Media Mentions

Time vs. Productivity vs. Results

I recently saw a job post for a Software Developer that included the following requirement:

"Working 40 hours or less a week is not in your vocabulary"

In other words - don't take this job unless you want work to dominate your life. Do you have kids at home during the pandemic? Do you have personal goals? Care about wellness? Sorry, need not apply!

I found this to be an interesting insight to the culture at the company, and so counter to the progress I've seen as an HR professional towards results-oriented environments. Even prior to COVID-19, businesses widely recognized that work / life balance is critical to engage and motivate a productive workforce. Remote work and flexible hours became a common perk to recruit and retain employees. Performance management systems shifted towards goal and results oriented factors vs rating for "attendance." Some old-school companies resisted, and denied the ability to be productive in a non-traditional way. Then COVID-19 hit and non-essential workers were required to stay home. So many eyes have been opened to the fact that work and business can be conducted effectively in other ways.

I'm not saying there aren't issues and challenges associated with the current situation, because there are. My point is this... Top performers are focused on getting results, not putting in a certain amount of hours.

If you tell your employees they have to work 60 hours a week, they will find 60 hours of "work" to do. That doesn't mean that it is necessary or productive work.

You can also have an employee who appears productive but is not efficient. An example of this would be spending 10 hours a week producing and analyzing reports that could be automated to take only 1 hour a week.

We should challenge ourselves, and our employees, to think about how to produce results in the most efficient way possible.

We work on this constantly at Bravent, which is why we're able to help our clients hire top talent for a fraction of the cost of traditional contingent agencies. If you're interested in learning more about these concepts, contact me at amy@bebravent.com!

Need Top Talent? Always Be Pipelining.

We love the “Always Be Closing” scene (warning: explicit content) from the movie Glengarry Glen Ross. Alec Baldwin’s character berates an underperforming sales team and schools them on the basics. They’re selling real estate, but the movie became a classic reference for all salespeople. And guess what? If you’re involved in hiring, you’re a salesperson.

Let’s take these principles and apply to a talent acquisition technique: candidate pipelining.

As a hiring manager or human resources professional, there are undoubtedly times when you have openings you’re unable to fill with candidates who are qualified and actively involved in a job search. These are candidates who are actively engaged in a job search and typically come to you via job applications or resume databases. These are excellent, fast turnaround strategies to fill a position, but inadequate for difficult to fill roles with limited talent pools. Building a longer term pipeline of talent is critical to the success of you, your department, and ultimately your company.

Active Candidate Recruitment = Short Term Strategy, Best for Roles with Basic Qualifications or Plentiful Talent Pools

Passive Candidate Recruitment = Long Term Strategy, Best for Roles with Specialized Qualifications or Limited Talent Pools

So our recruiting recommendation to compliment Alec’s famous “ABC: Always Be Closing” speech? ABP. Always Be Pipelining.

We’ve created the “Always Be Pipelining Worksheet and Guide” for Hiring Managers, Recruiters, and Human Resources Professionals. It gives you a structured format and tips for building a pipeline of top talent you can recruit to your company. Download it and implement this practice today!

If you’d like help creating a custom pipelining strategy, or if you’d like us to pipeline for you, schedule a free consultation.

Coronavirus Resources

Published: 3/17/20

This is a difficult, unprecedented time for all of us. We need to learn from what's happening across the world to minimize the spread of Coronavirus as much as possible.

We've collected a few tips for employers:

  • You (and those around you) could be infected and contagious but not showing symptoms yet. For this reason, treat everyone as though they are potentially infected - maintain a 6 foot distance, wash hands frequently, avoid touching face, and ramp up cleaning practices in the workplace. Visit www.cdc.gov for the most current and accurate information on the virus.

  • Require employees to work remotely (if possible). Send employees home immediately if they report to work showing symptoms consistent with coronavirus. Temperature monitoring can be enacted - review the OSHA guidance below.

  • Leverage the amazing technology that's available to us to conduct internal and customer meetings online rather than in-person. We suggest Zoom or Google Hangouts as an easy and affordable solutions. If you must meet, keep it short and do it in an open space where you can maintain distance from one another.

  • A government-mandated quarantine is likely imminent in some cities. Think about how this would impact your business and come up with a plan. For example, many businesses are taking advantage of eCommerce, booking in future months, and adjusting their go-to-market strategy to meet a newly created demand in the "social distancing" economy.

  • Communicate expectations, business status and plans to employees. If their jobs are at risk, be transparent and act quickly. Consider partnering with another business that is experiencing a demand surge so that you can rehire employees once things return to normal.

  • Identify ways to cut costs and use the savings to take care of your employees who are negatively impacted. For example, you could use the travel budget to provide some additional paid time off to employees in need.

Review these resources to stay apprised of the situation and ensure compliance with evolving employment law:

We're here to help. You can schedule a free 30 minute consultation with Bravent here: http://www.bebravent.com/free-consultation

Stay safe!

--Amy

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tips-employ...