No matter how many job interviews you may have been to, sitting in front of a potential employer and answering the question “why should we hire you?” can still be pretty nerve-racking.

Being well-prepared is by far the best way to ease the pre-interview jitters and show the interviewer your best side.

Kandi Mensing shares her knowledge. Read more at: http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/careers/resumes/job-interview-tips

Many small businesses have under 40 employees and do not employ a person dedicated to the human resources aspect of the business. The owner wears many hats in the company, usually spread between all departments; sales, accounting, customer service, human resources (HR), technical support, and even janitorial! We work with many small business owners who have lost their passion because they have become owned by their business rather than them owning their business. They try to hand off duties to various staff, and we typically see the HR responsibilities given to an office manager, but because the business owner knows they’re no HR expert, the owner keeps close involvement in the HR function, which is a daunting task when you’re wearing so many hats.

 Small businesses outsource HR in many ways and for many reasons, usually varying based on the industry, and the company’s size and needs. Simply stated, there are two ways to outsource HR; outsource it to a third party completely, or hire an HR consultant to train your office manager (or yourself) on maintaining a legally compliant, efficient, and excellent HR function. By outsourcing their HR function, a small business can ensure they are compliant with the law and run their business with peace of mind. Keeping up with the ever-changing requirements is a full-time job in itself, especially at the rate the government changes things (we know)! Many business owners can't tell you what acronyms like ADA, FMLA, EEO, and others mean, let alone how they affect their business. Outsourcing HR allows the business owner to regain their passion, and reconnect to their purpose by focusing on the parts of the business they love; the reason they got into business in the first place!

 The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) conducted a survey of hundreds of companies and found that 26% of them outsource to save money. But while outsourcing can affect your bottom line positively, it also affects the culture of your business. 23% of businesses outsource to focus on strategy -- handing off the nuts and bolts work to the people who are best at it. Additionally, 22% of companies said they outsource to improve compliance -- because a smart business owner knows the things he or she doesn't know can hurt them!

The top 10 outsourced HR tasks are:

1. Recruiting Assistance  
2. Background Checks
3. Workplace Policy Handbooks
4. HR Procedure Implementation
5. Staff Training & Development  
6. Management Training & Development
7. Employee Terminations
8. Personnel File Audits
9. Workplace/Employee Surveys
10. HR Compliance Audits & Training

To determine if HR outsourcing will work for you and what firm will work best for you, you need to first figure out what your needs are. Where are your frustrations when it comes to the employment cycle? What tasks would you love to hand off? Then determine their areas of expertise. Can they help you with your needs? Not all HR consultants may have the skill set you seek and need. Next, you need to compare the price of hiring an HR consultant to the return on investment (ROI). Many times, we help businesses become more efficient and create a more accountable workforce which reduces employee issues and typically lowers the amount of overtime needed, i.e. HUGE savings. Not to mention, that businesses are at risk for large fines and lawsuits if they leave themselves exposed. Many times, we see the investment pay off the first week we work with a client by uncovering and correcting unnecessary risk!

The question becomes, Why aren't you outsourcing your HR function?

We invite you to check out our 12-month outsourcing packages here, but we also have an "al a carte" option as well. As always you can email us with questions at [email protected].  

Open House Details

Please click to listen to the video invitation above.

Monday June 30, 2014
2 pm to 7 pm
Drop in any time! 
Ribbon Cutting at 5 pm

Giveaways • Photobooth • Food & Drink

522 East Main Street
Mascoutah, IL 62258

You can join the event on Facebook here and make sure you "like" our Facebook page while you’re there. Thank you for your support! 

A Personal Note from Kandi Mensing

Kandi here. I just returned from spending 7 days in New York City. What an amazing week! If you’re anything like me, you sometimes need a break from business and reality. Since I was spending 3 days in Stamford, CT (just an hour outside of NYC), for business, I decided to extend my stay and take some time for me, to reenergize myself, reconnect to my purpose, and I did just that. Rather than staying in a hotel, I chose to sublet a Manhattan apartment and so I got to experience the city as a real New Yorker! What a fast-paced city, but I was surprised by how friendly and helpful New Yorkers are. The movies make them out to be stiff and rude, and my experience was nothing like that.

