Onboarding New Employees With Excellence

Jun 8, 2021

Knowledgeable, experienced, skillful employees are crucial for any organization to stay ahead in a rapidly growing competitive economy. With several recruits lined up, hoping to be hired, choosing a promising candidate is a big task for any human resources department.

After a time-consuming recruiting process, even if HR does find the right candidate, the next big problem arises: How to retain those new hires with the organization?

The simple answer is by formulating a strategic, systematic, and well-tailored employee onboarding program. You may not know this, but a great onboarding program ensures that about 70% of employees stay with an organization for the next three years.

If, being an HR manager, you would welcome updating your next onboarding strategy, let’s look at some quick tips and unique ideas on this.

Purpose of an Employee Onboarding Program

The Society of Human Resources Development (SHRM) defines employee onboarding as:

“[T]he process of helping new hires adjust to social and performance aspects of their new jobs quickly and smoothly.”

A practical and organized onboarding program helps new employees to feel they’re a part of the organization and helps them to understand your organization’s culture in an encouraging environment. Moreover, effective onboarding experience helps recruits gain knowledge, develop skills and feel connected to your organization. This makes them more enthusiastic and enables them to perform their jobs to full capacity.

So, the positives of onboarding include:

• Helping new recruits acclimate to the organization
• Facilitating relationship-building between employees
• Goal setting, recurrent manager check-ins, and employee development programs, which educate them as to what’s expected from them and where they can improve, to bring the changes

An organization only faces disadvantages if the onboarding plan is ineffective or executed poorly.

Elements Contributing to Successful Onboarding

Incorporating crucial elements of success like these can make your onboarding strategy a defining tool to preserve quality employees.

• Interview recently onboarded recruits and ask what they think is missing from the current process. The best advice comes from people who have experienced the process.
• Determine the goals you want to set for new employees and devise a plan to communicate those objectives to recruits.
• Avoid overburdening new employees with tasks; instead, the HR department should work as a team with the recruits.
• Assist new employees with the settling process. Help them feel welcomed; have their workstations prepared; organize weekly meetings to fill any communication gaps.
• Consider implementing a mentorship program where new hires can access proper training and have a go-to companion, helping them feel comfortable while asking questions.
• As an employer, connect with new employees to guide their careers and support them in making career advancements.

Strategies to Improve Onboarding Practices

When deciding to join an organization, potential new employees give strong consideration to the employer–employee relationship, the working atmosphere, and the organization’s concept of teamwork. With a productive onboarding plan in progress, human resources departments can gain a favorable return on their time and investment in the form of qualified and dedicated employees.

Employers lose an estimated 17% of new hires within the first 90 days due to ineffective onboarding. It’s time to upgrade and modify your onboarding program with these proven strategies.

1.   Reach out to new hires before their first day

Neglecting new employees after the appointment letter is issued creates a negative impression of your organization. Instead, for a successful onboarding process, take a visionary approach. Don’t wait for them to join your organization. Communicate with them in advance of their first day, through a phone call or a welcoming email.

If you set up an online onboarding portal for them, where they can access organizational information and perhaps complete their paperwork, delivers a positive, encouraging image of your organization.

2.   Be welcoming

New employees are understandably a bit nervous, and want to feel at ease on their first day, so a nice welcome may do just that. You can involve all the new hire’s respective colleagues in the greeting process and perhaps provide them supplies embossed with your organization’s logo, along with a welcoming card, to create a positive first impression of your organization.

At Twitter, new employees are welcomed enthusiastically. New employees receive their email IDs upon arrival and are greeted with a t-shirt and a bottle of wine at their desk. New employees enjoy breakfast with the CEO, and their desks are placed right beside those of their teammates.

3.   Create an onboarding timeline

Instead of overloading your new employees with tons of work, HR can create a proper timeline, scheduling work for their entire week. This keeps them engaged and busy and both gives them a sense of direction and signals what is expected from them, allowing them to merge with your organization far more smoothly. Successful organizations document processes and monitor their effectiveness. Make sure your program has a mechanism that tracks its effectiveness.

