Workforce Management Blog

So far we have learned about the different interview structures, and things to keep in mind while conducting an interview, the next thing to be aware of are the common interviewing mistakes that can be made.

The following is a list of common interviewing errors that can breach the validity and reliability of the interview:

1. Poor Planning – This often results in unstructured interviews, with minimal information to accurately compare candidates. The more unstructured the interview is, the less valid and reliable it is.
2. Snap Judgment – First impressions are key, but should not be used to judge an applicant. Often at times interviewers will make a “snap judgment” within minutes of meeting the applicant or even when they review their test scores or resume.
3. Negative Emphasis – Interviewers are most likely to remember and be influenced by the unfavourable aspects of the interview, and opinions can be more easily changed from positive to negative.
4. Halo Effect – This is when a positive first impression of an applicant causes the interviewer to view them with a positive bias, which distorts their ability to accurately rate the candidate. For example if the candidate has a nice smile or firm handshake they may be viewed in a positive light before the interview even starts.
5. Poor Knowledge of the Job – If the interviewer is not familiar with what the job entitles they will not know what type of person that would be best suited for the position. As a result, they will most likely inaccurately choose a candidate based off a stereotype of what they believe is a good employee.
6. Contrast (Candidate-Order) Error – The order that a person is interviewed can affect their rating. For example, a candidate may be viewed more favourably than they actually are if they were interviewed after a series of unfavourable candidates.
7. Influence of Nonverbal Behaviour – Nonverbal behaviour, such as more eye contact, head moving, or smiling can positively influence the interviewer’s view of the candidate, and can account for more than 80% of their rating. Studies show that the attractiveness and gender can also affect their ratings – the more attractive a person is, the more suitable they seem are for the position.
8. Telegraphing – This is when the interviewer is “telegraphing” expected answers to help the candidates respond correctly to the questions. It can be as obvious as asking a question like “This job can be very stressful. You can handle that right?” or as subtle as smiling or nodding when the candidate responds favourably after a question.
9. Too Much/Too Little Talk – Either scenario is not favourable because you will not be able to obtain the necessary information to accurately rate the candidate. This is why experts suggest using the 70/30 rule. Have the candidate speak for 70 percent of the time, and the interviewer the other 30 percent.
10. Similar-to-Me Bias – Interviewers tend to view candidates that are similar to themselves more favourably (i.e. candidates that posses the same demographic, personality, or attitudinal characteristics as the interviewer).

So what can you do to avoid falling into the trap of those common interviewing mistakes? Check back in with us next Monday, September 26, on designing an effective interview!

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This is a continuation of the previous blog “How to Conduct a Successful Employee Interview – Interview Structure”, where we started off by talking about the different types of interviews.

Now that we have established the objectives of the interview and decided on the structure to adopt, there are a few things to keep in mind while conducting an interview:

• Questions must be within the human rights legislation – Illegal questions include questions about the candidate’s marital status, childcare arrangements, ethnic background, age, etc.
• Every candidate must be treated equally – For example when hiring for a sales position, you cannot ask a female on their willingness to travel and not ask a male. Please note that the necessary accommodations must be made for people with disabilities.
• Avoid making preconceived notions – Never cut an interview short because you already made up your mind about what the “ideal” candidate is.
• Focus on the job description and specifications – Phrase questions in a manor such like “this job requires…”, “in this position you will…” to access applicants without violating their legal rights.

The best thing you can do is be prepared for the interview. Decide on the structure you want and have your questions prepared prior to the interview. Keep in mind the above-mentioned 4 tips when preparing your questions, to ensure a smooth interview process that complies with the human rights legislation.

Stay tuned for next week’s installment (Wednesday, September 14) where we will discuss common interviewing mistakes.

Choosing the perfect time and attendance system for your company can be a complex process. To help you out, here are some main things to consider:

1.       Number of employees

The number of employees and managers helps determine the complexity of the system. Organizations with more employees will have more information to keep track of, and different managers who need access to this information.

2.       Number of locations

Like the number of employees, companies with more locations may require a more complex system. Different branches may have different time and attendance rules, and will most likely have numerous managers who will need access to only the information from their location. If organizations have locations across borders, local labour laws, as well as language barriers should all be considered.

3.       Where to position time clocks

Placing time clocks at entry/exit doors is usually a good idea; employees will rarely forget to punch in or out. The positioning of clocks can also depend on if you need more than one for a single location – you may want to place a couple at different exits, especially if employees arrive and leave at the same time.

