Strategic staffing handbook example

COURSE PROJECT

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