2007-07-24

To Busy Being Efficient to be Effective?


Larry Kihlstadius, SVP at Veritude outlines 4 steps HR executives should take to achieve "effectiveness" in your organization.

In a morning IM interview with Larry Kihlstadius, SVP of Business Development at Veritude, I learned that Kihlstadius and his team are working hard to increase awareness of how HR executives may be in a "unique and key position" to make an important contribution to acheiving effectiveness in their organizations.

Kihlstadius outlines 4 Action Steps:

1. Stratify your Employees
You can do this yourself, or look to a talent management partner who is experienced at setting up and implementing an employee stratification plan. Stratification will require in-depth dialogues with key business unit leaders and will need to be tiered for each quadrant. The reality is that the quadrants your company uses will be unique to your particular business. This is definitely not a “one size fits all” model. You will need to establish parameters and gather data that may not have been previously used or even captured.

2. Look Back
Take the time to analyze your data. Since you now know which roles are most important to your company, review the performance of your top employees and identify the key traits that have made them successful.

3. Look Forward
With the data you’ve gathered from your top performers, you can:

a. Develop profiles and competency models based on the performers who stay.
b. Screen candidates with assessment tools that link to job profiles and competencies —to better assess for appropriate skills and characteristics.
c. Develop metrics that link talent acquisition to performance and retention to determine efficiency and effectiveness.

4. Get Help Along the Way
If any of the recommendations above sound daunting, don’t worry. An experienced talent management partner can help implement an employee stratification plan and create effective assessment tools.

Kihlstadius went on to say, “The secret is to invest the majority of your time and money into the talent that creates the most value for the business.”

Kihlstadius has authored a White Paper on the subject with more information on organizations becoming "more effective". For more details on this and other HR information visit Veritude's Workforce Insights section of their corporate website.

2007-07-19

PEO, HRO...E-I-E-I-O...

Why do TLAs and FLAs (Three and Four-Letter-Acronym) make things so confusing for business owners?

Let's face it, today you need an online database for all the acronyms that are used as business categories, to be readily available on your blackberry, i-phone or, yep, "PDA".

From an HR perspective, I've always had a question about the TLA, "PEO". PEO stands for Professional Employer Organization and as the PEO Network describes it,

"A PEO can be utilized to outsource a significant portion of the administrative burden of being an employer. The PEO can process payroll, handle the payroll tax administration; provide workers' compensation and employee benefits. PEOs can also assist in labor law compliance, risk management, EAP, hiring, firing and other HR functions.

Theoretically, PEO is a vendor consolidation and outsourcing management tool, which is facilitated through a co-employment agreement."


That may or may not clarify things for you, but it sounds like Human Resources Outsourcing or HRO (Lite) to me. It seems that every PEO has a page on their website labeled "What's a PEO"! From a marketing perspective it would be great if you didn't need to explain the industry you are in. And if the "shopper" is on your site... the good news is s/he is already there! It maybe best just to explain the value you will bring to his/her organization.

Question: Does the co-employment arrangement require the vendor to wear the "PEO Badge"?

I think the PEO concept makes a lot of sense for a small business (10-100 employees). Utilizing a viable PEO should allow you to focus on "what's ahead" for your business vs. the time consuming tasks of HR administration.

PEO's have a long history of helping the blue/grey collar company benefit by "pooling" their employees with the PEOs to ensure better health care and worker's comp insurance; and have continued to sell that "formula" as the solution. I think there may be a great opportunity for a new or existing PEO to cater to the Professional Workforce delivering comprehensive technology (self-service and reporting tools) vs. just insurance savings.

2007-07-10

TriNet Acquires HR Outsourcing Provider John Parry & Alexander (JPA)


SAN LEANDRO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TriNet Group, Inc., a nationwide provider of human resource (HR) outsourcing services for small and medium-sized companies, today announced the next stage of its growth and expansion strategy through the acquisition of the business of John Parry & Alexander (JPA), an HR outsourcing and consulting services company based in Walnut Creek, California. All executives and employees from JPA have become full-time team members of TriNet. Specific terms of the transaction are not being disclosed. via Business Wire

2007-07-09

Administaff Schedules Second Quarter Earnings Release and Teleconference


HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Administaff, Inc. (NYSE:ASF), a leading provider of human resources services for small and medium-sized businesses, will release its second quarter earnings prior to the open of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007. A teleconference hosted by Administaff’s management will be held at 10 a.m. EDT to discuss the results and business trends.
Business Wire.com