I spent 3 days with the most incredible entrepreneurs from around the world. We have created strong friendships in the last year of working together, but our time together last week provided me with some lessons, I’d like to share with you. I hope they serve you in some way.

Too often, we entrepreneurs run ourselves ragged in our businesses. We are pulled constantly from one thing to the next. We need to actively find focus. It’s important to find focus by delegating to your team, creating well-trained staff, respecting your time, schedule, and calendar, and outsourcing the activities that are a drain on your business (accounting, cleaning, billing, website work, marketing, public relations, and human resources just to name a few). Your time is your responsibility, and it’s your duty to ensure that you are not overwhelmed so that you can "show up" in a big way for your business.

We entrepreneurs are also very hard on ourselves. We often don’t take the time to celebrate our small or large successes. Instead, we move on to the next goal, the next project. We set strict, sometimes unrealistic goals and deadlines and when we are unsuccessful at meeting them, it takes a hit on our confidence, which prevents us from moving forward the next time, or causes frustration. Take time every day to celebrate your accomplishments for that day. Implement a system to track goals you set (no matter how small) and whether you met them. I constantly amaze myself at what I accomplish every quarter because I establish goals, and track them. It creates confidence, which I believe breeds success.

Make time for the things that matter most. Work smarter, not harder. We sometimes equate being busy with being successful and that is so far from the truth! It’s not about doing everything right, it’s about doing the right things. Be strategic and focused rather than busy. There’s no point working on things that don’t give you results. Your business needs you to be focused and energized, and if you’re stressed and overwhelmed, you will not show up for your business and your business will suffer as a result. Work more strategically. Work less hours by ensuring your time is respected, uninterrupted, and work on the strategic, most important things in your business.

I could go on all day but I wanted to share with you the lessons that spoke to me the most, the issues that I find are a common denominator in the businesses of our clients. Entrepreneurship is a full contact sport, but we are the coaches building the teams, training the teams, leading the teams, and creating the legacy. When we have strategies, and we show up energized in our business, there’s only one option: WINNING!

The biggest frustration that many business owners bring to us is recruiting and retaining quality employees. They don't know where to find quality candidates, the type of people applying for open positions are less than overwhelming, and when they do bring someone in for an interview, the candidate acts like they'd be doing the business owner a favor to accept the job and show up to work!    

Elite HR Team™ has taken the guesswork out of recruiting for you. Here are five tips to get you started:

1. Implement HR Forecasting. Your strategy should be proactive, not reactive. Instead of waiting until you've lost an employee to think about your hiring process, analyze where you want to go and how you're going to get there so you can be prepared. 
 
2. Explore Hiring Methods. Some businesses still rely on newspaper want ads to find their new hires, but in the digital age, there are many different options. Which one you choose determines the audience you will be speaking to. Find the best people for your business. Elite HR Team uses HiringThing as our online portal.

3. Ensure Recruiting Compliance. If you've never sat down and audited your recruiting process, now is a great time! You should make hiring choices based on a candidate's education, work history, and ability to do the job -- and not on any protected classes they may exhibit.

4. Streamline Your Interview Process. Do you know what questions to avoid? Have you created job descriptions for all your positions so you know the qualifications? Have you trained your managers in proper interview techniques? By creating a list of questions that you use to interview every candidate, you can analyze their skills and better compare them. Using the same interview questions for every candidate protects you against discrimination claims, if one should arise.

5. Identify the Candidate. The easiest way to identify your candidate is by first identifying the essential traits and skills you want to see, which are typically taken from the job descriptions you've created. You can also create a skills matrix to objectively rate candidates based on core traits and skills.

We have created a new, free tool that expands on these ideas in a comprehensive workbook, which we're launching this week. Sign up for our NEW, FREE Small Business Recruiting Workbook on our website. There is also more valuable information about Hiring and Firing in our Elite HR Business School™. 

