Example of staffing in management

Strategic Staffing Handbook

Staffing Handbook

26

STAFFING HANDBOOK

LEGACY CONSULTING COMPANY

Handbook Date:

February 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

COMPANY BACKGROUND 1

STRATEGIC STAFFING 2

Definition of strategic staffing 2

The Importance of Staffing our Workforce Strategically 3

Human Resources (HR) and the Organization’s Strategic Goal 3

Purpose of this strategic staffing handbook 4

JOB ANALYSIS 5

Components of a job analysis 6

Job Analysis – Data Collection Methods 6

Timing of the Job Analysis 7

Job Analysis - Roles and Responsibilities 7

Job Analysis at Different Organizational Levels 8

LEGAL ASPECTS OF STAFFING 9

RECRUITING 11

Decisions involved in planning for effective recruitment 11

Methods of Recruiting 12

SELECTION 14

Interview Process 14

Interview questions 15

Pre-employment Tests and Assessments 16

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT 19

How Ongoing Evaluation and Review Contribute to the Retention of Successful Employees 19

Method and Process of Job Performance Review 21

Performance Calibration 21

The Performance Calibration Process 22

RETENTION 23

CLOSING SUMMARY 24

REFERENCES 26

Appendix A EXAMPLE JOB ANALYSIS QUESTIONNAIRE FORM 27

Appendix B EXAMPLE POSITION POSTING 28

APPENDIX C EXAMPLE INTERNVIEW QUESTIONS 29

Appendix D EXAMPLE TYPES OF PERFORMANCE REVIEWS 30

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COMPANY BACKGROUND
You may have heard the old adage that “everything’s bigger in Texas,” but with every other startup venture either failing or simply a seasonal business, Nacogdoches Texas did not live up to that old saying. Armed with the realization that these failures resulted from a lack of compensation benefits, improper marketing techniques and, not to mention, staffing issues, CEO and founder H.J. Warren birthed Legacy Consulting Company (Legacy) in 1979 in hopes of helping new and struggling businesses overcome their Human Resources dilemma. Along with a small workforce of five, H.J. Warren concentrated his efforts to keep local businesses afloat so as to provide jobs and growth opportunities within the Nacogdoches community. By making it better one company at a time, Nacogdoches is now a bustling town (still small) in the heart of Texas.

As legacy’s popularity grew, the company metamorphosed to upwards of 200 employees to include: (1) HR consulting generalists to oversee benefits and compensation, reference checks on potential new employees, recruitment, hiring, payroll, etc., (2) HR specialists whose expertise are in marketing, IT, and training and development, (3) Account Managers whose main focus is the company’s business needs including but not limited to marketing and sales, production, and research and development, and (3) Administrative support staff to take care of the minute office details thereby allowing the upper-level consultants to concentrate on fulfilling the clients’ needs.

Legacy’s mission is to provide its clients the highest level of support, advice, and resources to develop effective policies and procedures, job analysis techniques, benefits and compensation packages while keeping them up-to-date about various laws and regulations that, if not followed correctly, could negatively impact their staffing processes. Legacy understands that in order for a company to be successful, selecting the best candidate to do the job is of utmost importance. This selection process, however, must be carried out in a way that would limit any chance of legal discriminatory actions against the company.

Despite being consultants in the field, Legacy is not above following such protocol. In that regard, Legacy’s mid-level managers and hiring managers are also expected to adhere to the guidelines set forth in the company’s strategic staffing handbook which serves as a guide to strategic staffing, job analysis, the legal aspects of staffing, recruiting, selecting the right candidate, performance management, and retention.

STRATEGIC STAFFING
Definition of strategic staffing
Strategic staffing, as it pertains to Legacy, is the process of identifying and addressing short-term and long-term staffing needs and ensuring those needs are aligned with our business strategies, mission, values, goals, objectives and vision for the future (where we are now and where we plan to be in the next five years, ten years, or fifteen years). As used in this handbook, the term staffing includes, but is not limited to, job analysis, recruiting, selection, training and development (onboarding), performance management and retention.

