Calibre HR & Training Newsletter
Winter 2007 Issue
In this issue:
Calibre HR & Training news
- Exhibiting at Kent Business Show
- Understanding TUPE
- Protecting outreach workers from passive smoking
Tackling the New Year exodus before it starts
If you wait until the New Year to see which key people are planning to leave, you stand little chance of changing their minds. To ensure your most important people are still with you this time next year, read our shortlist of retention and motivation essentials.
Don’t take staff for granted
Overlooking an individual’s aspirations, feelings and concerns is a quick way to lose them. Never assume a person is happy simply because they have been doing the job for years. By listening to individual staff members and acting on what they have said, you go a long way to making them feel valued. Even if you cannot resolve issues, you need to ensure staff know about efforts on their behalf and understand the outcome.
Keep the excitement
Even a job based on the most routine tasks can be rewarding where managers take the time to regularly discuss the role with the individual and its value within the organisation. By investigating career and role progression opportunities with them you can also help to give the role context. Find out how that person would like to be challenged – including the sort of targets that are meaningful to them – and what new projects / tasks get them fired up.
Manage for morale and motivation
Recognising and rewarding good work is the first step in motivating staff (see our appraisals factsheet below). Above all though, a good all-round manager has a consistent management style. Beyond that you can boost morale by encouraging a sense of community through effective communication and introducing personal responsibility for every individual within their role. Varied and interesting work, respect for work-life balance, training and development and an open-door culture also help.
Handling wage demands
Don’t be caught short when staff come to you with requests for salary hikes in the New Year. Not all expectations can be realised, so how do you handle it?
Be honest
Share what information you can on budgets and performance so individuals are aware of how their performance impacts on the business. The importance of effective communication cannot be over stressed, sharing performance information will help manage expectations of what can be afforded.
Create Pay Schemes
Consider performance-related pay or a bonus payment triggered by the achievement of agreed targets, but be careful that such schemes are not divisive and don’t lead to only short-term gains.
Be market aware
Find out what competitors are doing and what they are paying. You may not always be able to match their pay levels, but money is not always the primary motivator for where people work.
Consult staff
All organisations employing more than 50 staff will need an employee forum by April 2008. Made up of representatives from across the business, an employee forum can be a valuable tool in improving morale and motivation as staff know their views are listened to and that they have a platform to hear about plans directly from the management. The forum can also be used to discuss wage rises in the context of the organisation’s position and to explain how the level of any rise has been set.
Managing sickness absence
If managing sickness absence causes you problems, it could get worse with the Christmas party season. Often just knowing what constitutes a fair and reasonable process means these issues are nipped in the bud before getting out of control.
Download our Managing sickness factsheet
Calibre HR & Training News
Understanding TUPE
We have helped a successful leisure business manage the transfer and redeployment of 200 people over five sites after an acquisition. If you would like to know more about the issues involved please call Tara on 01233 813810.
Protecting outreach workers from passive smoking
Many of our voluntary sector clients are working on this now. Read the Third Sector Story.
Exhibiting at Kent Business Show
We will be exhibiting at the Kent Total Business Show at the Ramada Hotel, Maidstone, on February 1, 2008.