Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Human Resources

We know HR. Read our Human Resources blog archives for stories and best practices from our work with real clients and personal experiences in the world of HR.

  • Is it a Fantasy Draft or is it Talent Acquisition?

    Is it a Fantasy Draft or is it Talent Acquisition?

    Do you know the difference between a snake draft and an auction draft in fantasy football? (If you said no, help is here!) Most people who play have a pretty solid preference for one or the other. I’m here with the unpopular opinion that it doesn’t matter which style you use (gasp!). When you draft a player to your team, snake or auction, what matters is whether that player’s skills match up with your needs in the most strategic, beneficial way. 

    Do you know what fantasy football really is? Talent acquisition. Recruitment and selection. When we evaluate a pool of candidates for a job, we’re looking at both on and off the field performance to find the best match. We’re looking at professional work experience combined with intangibles like work ethic and integrity. We know that the most successful players – on the field and in the office – have equally strong hard and soft skills. So how do we objectively measure fit and decide who to draft? 

    We measure fit by matching values. We assess current employees’ values, and then we use that data to develop an Organizational Culture Profile (OCP). Candidates then take the same assessment, and like magic, we have data to tell us which candidates we should draft for our team based on their preferred OCPs. 

    Jason Mutarelli with Accounting Today talks about using data to make fantasy football decisions in much the same way he approaches his own professional accounting work. We know data is critical to decision-making in the workplace, but we can’t figure out how to use objective data when making arguably the most important decision of all: who to hire. 

    Fantasy football is about having fun and flexing your strategy muscles. It’s about objectively evaluating individual technical skills and team-based performance to build a roster of players that will bring you a win each week. Don’t we want a roster of players that will bring us wins in the workplace? We win at work when our values match. Start assessing values and you just might win the league!  

    See the original post of “Is it a Fantasy Draft or is it Talent Acquisition?” by Jillian Miles on thematchfit.com here.

  • 4 Reasons to Outsource

    4 Reasons to Outsource

    I came across a post on a Facebook group a few weeks ago.  The mom participant posted a question to the group asking how people simplified their lives.  She has three young children, and I took her post to mean she wanted to spend more meaningful time with her kids but didn’t know which direction to take or have the ability to do as a working mom. 

    Most of the responses to her question came down to two types of responses 1) limit your kids (and your) extracurricular activities 2) outsource.  People recommended outsourcing laundry, grocery shopping, ironing, and clothes shopping among other things. Get rid of spending time on the things that don’t add value and meaning the responses seemed to suggest.

    In business, outsourcing is also an option that provides an opportunity to focus on meaningful things while at the same time often reducing costs. This New York Times article acknowledges this and also indicates that outsourcing human resource functions is on the rise.  At Horizon Point most of the work we do, when it comes down to it is outsourcing human resource work.

    So when and why should you outsource?

    I would suggest that there are four key reasons or situations to outsource in business:

    1. When things are non-essential or don’t create value.  Just like the responses to the mom post, saying no to something is saying yes to something else.  If you have the resources to hire someone to do your laundry you can spend that time on a Saturday at the park with your kids when you would normally be doing laundry. Or you could hire a nanny to take your kids to the park while you do laundry- which is more meaningful and value-added?  Same with grocery delivery. 

    Likewise if you outsource, let’s say payroll as an HR function, you can focus more on employee engagement as a more value-added activity than processing payroll (Let me just caveat this by saying, both having clean laundry and payroll being right are essential, they just aren’t differentiators in life and in business- it’s gotta be done, but it’s really no fun to do it and it is a time suck.) Many of these things that don’t add value are also being are automated, which is similar to outsourcing for this reason. 

     

    2. When you don’t have the expertise.  I’ve got a big hole in my den ceiling right now because apparently something is leaking from upstairs.  I have no idea what is leaking, why, and how it is ending up in my den. I could try to fix it, but I would most likely create more of a mess and it would take countless hours for me to learn how to fix it.  It is much more effective and efficient for me to hire someone that has expertise in this area to stop water from dripping out of my ceiling. In the same way, outsourcing things that you don’t have in-house resources for is a good reason to call in some experts.  For example, you may need to outsource leadership training because you don’t have a person that is trained and experienced enough to do this. Often this makes sense for project-based work, not ongoing needs. 