4.   Provide help in socializing

While the current pandemic situation has suspended many in-person activities for applicants, new hires, and employees, hopefully this will soon pass. Enhancing your employee onboarding process by transforming it into a social experience generates a positive image of your organization.

New employees can find it difficult to mingle, so by introducing them to the workers and team around them, you help them feel at ease and reduce their anxiety. Plan a lunch, perhaps, with all the team members the recruit will be working with, or arrange a team-building event where the new employee can get to know their colleagues better.

5.   Set clear goals

Another strategy to improve your onboarding process is to map out realistic goals for your new employees.

According to Global HR Research (GHRR):

“The number one thing your new hire will be interested in when they onboard will be learning about their role and what will make them successful.”

By outlining short- and long-term career goals for employees, you give them a clear overview of what is expected from them and what milestones they must achieve. This is also an effective way for HR managers to discern the strength and weaknesses of new employees.

6.   Solicit employee feedback

By keeping all means of communication open in your onboarding process, you encourage new employees to furnish valuable suggestions and point out potential areas for improvement. A good way to achieve positive reviews from new hires is to send them a confidential survey asking them to provide an anonymous review of the organization’s onboarding process.

Selecting the Right Tools for Your Onboarding Process

To make your onboarding strategy more impressive, you can use employee onboarding software to ease things for you and your recruiting team.

Here is a quick review of some onboarding tools that can contribute to your effective onboarding process.

• Origanimi: Create organization charts and internal structure of your organization to help new employees learn its hierarchy.
• KissFlow: An easy-to-customize onboarding tool to help HR create impressive presentations and visual representations. The real-time dashboard enables your HR team to keep a close eye on the onboarding process.
• Bamboo HR: Best for small organizations, this is a cloud-based HR tool, a complete software package for managing your onboarding operations, including ATS, onboarding apps, time-off management, advanced reporting functionality, and much more. Easy to use, consistent software to smooth your onboarding activities.

So, now you know all about onboarding new employees with excellence. Make use of our employee onboarding tips and see your organization prosper through improved productivity.

In His Name HR helps organizations build high-performance human resource programs. E-mail us here.

Mark A. Griffin is President and Founder of In His Name HR LLC. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Christian Higher Ed HR, Human Resources, Job Shepherd Employer

Now Recruiting: Bookkeeper/Office Coordinator

May 21, 2021

The Bookkeeper is to oversee the company’s financial data and compliance by maintaining accurate books on accounts payable and receivable, payroll, and daily financial entries and reconciliations. Perform daily accounting tasks such as monthly financial reporting, general ledger entries, to record payments and adjustments.

Some Essential Responsibilities:

• Maintains records of financial transactions by establishing accounts; posting transactions; ensure legal requirements compliance.
• Inventory management by creating systematic approach to ordering, storing and maintaining products.
• Maintains subsidiary accounts by verifying, allocating, and posting transactions.
• Balance’s subsidiary accounts by reconciling entries.
• Maintains general ledger by transferring subsidiary account summaries.
• Balances general ledger by preparing a trial balance; reconciling entries.
• Maintains historical records by filing documents.
• Prepares financial reports by collecting, analyzing, and summarizing account information and trends for inventory control/management.

 Medical Supplies & Supplements Responsibilities:

• Maintain and order medical supplies and supplements:
  • Responsible for developing and maintaining the inventory ordering schedule.
  • Responsible for tracking of deliveries of medical supplies and supplements.
  • Manages disposal of inventory.
  • Responsible for developing and maintaining supplement buying program based on vendor sales and volume discounts and reports from owner.
  • Responsible for monitor growth and development reports on supplements.
  • Responsible for sending supplements to be mailed to clients, including but not limited to:
    • Setup invoice to clients
    • Check correct client shipping address
    • Check each supplement packed for accuracy (3xs)
    • Tracks packages delivered to clients
• Reply to emails and phone calls regarding customer relationships.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Some Other Responsibilities:

Human Resources (HR):

• • • Responsible for maintaining office staff by recruiting, selecting with approval from CEO/Owner, orienting, and training employees.
    • Responsible for maintaining office staff job results by coaching, counseling, and disciplining employees, and planning, monitoring, and performance reviews.
    • Responsible for maintaining personnel files.
    • Responsible for disposal of personnel records when required by law.
    • Responsible for creating/maintaining Job Descriptions for all employees.
    • Responsible for updating/maintaining the Employee Handbook

Marketing:

• • • Coordinating flyers for company programs, events, new products, etc. with advertising person.
    • Responsible for all Social Media Marketing (Services).
    • Provide direct administrative support, as needed, including scheduling appointments, meetings, and events, booking travel (when needed), maintaining filing system, mailing, and shipping packages, and updating customer database and employee list.

