The Peak Interview

A friend and associate, Bill Burnett, has just published a book.

The Peak Interview


New insights into the job interview process can give you an edge to win the interview and get the job. By the time you get to the job interview, the company has determined you are qualified for the job. But so are all the other interviewees. Your experience, skills, competencies, and abilities will not differentiate you. Your competition is just as qualified as you are. You need an edge.



The Peak Interview talks about how to create that edge using Nobel Prize winning insights.

Read more about this small book at: Superinnovator

About the author:
With more than thirty years of business experience, Bill Burnett is a problem solver and a proven leader. He has led both line organizations larger than 250 people, and staff groups with less than ten people. Burnett's special talent is his ability to recognize and leverage hidden inventiveness of knowledgeably internal employees. His track record of building and leading problem solving teams at both the global and local level has delivered ingenious performance improvements in Product Development,Business Models, Customer Service, Operations, Network Infrastructure, Systems Functionality, and Policy Management. Burnett has traveled to and worked with a multitude of cultures in local businesses in over sixty-five countries.

New HR-Meter Website Launch!

Dear Readers,

We are pleased to announce the launch of the new HR-Meter website! We've upgraded every page to include more information about relevant HR related topics. In addition, the website is now easier to use. All of the HR related topics that HR-Meter is involved in are listed on the left hand side of the website. Just follow the topics you're interested in and you'll most likely find what you're looking for. We've also added a download center where you can find up-to-date resources on a wide variety of topics.

Here's a list of the topics you'll find on www.hr-meter.com:

• 360 Degree Feedback
• Leadership Development
• Business Process Analysis
• Assessments for Managers
• Succession Planning
• Performance Appraisal
• High Potentials
• Organizational Culture
• Team Metrics
• Employee Engagement
• Customer Satisfaction
• Knowledge and Training
• Job Marketing
• Career Websites
• Candidate Assessment
• Webcam Interviewing
• Test and Tool Development

We hope you like what you find!

All the best,

HR-Meter

Creating a culture of employee “ownership mentality”: Part II

Last month we took a general look at measures to establish that all-important culture of employee “ownership mentality;” one that once created can help impel a business to greater success.

Now, let’s see how compensation structure impacts that desired ownership mentality, beginning with short-term incentives.

Essentially, short-term incentives are performance measured and typically paid out in 12 months or less. These incentives can play a large role in engendering an employee’s sense of “investment” in an organization if they are based on the achievement of certain departmental goals and/or hitting a profitability threshold.

Most companies utilizing short-term incentive components as part of an overall “ownership” approach will “weight” the incentive based upon a tier system. As such, tiers are established for different classes of employees in conjunction with their impact on various performance measures.

For example, incentive for Tier 1 or top level management is usually based on company performance, not department or individual contribution. Incentives for Tier 3 or 4 employees, however, are heavily weighted on team and individual performance, and hardly at all on overall company achievement. The objective with both tiers is to create focus and tie incentives to specific goals that the employee is best positioned to help meet – in other words, allowing an employee to feel engaged and invested in the workplace, which translates into that coveted ownership mentality.

Long-term incentives, which can include shares of stock, stock options, phantom stock, a profit pool or incentive deferred compensation, are designed for top talent retention.

Key among the intentions of long-term incentives is to create a focus on attaining the company’s long term financial goals and engender a sense of “investment” in those goals.

Long-term incentives provide a substantive reason for top talent to both join and stay with a company. Attractive inducements can “reel them in” and likewise maintain star employees.

Sustained growth and hitting those important goal milestones occurs when key employees are motivated to focus on performance, leading to execution and a pattern of continued achievement – in the long run, a win-win for both the company and its employees.

About our Benefits Installment Author:

James E. (Jim) Moniz, CEO of Northeast VisionLink, a Massachusetts firm that specializes in structuring executive compensation. James E. Moniz is a national speaker on the topic of wealth management and on executive compensation. Jim Moniz will be presenting at this years SHRM conference in Phoenx, be sure to check out our presentation: “Creating and Sustaining a Competitive Advantage, The Role and Impact of Effective Compensation and Rewards Strategies”

Do your employees know where they stand?

Sure... right? We do our annual reviews. We sit down with our employees and we say, "good job with this or that" or "we'd like to see some improvment on your TPS reports". Of course our employees know where they stand.

Ok, and if I were to ask you, say, "what percentage of your employees is uncertain about their job security?" or perhaps something a little more specific like, "what percentage of your employees thought they were on the right track for a promotion right up until they didn't get one?" and "how did not getting that promotion affect their performance?", "did they start looking for another job?", "do they think you care?". You might say something like, "I'm not sure. But, more importantly, I'm not sure it matters"... and I'd believe you. And you'd have to also give me that your employees don't know where they stand; that you don't know where your employees stand; that maybe you don't know where you stand.

It starts to look somewhat amazing that the company functions. Of course, if you were to ask around, folks would say, "ahh, but we are such a dysfunctional, uncooperative, catty, bunch." He knows it, she knows it, I know it and you know it.

If you're a mamanager, start scheduling some time, right now, for each memeber of you team to come in and talk to you about "things". Maybe type up and distribute a little survey and put a box outside your door or cube or tent. Make it a "check yes or no" survey and pass it out. Get some feedback. Ask your team if they want to do a little survey too. Ask HR if you can do a big survey. Ask HR to ask if you can do a really really big survey. Ask some questions.