     

    3. When you need someone that doesn’t have a dog in that fight.  Another reason to bring in expertise is that you need an objective third party to facilitate whatever activity that needs to be done.  We see this a lot in outsourcing 360 evaluations, engagement surveys, and anything where anonymity is needed to ensure the integrity and participation in the activity.  Other types of activities where I see more people bringing in experts is for organizational design and development activities such as looking at how an organization is structured and making recommendations on how to improve it or in coaching someone to better performance.  The main value the outsourcing brings in these cases is objectivity that obviously needs to be tempered with outsourcing to an expert that knows what he/she is doing. 

     

    4. When you are in transition.  The mom who posted on the message board is in a phase in her life where many things require her undivided time and attention. She has lots of competing priorities and is trying to sort through managing them.  

     

    Likewise, businesses are often in this place.  At Horizon Point, we have found living all of our company values (people first, passion, productivity, continuous learning and improvement, and give back) by helping companies that are in this type of growth transition.  It usually presents itself as a company that has grown past 50 people, where the office manager or a similar role has been doing “HR” and the owners/leaders of the company realize this isn’t going to work long term. They need an expert to help them be successful at all things people -to give them a competitive advantage- but they don’t have one in house.  They are like the mom with three young kids who still have two that can’t tie their shoes without help. Eventually, her kids will learn to tie their shoes and she won’t have to devote time to this every morning, but not without her teaching them to tie their shoes.  

    We come in and help the company identify internal (and on occasion, external) talent that can be the people leaders they need with some guided help and practice.  They outsource their HR to us temporarily, but the key piece of this outsourcing is teaching someone else to be their HR leader. We are working ourselves out of the job and we want to, just like the mom tying the shoes is doing.  She doesn’t want to tie her kids’ shoes forever.  

    We’ve worked through a few engagements like this at Horizon Point over the last four to five years, and there is nothing more rewarding that seeing a company continue to grow and thrive because you’ve helped them pick the right person to lead their HR function and helped them learn how to do it. 

     

    What do you find is best to outsource in life and in business?

    4 Tips to Help You Delegate Learned from Grocery Delivery
    You Gotta Gitcha Some Help to Lead and Run Well
  • Why Counter Offers Upon Resignation Rarely Work

    Why Counter Offers Upon Resignation Rarely Work

    Your top employee or best manager just walked into your office holding that dreaded piece of paper. You know, the one with the words “thank you for this great opportunity, I respectfully resign my position” typed neatly on it.  

    As you read it, your mind starts brainstorming “what can I do to get them to stay?!” You can’t lose them, they’re the best of the best. You’ll never be able to find someone with their skill set and knowledge of the organization. You’ll spend months training their replacement just to get them up to speed. You’ve invested so much into them, how can they quit?

    And then without hesitation, the words “would you reconsider if I put a counteroffer together for you?” comes out of your mouth. They graciously say “sure” but in their mind, they’re thinking there’s nothing you can offer them to stay. It’s too little, too late. 

    And in reality, in most cases it is. Yet, in many industries, counteroffers are becoming increasingly common. 

    What does a counter offer really say to an employee? 