4.       What kind of data collection system you need

Picking the best data collection system is essential. There are numerous options, each with their own benefits and downfalls. Here are a few common methods:

• Badge readers: each employee is given a unique swipe card with a barcode or magstripe for example, and they simply swipe in and out at the beginning and end of their shifts
• Biometrics: this system uses a unique characteristic of employees to identify their hours worked (for example, fingerprint scanning or hand reading)
• Online entry: hosted on the Internet or Intranet, employees can enter their hours (this is ideal for project-oriented companies or organizations that don’t have a central office)

5.       Other workforce management add-ons

In addition to a basic time and attendance system, there a number of complimentary services. To install a holistic workforce management system, companies should consider various add-ons, such as:

• Scheduling
• Time costing
• Business intelligence
• Absence management

6.       Technology

Although many HR professionals who are responsible for choosing a time and attendance system are not very technical people, the software and hardware components to any time and attendance solution should be examined. Strong hardware, as well as user-friendly, customizable software is very important. Daily users of the system should be extremely familiar with it, so be sure to choose an intuitive system.

7.       Providers

There are a number of companies in today’s market that specialize in time and attendance and other components of workforce management. Examine the basics – price, customer service, professionalism, but also be sure to look into how well the provider can customize, how creditable the business name is, how much training they will provide, and how much experience they have in your industry. Most importantly, ensure that the system is a good fit for your organization!

Visit our website for more information on Time & Attendance systems.

I came across this blog entry by Jim Estill, in which he lists a series of what he thought were the best interview questions for hiring a new employee. The full list of questions can be viewed on his blog.

As you can see from the lists of questions, there are both situational interview and behavioural interview questions. Situational interview questions help to predict future behavior with questions on how they would react in given situations. Behavioural interview questions are used to determine past behavior. These questions are aimed to see how the candidate has reacted in previous situations.

It is best to have a combination of both situational and behavioural interview questions to ensure you are getting as much relevant information about the candidate as you can, to help you effectively determine the best person for the job.

After reading over the questions, I thought that expanding on how to conduct a successful interview would be an interesting topic to discuss. We will publishing a series of blog entries outlining the steps you should consider in the interviewing process.

To start off, let’s go over why companies use interviews. Interviews are used by companies to determine who the best applicant for the job is. Interviews are typically considered to be the most important component of the selection process.

The objectives for the interview are to:

• Assess the qualifications of the applicant
• Observe important aspects of the applicant’s behavior (i.e. verbal communication skills, degree of self confidence, interpersonal skills, etc.)
• Provide information about position (i.e. duties, responsibilities, etc.)
• Promote the organization
• Determine how well the applicant will fit in with the organization

After conducting all the interviews, the interviewer should be able to select who is the most suitable person for the job.

Now that you know what you should get out of an interview, you need to decide the type of interview structure you want to adopt.

At one end of the spectrum, there is the unstructured interview. This is a more conversational style and questions are asked as they come to mind. The topics of discussion for the interview are developed from the previous responses to questions. Every interview has different questions for each person, and as a result, unstructured interviews are low in reliability and validity.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have the structured interview. These interviews have predetermined questions and acceptable responses which are based on the job description and specifications. Every candidate is asked the exact same questions in the same order, and their responses are rated based on appropriateness. Structured interviews are high in validity and reliability, but the feel of the interviews can be very mechanical.

In the middle is the mixed (semi-structured) interview, which is a combination of the two extremes. Mixed interviews have structured questions, as well as job related or candidate specific question based on their application form and resume. From personal preference I believe that mixed interviews are the most effective, because candidates can be equally compared, while there is still a conversational feel to the interview.

The type of interview structure varies from organization to organization, depending on the type of job, person or organization; once we have established the goal and structure of the interview, we can move on to the next step. Join us next Wednesday, September 7, for part two of how to conduct a successful interview – Things to Keep in Mind while Conducting an Interview.

Accurately monitoring HR data, in terms of time & attendance, turnover, training processes, and workforce productivity is important for a number of reasons. It provides organizations with a clear view of this data, and allows companies to take steps to improve or maintain their processes.

In order to get the full worth of this data though, organizations should implement a sophisticated analysis method. Yes, HR professionals within the company could look at this data and create charts and graphs for observation, but this process can be easily automated. In a world of evolving technology, it seems somewhat silly to manually compile all of this information.

Automating the analysis is much easier and much less time-consuming – companies should invest in a business intelligence system.

A business intelligence system has been defined as a computer-based solution that automatically sorts, organizes, and presents information about the company. This information can range from sales revenues to corporate income to more specific data, such as information about human resources. When the data is HR-specific, the system has been referred to as a “workforce analysis” tool. Utilizing this kind of solution provides businesses with:

• Flexibility: data can be shared with certain members of the organization, and information about specific HR activities can be extracted
• Empowerment: the technical aspect of organizing information is automated, so anyone can easily access and understand the data
• Knowledge: the information analyzed by the system is of great worth, and can provide managers and employees alike with important knowledge about trends within the company
• Advanced Capabilities: automated systems easily produce sophisticated reports and clearly organized data, allowing for more time to spent on identifying internal trends and areas for improvement

Investing in a BI or workforce analysis system is highly recommended to all organizations. These systems are sold individually, and can also be found as modules in workforce management offerings.

Visit our website to find out more about having a business intelligence component to your WFM solution.