Inside Human Resources Blog

Employees Turnover The Pharms

We've been forecasting increases in employee churn and turn for some time.  A new survey by The Hay Group confirmed turnover is on the rise in pharmaceutical and biotech sales.

• Turnover jumped from 10 percent in 2002 to 14 percent in 2003.
•   It cost the pharms an average of $89,000 to replace a single rep.
• Why are reps leaving?  The number one reason is compensation.  Number two is difficulty with an immediate supervisor. (Solution?  See Managing to Excel)

Read more about changes in workforce demographics at Perfect Labor Storm.

Cooking Up Your Favorite Thanksgiving DISC!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Many of you are familiar with personality tests, particularly the DISC Behavioral Type assessments.  Many human resource professionals and managers are familiar with the DISC model.  But as you'll read in the column below, DISC don't just represent business behaviors. 

(What is DISC?  DISC is an acronym standing for Direct, Influencing (or Interacting), Steady, and Compliant (or Conscientious) - in other words, how people respond to problems, people, pace and procedures. While many people try to avoid "taking these tests" in an attempt to hide what they feel are their deepest, personal secrets, let the truth be known that these behaviors are very obvious even to the casual observer. )

Even if you never have heard of DISC before, you willl certainly recognize a few relatives, friends or acquaintances who exhibit these classic behavioral styles, representing D-I-S-C. 

Click here to read how people you know very, very well might have shopped and prepared for your holiday dinner.

Customer Satisfaction Survey Says Customer Rage On The Rise

We all know that keeping customers happy is the key to a successful business. Sure, sometimes it's a challenge. One of the key areas of complaint is actually how the complaint itself is handled. It's one thing to have an unhappy customer. It's another to get the customer even more upset by not handling the complaint in a "satisfactory" manner.

A recent survey of customer households by the Customer Care Alliance found that an increasing number of Americans (73 percent of those with a product or service problem) are extremely upset about how "serious" complaints are being handled by companies. In fact, the CCA has termed this dissatisfaction as "customer rage". On the other hand, only 16 percent felt completely satisfied or received more than they asked for.

What do they want? After having a product repaired or service fixed, the overwhelming majority don't want something free or other compensation. Instead, they want an explanation why the problem occurred (78 percent), assurance that it won't happen again (78 percent), an apology (59 percent) and/or a chance to vent (58 percent).

Here's the problem: what they wanted didn't happen. For example, only 38 percent got a chance to vent and 25 percent got an apology. Fewer got an assurance for the future or explanation.

As a result, more than half of all respondents with problems decided never to do business with the company again or threatened to talk with the company's management. Ninety percent shared the story with friends or others.

Another major complaint in problem resolution is "ping-ponging" the customer. Unfortunately, we've all been victims of this. That's when you come into contact with a customer service rep that either a) isn't given the authority to resolve issues, b) isn't trained properly or worse yet, or c) both. The customer gets "ping-ponged" from person to person, even department to department until someone can provide any form of solution.

Although this survey was based on consumer purchase problems, all businesses can also learn from it. After all, we are dealing with people first. The survey verifies the idea customers don't become dissatisfied because of problems. It's the way the problem is handled that will determine if they become dissatisfied. When you "tick" people off, brand or company loyalty can be ruined by not handling a complaint effectively.

What's amazing is that you don't need to spend lots of time and money resolving these problems. According to the survey, monetary solutions of discounts and refunds are not necessarily the solutions.

What can you do? Develop a real plan for problem resolution. Resolving problems requires different skills from providing sales oriented information. Putting the wrong person in front of your customers is ineffective with enormous costs. Add the loss of the lifetime value of a customer to the cost hiring and replacing an employee and you'll take one heck of a hit on the bottom line. Pre-screening candidates for customer service skills and attitudes is easy and inexpensive. Online assessments like SELECT Associate System and FirstView Job Fit from Success Performance Solutions can tell you in just minutes if a candidate has a positive customer attitude, how they handle frustration and raging customers, and even if they will show up for work.

