The following is a guest post by Zuni Corkerton, Founder and President of RefCheck.

Today’s economic environment leaves no room for risk-taking in the talent-acquisition process.  Employers simply cannot afford the costs of re-hiring (estimated to be 2 to 3 times the annual salary of the position).  Conducting limited, perfunctory background checks (e.g., criminal records) is insufficient due diligence for employers, because even in cases of embezzlement, many cases are never pursued through the legal system.  The losses that result from hiring employees without the benefit of checking their references are realized at every level of the organization—from outright employee theft to lost productivity and damaged employee morale and engagement.   Checking references must no longer be limited to senior level positions.

Because employee loyalty is at an all-time low, employers must hire people who stand a greater chance of fully engaging with the organization’s values, style, and strategies.  Will that frontline supervisor be able to effectively deal with the pressures of his/her job?  Will s/he be able to interact with the entry-level staff as well as his/her superiors?  Does s/he have the courage that your organization and the position requires?  History and past performance are still considered strong indicators of future performance, and it is only through a thorough and robust reference-checking process than an employer can gain insight into the critical aspects of what a candidate will bring to their organization.

The thought that references won’t talk is a myth.  When the right reference is contacted, and credibility is quickly established, references will participate in a conversation.  Interviewing references effectively is an art that is supported by clear processes.

Tips to Effective Reference Checks:

1. Maintain control over the references that are called.  YOU—the employer, not the candidate—determines who will be called.  Ask each candidate to provide information for his/her last supervisor or manager at each prior position, as well as their current contact information.  Today’s research tools make it possible for candidates who really want to work for you to locate these individuals.
2. Request email addresses for the references so the conversation can be scheduled in advance and the reference can allow ample time.  (At RefCheck^® it’s not uncommon to spend 20 to 45 minutes with a reference.)
3. Assign the reference-checking process to professional-level staff, so the reference can be engaged in a true conversation.  Particularly at the senior levels, references want to speak with their equals.
4. Do not adhere to a rigid Q&A format, which leads to limited responses.
5. Thoroughly document the conversation. Take notes as the conversation takes place and review the notes for completion at the conclusion.

Ms. Corkerton can be reached at:

P: 614-777-8844, ext. 12

E: zcorkerton@refcheck.com

Somewhere southeast of Chattanooga my jaw undoubtedly dropped open as I listened on XM radio to the emerging details of the saga of Shirley Sherrod, who this week got the bum’s rush from her position with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

While driving on I-75 en route to the ATL, a route that Ms. Sherrod knows well, what I heard on the radio caused me to flash back to a former life as an HR executive at FedEx.  Superimposing the Sherrod affair onto my own career, I could envision myself in the office of FedEx founder and chairman, Fred Smith, along with the operational counterpart to Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack. Even more vividly, I can hear Mr. Smith asking the operating exec, “What were you thinking?” and then, turning to me, “and where the hell were you?”  As one who gives his executives considerable operating latitude, pays them well, and generously funds HR initiatives, he’s well within reason to ask those questions, and to expect good answers. That is no less the case with our senior public servants, and so, I hope that Secretary Vilsack and the head of his agency’s HR function have had a trip to the White House, and been given the opportunity to answer those same questions.

It’s not hard to see how the Sherrod affair came to be. The obvious political maneuverings notwithstanding, we live and work in a sound bite world where speed of thought, communication, and execution (often just execution) reign supreme. Doing it better often gets trumped by doing it faster, resulting in the occasional train wreck. It serves as a vivid reminder of the sound advice given us by our mothers in our youth, with reference to crossing the street: Stop. Look. Listen.

In recent years, most HR professionals have struggled with the objective of becoming more “strategic.” What they are really saying is that they are trying desperately to earn a seat at the table, and to remain relevant in a world where meeting this quarter’s numbers, or just surviving to tomorrow pretty well trumps any and all concern for things humanoid.

With respect to our HR friends, for whom I have profound admiration, and who do a thankless job, one of the ways that we earn (and keep) that seat at the table is by finding a way to keep our clients, folks like Secretary Vilsack, from shooting themselves in the foot. We do it by working as business partners with our management team, adding value, weighing in on difficult issues, doing our homework, and certainly by imposing a business-like process whenever someone’s livelihood is in the crosshairs. We do it each time, every time, whether we think the whole world (and Fox News) is watching, or no one is watching.