Recruitment, Selection, Onboarding, Performance Management, Retention

Legacy Strategic Plan

Mission, Values, Goals, Objectives, Vision

HR Strategy Plan

Policies, Procedures, Legal Compliance

HR Staffing Plan

The Importance of Staffing our Workforce Strategically
Staffing our workforce strategically allows Legacy to turn “staffing from a reactive process into a proactive one” (Notowitz, n.d.), thereby allowing Legacy to: (1) determine our workforce requirements and the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) needed in order for that workforce to perform their jobs successfully moving forward, (2) recruit, select and retain the best talent in demand today, appropriately match that talent with our organizational culture, provide specific training to those new hires, forecast and plan for future labor needs, better manage our employee wages and salaries, provide appropriate incentives in order to improve employee performance, among other things, and (3) obtain a competitive advantage in the marketplace as we strive to improve our market share and provide quality services to our clients.

Human Resources (HR) and the Organization’s Strategic Goal
Human resources (HR) at Legacy have evolved over the years. In the past, HR’s role within the organization was more focused on hiring personnel, handling personnel paperwork, and personnel issues. Today, HR has taken on a much broader role within the organizational structure, and has now become a key strategic partner. Our HR staff work very closely with our top executives and line managers within the organization – sharing crucial strategic information – as Legacy looks to grow its workforce. This communication and partnership helps Legacy to (1) avoid HR issues that might arise and affect the organization negatively, (2) avoid wasting time and resources, and (3) ensure the needs of the organization is aligned with Legacy’s HR function. As such, Legacy views its HR staff and the various HR activities it provides to the organization as critical to the success of meeting its strategic goals. Legacy's HR staff contributes to Legacy’s overall strategic goals by managing the organization’s most important asset – its human capital. The HR activities provided by Legacy’s HR staff includes, but are not limited to: (1) determining short term/long term staffing needs of the organization based on the organization’s budget/financial forecasts, (2) working hand-in-hand with the organization’s hiring managers in recruiting, selecting and hiring the best people for the jobs offered within the organization, (3) implementing training programs aimed at developing the talents and skills of Legacy’s human capital while incorporating the organization’s culture, mission, goals, values and objectives, (4) implementing policies, procedures, and processes within the organization that results in Legacy being more productive, (5) being aware of and reviewing changes in labor laws, especially those pertaining to HRM activities such as recruiting, selection and hiring, (6) reviewing compensation, benefits and salaries to ensure fairness, and (7) managing the organization’s staffing structure by doing job analysis to develop job requirements for current and future jobs within the organization. These HR activities, along with the use of technology such as our human resource information systems (HRIS), create an integrated staffing management system designed to help Legacy meet its strategic goals.

Purpose of this strategic staffing handbook
Legacy’s strategic staffing handbook is not static; it is a dynamic document and not intended to be an all-inclusive strategic staffing plan. It will change as Legacy continues to make business decisions pertaining to its future (divestments, diversification, mergers and acquisitions, and future growth). Most importantly, though it helps to reinforce the partnership between Legacy’s managers and HR professionals, it is written as a guide to assist mid-level managers and hiring managers make effective staffing choices and to ensure a strategic approach is always part of Legacy’s hiring processes — the first step of which begins with job analysis.

JOB ANALYSIS
With human resource being the largest asset of any company, job analysis is the most important facet of the strategic staffing process. The process of collecting data about a specific job within a company, job analysis will afford Legacy the ability to attract the most qualified person(s) who will efficiently carry out the duties and responsibilities of the defined objectives. This is especially true in that thorough analysis of the components of a job analysis can only lead to the perfect union between the candidate and the defined objectives. In that regard, the integrated staffing management system correlates with the job analysis to produce a detailed job description and job specification as can be seen in the below model:

Job Analysis Process

INFORMATION SOURCE

Analyst

Employee

Supervisor

METHODS OF COLLECTING DATA

Interviews

Questionnaires

Observations

Records

O*Net

JOB DESCRIPTION

Tasks

Duties

Responsibilities

JOB SPECIFICATION

Skill requirements

Physical demands

Knowledge requirements

Abilities needed

HUMAN RESOURCES FUNCTIONS

Recruitment

Selection

Training and development

Performance appraisal

Compensation management

JOB DATA

Tasks

Performance standards

Responsibilities

Knowledge required

Skills required

Experience needed

Job content

Duties

Equipment used

(Zaki, 2014)

Components of a job analysis
There are several components to a complete job analysis each of which suggests a close relationship between the job description, the company’s mission and goals, and the employee’s individual goals.