Information Technology (IT):

• • • Responsible for ordering new office equipment and software.
    • Responsible for ordering new medical equipment and software.

Some Required Personal Attributes:

• • • Excellent verbal and written communication skills. 
    • Excellent interpersonal, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills.
    • Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
    • Strong Data Entry skills.
    • Excellent time management skills with a proven ability to meet deadlines.
    • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
    • Ability to prioritize tasks and to delegate them when appropriate.
    • Ability to act with integrity, professionalism, and confidentiality.
    • Thorough knowledge of HIPPA-related laws and regulations.
    • Be a good team member with others.

Some Position Requirements: 

• • • Minimum Associate degree in accounting, required and/or
    • 4 + years of accounting experience, preferred.
    • Experience working with Desktop QuickBooks.
    • Proficient with Microsoft Office products including Access, Video Conference Systems, and Outlook (calendar, email, one-drive, etc.).
    • Willing to learn Biocanic, electronic medical record software.
    • Complete support of and willing adherence to DNA of Hope’s mission, vision, and core values.  Applicant must hold these standards as his/her own.

Location will be: 1135 Georgetown Road, Suite 110, Christiana, PA 17509

All qualified individuals may submit a resume and letter of interest to:

Email HR Team

Mark A. Griffin | Now Recruiting For

The Top 4 Reasons Talented People Quit Their Jobs, +1

Apr 14, 2021

Over my 25 plus-year career in human resources, I’ve noticed that while people will endure fewer amenities and less pay, there are four reasons skillful workers will leave for another job.

(1) No opportunity – When employees sense no potential for career progress, or leaders are unaware that advancement is important, employees look elsewhere for better options.

(2) Not knowing the dollar value of their benefits – Pay and benefits is a topic often avoided in many workplaces. Many organizations, however, offer competitive pay and often benefits that cost thousands of dollars, and employees haven’t a clue. (Think PTO, like legal holidays, sick days, and vacation days; life insurance, long-term disability (LTD), and short-term disability (STD) programs; health insurance, including vision and dental; and wellness programs.) The costs of all these programs add up. When organizations take the time to periodically make employees aware of the total cost of all the benefits at their disposal, employees gain a greater appreciation how much value they receive in their job.

(3) Feeling unappreciated – When employees receive little or no gratitude or acknowledgment for their contributions, it feels demoralizing — no wonder they seek more rewarding work elsewhere. The biggest surprise? Many times, during exit interviews, departing employees disclose that a simple, verbal “thank you” would have made all the difference. However, in many organizations, too often managers fail to do even that.

(4) Sheer Boredom – Without savvy leaders or a solid idea of the big picture, employees don’t see concrete, interesting ways to contribute, outside of the ordinary scope of their jobs. Things grow tedious and employees hunt for new challenges to make work feel more meaningful.

So, while you might think your employees only want higher pay and a corner office, or that the trend among employees is to feel “entitled,” the truth is that the best employees are satisfied with simpler, more basic and fundamental management approaches—and a better explanation of the benefits they currently have.

Be thoughtful — find out what motivates your employees! This simple investment will ensure improved worker retention, enhanced overall morale, and increased company loyalty. And isn’t that what you really want?

Action Steps
What can you do as an employer right now to keep your best employees? Consider asking them. That’s right. Simply spending time with employees in focus groups and roundtable discussions can help you to help them by making basic changes to ensure you keep your greatest asset happy and encouraged.

One more thing…What’s the Top Reason People Quit?

This 2017 Inc. magazine article reveals that the primary reason employees quit is:

People leave managers, not companies.