With respect to our operating exec friends, the HR profession has grown immeasurably in talent and capability (coinciding too neatly with the time I left the business). You would do well to seek their counsel and to involve them (meaningfully involve them) in all of your critical business decisions. In case of doubt, just take a few minutes and replay the video of Secretary Vilsack humbly apologizing on world-wide television to Ms. Sherrod. Play… rewind… play… rewind… play. Got it?

*****
A thought leader in the arena of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard Hadden, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows

In an age when the slightest whiff of a miscue brings incessant howls of vitriol from anyone with access to a phone, microphone or keyboard, the handling of the Jim Joyce, Armando Galarraga fiasco in last night’s Indians v Tigers game stands as a refreshing reminder of how mistakes can be handled when adults are on their game.

For anyone not tuned in, MLB umpire, Jim Joyce mistakenly called a 1^st base runner safe in the 9^th inning of the game, costing Detroit pitcher, Galarraga a perfect game. For the benefit of non-fans of the game, a perfect game is a really big deal. There have been only twenty such games recorded in the entire history of major league baseball, and by all rights, Mr. Galarraga earned, but didn’t get credit for the 21^st.

Granted, Galarraga’s coach and several teammates expressed their displeasure in no uncertain terms, but from all appearances, Galarraga remained calm and professional. Apart from the error, Joyce demonstrated why he has long been considered one of baseball’s finest umpires. Immediately after the game he reviewed the video, publicly admitted his error, and sought out Galarraga to apologize.  My guess is that he didn’t wait to consult his lawyer, league officials, announcers, or game sponsors. Nor did he wait to be prodded. He didn’t have to be waterboarded to cough up the truth.

My hope is that this can serve as a lesson for the rest of us. We live and work in a world where everything and everyone is moving at a high rate of speed. Occasionally we drop balls that should have been caught, or like Joyce, make a bad call. One thing (no, the only thing) that will keep people from slowing down is the belief that, when an error is made, rather than immediately bayonetting the wounded, cooler heads will prevail, and some adult behavior will emerge.

*****
A thought leader in the arena of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard Hadden, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows

Recently, I’ve heard a fair amount of carping about the job skills and work ethic (or lack thereof) of America’s next working generation. Despite what appears to be better than average collaboration skills, complaints center on their outsized expectations, easily bruised feelings, and a complete lack of work experience.

For some perspective on the issue, I turned to someone who is not only knowledgeable on the subject, but is putting his time and money where his mouth is and trying to improve the situation. Matt Smith is President of The A Game, a school-to-work transition education firm. Their raison d’etre is to prepare (and certify) young people for what in many cases is their first real job. I invited Matt to comment on the subject, and his new business…

by Matt Smith

“Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice, and need.”
-Voltaire

Today, reading Voltaire is viewed as a bit old-fashioned. But then again, his view of work is getting to be old-fashioned, too. Where we once embraced work as the way people earned their place in society and admired those who climbed to the top, we’ve lately come to accept a world view in which those who manage to avoid work are the ones deserving of our admiration. Whether it’s reality TV, get-rich-quick schemes, or the lottery, we see more evidence of this shift of attitudes every day.

And nowhere has this been more obvious than in our young employees – those aged between 15 and 24. Their age group has come to be known for inconsistent performance, bad attitudes, and spotty attendance. And while there are exceptions to the rule, the simple truth is that most young people lack the work ethic that built the infrastructure they now reject.

And that begs the question, where do young people learn work ethic?  From parents, at school, in the backroom of your business?  Until now, the answer has been a resounding no.

There are literally thousands of skills needed to succeed in any given workplace, but only a few fundamental values that underlie those. And they are the same in any workplace – from that first paper route to working in the C-Suite. Values like attitude, attendance, appearance, ambition, acceptance, accountability, and appreciation. These are the foundation of The A Game, and they are what we teach young employees.

We’ve developed a number of different solutions to instill these values in young employees – because you don’t tell someone how to have values – you grow them through experience. By reaching out to classroom educators and top corporate trainers we have built systems to train in any environment, with the ultimate goal for young employees being that they earn their A Game Certification – proof that they possess the values needed to thrive in the workplace.

When young people thrive in the workplace, they are much more likely to grow into contented cows. But to get there, it’s incumbent upon us to start teaching Voltaire’s lesson about work again – even if we don’t plan on ever reading Candide.