Creating a Culture That Encourages Employees to Think Like Owners: Part 1

January Installment by Jim Moniz:

Success now and in the future – let’s face it; that’s the ultimate goal of any business owner. But to achieve that vision of a “bigger and better” organization, you first have to identify a few key elements for success and then make sure that your staff possesses the appropriate ownership mentality to assist in both your short and long term objectives.

Fundamental to any growth strategy are three factors: fulfilling your original business plan (mission, values and company vision); the emergence of sustainable growth patterns (revenue development); and a suitable return in capital for company shareholders.

In order to best achieve those elements for growth, employees must be on board – and the most direct line to meet that aim is by fostering a culture of employee ownership. In other words, employees have to draw the same conclusions as you about what’s important, but for that to occur, ownership mentality must be personalized.

Most employees recognize the bottom line to a company’s success is well…the bottom line; but it’s also vital that they understand how their contribution will help to make that happen. Without this important engagement on the part of employees, their focus may be off center.

That engagement occurs when an employee not only appreciates the unique talents he brings to the organization but recognizes that those skills are also appreciated by management. And that is accomplished by utilizing and amplifying those special talents to allow the employee to find meaning in his work and create a framework for both his and the company’s success. The coveted ownership mentality occurs when the employee sees that connection between his and the company’s goals.

It all boils down to employees embracing the fundamental elements of understanding, importance, contribution and connection.

But a few well-placed “atta boys” aren’t going to fully engender ownership mentality. Motivation comes in many forms, including a regular and attainable incentive program designed not as an employee entitlement, but as a means to create engagement and ownership.

A sound incentive plan – which includes both short and long term motivations – always connects the dots between performance and results. It can best be described as a conditional payment in exchange for meeting specific performance standards.

Next month we’ll break down the differences between short and long term incentives and the role each plays in creating and maintaining that all important ownership mentality.


About our Benefits Installment Author:

James E. (Jim) Moniz, CEO of Northeast VisionLink, a Massachusetts firm that specializes in structuring executive compensation. James E. Moniz is a national speaker on the topic of wealth management and on executive compensation.

Jim Moniz will be presenting at this years SHRM conference in Phoenx, be sure to check out our presentation: “Creating and Sustaining a Competitive Advantage, The Role and Impact of Effective Compensation and Rewards Strategies”

...and We're Back!

Woah! Forgive us our dust, rust, decay and delay!

We've been away but now we're back! In the last month, our IT department at HR-Meter has been extremely busy working on a brand new website for HR-Meter! It's taken up so much of our time that HR-Worldview, our humble blog, has seen some neglect! That's about to change.

Now that we're just putting the finishing touches on HR-Meter's new website, it's time to turn our attention back to this here blog.

So, without further ado, let's get 2010 off to an, albeit late, start!

All the best,
Your HR-Meter / HR-Worldview Team

Nearly One-Third of Workers Plan to Holiday Shop Online While at the Office, CareerBuilder’s Annual Survey Reveals

Cyber Monday, a term coined by the National Retail Federation for the first Monday after Thanksgiving, is likely to be a busy day for Internet use in the office. Thirty-two percent of workers plan to holiday shop online this season, up from 29 percent last year, according to CareerBuilder’s annual survey. While employers tend to be more lenient around the holidays, experts caution workers to be aware of their company’s electronic communications policies as employers have reported monitoring Internet and email use and instituting stricter policies in regard to social media. The survey included more than 3,100 employers and 4,700 workers nationwide.

"The Internet provides fast and convenient access to virtually any resources you need, but you want to make sure you’re leveraging those resources during personal time that is allotted to you during the workday, such as your lunch hour," said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder. "Nearly half of employers reported they monitor Internet and email use of employees. While employers will take into consideration the overall performance of the employee, smaller staffs and higher productivity demands may have them taking more notice of time spent on non-work related activities. This extends to all types of communications and activities."

Social Media Restrictions - What Workers Should Know Before They Post

Social media has become pervasive for personal and business use. Sixty-one percent of full-time workers reported they have a social networking profile. Among them:

* Half of workers (51 percent) spend time on their social networking page during the workday; 11 percent spend one hour or more.

* 25 percent include information about their employer in their communications on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace; 15 percent include company information on Twitter; 13 percent of workers with personal blogs say they blog about their companies.

* 13 percent of workers are "friends" with their boss on their social networking profile.

* 22 percent of workers have separate social networking profiles for personal and business use.

With social media becoming a key avenue for employers to promote their brands, products and services and job opportunities, companies are taking a closer look at how messages about the company are communicated.

* 37 percent of employers have a policy on whether workers can communicate about the company on social media sites; 17 percent have implemented a stricter policy on employees communicating about the company on social media sites in the last year.

* 21 percent prohibit employees from communicating about the company. Thirteen percent have designated certain employees to post on behalf of the company.

* 16 percent monitor social networking profiles of employees and 14 percent monitor blogs.

Internet Usage Nearly three-in-five workers (58 percent) admitted they use the Internet for non-work related activities while at the office. Twenty-one percent will typically spend one hour or more on personal Internet use while at work.

Workers are advised to limit their Internet searches to those related to work or to designate their lunch hour or break time for these activities.

* 20 percent of employers have fired someone for using the Internet for non-work related activities.

* 5 percent of employers have fired someone for holiday shopping online at work.

* Half of employers (50 percent) block employees from accessing certain Web sites while at work.

Personal Emails
Workers are also cautioned about email content as two-thirds have reported they typically send non-work related emails each day.

* 32 percent of employers monitor emails and 16 percent monitor instant messaging.

* 8 percent have fired someone for non-work related emails.

Here's the link to the original release. Thank you Career Builder.