By conducting a job analysis, Legacy will be able to (1) collect all pertinent information relating to a specific job within the company, (2) use that information to identify job-related competencies/core knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) needed to perform the job, (3) develop appropriate skills assessments/job performance measures for the job, (4) create a selection method to use for candidates that meet the job criteria, (5) ensure we have a standard structure in place regarding salary/compensation for the job position and skill level, (6) determine what level of training to provide candidates during our orientation/onboarding process, and (7) most importantly, ensure we’re in compliance with any federal/legal guidelines for conducting a job analysis that is unbiased and will not have an adverse impact on Legacy or its job candidates.

Job Analysis – Data Collection Methods
There are several methods by which information can be collected — interviews, questionnaires, and observation. Legacy, however, utilizes a combination method for its collection efforts:

Questionnaires —because Legacy fosters effective communication among and between management and staff, Legacy is able to involve its employees in the job analysis process. Questionnaires are therefore completed by the employee(s) to assist in the identification of job duties, machines and equipment used, responsibilities, job environment, and work relationship. An example of a job analysis questionnaire form is included at Appendix A.

Interviews — upon completion of the questionnaire, HR will meet with and interview the employee to review the questionnaire before verify the contents with the employee’s supervisor and preparing the job description.

Timing of the Job Analysis
A job analysis will be conducted at Legacy for all existing and newly created job positions. As a best practice, the job analysis information for a given position should be updated on a continuous basis as needed (e.g., new policies, procedures, or methodologies are implemented, or changes in technology or organizational structure due to a merger or acquisition).

Job Analysis - Roles and Responsibilities
In order for the job analysis to become an effective part of Legacy’s integrated staffing management system, it will require the cooperation and assistance of personnel at all levels of the organization. This will include:

· Legacy’s Human Resource specialist. It goes without saying that our human resource staff will play a pivotal role in this process since they have knowledge of the different jobs required at Legacy. As such, they will be responsible for facilitating, coordinating and implementing the job analysis process to include creating the end product, which is the job description. They will also be responsible for ensuring they update it on an as-needed basis.

· Legacy’s executive management. The job analysis process can consume time and resources. That said, since it is the executive managers who are in-charge of the company (e.g., creates the strategic plan for the organization, oversees all departments, including human resources, and ensures company policies and procedures are followed), it is imperative that they give their buy-in and let the staff know human resources have their backing during this process to ensure its success. A company is only as good as its people, and the job analysis process will ensure Legacy’s hires the best of the best.

· Legacy’s line managers/supervisors. It is imperative that all managers and supervisors responsible for/overseeing the duties of others, and anyone on staff with excellent knowledge of what the general work objectives are for the position, assist our human resource department in this process. This should include but not limited to delegating one or more subject matter experts for each position from each department; reviewing the final end product – the description of the job - to ensure it is accurate, and recommending changes to HR where necessary.

· Job incumbent. The incumbent/person currently holding the position will be considered a subject matter expert and is expected to be the main source from which knowledge about the job is collected.

Job Analysis at Different Organizational Levels
Job analysis can be approached differently at different levels of our organization based on need and interests. For example, if Legacy’s training department determines a need to conduct a job analysis to discover commonalities in the employees approach to job execution using technology, that department might approach the job analysis from a technology training standpoint to segregate the performers, underperformers, and those in need of additional training. Regardless of the approach to the job analysis used in our organization, the result remains the same, which is to produce a detailed job description/job specification for the job incumbent and the tasks and activities they are currently performing to include knowledge, skills, abilities (KSA). Knowledge should show mastery of facts or range of information in the given area. Skills should show proficiency, expertise, or competence in a given area. Abilities should be demonstrated performance to use those knowledge and skills in a given area when needed. An example of a KSA for an account manager position at Legacy is below:

Knowledge:

Mastery of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services, to includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction

Skills:

Proficiency or competency in areas such as communication and critical thinking

Abilities:

Demonstrated abilities to understand and communicate information clearly and assertively

At Legacy, the human resource department aims to promote individual growth, strengthen the company’s performance, and ensure that the company maintains a diverse workforce by attracting, developing, and retaining the very best in the field. Accomplishing this feat will take a thorough job analysis that will produce a detailed, job-specific description. As Legacy’s HR specialist and hiring managers gather the KSA for a given position and begin to write the job description/job specifications, they should ensure that those descriptions match the job performed by the job incumbent, in order to avoid any legal ramifications.