Matt Smith (matt@theagame.com) is the President of The A Game, the national workplace initiative aimed at rebuilding the work ethic of America, one teen at a time. To learn more about the A Game, visit http://www.theagame.com or follow @TheAGame on Twitter.

Job satisfaction is on a steady decline in the U.S., according to a report released last week by the Conference Board, a non-profit global business research organization.

If these numbers don’t grab business leaders by the throat and compel them to take action, we don’t know what will. On top of a still-anemic economy and a near universal crisis of trust,  the very last thing employers need today is a bunch of disgruntled workers operating at well less than full power. But that’s exactly what most organizations are faced with.

Only 45% of workers in the CB survey say they’re satisfied in their jobs, down from 61% in 1987, the first year the study was conducted. Unlike the economy, this downward trend has been constant, not cyclical. Just like gravity, job satisfaction has gone one way in both good times and bad… down.

So, what’s worker satisfaction at your outfit? And what difference does it make?

Second question first. If you’ve been following us for any part of the last 12 years, you know our research shows that it makes a HUGE difference – to the bottom line. Contented Cows Give Better Milk. Period.

First question: What’s worker satisfaction like  where you work? How do you know? Have you done a survey lately to find out where your company stands with respect to employee satisfaction? If not, why not? If so, what did you do with what you learned from the survey? If you want some help with this, click here.

So, if workers are less satisfied at work now than they once were, what are the reasons? What’s the remedy?

In keeping with the last-in-first-out nature of this article, we’ll start with a remedy:

Manage Yourself First: People aren’t going to follow, let alone be energized and engaged by a leader who is confused, conflicted, or depressed. If you can manage yourself on your own, go to it. If not, find a coach or counselor to help.

Now to the reasons. We’ll offer two in this article, and what to do about them; then a few more next month.

Reason #1:

Author Daniel Pink probably hit on the kernel of rising dissatisfaction when he tweeted last week, “Meager money + Zero meaning = Record low job satisfaction.”  Increase the value of either of the two variables on the left side of Pink’s equation, and satisfaction is likely to rebound.

What to do about it

If you put any more money into the equation, do it in a way that serves to better differentiate (and reward) better performers. If more money’s not in the cards, or even if it is, leaders could substantially improve employee satisfaction and engagement, and thereby organizational results, by investing more meaning in people’s work. That takes two forms:

Make less meaningful work more meaningful.

• Take all the senseless BS out of people’s jobs – unnecessary tasks, paperwork, and CYA-related nonsense.
• When you ask someone to do something, use what they’ve done, or quit asking them to do it.
• Ask people to develop their own best ways to accomplish results, hold them accountable, and reward them for hitting targets.
• On the premise that we all need to see the needle move once in a while, give them some opportunities for quick wins.

Shine a light on the meaning that’s already there. This is the more likely problem, and it’s easier to fix.

• Create a clear line of sight between their work and real paying customers. Bank tellers need to know how processing transactions makes money for the bank. Most don’t have a clue. Dishwashers and prep cooks – how does their work make diners want to come back and spend more money? And every assistant administrator in a state community college needs a firm grasp of how the decisions they make impact the quality of education in their state.
• Here’s an assignment for today. Yes, today. Ask each team member to describe how their work is felt, ultimately, by the people who pay for what you do – customers, clients, patients, taxpayers, students, whatever you call them – the people without whom the organization would not exist. If they can’t do it, see the above bullet point.

Reason #2:

While some leaders run around telling people they’re “empowered” (gag), sadly, most of us are actually micromanaging people into less and less satisfaction.

One way to start doing something about that:

Build in flexibility. If at all possible, let go of your concern with when people show up to do their work, and what they’re doing every minute they’re on the premises. Trust us. No one ever said “I hate my job. It gives me too much control over my life.” This one will get you MAJOR satisfaction points, if you manage it well.

If work times must, by the nature of your business, coincide with customers’ and/or co-workers’ patterns, then ask your workforce to figure out a way to meet the needs of the business while providing people with maximum flexibility.

In fields where customer coverage and colleague coordination matters less, incent people to accomplish results, not punch a clock, real or imaginary. If you employ adults, treat them as such. Hold them accountable – really accountable – for excellent results, and let them figure out the best way to manage their schedules while meeting business needs. If you’ve hired the right people, they’ll LOVE their jobs.

Next month, we’ll look at a few more reasons people aren’t feeling the job love as much these days, and some remedies for each.

Til then, Godspeed.

*****

A thought leader in the arena of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard Hadden, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows