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Managing human resources should never be done by the "seat of the pants" method. Failure to establish and define policies and procedures is the surest way to invite problems, failure, and costly litigation. Powers Consulting works with our clients to develop customized, effective, documented policies and procedures for every aspect of the human resource process . Ethics are the standards of behavior that define the concepts of "right" and "wrong." While no employer is likely to tolerate criminal behavior on the part of its employees, the use of company time and resources to address personal needs and desires often constitute an ill-defined area of what is considered "acceptable." Powers Consulting can help the employer differentiate between inexpensive perquisites and costly abuses, then define ethical standards, which make these differences clear to employees.
Today's technology can put the world at the fingertips of every employee in an organization. As with any new development, availability can mean abuse and misdirection, or it can add to the empowerment of a workforce. Excessive controls and limitations on the part of fearful employers can easily turn into costly restrictions on productivity and efficiency. Powers Consulting can provide a customized evaluation of the workplace to develop the fine line between use and abuse, and then assist in implementing guidelines and policies with respect and understanding.
Every supervisor in the world appraises the performance of his subordinates; the overwhelming majority of them do it wrong! Powers Consulting can help design and implement a system that accurately measures performance against specific goals and objectives in a way that not only addresses administrative decisions such as pay and promotions, but also becomes a powerful tool for developing employees.
When employees are recognized for their contributions, they feel better about their jobs and their employers, and the result is usually a positive impact on organizational performance. This recognition does not have to be costly. The important thing is that it happens. Powers Consulting can help develop recognition programs that are appropriate for specific employee populations and business environments. These range from simple guidance on giving verbal praise in an organized manner, to large-scale innovation programs with significant monetary rewards for employees' ideas.
Absenteeism is a costly drain on a company's bottom-line. Absence control programs merely define the limits of an employer's tolerance. Attendance management addresses the broader picture of discretionary absence and can result in significant impact on both productivity and profit.
Interviewing and selecting the best candidates for hire can be a difficult and time-consuming task. Employee turnover, costly hiring expenses and the constantly changing job market make the role of an interview an important one. Behavioral interviewing offers a proven set of techniques to collect specific, detailed information from interviewees about their experience, skills, knowledge and abilities. Powers Consulting will not only teach these interviewing skills and techniques to all managers involved in the selection process but design the tools for managers to use to interview candidates.
One of the most damaging drains on profitability of any company is employee turnover. Each time an employee leaves, the employer loses productivity while the position is vacant, then incurs costs of recruiting, selecting and training a replacement, and finally bears the impact of the learning curve as the new person works to attain the performance level of the previous employee. Powers Consulting helps clients look at the work environment to determine departure patterns and then will recommend a variety of solutions designed to increase the longevity of valued employees.
Attracting, retaining, and motivating employees have historically been the major objectives of salary administration programs, and certainly will continue to be in the future. Their accomplishment, however, has become far more complex in today's business environment and global economy. Many questions need answers in order to design, implement and maintain a rewards system that works in a given organization. Finding answers to these questions requires working closely with management to provide custom solutions to these issues.
Powers Consulting is a fully licensed provider of the Job MAPTM system. This process of job measurement produces quantitative indices of job or role values. These "values" are then used as a basis for assigning actual dollar values or salary ranges to jobs/roles. This methodology integrates several well-known and proven techniques, including job classification and factor comparison. This integrated process enables the classification and ranking of all jobs/roles according to certain common factors of job content. Numerical scaling techniques provide appropriate point ratings for use in structuring salaries and making external compensation comparisons. The process can also accommodate finite point values, grades or broad bands, depending on their appropriateness in a particular situation.
Whether or not "you get what you pay for" in the employment process depends largely upon whether or not "you pay for what you get." Performance-based incentives allow a compensation system to become a vehicle for enhancing the management process. Powers Consulting can design an incentive component to a compensation system that will help define and obtain the desired performance from employees.
Alternative Dispute Resolution When employees feel they have no reliable internal place to go for resolving an issue, they may choose to take an issue to court or to an outside agency. This can result in a significant loss of time and money for the company. In order to reduce this risk, some employers are implementing dispute resolution programs to provide faster, cheaper means of addressing employee concerns. Powers Consulting can tailor a program for a particular work environment and assure that all employees know how to properly use it.
To take the guesswork and frustration out of a new employee's first few days on the job, Powers Consulting can develop a customized orientation program to introduce newcomers to everything they need to reach full productivity as quickly as possible.
Every citizen in a community has the right to know the laws that govern their behavior. Employees are citizens in an organization, and as such they should have access to a clear, definitive statement of the policies and procedures to which they must adhere. A well written, comprehensive employee handbook is the vehicle for providing this. Not only does it serve to set forth rules and regulations, but it also introduces employees to the empowerment opportunities their employer offers.
In the same way that the citizens of any community need to know the rules that apply to them, the leadership of that community needs to know how to administer the rules. The organizational world is no different. Supervisors often need quick reference help to be able to answer policy questions and administer policies fairly and consistently. Writing a policy manual requires both time and specialized skills. Powers Consulting works with company leadership to design and develop a functional document which can be made available either in printed or electronic form.
One of the
time-consuming tasks facing HR departments in organizations of all sizes
is dealing with routine employee requests for such things as benefit information,
enrollment, personnel record changes, etc. Many companies have streamlined
their HR processes via automated processes which let employees find answers
to questions as well as perform transactions by themselves. Once developed,
an intranet website or other such interactive system can save paper, time,
and money. Powers Consulting offers the resources to develop such a tool. |