Marcel Schwantes, while researching the topic of turnover, found that 50% of employees left their job “to get away from their manager to improve their overall life at some point in their career.”

Keep in mind that as a new generation of workers comes of age, the issue of turnover will continue to grow. Many employees now look at their lives differently than workers did 20 and 30 years ago. Most value relationships above all else, and when a manager starts stealing their joy, they won’t hesitate to look for work elsewhere.

The workplace ladder is simply not as important to young workers today as in prior generations. Many are talented and capable, but will invariably choose a desirable manager over monetary or organizational rewards.

If you are concerned about retaining talented employees while also saving time and money in hiring and training costs, remember these top 4 reasons and the new trend that makes talented people quit. It could make keeping the great people you need a lot easier than you thought.

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Mark Griffin is founder and President at In His Name HR LLC. He has over 25 years of HR experience. Follow Mark on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Christian Higher Ed HR, Human Resources

Now Recruiting: Office Specialist

Mar 15, 2021

All qualified individuals may submit a resume and letter of interest to:

Email HR Team

Mark A. Griffin | Now Recruiting For

In HIS Name HR LLC Celebrates 10 years of Dedicated HR Service

Feb 10, 2021

“Words can’t express the depth of our gratitude to all of our amazing clients. Thank you for your continued support and for trusting us to support your HR efforts.” Mark Griffin, founder, IHN-HR

In HIS Name HR LLC (IHN-HR) celebrates 10 years of dedicated HR service today. IHN-HR began with the mission to provide world-class human resources support to both profit and nonprofit organizations. IHN-HR’s goal is to provide straightforward HR solutions to complex organizational issues. The team at IHN-HR prides itself on always being compassionate with people while assuring accountability in achieving organizational results.

Launched initially to support for-profit businesses that promote Christian values, IHN-HR broadened its scope to serve clients in a variety of sectors, including Christian higher education, churches, ministries, and camps. Headquartered in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, they are dedicated to supporting organizations in rural areas that do not have access to the resources that large metro areas enjoy. And, since launching in 2011, they have become the firm of choice within their market niche, due to their commitment to operating with integrity and a high moral code.

We have a clear responsibility to our clients, their employees, and their families,” president and founder Mark Griffin says, “in bringing purpose to lives. That responsibility extends to all the communities in which we have been called upon to serve. Building great organizations creates security, dignity and compassion for all who are fortunate to be part of the process.

“To our business partners, we especially want to thank you for your referrals throughout the past 10 years. You have been critical to IIHN-HR’s growth and success in our first decade, and we look forward to our partnership with you in the coming years.”

In His Name HR helps organizations build high-performance human resource programs. E-mail us here.

Mark A. Griffin is President and Founder of In His Name HR LLC. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Christian Higher Ed HR, Events

Now Recruiting Product Engineer New Holland PA

Jan 14, 2021

(Position Closed) 

Located in Lancaster County, Horning manufactures high quality kernel processors and silage processing equipment.

After three generations of dairy farming, the Horning family knows cows. But as much as the Hornings are dairy farmers at
heart, they are innovators in mind. Relentless innovators in fact. And it is this family passion that has become the driving force and company culture of Horning Manufacturing.

Because of the incredible growth of Horning, we are now in search of a Product Engineer that will help take the organization to the next level of engineering and product excellence.

Make Horning part of your story.

The Product Engineer specializes in designing new products and their corresponding manufacturing processes. They improve upon current products and the manufacturing processes required to produce the products. They are also responsible for research, development product testing and transitioning the product from the design phase to manufacturing the product in scalable fashion.

Some Essential Responsibilities:

• Utilize computer-aided engineering tools such as CAE, CAD, FEA, etc., to increase productivity, quality and efficiency of product design and analysis.
• Provide information such as material and process specifications that are required in the manufacture or purchase of parts.
• Working knowledge of the work of Designers and Drafters to efficiently complete development of projects.
• Responsible for assisting and/or completing all field testing, as required.
• Complete work in the design and fabrication of prototypes to prove out new products or satisfy customer demands.
• Document design requirements on production drawings and incorporate all pertinent information necessary to ensure accuracy and precision in the production of the product.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Some Position Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree or technical degree in Engineering or equivalent experience.
• 3+ years of Agricultural/Equipment Engineering experience.
• Possess solid engineering knowledge in mechanical and electrical systems.
• Possess computer proficiency in MS Office and AutoCAD, Solidworks or equivalent.
• Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, blueprint, and/or sketch form.
• Ability and willingness to travel occasionally (short term).
• Self-starter, capable of working very closely with multiple internal and external customers.
• Complete support of and willing adherence to Horning’s Standard of Conduct, and Mission, Vision, and Values; applicant must hold these standards as their own.