LEGAL ASPECTS OF STAFFING
Equally as important for the HR specialist and hiring managers at Legacy, is to always be aware of current laws and regulations governing the entire hiring process, including the equal treatment of all job candidates and existing employees. If Legacy fails to adhere to these laws and regulations, the company can find itself embroiled in lawsuits alleging discrimination on many fronts. Said laws and regulations include but are not limited to:

a. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — puts a ban on all discrimination based on compensation, terms, conditions, privileges of employment based on race, sex, color, religion, or national origin (Gatewood, Feild, & Barrick, 2016).

b. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 — protects candidates and employees age 40 and older. Hiring managers are to refrain from asking questions on the application or during the interview process that will reveal the candidate’s age (Gatewood, et al., 2016).

c. Americans with Disabilities Act of 2008 (as amended) — protects candidates and employees of private employers, labor unions, employment agencies from physical and mental disability. Selection should be made in accordance with job analysis. If the individual meets fulfills the requirements to do the job, then his or her disability should preclude him or her from the selection pool (Gatewood, et al., 2016).

In that regard, middle managers and hiring managers, in particular, are encouraged to:

1. Make no assumptions about a candidate’s race, gender, sex, color, religion, or national origin

2. Diversify and not rely too heavily on internal referrals if it will result in the recruitment of one particular race, gender, sex, color, or religion over the other

3. Rely on multiple sources of advertising to widen the application pool

4. Refrain from age-specific references in advertising

5. Refrain from asking age-related questions on the application form or during the interview

6. Refrain from asking disability-related questions before an offer of employment is made.

7. Keep all records, regardless of decision

8. Treat all applicants fairly

9. Ensure all methods and other recruiting and selection processes are job related and are within the confines of the law.

RECRUITING
Legacy’s management have come to the realization that despite the information gathered through effective job analysis, and the precautions put in place to avoid legal issues that may potentially arise therefrom, its recruiting activities would be fruitless without a well-developed recruitment strategy. Legacy’s goal, after all, is to retain the services of the top candidates in the industry in order to remain competitive and stay ahead of the curve. But, to do so, Legacy must first recruit them.

Decisions involved in planning for effective recruitment
At Legacy, we understand that filling certain positions can prove to be difficult at times. It is therefore imperative that the decisions made by hiring managers/recruiters are not only important but will result in an effective recruitment process — one that will produce a highly-qualified applicant pool. To ensure the efficiency of the recruitment process, hiring managers/recruiters must decide early on who the target audience will be, what message will be conveyed, and how their efforts will be managed. In that regard, the below model provides a visual of the recruitment process employed by Legacy’s hiring managers/recruiters not so much to streamline the process but to provide them a reference point when making important recruiting decisions.

(Gatewood, et al., 2016)

Methods of Recruiting
Hiring managers/recruiters have reported over the years that though there are several forms of recruiting methods at their disposal, they have found that internal recruitment through promotions and employee referrals have been most effective. By presenting promotional opportunities to its employees, Legacy promotes a sense of loyalty, commitment, and lasting gratification by simply permitting internal growth. Once the internal search efforts have been exhausted, Legacy turns the focus of the search toward employee referral which has proven to be the most effective. This, in part, is due to the fact that the employees’ reputation is on the line when making a referral so they serve as a pre-screener — weeding out the unqualified so that only the best possible candidates will be chosen for the applicant pool. On the other hand, the realism with which an employee will convey information to a potential candidate will allow the candidate to perform self-screening of sorts as they are now armed with ample information to make a more informed decision. This method of recruitment has proven very valuable and cost effective for Legacy.

Once a job opening has been identified and the job analysis completed, hiring managers are required to post a notice of the job opening with full description in visible areas including but not limited to the employee break room, near time clocks, and on the company’s intranet to advertise the open position.

Despite its effectiveness, however, hiring managers must be leery of the scrutiny Legacy may undergo by federal authority as a result of the lack of diversity that may exist as a result of employee referral. To safeguard against these legal issues, Legacy, at times, employs other methods of recruiting such as advertising on Legacy’s website, job boards such as CareerBuilder and Monster, and participates in college job fairs. Despite advertising open positions on multiple websites and recruiting at job fairs, internal recruiting and employee referrals still provide Legacy with the greatest bang for its buck.

Regardless of the method used to recruit potential candidates, it is important to utilize the information obtained through the job analysis to formulate a job description that will attract the candidate best suited for the job. Though Legacy has a pretty low turnover, it is always a good idea to plan ahead. In that regard, Legacy has not only performed job analysis for various positions at the company, we have also developed sample postings for the various positions, should the need arise. One such sample posting is located at Appendix B.

Laying such groundwork takes the guesswork out of recruiting and opens the door to an efficient selection process.

