: Can Your Employees Be the Next Scrub Daddy?
One of the most popular and interesting reality TV shows today is Shark Tank. For over ten years, it has been the show where wealthy, mostly self-made, business professionals help a small business owner achieve their entrepreneurial dreams. There have been many successful products introduced to the consumer market after appearing on Shark Tank. Take the Scrub Daddy®, for example. The concept is simple (a smiley-faced, reusable sponge in which the texture and function change with water temperature), but it has sold over 10 million units, and the growth continues. To date, the Scrub Daddy® is one of the most successful products to ever appear on the show. But where would Scrub Daddy be today if it wasn’t for the investment from one of the Sharks, Lori Greiner? According to Forbes, before Scrub Daddy was introduced on Shark Tank, it struggled to make $100,000 in over 18 months. Scrub Daddy has now made over $75 million in sales thanks to a $200,000 investment from Lori Greiner, including her time and considerable marketing muscle. Since then, Scrub Daddy has dramatically expanded its facilities and released several new products. As business leaders, we talk a lot about investing in our people, especially in this age of low retention and high turnover. So, what happens when we invest in our employees (time and dollars) the same way the Sharks invest in these companies? We continue to see several recurring trends in today’s job market. For instance, a steady paycheck, bonus, and PTO are no longer enough to satisfy employees. Employees want to feel like they are a part of something bigger than just an office job, and something bigger than themselves. The feeling that they are a part of a team that values them as an individual and respects their ideas. They want someone to invest in them. As the Millennial and Gen Z generations continue to make their imprint on today’s workforce, the “job for life” mentality of their parents and grandparents is becoming non-existent. The younger generations are focused on the concept of belonging to a team that creates value, not merely working for a paycheck. When employees don’t feel challenged, or fully engaged in the work they are doing, employee turnover rates skyrocket. As Richard Branson, the CEO of Virgin Group, has popularly stated, “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” The discussions around employee engagement have become so prevalent in recent years that you would think it’s second nature by now. It is also no coincidence that in study after study, increasing employee engagement is now the top priority of most CEOs. After all, research proves that investing in the talents and capabilities of your employees is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to increase employee engagement and instill loyalty. The same holds for the investors on Shark Tank. For example, when you look at something as simple as a sponge, you might not see much potential return. However, when you add a little ingenuity, time, and care, you can produce a multi-million-dollar product line. It is the same with your employees. Invest in them, and they will invest their time, energy, and passion back into the company and produce a higher return. When sourcing and interviewing for a new hire, you are putting the candidate in “The Tank.” The investors are Human Resources, Supervising Manager, Project Leader, and the Owner/CEO. The candidate’s resume is their pitch outline, showing a base overview of their strengths, skills, past experiences, and successes. Throughout the interview process, the candidate will begin showing you their behaviors and talk a little more in-depth about their past and what they aspire to in the future. Based on this pitch, the investor can decide if they want to invest in the candidate or keep looking for a “million-dollar candidate.” Investing in your employees also doesn’t have to be a Shark Tank-sized investment. In a study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the results showed that the top qualities that Millennials look for in a job are opportunities for career advancement and learning and development programs. With that in mind, employee engagement can be as simple as having an immersive and detailed onboarding program for new hires and continual training for existing employees. In a study conducted by Axonify, they noted that only 31% of employees receive formal job training. As Carol Leaman, the CEO of Axonify, states, “If employees don’t have the correct training to perform their jobs properly, they will disengage. This, in turn, will result in work quality, productivity, and customer satisfaction issues.” In the same study, 80% of workers state that it is vital to receive regular, frequent training, so they don’t forget the information, up from 73% in the previous year alone. “Training should not be a dull, isolated event, as employees loathe sitting in long, boring sessions and immediately tune out,” added Leaman. The one thing that all generations in today’s workforce can agree on is that people want training anywhere and at any time, but keep it short and offer rewards upon completion. Yes, more PTO and “fun stuff” are great additions to your workplace and may attract employees to apply, but to get them to stay and produce meaningful outcomes takes more. Views of work continue to evolve. The number of positions and companies that a person will work for in their lifetime is increasing. Investing in the capabilities of your employees by providing experiences and creating mobility ensures that they are building a lifelong career, not just a pit stop for some experience before they move on to bigger and better things. Move towards being bigger and be better by investing in your employees to increase retention, the same way Lori Greiner invested in the Scrub Daddy: provide them the resources, time, and support they need to achieve their dreams. Like the Scrub Daddy, they will, in turn, be flexible, grow, and provide you a high rate of return. SOURCES: wheniwork.com/blog/reduce-employee-turnover industryweek.com/onethird-of-us-employees-dont-receive-formal-job-training
Should You Expect a Thank You Note After the Interview?