Some Required Personal Attributes

• Must exercise good judgment and integrity.
• Possess excellent organizational skills.
• Possess excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Possess the ability to take the product from beginning to the finished product.

Location Will Be:

301 Twin Springs Ct,
New Holland, PA 17557

Horning, LLC. is an equal opportunity employer

All qualified individuals may submit a resume and letter of interest to:

Email HR Team

Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Now Recruiting For

Effectively Manage Benefit Programs

Jan 4, 2021

Effectively Manage Benefit Programs

COVID-19 is surging, and more lockdowns are looming. It’s all too easy for us to become overwhelmed with worries about friends and relatives—and when things might hopefully return to normal—in times of crisis. Even during trying times—or perhaps even more so—your HR department is still called upon to manage your employees’ needs swiftly and accurately.

HR executives tend to juggle more than their fair share of business concerns. Payroll systems, in particular, can be complicated and time-consuming to manage, which is why executives look to outsource to more cost-efficient payroll services.

Employee Benefits: An HR Executive’s Top Priority

Employee benefits, an indirect form of salary, are a vital consideration when it comes to how and why a company attracts and retains the best employees. No wonder HR executives focus on the benefits that their companies offer, compared to others in the same or similar businesses. For instance, there is little in the way of public medical and dental benefits in the United States. Consequently, these two factors are among the most significant considerations when a prospective employee is looking at a company. The importance of salary negotiation benefits is liable to be in front of the line, right after the salary itself.

While many candidates fresh out of college or rising from lower echelon positions tend to focus on salary, this is not so for candidates eligible for more senior positions. More than salary, the seasoned professional is focused on the indirect pay, the benefits. And benefits mean more than health and dental. Senior employees typically look for vacation/personal time, stock options, pensions and 401(k) matching, family leave, and the like, which means the HR department must find a way to keep track of their benefits package in a manner both efficient and scalable.

Reasonable HR Benefits

Two categories of employee benefits exist in the United States: benefits required by law, and optional benefits offered by an employer. Legally required benefits include company-sponsored savings programs, such as employee contributions to a 401(k) with a percentage of funds contributed by the company; medical and dental insurance; unemployment insurance; Social Security contributions, and more, while company-specific benefits may include such perks as tuition assistance, profit sharing, paid sick leave, and stock option plans, just to name a few.

Depending on the organization’s size and the benefits portfolio, keeping up with such a wide range of concerns can be daunting for larger corporations, but equally challenging for small companies.

HR Management Best Practices

Best practices should not be confused with HR activities, such as payroll, attendance, training, and so on.  No, best practices involve the overall strategy of the HR department. It should also be noted that there tend to be two schools of thought on best practices. The first, the “best fit” approach, seeks to align human resource policies with the larger overall strategy of the business being supported. The second, the “best practices” approach, posits a universal set of HR practices that any company can use to achieve business excellence.

Leaving aside the best fit school of thought, the current line of thinking on best practices is that it should be employee intensive. This thinking means an organization can excel if: a) it works to ensure job security, b) it offers fair compensation, c) it offers continuing education and training, and d) it ensures that anyone in the organization easily obtains pertinent company information.  (This list is by no means definitive.)

Executives Who Manage Benefits Effectively

Effectively managing HR benefits involves effectively managing such HR activities as these, and more:

• Payroll
• Yearly employee surveys
• Planning, design, and implementing benefit changes
• Maintaining benefit information
• Staying abreast of state, federal, and international laws
• Monitoring compliance with government regulations

HR Management Systems

There are many HR management services available to businesses today, but not all are equal. Some are simply specialists in one field, like payroll services, while others may offer comprehensive services yet ultimately lack the depth and expertise that the client requires. An effective HR management service will have a specific target for their expertise. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, effective service will specialize in small or medium-sized business support. A reputation for integrity and service is a hallmark of the best HR management services.