    1. You weren’t worth my time then, but you are now. You didn’t take the time to gauge their satisfaction with their job when it would have counted. Instead, you assumed they were happy with their position in your organization, with your head stuck in the sand, until they abruptly informed you that they were not happy in the form of their resignation. And suddenly trying to make them happy has become a priority, where ten minutes prior it wasn’t even on your radar. 
    2. It will cost me less to retain you than to replace you. It’s estimated that replacing an employee costs between 100-300% of their annual salary. That includes recruitment, onboarding, and training. By proposing a counteroffer you’re telling the employee that you’d rather pay them more to stay than to have to put out the money to replace them. It’s cost-effective. That tells the employee they aren’t what’s important to you, the cost savings are. 
    3. I’ll offer you more money to stay in a job you’re obviously not happy in. Counteroffers most often include incentives in the form of a higher salary, extra vacation time, and other perks that aren’t available to the general employee population. What they too often don’t include is training opportunities, strategic plans for advancement, or any other resolution that would improve the work situation the employee aims to change by leaving. Three of the top reasons employees leave is the work they are doing, no room for advancement, or their leadership. Offering them financial incentive to stay won’t impact those things. 

    So how can you proactively keep your top employees from slipping you that piece of paper? 

    Start by assessing your key talent through a people review. This should include their strengths and areas of improvement as well as their risk for leaving the organization and a succession plan if they do. Then sit down with them and have a conversation, or what we in HR sometimes call a stay interview. Find out what their career goals are and see how that matches up with the succession plan you designed. A succession plan won’t work if you haven’t taken into consideration where your employees want to be in three to five years within your organization. During that stay interview also ask them what they like about working for the company, what their pain points in their position are, and give them the opportunity to share their ideas. And finally, assess your wages on a regular basis. Are you lagging in your industry with regards to wages? If so, what can you do to improve that? 

    What steps has your organization taken to ensure that your key employees don’t walk out the door and leave you in a panic? 

  • Who Is Your Successor?

    Who Is Your Successor?

    How many people do you know that have left a job or stepped down from a volunteer leadership position, regardless of the reason? Have you ever been that person? I have. Let’s talk about it. 

    Every day, organizations find themselves with a newly empty desk chair. Responsibilities unassigned. Balls dropped. Projects unfinished. On average, that chair sits empty for 40-60 days, depending on which report you read. Think about your own organization. Do you know your “time to fill”? With the talent market like it is right now, your time to fill may be even longer. Think about all that lost productivity a.k.a. lost revenue + cost of recruitment + myriad of other expenses we know fall into the total cost of hiring one person. Whew! 

    We can be proactive and cut the time to fill significantly. We need to talk about succession planning (even if you don’t want to). Sharlyn Lauby talks about this on the ADP Spark blog in her article “5 Reasons You Should Have a Succession Plan (Even If You Don’t Want To)”. Another iteration of something I hear myself saying at least once a week, Lauby states, “It’s absolutely essential for organizations to think about the “what ifs” associated with an employee not being able or available to do their job.” We have to be prepared if we want to maintain long-term success. 

    I recently left a job that I loved for the job that I was made for. It wasn’t easy, but it was right for me. As the first domino fell, so did the next one, and the next one. I had to tell two volunteer-led organizations that are dear to me that I could not finish out my term on the board of directors. I was, of course, willing to help train my successor…who I realized did not exist. Not for my job, nor for my volunteer roles. It was a shock to these systems for me to leave suddenly. But it didn’t have to be. 

    Sharlyn Lauby said something else I hear myself saying constantly: “Succession planning isn’t as hard as it sounds”. It’s as simple as paying attention to the talent already within your organization. Forbes contributor, Stuart Levine, describes strategic talent management and successful succession planning as a system where “People are identified for their potential to guide the organization in the future as much as for their current strengths”. The wisest talent managers think in the future and live in the present. When executed well, succession plans can be the lifeblood of an organization. 

    Remember that job I loved and left? I was teaching at a university, focusing on professional and career development of business students. We frequently invited industry partners to visit classrooms and speak to students about their successes and their challenges, sometimes in a recruiting capacity, sometimes purely educational. Sherwin-Williams was one of my favorite companies I invited to participate – let me acknowledge my bias as their former HR intern – because I think they do many, many things extraordinarily well, including talent management and succession planning. Did you know upwards of 85% of their hires are internal? Did you know some of their current top leaders started with the company as management trainees decades ago? Here’s what that looks like. Sherwin-Williams is a shining example of an organization that thinks in the future and lives in the present. They have extensive training and development that is specifically designed to capitalize on the existing strengths of potential leaders in preparation for their inevitable opportunity for internal promotion. They pay attention to every single potential leader and how he or she can be strategically developed to lead in a way that is best for him or her individually and best for the company. It’s really an incredible system. 

