Neil McLeese - BeyondHR

In today’s competitive market, most employers recognise that the success of an organisation can hinge on its people (aka the human resources), getting the recruitment basics correct is essential. Good employees can be difficult to find and to retain, and the skill involved in this element of human resources is often overlooked.

Recruitment actually provides opportunities for management to align staff skill sets to initiatives and goals, and for department and individual growth. When a vacancy arises in an organisation, tempting though it is to find a ‘quick fix’ solution, an employer can very easily end up with a ‘square peg in a round hole’, which only serves for a problematic and fraught probationary period for all parties concerned. If a recruitment process is rushed and/or lacks careful planning, this can result in a waste of financial resources and a frustrated employer as well as an unproductive and a demoralised employee, which can also have a detrimental effect on the team.

There is a common misconception that you need to ‘replace’ a leaver ‘like for like’, however, a vacancy can effectively open up opportunities for the employer to re-visit the role with a view to making changes for the betterment of the business. It is imperative that proper planning and evaluation of the need is undertaken, together with an objective and systematic recruitment exercise to ensure that the respective person has the right qualifications, skills, experience and attributes to meet the demands of the role in question.

In addition, all employers must be mindful of fair employment responsibilities, therefore such an approach can also go some considerable way towards meeting such obligations and indeed in defending any litigation which may arise through a Fair Employment Tribunal in respect of a discrimination claim.

Prior to hurriedly placing an advertisement before a media deadline expires, an employer should firstly carefully evaluate any changes which may be required, such as:

Tasks carried out by the previous employee
Tasks to be removed or added
Supervisory or lead responsibility
Budget responsibility
Working hours
Is there still a requirement for the job at all?

It is therefore most useful to conduct a JOB ANALYSIS as part of recruitment basics, in order to tailor the position to what is currently required within the business. This is an objective process used to collate information about the duties, responsibilities, requisite skills, competencies, outcomes and work environment of a particular job.

This can be done by reviewing the responsibilities of current employees – put simply: ask the team member what he/she does. In addition, analyse the work duties, tasks and responsibilities that the employee filling the position needs to accomplish. It is often helpful to research similar jobs on line for ideas.

Such objective information is necessary to enable a JOB DESCRIPTION to be compiled. A job description is an integral part of the recruitment and selection process, making it a part of recruitment basics for attracting the right candidate. It is a communication tool to advise employees (and applicants) where their job fits within the department and overall business.

The job description focuses the manager and any other employees already performing the job to agree on the responsibilities and scope of the position. Candidates are also informed about the duties and responsibilities of the position for which they are applying.

It clearly identifies the responsibilities of a specific job and assists the organisation in knowing the knowledge, skills, education, experience and capabilities sought in the employee, to enable an effective recruitment plan to be implemented. A job description may also help to protect an employer seeking to demonstrate why the candidate selected for the position was the most qualified (from a legal perspective).

Recruitment Basics – Job Description

The components of a Job Description are as follows:

Overall position description with general areas of responsibility listed
Essential functions of the job
Required knowledge, skills and abilities
Required education and experience
Description of the physical demands
Description of the work environment

A Job Description must be flexible enough so that employees become involved in cross-training, can help other colleagues complete a work task and are confident enough to make appropriate decisions (i.e. to avoid the “that’s not my job” syndrome). It is also important that it is reviewed periodically to ensure accurate reflection of what an employee is doing as well as the expectations of results of the employee.

Recruitment basics – Job Advertising

To ensure that your recruitment exercise is cost effective and attracts a high calibre of applicants, it is important to think carefully about your job advertisement and the contents of same. Firstly, the objective of the job advertisement is to market your company and attract interest by clearly stipulating the purpose of the position and the criteria to be met. Secondly, it should provide clear guidance on how to apply and the method of application.

The language that you use and the criteria that you detail is very important. Below is a list of the Do’s and Don’ts when it comes to compiling a job advertisement.

Make the job advert headline relevant and clear.

· Use short sentences, simple language and be specific.

· Keep the text clear (i.e. use a suitable font, size and colour).

· Ensure that the selection criteria is consistent with the Job Description.

· Specify the essential criteria (i.e. criteria the applicant must satisfy in order to do the job).

· Specify the desirable criteria (i.e. criteria that will help the applicant to do the job).

· Stipulate the qualifications that the applicant must have attained.

Don’t

· Use jargon that is specific to the Company as external applicants may not understand.

· Overload the layout of the job advertisement. Use the space effectively.

· Use job titles and photographs that are associated with one or other of the sexes and have a distinctly male or female connotation e.g. Salesman or Saleswoman

· Use language that targets a particular type of applicant with a particular protected characteristic.

· Publish job advertisements in locations or publications where they are likely to be read only by persons who share a particular community background, or sex, or race, or disability, or sexual orientation, or age.

It is important to remember that anti-discrimination law prohibits discrimination based on the 9 protected characteristics (gender, race, religion or belief, disability, age, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership, sexual orientation, gender reassignment) so the wording of your advertisement needs careful consideration.

Recruitment Basics – Essential and Desirable Selection Criteria

Your selection criteria must be consistent with the job description and contain details about the qualifications, skills and experiences that will be required to carry out the duties of the job.Your job advertisement should include the essential criteria (those that the person must satisfy to be able to do the job) and the desirable criteria (those that will help to do the job). Attributes that are not identified as either essential or desirable should not be taken into consideration in the selection process. Having these criteria agreed at the beginning of the process is vital and will save time during the shortlisting and subsequent interview process.