Effective Benefits Management Systems

Effective benefit management systems simplify complex processes and procedures, are easy to use, and are cost-effective. There is no sense in outsourcing if the service cost is greater than the current organizational overhead. Moreover, they offer an efficient method for managing mission-critical factors such as:

• State, federal, and international law compliance
• Monitoring employee turnover
• Locating the appropriate talent for your needs
• Leadership training
• Employee training
• Benefit management
• Payroll services

An Expert to Help You Through the Labyrinth

In HIS Name HR is an innovative, reliable HR management service designed for small and medium-sized companies. Comprehensive in our approach and focused on our customers’ needs, In HIS Name HR offers full-spectrum support for your small or medium-sized concern.

We can help you navigate health and benefits brokers’ intricacies, current regulations, and increase workplace productivity. Among our other areas of expertise are recruitment, how to find and retain the best people, and compliance with employee benefits law to ensure that state and federal requirements for employee protection are in place. We also specialize in employee-benefits design, the best benefits packages available for the money, and organizational development to keep your business on the right course.

Regardless of whether you are a small or medium-sized firm, HR management in the modern business environment is a challenge. Even the largest companies find adequate HR solutions time consuming and, frequently, not aligned with the organization’s objective. In HIS Name HR helps our customers to assist in their HR processes and encourage an agile and productive business. We offer leadership training, business coaching, and organizational coaching, all at an incredibly affordable price.

With In HIS Name HR, you no longer have to negotiate the labyrinth alone.

Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Christian Higher Ed HR, Human Resources

Integrate — Creating Successful Training and Development

Dec 20, 2020

Integrate — Creating Successful Training and Development

In our final example of integration of MVVs into HR practices, we will explore Training and Development (T&D). In the past 25 years, I have watched T&D dwindle to an almost nonexistent state in most companies. I could write a book on the impact of not investing in the development of your people, but you might find it boring. It is what it is, and it won’t change all that soon, unfortunately. But, as leaders of organizations, we must decide how we are going to right ourselves and guide our employees to work in alignment with our Missions, strive for our Visions and operate within our organizational Values.

Here are a few steps you can take to ensure you are addressing the T&D needs of your organization without going overboard:

• Discover what is needed
• Define what needs to be addressed
• Seek the resources to accomplish the T&D
• Initiate the T&D
• Follow up to ensure it was worth the investment

Discover what is needed

Do some basic fact-finding and discover the gaps within your organization. Simply going through a job description review project can help you discover what skills and abilities are lacking in your team. Summarize these by category and you will start to discover trends across your organization. Take it even further and include a development aspect to your performance review process, and document what development is needed by each of your employees. When you couple this with rewriting your company’s job descriptions, you will take it to a greater, more desirable level of detail.

Define what needs to be addressed

Without a good outline of what gap(s) needs to be closed, you have the potential to be scattered all over the place. Take the list of items that you captured during your assessment stage and better define what is needed. Employees stating they need ‘communication training” is, frankly, too broad. Do they need public speaking classes? Would they benefit from e-mail etiquette guidelines? Or is it interpersonal conflict resolution training that is needed? Just saying we need “communication training” paints in overly broad strokes.

Seek the resources to accomplish the T&D

 I am not generally an advocate of online training. While it may be good for some, I do not believe it is effective for the majority of employees. My experiences have demonstrated that people learn when there is real interaction. There is more than one way to develop and train an employee. For years, it has been customary to send people to seminars. That just does not happen much anymore.

Think outside the box.

A few years back, I was supporting a company that tragically allowed many immigrants to work without the benefit of English as a Second Language training for several years. When I discovered this, I was frankly outraged that these folks were never given the resources to better themselves. When the gap was discovered, I identified a resource, hiring a gentleman who had recently returned from Asia and who had been immersed in this same immigrant culture. He developed a curriculum to deliver and help these folks speak English for less than $1,500. Now, that is what building a ‘Kingdom Minded” organization is about. Ignoring the needs of your employees is not.