Last April, Jessica Liebman, the Executive Managing Editor of Insider Inc., had the sheer audacity to suggest in a Business Insider article that she has a simple rule when she is hiring. “We shouldn’t move a candidate to the next stage in the interview process unless they send a thank-you email.” Liebman went on to state that bringing someone into your company is always risky. However, a thank you email (not snail mail – too slow) signals a candidate’s motivation and desire for the position and generally means they’re a “good egg.” There are only so many data points one can collect in an interview, she reasoned, that sometimes the thank-you note will make the difference in the selection of candidates. She further clarified and stated, “To be clear, a thank-you note does not ensure someone will be a successful hire. But using the thank-you email as a barrier to entry has proved beneficial, at least at my company.” So it makes sense, right? Nope. Unfortunately, it is 2019, and social media and the Twitter-verse went into hyperdrive to condemn her and her statements. Other hiring managers, reputable organizations (SHRM and LinkedIn), and publications joined the fray, with several siding in large part with those who disagreed. It got so bad, Liebman followed up with another article cheekily titled, “Thank you for reading my story about thank-you notes!” a few days later to clarify what she meant. Many people were seemingly offended that anyone would actually “require” sending a thank you note after an interview. She went on to explain she was trying to be helpful and shed some light and that, “The biggest factors we consider are a candidate’s talent and fit for the role.” It was a “rule of thumb” and not official company policy. What were the disagreements and the outrage with Jessica Liebman’s piece on sending thank you notes? Thank you notes are antiquated and pointless [apparently not to her and the many hiring managers and business leaders we talk to daily here at BEST]. Thank you notes are to stroke the ego of the interviewer. Seriously? The application and job description said nothing about sending a thank you. Liebman’s response was priceless on this point, “Neither is being on time to the interview.” Our favorite? Expecting a thank-you note is elitist and shows discrimination and bias because many people have never been taught this skill. Diversity is critical to any organization today. Different perspectives can lead to increased creativity, innovation, productivity, better decision-making, and a better work environment and culture, among many other benefits. However, we have never seen it be used as an excuse not to be courteous and to say thank you. Laziness would be a better excuse. After all, especially in a customer-facing role, would you want anyone on your team that doesn’t know how to say thank you? But it’s a candidate’s market. They [interviewer] should be sending the candidate a thank you. Liebman conceded this point somewhat in that all companies need to do a better job notifying candidates and letting them know why they did not get the position. Point well taken, and it is also something we strive for at BEST. A lot of the outrage on this could be the times we live in – where being contrary on social media is expected and merely aiming for “likes” and that all-important re-tweet. Indeed, social media can help us all whittle down the candidate pool. However, at BEST, we can only speak to our own experience working with clients and candidates and heartily thank those who disagree (because it is indeed helpful). As business leaders, hiring managers, and recruiters, it is often about overcoming buyer’s remorse. When a hiring manager or company leader is getting ready to make a hiring decision, they want that one thing that can put a candidate over the edge and calm their fears about making a bad hire. In talking with a client last month, he mentioned that he really liked the candidate, but he had not yet seen a thank you email. The next day he did without our prompting, and the job offer went out shortly after that. To the client, it was expected as well as another box to check. For the candidates we work with, our resources stress the importance of the thank you email. A candidate should always ask for the interviewer’s email address during the interview (whether on the phone or in person). Rarely, if ever, has it been questioned. After all, it is another opportunity to sell yourself to the prospective company. It doesn’t have to be a long note— say thank you, say that you want the position, and use it also to state why you are the best fit for the role (one or two reasons you are the best candidate for the job or maybe there was something you missed during the interview) and would welcome further discussion. Then, send it within 24-hours while you are still fresh in the interviewer’s mind. Where is the controversy in that? When we were hiring an intern at BEST last year, we had three strong candidates, all with equal skills, talent, and fit for the role. The deciding factor? One candidate went over and above and sent us all a personalized thank you email. He was hired and then became a permanent fixture on our team and has been very successful to date and has a bright future. The difference? His thank-you email. As record low unemployment continues and less skilled workers are available for more increasingly skilled open positions, there are already hiring and employment trends that would have been unthinkable just five years ago. So, as we enter the holiday season, a time for giving thanks and reflection, here is hoping the time-honored thank you note is not one of them. Thank you for reading, and thank you, Jessica!