SELECTION
Through the recruitment process, the most qualified job candidates have now graduated to the selection process. There are a series of tools at Legacy’s disposal to assist in this process, however, Legacy has opted to utilize the interview process along with pre-employment tests and assessments to help determine the best individual to serve as Account Manager and fulfil the company’s needs.

Interview Process
The interview is generally the first interaction an external candidate will have with Legacy and, therefore, sets the tone of the company’s culture to the candidate and reemphasizes it to existing employees, especially those involved in the interview process. In this regard, the hiring managers at Legacy go through interview training so that the interview experience will be consistent for each candidate. Legacy fosters a culture of empowering its employees to realize their individual goals. Therefore, everything the candidate says or does during that initial interview is vital data collected by the interviewer and used in the selection process.

As Legacy’s business continues to grow and personnel positions/titles are added, the interview process transitioned from the initial screening interview and second interview to a more complex format that can at times involve upwards of four interviews including, but not limited to, an initial screening telephone interview, a second in-person interview, as well as two additional in-person interviews to meet with upper-level managers and staff. Interviewers employ either the structured or unstructured interview methods based on the position. For example, interviewers generally use the unstructured interview method when interviewing low and mid-level personnel where the use of open-ended questions is used to draw out voluntary information without violating employment laws. A structured form of interview is employed when interviewing upper-level personnel such as an Account Manager so as to pinpoint specific job-related skills that are vital to the position and to help protect Legacy against allegations of discrimination. In interviewing for the Account Manager’s position the candidate is expected to have four (4) interviews throughout the interview process and will meet with the:

1. Hiring Manager — gather information concerning candidate’s KSAs and personality to determine if candidate is a good fit for the company; administer pre-employment tests and assessments, and run background checks on candidates;

2. Senior Account Manager — responsible for supervising and training new Account Manager; and

3. Supervisor of the sales team — will be able to provide further insight as to job duties and serve to rally the sales team while the new Account Manager gets up to speed.

Interview questions
During the interview, the interviewer’s questions should be geared toward gathering information from the applicant that is not readily available in the applicant’s resume or cover letter. These questions should be job-related and pointed so as to help garner information that can serve as a determining factor in the hiring decision. It is therefore imperative to know how you intend to use the information you seeking during the interview even before the questions are formulated. Questions should be open-ended to encourage communication. More importantly, interview questions must be in compliance with employment laws in order to minimize or eliminate any legal issues that may arise therefrom. As an example, see the interview questions formulated for the Account Manager’s position located at Appendix C.

Before ending the interview, be sure to look over your list of prepared questions to ensure that questions were not left unanswered.

In developing similar questions that are geared toward other positions, managers need only utilize the knowledge, skills, and abilities required by the position as well as the job description developed during the job analysis phase to formulate questions that are job-specific.

Pre-employment Tests and Assessments
Used as part of the selection process, pre-employment tests and assessments are not a holy grail. They do, however, help to make a more informed decision during the selection process. Is there any one assessment test that will help find the right candidate? No. But it sure can lead you closer to it. After all, the results of pre-employment tests and assessments can help to determine the candidate’s personality, knowledge, skills, and abilities, and provide comparative avenues for narrowing the applicant pool. However, before choosing one particular assessment, it is necessary to first know what information will be forthcoming as a result thereof. As with the job analysis, pre-employment tests and assessments must be conducted within the confines of employment laws.

To that end, Legacy conducts a variety of pre-employment tests and assessments including, but not limited to, the virtual simulation assessment, motivational assessments, and background checks as outlined below.

The Virtual Simulation Assessment

Also called performance tests, the virtual simulation assessment pulls back the curtain to reveal exactly how much the candidate knows about the job applied for and shows how well he or she can execute those duties. Keeping in mind that business operations are not cookie cutter across all companies, the virtual simulation provides the hiring manager the opportunity to observe the applicant’s adaptability to change.

While this assessment method may be a bit costly, managers using this method should:

1. perform a job analysis using supervisors and job incumbents as the main internal source of information;

2. identify job-related tasks for compilation of the test. Again, this information is best obtained from the people who actually perform those tasks;

3. once you’ve had the opportunity to collect the samples, determine how you’d like the test to be administered and develop testing procedures;

4. it is also important to develop a scoring criteria so as to create consistency in rating;

5. more importantly, don’t forget to train the judges. A well-defined set of rules and an understanding of how the scoring criteria works can only promote a level of fairness in the rating process.