Follow up to ensure it was worth the investment

Another creative solution to a problem such as this is tasking an employee to become a trainer within an organization to deliver a topic that is relevant to the need that was discovered. One organization was lacking financial management skills within the company’s leadership. The American Management Association’s program, Finance for Non-Financial Managers, was delivered by an HR leader. Doing it in this fashion saved the company tens of thousands of dollars by avoiding sending managers out to seminars and also allowing the customization of the materials. 

Was it worth the investment? The CEO said it was. 

The CEO in this case witnessed an increase in the attention to detail of certain executives, an embrace of principles not so easily understood before, but it also gave him insight as to who were the “A” players versus who were the “C” players.

You’re probably wondering by now how this all fits into the integration of your organization’s Training and Development and its relation to the MVVs of the organization. I believe it dovetails, such as in the example of the Asian immigrant employees.

 When you honor your employees by developing them, they will honor you.

When you honor your employees by training them, they will honor you. And when God is reflected in your heart and the way you respect your employees by not only paying them correctly and protecting them with benefits, but truly caring about their development, your employees will see Christ in you.

So don’t look the other way when it comes to T&D. Your employees will see you in a whole different way.

We value your contribution.  What training and development programs have you worked with that were successful?  Why were they successful?

Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Kingdom Company Building

Integrate — Creating Meaningful Communication Processes

Dec 12, 2020

Integrate — Creating Meaningful Communication Processes

The first question most management teams have after creating a new Mission, Vision and Values statement (MVV) for an organization is: What do we do with it? Integrating into all aspects of your HR processes is paramount to the success of your MVV. The heart of these processes typically lies within the communication processes and employee relations materials of the organization. Since HR typically controls this function, it becomes that much easier for them to communicate the MVV statement effectively.

There are countless avenues to share and ingrain your MVVs within your organization, as well as clients and customers. These can include but are not limited to:

• Your organization’s newsletter
• Your organization’s website
• Brochures in the front lobby as a takeaway for visitors
• Postings in employee break and meeting rooms
• Hand copies to applicants during employment interviews
• Your organization’s marketing materials
• The reverse side of your organization’s business cards
• Inclusion in the packaging of all shipments

If it is important enough for the company to include in the employee handbook, the recruitment process, the performance review process and the employee job descriptions, then it is certainly important enough to include in the above areas as well.

Several years ago, I worked with a company where more than a few of the employees were nervous about sharing the company MVVs with people outside of the organization. Their fear was that the Christian overtones in the MVV statement might offend customers in the Middle East. Others were nervous that prospective employees might be offended or misinterpret our intent.

When the smoke cleared and time went by, employees started to realize that the advantages far outweighed the disadvantages; it did much more good than bad. 

Ultimately, the majority of employees supported it, and, as a result, customers displayed a newfound confidence in us, and our integrity. The customers from the Middle East never complained, and we received more compliments than complaints from applicants. I believe that is how God works. When we stand for Him, unashamed, anything is possible. When we don’t, we are subject to a not so nice outcome.

What will you do? I say, be a difference maker, and be bold in your faith. At the end of your life, what will you tell God? I will say, “Father, I hope You can see I was not afraid and tried to be Your good and faithful servant.

How have you chosen to share your MVV with your employees? How about the community and your customers/clients? Let us know by sharing your comments below. Thank you.

Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Kingdom Company Building

Love People

Dec 7, 2020

Join Mike and Mark as they discuss, Love People.

Mike Henry Sr. is a follower of Jesus interested in applying character-based leadership to make a positive difference. Mike’s passion is to Elevate Purpose and Mobilize People. Mike wants to live his life daily moving one notch closer to Jesus and helping anyone else do the same.

Having spent over 20 years working in Human Resources, Mark has witnessed the varying, sometimes dramatic changes that workplaces undergo and has an established track record of effectively developing HR programming tailored to provide high-performance organizational results. Mark currently leads the HR consulting firm that he launched in 2011, In HIS Name HR LLC. 

Have iTunes?  Listen Here

Mark A. Griffin | Blog, Christian Higher Ed HR, Inspiration, Podcasts