pres·en·tee·ism – n. the practice of coming to work despite illness, injury, anxiety, etc., often resulting in reduced productivity.

Presenteeism only promises to continue as a major workplace problem in 2012, so the Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) thought we’d share some insights into the issue.

Speechly Bircham’s Employment group is a UK-based employment law practice.  In their in-depth 2012 survey of HR directors and senior HR professionals across the UK, they determined that working hour increases are linked with higher stress and staff turnover, while longer work hours and presenteeism are set for big increases in 2012.

A review of the survey can be read at The State of Human Resources blog.  Conclusions include:

• Greater business uncertainty is linked with higher stress, absence, presenteeism and workforce discontent.
• Talent shortages for 40 percent of organizations exist and are linked with longer working hours, stress and presenteeism.
• Presenteeism is now a major workforce issue, linked with more grievances.

Today’s workplace has changed from two or even one decade ago. Some of these changes have contributed to the growing incidence of presenteeism.

Causes of presenteeism

• Increase in dual-earner and “sandwich generation” households.
• Fear of note meeting Employer expectations.
• Little or no paid sick days available or accrued.

Employer Solutions

• Recognize the problem.
• Rethink the use of disciplinary action to control absenteeism.
• Develop a workplace policy on presenteeism and inform and educate employees.
• Provide Paid Sick Leave and/or Paid Time Off (PTO) to Workers.
• Make an Effort to Boost Employee Morale.
• Offer a flu vaccination program.

The image of a sick-as-a-dog employee who comes to work as being a dedicated and valued worker is no longer fitting. Presenteeism costs are a real and potentially significant drain on a company’s financial well-being. Employers need to make a concerted effort to develop a workplace with healthy and highly functioning workers. This will go a long way toward meeting goals for company productivity and profits, and fostering a healthy work culture and environment for employees.

A talent management system (TMS) is an integrated software suite that addresses the “four pillars” of talent management: recruitment, performance management, learning and development, and compensation management.

Talent management systems focus on providing strategic assistance to organizations in the accomplishment of long-term enterprise goals with respect to talent, aka “human capital.”

HRO Today has announced its 2012 TMS Baker’s Dozen Customer Satisfaction Ratings.

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team took a look at the Top Five apps on the list:

1. 1.     Lumesse
2. 2.     myStaffingPro
3. 3.     Kenexa
4. 4.     iCIMS
5. 5.     SilkRoad

Lumesse

Lumesse, Europe’s largest independent talent management solutions company, has released a new version of its Lumesse Mobile app for Apple iOS, with an enhanced user experience, multi-lingual capabilities and improved usability. The Lumesse Mobile app allows businesses worldwide using Lumesse TalentLink 12 to give managers access to key process steps and employee information in multiple languages from their iPhones (the app is also iPad-compatible.)  Lumesse Mobile is designed as a true native iOS app to ensure a responsive, high quality user experience on mobile platforms.

myStaffingPro

myStaffingPro is a full-featured applicant tracking and recruiting software system with advanced applicant screening capabilities.  myStaffingPro provides professional staffing software tools designed to help users achieve hiring goals while saving time and money.  myStaffingPro Elevate: social recruiting and employment branding software that harnesses social media, job distribution, network building and career site techniques.  myStaffingPro Express: economical solution for companies looking for the essentials in applicant tracking.

Kenexa

Kenexa offers unified business solutions for human resources that support the entire employee lifecycle, including:

• Recruitment Solutions (RPO)
• Employment Branding
• Employee Assessments
• Talent Management
• Compensation Solutions
• Engagement Surveys
• Leadership Solutions

iCIMS

iCIMS is a leading provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) talent acquisition software for growing businesses.  iCIMS’ Scalable Talent Acquisition Software offers:

• Secure Web-based platform accessible from anywhere, anytime
• Fully automated job publishing to social networks
• Electronic onboarding documents and communication
• Robust searching and reporting functions
• Free 24×5 access to award-winning customer support

SilkRoad

SilkRoad Technology is a leading provider of social talent management solutions.  RedCarpet, SilkRoad’s HR onboarding program, helps organizations better plan and manage employees during transitions using tools that include:

• Onboarding management – Automated workflows, standardized task assignment, reporting, global localization and an intuitive user-interface designed to help HR professionals and managers efficiently streamline the onboarding process.
• Employee portals – Branded content, social network integration and ongoing communication help transition employees into company culture and keep them in-the-know during transitions.