By Jodi Tahsler

Communication is the number one thing that will improve morale, employee retention, and create an overall happy work environment. But sometimes your employees don't want to come to you with problems. Perhaps they think it will jeopardize their job, maybe they don't think you're approachable, maybe they don't think there's a solution to their dissatisfaction at work, or they've come to you with concerns before that haven't been addressed. Sometimes you have to focus in on the things they don't say in order to effectively start a line of communication. Unhappy employees waste company time and resources, costing your company thousands each year. Here are seven signs that your employees are unhappy in their work roles:   

1.     Turnover. The most blatant sign that employees are unhappy with their jobs is if they leave. Some industries are notorious for their turnover rates, especially minimum wage positions, but if you notice an increase in turnover, or if employees start leaving at a certain time or from a certain department, there may be internal issues fueling their decision.

2.     HR Complaints, Petty Problems. Unhappiness in their job can cause employees to find fault with minor issues around the company. If they’re making a point to repeatedly complain about trivial matters, there's probably a larger issue. Question them to further to get to the heart of the problem.

3.     Absenteeism. An employee who starts missing work – arriving late or leaving early – may be frustrated and just not want to come in, or they may be using the time to go on interviews.

4.     Poor Productivity. Even if the employee is present, if their productivity declines it can be a sign that they’re unhappy and not willing to put in an effort to their daily tasks.

5.     Discipline Problems. Some people are unwilling to quit a job, or are hoping to collect unemployment, so they may push the decision to terminate into your court. If you start having discipline problems with an employee who previously had no issues, it may be a department issue, or they may just not be making an effort.

6.     Attitude. Keeping yourself plugged in to your workers will allow you to see if they have a shift in attitude. Sullenness, anger, or boredom may be signs of disengagement.

7.     Time Stealing. If you monitor your technology, seeing a rise in websites like Monster or Career Builder, or outgoing calls may be a sign that employees are using work resources to job search.

What can you do about it?

• If you want to find out what your employees are thinking, consider conducting a Retention Survey. Retention surveys allow employees to offer their honest feed back in an anonymous way, which gives you insight into their true feelings. Retention surveys are customized to each business, and Elite HR Team™ provides a comprehensive executive report with suggestions for improvement. These are best done by a third party, because employees don't trust that their company will keep the information confidential. Click here for more information.
• Use a program such as StrengthsFinder in connection with creating job descriptions. This solution is two-fold. First, StrengthsFinder will analyze each member of your team, based on a few pages of reading and a short, multiple-choice quiz. When your employees understand their strengths, they can work smarter, not harder. As they analyze their best assets, your job descriptions should be updated to reflect the tasks they are best suited for. Sometimes an unhappy employee is merely frustrated by their role, because it doesn't maximize their strengths. Job descriptions also ensure that employees know what is expected of them.
• If you haven't evaluated your benefits packages lately, now might be a good time. There are a slew of additional free or low cost benefits that you can offer to incentivize staff without breaking the bank. Along with the benefits you provide, you should also create a benefits statement that shows each employee exactly how much the company is investing in them. Retention surveys also often ask if employees are happy with their benefits package, and what benefits they would like to see.
• You may also consider a wellness program. Wellness programs can focus on many aspects, from weight loss to smoking cessation, to stress management. When employees are healthy, they are more likely to be happy and to have the energy to take on the challenges presented to them.
• Finally, talk to your employees! Touch base with them daily. Make a point to ask about their lives and respond with genuine interest. Because you have opened the doors of communication, employees will be more likely to come to you when problems arise.

All of these solutions bolster communication, which fosters a healthy work environment. You want your employees to feel like they are part of your team, working toward something bigger, and that their efforts are appreciated. Happy employees will be more productive and stay with your company longer, giving you a greater return on your investment. Make these small changes to invest in your employees today.

Bringing in a candidate for an interview means that you were impressed with their skills and background and you think they might be a good fit with your company. The first thing that you do is make small talk to get to know them and make them feel comfortable. But what many interviewers don’t realize is that the innocent questions they’re asking may be illegal!