When you have the right people, make sure they are well trained to listen, give apologies when appropriate and have the authority to offer solutions. Then, let your customers know that you have a trained staff for solving problems. Instead of customers calling sales people, their managers and the top company management, urge customers to deal with your best of class customer service staff. Even if they call you directly, tell them you're personally going to refer them to the best person for this matter! Of course, if you want to handle these matters, you should get training too.

Finally, even though the survey says that customers aren't looking for any compensation for the problem, a follow up to the problem resolution is a nice touch. A hand written note or a small gift can go a long way. After all, you know how good it feels to get a thank you note after a meeting or a new major purchase. It's no different when a problem arises. For example, imagine if you received a plant with a personalized message after having a problem with a company. You would probably be even more favorably impressed with how they handled the problem. Although you would tell others about the problem, you'd probably end with a very positive remark.

Written by Ira S. Wolfe, Success Performance Solutions and David Wolfe, Wolfe Promotional Services

Should Employers Being Losing Sleep Over Employees Working Longer Hours

Fact #316: The percentage of US employers offering paid vacations dropped to 87 percent in 2003 from 95 percent in 1999, (Source: SHRM)

Fact #317: Americans receive 16 days off each year, but are so consumed with work that they take 14. Italians receive 42; the French, 37; Germans, 35, and South Korean and Japanese employees get 25 each. (Source: Expedia.com)

Fact #318: As many as 47 million adults may be putting themselves at risk for injury, health and behavior problems because they aren't meeting their minimum sleep need in order to be fully alert the next day. (Source: National Sleep Foundation)

Fact #319: Nearly 40 percent of US employees working more than 50 hours per week. (Source: National Sleep Foundation)

Fact #320: Two-thirds of older adults (67%) report frequent sleep problems, however only a small fraction, one in eight, says those problems have been diagnosed. (Source: National Sleep Foundation)

Fact #321: Direct costs of insomnia, which include dollars spent on insomnia treatment, healthcare services, hospital and nursing home care, are estimated at nearly $14 billion annually. Indirect costs such as work loss, property damage from accidents and transportation to and from healthcare providers, are estimated to be $28 billion. (Source: National Sleep Foundation and NIH)

More Facts About Changes in Workplace Demographics at Perfect Labor Storm.com

Employees Who Fail To Show Up For Work

Fact #306: The rate of unscheduled absenteeism has climbed to a five-year high of 2.4 percent. (Source: CCH Inc.)

Fact #307: Late minute no-shows cost organizations an average of $610 per employee. (Source: CCH Inc.)

Fact #308: Only 38 percent of employee who fail to show up for work are due to personal illness. 62 percent are for other reasons including family issues (23 percent), personal needs (18 percent), stress (11 percent) and entitlement mentality (10 percent). (Source: CCH Inc.)

Fact #309: Paying the price for low morale: Organizations reporting low employee moral have higher rates and costs of absenteeism. Rates are more than one-third higher among companies with poor/fair morale. (Source: CCH Inc.)

Fact #310: Employers with poor'fair morale set aside 4.9 percent of their budgets to cover the costs of absent workers compared to just 4.0 percent for organizations with good/very good morale. (Source: CCH Inc.)

Fact #311: Companies with low morale are more likely to experience unscheduled absenteeism due to stress (15 percent). (Source: CCH Inc.)

Fact #312: Employees showing up sick for work (presenteeism) is a far bigger problem for companies with low morale - 52 percent of organizations with poor/fair morale compared to 31 percent with organizations with good/very good morale. (Source: CCH Inc.)

Fact #313: 39 percent of employers said presenteeism is a problem in their organizations.
(Source: CCH Inc.)

More facts on why workers shortages will not go away.

Health Savings Costs

Published in Central Penn Business Journal, October 29, 2004

It is understandable why some companies struggling with insurance costs would consider charging smokers or obese employees extra, several observers said.  However, many felt such policies would do more harm than good. Policies could create workplace animosity said Ira Wolfe, founder and owner of Success Performance Solutions, a work-force consulting firm in Lancaster County.

Employee who have to pay more might feel aliented from other workers, he said.