Electronic forms – Auto-populated fields, electronic signatures and instant delivery help HR managers keep compliant with E-Verify and I-9 while eliminating time and cost associated with paper-based administration.

It’s usually very clear why a company would invest in hiring an excellent law or accounting firm to represent their interests.  These two industries offer services that save their clients countless amounts of money annually. Business owners easily see the intrinsic value of investing in these firms, yet often have a hard time seeing the benefits of investing in their company’s human resources.

Recruitment Services: Attract Better Talent

It is necessary for a firm to identify the skill set that they are seeking in a potential employee in order to target their search appropriately.  An empowered Human Resources team is able to clearly identify their firm’s hiring needs and is less limited in the tools available when seeking out the best ways to fill those positions.  In the long run, better hiring practices will bring better employees.

Employee/Labor Relations: Minimize Employee Turnover

Maintaining high levels of job satisfaction amongst staff is the key to keeping long-term employees, especially in this tumultuous economy.  By investing in Human Resources, companies are able to stay on the leading edge of benefits; employees can trust that their employer cares about their health and happiness, adding to their overall opinion of their workplace.

Human Resources Management: Increase Productivity

By identifying and targeting productivity goals, firms are able to set realistic expectations for growth and monitor progress over time.  Additionally, maintaining long-term staff allows for growth and development within a position, allowing employees to bring more beneficial skill sets to the table and positively impact their work environment.

By putting these ideas into practice with Human Resources Outsourcing, companies are able to focus directly on the task at hand and become more productive and thus, more profitable. What would your company be capable of accomplishing if you streamlined your operations through HR Outsourcing?

Companies are finding that information management is evolving at a pace difficult to keep up with. Left with the challenge of filling and maintaining special skills positions that require savvy, businesses are looking for employees who are up to date on all of the latest advances in information technologies.

By utilizing some of the many outsourcing solutions available to them, companies are finding more sophisticated ways to make sure they have the human resource capabilities to process complex business transactions and information. With these advancements in Human Resources Outsourcing, they gain a competitive advantage that allows them the flexibility to expand their businesses by venturing into new fields and raise the level of competency in their present ones with little to no effort on their part.

Technology is responsible for greatly enhancing many industries including healthcare, education, transportation, engineering and manufacturing. Finding employees who have the knowledge to support current and developing technologies is vital for companies to effectively compete in today’s marketplace.

In the past, companies had to rely on in-house IT capabilities and were burdened with the responsibility of recruiting, training and managing their own teams of specialists to operate and maintain information systems.

Today there are other viable solutions to meet the challenges of finding talented employees who posses the skills to operate and maintain these complex information systems. Outsourcing IT is one way to meet this challenge.

Primary Benefits of Outsourcing IT:

• Organizations gain access to flexible infrastructure.
• Organizations achieve higher standards and levels of service.

IT Functions Most Commonly Outsourced:

• Data Entry
• Application Development
• Data Center Operations
• Network Management

As companies are increasingly reliant on IT to conduct business the price tag of recruiting, training, managing and developing capable employees has exploded, not to mention the long-term continuing education these employees need to stay at the top of their game. This is why businesses are choosing to transfer IT assets, employee leasing, HR Management, HR consulting and other HR services to a professional employment organization that will deliver cost reduction without losing ground to the competition.

Companies invest a lot of time, money and energy sending recruiters to job fairs conducted all over the world. However many employers are finding they are leaving empty handed, frustrated and without the qualified employees they were seeking.

Although job fairs are not completely unsuccessful, many companies realize that the resumes they collect at such events are far below the standards they were originally searching for. The fact remains that most employers are just not willing to settle, especially in an economy ripe with individuals seeking employment.

Top Reasons Why Job Fairs Fail to Find Talent:

• Low Caliber of Attendees
• Poor Turnout
• Disorganization
• Lack of Strong Candidates
• Insufficient Promotional Efforts

The failure of companies to effectively find strong candidates at job fairs is one of the major reasons they are turning to professional employment organizations as an alternative. By utilizing the staffing and recruiting services of human resourcing outsourcing specialists companies are finding talented employees when they need them. A PEO will provide the expertise to handle recruiting, pre-screening, position placement, training and even HR management.