According to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, any questions that reveal protected classes, such as age, race, national origin, gender, religion, marital status, or sexual orientation, are off-limits. Now, obviously things like age, gender and sometimes race may seem fairly obvious, but hiring decisions cannot be based on these qualities. Below is a list of example questions to avoid:

1.     Are you married? This can reveal marital status and sexual orientation, both of which aren’t allowed.

2.     Do you have children? You also can’t ask if the person is planning to have children in the future. Even if the woman is visibly pregnant, you can’t refer to it. Instead, ask questions such as, “Do you have responsibilities that will interfere with specific job requirements, such as travelling?” or “Do you have anything planned in the next six months that will interfere with your availability?”

3.     What religious holidays do you practice? Instead, ask, “Are you available to work on Saturdays or Sundays.”

4.     What country are you from?  

5.     Is English your first language? Instead, you can ask “What languages do you read, speak, or write fluently?”

6.     Do you have any outstanding debt? Credit checks are allowed for positions where money is handled, as long as you check the credit of all the candidates you’re considering. You must also have their permission first.

7.     Do you drink? Likewise, asking about past drug use is protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

8.     How long have you been working? This questions allows employers to calculate age, which is unlawful. Similarly, they can’t ask what year you graduated high school or college, or your birthday. However, they can ask how many years’ experience you have working in a certain industry.

9.     What kind of discharge from the military did you receive? You can ask about the skills and experience that the applicant acquired during their service.

10.   Have you been arrested? Instead, you can ask if they have been convicted of a crime, but the crime may not disqualify the applicant from the job, unless the conviction directly relates to the job at hand. For example, you don’t want to hire someone who has embezzled money from an accounting position.

Knowing the questions to ask are important in finding the right candidate for the job.

By: Dan Cozzi

Veracity is one of our core values at Elite HR Team. We define Veracity as, "extending permission to embrace unique qualities and serve genuinely."

Passion means to have a strong, almost uncontrollable emotion about something.  Where do such emotions come from?  They aren't logical, but they are tied to something deep within us; extremely personal.  One of the great philosophers in western history, Thomas Aquinas, held that temperance binds our passions.  In the realm of morality and justice temperance protects society, but the absence of it can turn an individual into a sociopath.  However, when related to the health of your workforce, encouraging certain passions is a goal of the highest order.  Passionate people greatly engage in the things they are passionate about, and here is where veracity is important. 

Companies that don't embrace veracity find it difficult to promote passionate workforces. Without it managers, executives and company leaders risk tempering their worker's passion for their work. Think about it, how passionate can someone be where her/his unique qualities are suppressed in an effort to force compliance to tasks and exercises which are counter to their strengths or individuality. 

At Elite HR team, we embrace veracity as one of our values to avoid tempering our team members’ passion for their work.  In whatever we are working on, for our clients or for our business goals, we give ourselves and our partners permission to embrace their unique qualities and strengths and live them in their work. These unique qualities determine our strengths which we welcome and encourage to strengthen our team and yours.

We've shared why we feel veracity is key to our vision for our future, please share how or if veracity plays a role in your company, team, or work group.  We look forward to learning from you! Comment below or join the conversation on our Facebook page.

You can also watch our video about Veracity where Dan interviews Kandi on Elite HR Team's core Value Veracity here: 

Don't let the resumes pile up on your desk. There's a better way for small businesses to recruit. Streamline your efforts with our affordable online recruiting portal. Your first posting is free, and there are plans as low as $29/month! Claim your free job posting here:

http://register.hiringthing.com/partners/elitehrteam

{What-Not-To-Do Wednesday} Don't ignore your HR function. It can be a valuable tool to catapult your business, protect your bottom-line, and create a culture of excellence when given proper attention. Most business owners are overwhelmed by keeping up with employee issues and employment law. The good news is you don't have to keep struggling. Just like you outsource your accounting, your web design, or your janitorial, you can outsource your HR function. Find out how here: www.EliteHRTeam.com