The policy also could hinder a company's ability to attract and retain top employees, said Henschke, director of SMC's central region office in Wormleysburg.

"Good people are hare to find," Henschke said.  "You can't risk losing good employees."

Read the full article

Background checks - Better late than never -

Just last week, the Arizona Diamondbacks hired......then fired their manager.  Wally Beckman admitted to several "mistakes" in his past life - arrests for domestic disputes, drunken-driving, restraining orders - only after he was hired.  Ken Kendrick, one of the Diamondbacks' managing partners, after the "mistakes" became public stated they will now make background checks a layer of their hiring.

The owner of a motel in New Holland PA might want to do the same.  A young couple working as managers were arrested for stealing the cash payments received by guests.

If, like Pinocchio's nose, each lie a candidate told on his/her resume or during the interview became immediately apparent, business owners could easily weed out employees who cheat and deceive. So, how can you tell if an employee is lying about their work experience,

To provide our clients with one-stop shopping for employee evaluation from pre-employment to career succession, we are very pleased to introduce our new partnership with Information Architects, a leading provider of Employment Screening and Background Investigations.

Improve communications skills with DISC Personality Tests

Although people with effective communication skills - observing, listening, questioning and feedback - are still the key to building and keeping strong relationships, they are becoming less and less available in today's workforce. To train and coach the basics of effective communication, many organizations - both small and large businesses - are using the CriteriaOne DISC assessment. This DISC tool is a valuable and easy-to-use tool to help every employee master the basic, but powerful, skills of communication - observation and listening - and how they affect your ability to question and provide feedback.

Communication skills top every employer's wish list. Nearly every classified ad and job description includes "communication skills" as essential. In today's world, that is a good decision. Ironically, the phrase "good communication skills" conjures up so many images that what is meant by these few words is not communicated effectively

Miscommunication about communication occurs because describing communication is difficult. Think about it. When we ask managers to describe the most effective leaders and managers, words like articulate, well-spoken, motivating, and persuasive are their immediate responses. When managers delegate returning a phone call or writing an email to employees, the first they ask is "what should I say"?

That's interesting but not necessarily very effective.......Read more

Posted by Ira S. Wolfe

Firms probing employees’ pasts

by Sherry Slater, The Journal Gazette
October 31, 2004

Before you step behind their counters, some retailers want to know whether you’ve ever been behind bars.

Criminal background checks have become a common part of the hiring process for good reason: Retailers have a lot to worry about.

Unstable employees can engage in workplace violence. Debt-ridden workers can dip into company money. And deviant hires can sexually abuse customers or co-workers.

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest company, suffered a blitz of bad publicity this year when an employee in a South Carolina store molested a child who was shopping with her parents. The worker was a convicted sex offender. The incident was similar to one four years earlier involving another Wal-Mart employee molesting a 10-year-old girl in another South Carolina store.

The Bentonville, Ark.-based retail chain, which has 1.5 million employees worldwide, announced in August its plan to conduct background checks on incoming U.S. employees.

The Society for Human Resource Management reported in January that 80 percent of employers who responded to its survey conduct criminal background checks on at least some of their job applicants. The non-profit professional association surveyed retail, manufacturing and insurance companies.

More than 60 percent of the human resources professionals surveyed said they find inaccuracies in resumes after carrying out background checks, according to the Alexandria, Va.-based professional association.

Ira Wolfe, a Lancaster Pa.-based consultant, studies the labor market. He said he believes employers should invest in background checks on applicants – even if they simply check the county or state of residence.

Previous and pending theft, assault and sexual convictions can be found in such reports for about $15, he said. Retail operations lose more merchandise to sticky-fingered employees than to shoplifting customers, Wolfe said in a telephone interview last week.

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, employee fraud is on the rise, totaling an estimated $600 billion in lost revenue for U.S. businesses in 2002.

Wolfe also sells employee pre-employment tests created to detect applicants’ levels of honesty and integrity.

The questionnaires cost as little as $12 a person and should be coupled with criminal checks, he said.

Continue reading about background checks - why firms are probing employees' pasts