Top Reasons Why Human Resources Outsourcing Works To Find Talent:

• Large Inventory of Candidates
• Thorough Pre-Screening Procedures
• Highly Skilled
• Invaluable Referrals
• Flexibility

By choosing human resources outsourcing over a job fair for finding talented employees companies can rely on the expert recruitment services of a professional team of HR specialists to assess each candidate ensuring the right fit for employers while saving them both time and money.

Most seasoned recruiters understand that there is more to an interview than a series of standardized questions.  Interviews need to be well planned with questions developed to get an understanding if the candidate has the right skill-set for the job and if they are a correct fit for the company. Additionally, the interviewer will need to be able to analyze the candidates answers without bias and come up with an ultimate decision and/or recommendation to proceed with an offer to hire….or, not.  When interviewing is conducted correctly the employment interview is a powerful tool in hiring the right person.  To read the rest of Jeff’s discussion on the Employment Interview, please click here the-employment-interview

Does this scenario sound familiar to you?  Constant hiring, turnover over 20% per year, ridiculous Worker’s Compensation Rates, over the top legal expenses and expensive overtime.  If so, I thought you might be interested in how GHRO solved these problems for one of our clients.

To read the rest of this article in its entirety please click here the-talent-acquisition-story

To Ms. Ronnie Perez and Mrs. Nichole DeGidio:

I would like to start off my experience with a WOW!, for the entire human resources department up at the Irvine branch and the San Diego Job Corp. The fact of doing the interview with Ms. Ronnie Perez a very talented and gifted voice staff member, made my interview much easier. My comfort level was at a 100% due to the fact of me using my phone in the convenience of my home. Every call and phone meeting setup by Ms. Perez was on time as schedule by Email or Phone. The Fact that the company uses this Interview Process tells me the company spent quite a bite of money. This tells me personally, the company is interested in Good hard working Individuals and if it takes some money to be invested so be it.

The interview experience on Campus here at The San Diego Job Corp Was Excellent. Mr. Ron Dean Was very Positive, helpfull and informative of Job Corp. Mr. Dean explained in Detail What was expected of a Residential Adviser and invited me on a tour of the Campus to see how things work inside and to start experiencing that great feeling of working with the Team. Mr. Dean also explained that I would be trained by one of his peer trainers and when I felt confident of my job by my self I would be assigned a dorm. This also made me feel Good.

The training with Ms. Nina Delacruz was very informative. Ms. Nina as everybody calls Her, is a excellent asset for the family here at Job Corp. I felt I could ask her any question I wanted and there would be an accurate answer to it. She explained in detail from A to Z how Job Corp works. Snacks and drinks were offered on Orientation, a very kind gesture. I also Met Mr. Manuel from human resources, very intelligent and also a funny guy. Mr. Bobby Brown Also gave us words of wisdom and a welcome to Job Corp.

The Training process with Residential Peer Trainer Mr. Timothy Labit was excellent and explained in full detail. Mr. Labit is a very talented spokesperson that every body recognizes here at Job Corp. He is also a Good listener and a knows when to speak. Mr. Labit is always smiling and that tells me he enjoys his work as much as I do.

Bottom Line, I Just want to say Thank you Job Corp for existing and all the excellent and friendly Staff working here. I feel like A family member already.

Rafael Ramirez
Residential Advisor II

To whom it may concern,

I would like to thank the human resource team. The process for obtaining employment with CSD was a smooth and enjoyable experience. Ronnie Perez was a tremendous asset, all of my questions were answered in a thorough and timely manner. The transition from online correspondence to the actual onsite interview were seamless. The interview environment with Ron Dean was informative and non threatening. The initial training conducted by Nina Delacruz was very informative and applicable to the position I applied for. The residential team consisting of Residential Advisors Timothy Labit and Tanisha Anderson were of great help in transitioning from general training to actual on the job training. Their knowledge about the position was immense. All in all the complete process for obtaining employment with San Diego Job Corps was very pleasurable.

Keep up the good work!

Thank You,

James Huett Residential Advisor