The Honest Verbal Reference

Verbal references can be seen as just a tick in a box by many employers.  We have all been called by recruitment agents (or worse still, their junior!) where they are so keen to get off the phone during a reference call it barely lasts two minutes.  It could appear that the less time spent on the phone reduces the chances of them hearing something that may put their commission at risk.  Sometimes this approach also works really well for the referee as they get to avoid answering any in-depth questions that they may find embarrassing.

On the other hand, thorough verbal referencing with good technique usually puts the last piece in the jigsaw puzzle of the recruitment process, providing certainty around the candidate’s strengths, weakness and opportunities for development, and above all, the true fit for their new role and working environment.  Without this final piece, all the effort in gaining a new employee can be quickly lost; we’ve all heard the old adage “people are employed for what they know, but sacked for who they are”.  How many times have we seen this to be true if the recruitment process and referencing is not thorough and honest?

At Sonata the verbal reference process is fully documented and as a minimum takes 30 minutes to complete just the phone portion.  Great care is taken to ensure the reference has the time and privacy required to complete the call.  Along with standard questions, the reference is customised to probe further into any particular areas which the recruitment process has revealed may require further information to build a fuller picture of the candidate.  All verbatim comments along with any other notes and impressions are then forwarded to the prospective employer for review (with their approval of course!) and then a discussion takes place with the client to debrief what the reference has shown.  Only taking the required time, actively listening to the feedback and any hesitations, and probing deeper ensures the best results; there are no shortcuts to be had in this area.

In terms of being a referee, the reverse is also true and when giving a reference, a past employer is obligated to provide a balanced and fair view of a past employees ability and fit.  If this is not comfortable, then the fair thing to do is to turn down the invitation of being a referee in the first place.  It’s also important to remember that any issues or short comings you may have experienced with the employee may not necessarily be a factor in the new role, or if they are, it allows the new prospective employer to assess the candidate against the role and gives them access the options and the ability to go into the employment relationship with eyes wide open and provide the learning and development or support required.

As they say what goes around comes around.

^DB & JY

Is The Grass Always Greener In Oz?

There are two reasons why I would not want to live in Australia.  Firstly we hold the Rugby World Cup and secondly, they are trapped in the 1970’s.  Air New Zealand and Gary Toomey (from his pacific hideaway) must be watching Qantas’ actions with great interest and a wry smile.  While Ansett did have many problems of its own (including being the only airline in the world to have to fly 767’s with a three person flight crew including an engineer to meet union requirements!), many successful New Zealand businesses have crossed the ditch and failed or struggled.  To a greater or lesser degree, the difficulties have not been due to poor products or business models, but the differences in labour law and the general work force psyche around job security becoming strong barriers to change and in some cases proving too much.

I was working for a New Zealand based company located in Australia when Individual Employment Agreements came in during the late 90’s.  The local Australian’s could not comprehend that I may be doing the same role as the person next to me without knowing that we were paid the same rate.  Imagine tomorrow bringing your team into one room and telling them that from Monday they will all be paid the same hourly rate?  Fortunately this is far from the employment environment that we operate in today in New Zealand.

Sometimes I think we take for granted some of the advantages that we have living and working in New Zealand.  We do face endless debates on employee protection whilst trying to balance this with providing a flexible enough environment to allow employers to shape and grow their businesses.  Have we got the balance right?  Possibly, however the laws are too complicated and the cost of compliance is too high.  Let’s hope some changes in November bring about some simplicity and that we continue to ride ahead of the wave in becoming a growth economy.

 ^DB

Election Year Shuffle – What are the true business impacts?

Election year generally brings a shuffling of the labour and employment laws within New Zealand and this year has been no different with National introducing changes to both the Holidays and Employment Relations acts during April and July.  The left see these as “eroding workers rights” and the right see these changes as “restoring more balance between the employer and employee”.  While these changes are both in their early days, there is no queue of employees wanting to cash in leave or employers held to task for enforcing this as a policy, nor do we see companies exiting employees into the street at a whim under the 90 day trial period.  The only employment stories to hit the media have been Sonny Bill Williams contract negations with the All Blacks and the handling of the non-disclosure by one of the contestants in NZ Next Top Model; so I guess the changes have been broadly accepted by all parties.