    So how do you get started? SHRM has excellent resources to help any organization create succession plans. Here are two reads I recommend:

     

    If you have more time and are ready for a deep dive, check out Developing Leadership Talent, part of the SHRM Foundation’s Effective Practice Guidelines Series. 

    Succession planning is important. I have experienced the stress of having no plan in place when someone left, and I have been the cause of that stress for others. The proof is in the successful organization pudding: pay attention to and develop your talent now. Who is your successor? Don’t wait until you’re leaving to figure it out. 

     

    Have questions about how to incorporate strategic talent management and succession planning in your organization? Horizon Point can help. Call us at 256-227-9075 or email us at info@horizonpointconsulting.com.

  • Taking the Guess Work Out of 1099s

    Taking the Guess Work Out of 1099s

    In fifteen years as an HR practitioner, there’s one question I can probably pinpoint as the most asked question I have gotten over the years.

    “Why can’t I just classify them as an independent contractor?”

    It’s estimated that by 2020 40% of the US workforce will be freelancers or temp employees, up from 30% in 2006. With that number growing, it’s even more important for organizations to understand the independent contractor classification and when it can be used. The penalties for misclassifying employees as independent contractors can include back payment of taxes, interest owed to employees for wages not paid, fines, and even criminal or civil charges. It’s a costly mistake, and yet it’s one I see way too often.

    Here are just a couple questions I’ve answered in the last few weeks alone:

    1. “I have a candidate that would like to be classified as a 1099, can I do that?” Simply put, no, you cannot classify someone as an independent contractor just because that’s how they prefer to be classified.
    2. “We have a candidate that we want to bring on as an employee, but we’d like them to complete a trial period. Can we classify them as an independent contractor during that trial period and then hire them as an employee at the end of that period if they are a good fit for the position?” No, you cannot temporarily bring someone on as an independent contractor to see if they’re a good fit for your company if you’re otherwise going to treat them as you would any other employee. You can certainly have a probationary or trial period during which time you evaluate them and they get to evaluate the company, but you have to pay them as you would any other employee.

    So when can an organization pay someone as an independent contractor? Here are a few questions to ask yourself about the assignment:

    1. How will the work be assigned and completed? Will regular direction be given or will an overall scope of work be provided? Who will dictate the work schedule? Where will the work be completed? If there will be regular direction given or delegation of tasks to which specific deadlines are set and the company dictates when and where the work is to be performed, chances are they should not be classified as an independent contractor. If an overall scope of work is agreed upon and they determine their own work schedule and where the work is completed, then move on to the next question.
    2. Who will provide the necessary resources to complete the work? Will the company provide necessary equipment such as computers, phones, etc.? If the company will be providing the necessary resources and equipment, there is a strong chance the position does not qualify as an independent contractor. There are some exceptions to this, for example, they provide their own computer, but the company provides them with access to software programs required to complete the work.
    3. How will they be compensated for the work completed? If they are paid as any other employee of the company, chances are they should not be classified as an independent contractor. If they are paid a set contract amount, even if paid in equal intervals such as monthly, or they provide an invoice for work completed that is then paid through accounts payable, it is possible that they are in fact an independent contractor.

    For more detailed information on evaluating the independent contractor classification, you can go to the IRS website. Many years ago the IRS designed a 20-Factor Test for Independent Contractors. They no longer support the test on their website, but it’s still floating around out there and I still recommend it to clients as the best source for helping to determine 1099 status. The information on the IRS website is not as clearly defined in my opinion as the test is.

    I recommend that if your organization currently has independent contractors, you check their status against the 20-Factor test. If the position does not meet the requirements of the test, proactively take action to remedy the error and classify them correctly as an employee and ensure that they are afforded all of the benefits that an employee receives.