It's never too late to create a To-Do list designed to improve your practices and procedures on the job.
Express Personnel Services, the staffing and hiring franchise based in Oklahoma City, created a to-do list to improve its practices and procedures on the job, according to Harvey H. H. Homsey, vice president of franchise systems. Their goals: Improvement in services.
"In 2008, we're looking to provide more services to our clients through our 800-number HR hotline and HR training through webinars and e-learning programs," he says. "We want to be our clients' complete outsourced HR department so clients can focus on growing their core business instead of worrying about HR issues."
Jeff Bevis, president of Decorating Den, based in Easton, Maryland, says his company's goal is to focus on technology. "For 2008, we are very focused on our use of technology and leveraging this for greater productivity while still maintaining a 'high touch' culture," he says. "Our franchise is posed for high growth, but we remain extremely relationship-driven. So we see the improved use of technology as a way for our franchise owners and employees to have more time building relationships with our clients."
What can you do to improve your business? Don't be discouraged if you don't have the budget for large-scale change like adding services or improving technology. Even small changes can yield big results.
Why not focus on just one thing? Hiring, for example. Hiring is one of the most vital components of any business, but it typically gets the least amount of care and attention. Here are a few low-cost ways to help you streamline and improve hiring:
Anticipate openings instead of reacting to them.
Sure, it's not possible to gaze in to a crystal ball and see exactly which positions you'll have to fill during the coming year. You just can't know for sure when John in accounting is going to turn in his resignation. But you can get a rough idea of the types of jobs you'll likely have to fill. It's all about hindsight. Which positions turned over last year? Which ones have a tendency to turn over regularly? By analyzing these sorts of trends, you can begin to anticipate your hiring needs. If you have a rough idea of the kinds of positions you'll be staffing, you can begin to assemble a pool of qualified candidates whose resumes will be at the ready when those openings occur.
Encourage current employees to refer qualified job candidates.
At many health clubs, auto dealerships or other consumer-based businesses, you'll receive a reward when you refer a customer. Why not institute this practice for your existing employees? Here's how it works: You have a job opening. A current employee refers a candidate for the job. If you hire that candidate, your current employee is rewarded — a day off with pay, a bump in his next paycheck, tickets to a concert he or she would like to attend. That way, when job openings arise, your good employees will be thinking of qualified people for the job, adding extra sets of eyes and ears to your hiring process.
Develop a steady flow of candidates so you won't be caught short when needs arise.
Take a cue from successful headhunters. After you've hired for any given position, keep in touch with the best candidates you didn't hire. Let them know they're still at the top of your mind, still at the top of your list for future opportunities. Encourage them to check back often if they haven't found a job—or even if they have. That way, the next time you have a similar position to fill, you'll already have several top candidates.
None of these changes cost a lot of money, none are enormous system changes. Yet, by doing just these few small things can see big results. In a few months you can have streamlined and improved your hiring processes. All the better for your company's bottom line.