Like all changes in government legislations there is an onus on employers to update all existing documentation and ensure that new job descriptions are brought into line.  One thing that the Department of Labour does well on their website is provide easy access to any updates with associated cheat sheets for ease of understanding.  An overview of the latest changes can be found here:  http://dol.govt.nz/er/actchanges/index.asp.  Keys areas that have recently changed include:

• The ability for employees to cash in leave
• Transferring of public holidays 
• The extending of the 90 day trial period to larger organisations
• Changes to the personal grievance provisions
• Consent for union access to a workplace
• Retention of employment agreements

If you have any concerns around your compliance in any of these areas or have not updated your position descriptions or employment contracts to reflect the changes, give us a call at Sonata and we would be only too happy to help. 

^DB

Going Direct To Market Is The Key To Finding The Best Candidates

All things being even, the person that knows your business or team environment the best is you so therefore you are the best person to carry out recruitment and identify the best candidates.  In practice though, this is not practical and we all look for ways to either speed up the process or reduce the time required to commit to the process.  The key to doing this successfully is understanding the areas of the recruitment process that can be handled externally without compromising the outcome.

The golden rules for success are as follows:

• It is a competitive environment for quality candidates and your business and role must be represented directly to the market by you whenever possible

• Replying to generic non-branded advertising is a turn-off for a good candidates

• Quality candidates want to know upfront the future business they could be representing, an overview of the role and salary package

• They do not want to waste time applying for roles which don’t meet their criteria, especially if they are currently employed and are only looking for a new opportunity with a more progressive organisation

• Generic approaches will not attract the best talent

We then move on to the interview phase; not only is the first interview important for the employer to gauge the first impression of the candidate, the candidate is also gaining their first impression of the company and their fit.  Sonata’s philosophy is always to represent the business and their brand directly to market and if possible conduct all interviews and meetings on site.  From the get-go, through-out the recruitment process, both the candidate and employer are operating in the working environment which allows the candidate to visualise the possible outcome.  Right from the start they feel more part of the team and this reduces a number of employment barriers.

The final stages of employment are very time consuming but ever so important; while the final short-listing and reference checks are being undertaken the candidate must be kept engaged.  Changing roles in these economic times brings new pressures and worries and the last few days of decision-making can seem like a lifetime for a prospective employee.  Actively keeping in touch with the candidate through this period ensures all the effort does not become wasted by a candidate getting cold feet.  Sonata works to a tight contact schedule during this period to allow the employee to walk in the door ready to give 110% and fully engaged from the outset.

Choosing the correct approach to recruitment for your business will ensure the selection of top quality candidates.  You want your business represented in the best light upfront so if it is not possible to run the process yourself, it is important to work with a partner you can trust to represent your business with the same level of care and professionalism that you do.

^DB

Equal Pay For An Equal Day

Aside from the surprising and outdated comments of a media savvy Alasdair Thompson there has been an interesting discussion on gender pay quality.  Being a male I may be on thin ice and live in a different world, however I have managed and worked in a wide range of industries over the years and this topic has never been raised in the workplace.  During this time I have probably worked for as many female as male bosses and at times I have been the only male on a management team and never have I seen different pay scales for men or women within a workplace.  I am also sure unions do not promote differing pay scales during their negotiations and Sonata Group works with businesses covering a wide range of industries and roles, and again, never have we come across varying pay scales depending on gender.

Dr Judy McGregor still lives in the 1970’s with her drafting a bill which would mean a woman doing the same work as a man would be entitled to know what he was paid.  This thinking went out with the ark and I thought it was only the PPTA who wanted any performance component in salaries removed?  It is interesting that the NZ Herald Poll next to the article voted 70% in favour of not disclosing pay.  Forcing compliance on this issue just adds cost across the 99% of businesses where gender pay is a non-issue.

Focus should be placed on those segments of the workforce that tend to attract more women than men, where as a whole the pay rates are lower.  Look at the gender distortion within teaching as an example, my son’s school only has two male teachers.  I haven’t met many people that don’t agree that teachers should be paid more, but not without an at risk performance component.

I am sure that if you look hard enough there are businesses out there where gender may be issue, however we do live in a society with choice and who would want to work for an employer where gender determines pay?  I am sure these types of workplaces would also pose a number of other negatives.  In my opinion, there are far better and productive topics to be discussing at the water cooler.

^DB