Where and how to advertise a job

It is advisable to use a variety of different mediums to advertise your job. Advertising widely, may increase the number of eligible and suitably qualified candidates. Some of the different ways to advertise a job include;

Newspapers and magazines
Online job and recruitment sites
Your website and social media channels
Jobs and Benefits office and Job Centre network
Employers Online NI
Employment agencies

Before you decide, it is important to think about, how quickly you would like a response, how long do you want to advertise your job for and how much can you afford to pay.

When and how to apply

Decide what method best suits your business needs. For example you may want applicants to call and request an application pack from you or you may prefer for applicants to apply directly online. Either way, it is important to clearly state the application closing date, where the application must be sent and provide suitable contact details should the applicant have any queries about the job.

Should you require any further information on recruitment basics or would like a member of the team to talk to you about a possible recruitment exercise please contact us on 028 2564 4110.

When you consider that the median cost of absence per employee in 2015 was £554 (CIPD; Absence Management 2015) you can understand the financial pressure this can cause particularly in organisations that do not effectively manage their absence rates.

Then there are the logistical problems of trying to get absent employees work covered and the morale issues this can cause if there are a number of persistent offenders. Now, I am not unrealistic enough to think that absence at work can be eliminated but when 30% of organisations surveyed by the CIPD report that “non-genuine absence” is one of the top causes of short-term absence for manual workers and 23% report the same for non-manual workers I know there are still things we can do to improve.

While every organisation manages absence differently, whether as a result of the type of business they are in or the administrative resources available, the key principles in reducing short-term absence are consistent:

Have an Absence Policy

This should be clear, easily understood and supports the business objectives. It will explain the rights and obligations of employees when they are absent due to sickness. For example:· Who within the Company the employee should notify, how they should notify that person and when are they expected to make contact.

I would strongly recommend that employees are advised that text messages and email are not acceptable means of communication for short-term absence as this can make it too easy for employees who just want to ‘pull a sickie’. · When they are required to complete a self-certification form and/or obtain a fit note from their Doctor. That the Company reserves the right to require employees to attend a consultation with an Occupational Health Consultant (with the employees consent) or to request a report from the employee’s doctor (with the employees consent).· Details of any trigger levels that the Company is using in relation to absence.· That the Company conducts return to work interviews.· That reasonable adjustments may be necessary to assist an employee to return to work as soon as practicable.· Guidance on absence during adverse events (for example bad snow) or popular sporting events i.e FIFA world cup.

Measure your absence

The old adage ‘if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it’ is extremely true when dealing with absence. Please have a look at three possible methods below and how these can be calculated.

‘Lost time’ rate

This shows the percentage of total time available which has been lost due to sickness absence and can be calculated by department or location in order to highlight areas of concern. The formulae for calculating this is:Total absence (hours / days) in the period x 100Possible total (hours or days) in the period

Frequency rate

This shows an individual frequency rate by counting the number of employees who take at least one period of absence in the reference period rather that the total number of periods of absence and express it as a percentage. For me, the downsides of this measure are that it doesn’t give any indication of the length of each absence period or any employees who have more than one period of absence. However, the formulae to calculate this rate is:

Number of periods of absence in reference period x 100 Number of employees

Bradford Factor

The Bradford Factor identifies persistent short-term absence for individuals and is therefore a useful measure of the disruption caused by this type of absence.

The formula is: S x S x D

Where S = number of spells of absence in 52 weeks taken by an individualAnd D = number of days absence taken by the individual in the previous 52 weeks

For example 6 one-day absences: 6 x 6 x 6 = 2161 twenty day absence: 1 x 1 x 20 = 20 Whatever method you use measuring absence is important. But at what point should action start? That is why it is equally important to have trigger levels defined from the start.

Implement Trigger levels

It is up to each Company to define their trigger levels but care should be taken to ensure that they are not unreasonable (for example ‘1 day off in a year’ would definitely be unreasonable).

Some Companies will have a very straight forward set of trigger points (for example more than 3 periods of absence or more than 10 working days absent or an unacceptable pattern of absence in a 12 month rolling period). Others, who use the Bradford Factor will have a number of points as their trigger level (for example 160).

But what happens once the trigger levels are breached?

It is important to take action but this doesn’t mean automatically issuing disciplinary warnings as this would be unfair and potentially discriminatory. What I mean by this is formally sit down with the employee to investigate their absence record and ascertain if there are underlying medical reasons for the absence. If there are, then a referral to an Occupational Health Consultant may be a good move to ensure that their role isn’t aggravating their condition. You will also need to take into consideration if the employee has a disability and whether the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 / Equality Act 2010 applies such as the need to make a reasonable adjustment.

A reasonable adjustment in this type of situation may include removing absences relating to their condition from the absence record. If there aren’t any underlying issues and there is the feeling that the absences are “non-genuine” then you might consider referring the matter on as a potential disciplinary case.

The benefit of acting on trigger levels like this is that it allows HR and Management to proactively identify problems and control the solution of them. Another benefit is that it discourages the repeated poor attenders from reducing their unnecessary short-term absence (i.e. to avoid breaching the trigger levels) as they know that disciplinary action could be a consequence. While this is all good on paper the key to making all of this work in the real World is applying the standards consistently and ensuring that it is being used across all areas of the Company.

Return to Work (RTW) Interviews after short-term absence

These are widely regarded as one of the most effective management tools for managing short-term absence. It allows managers to identify short-term absence issues early on and start a discussion with the employee to try and resolve any underlying problems. However it is vital that RTWs are carried out for every period of absence and they are done consistently across Companies.

The purpose of return to work interviews is to:·

Welcome employee back·

Check they are well enough to be at work·

Discuss the details of an agreed return to work based on advice given by the GP in the Statement of Fitness for Work having already agreed the return to work in principle by talking through the issues on the phone or face to face

· Update employees on any news while they were off

· Identify the cause of the absence and find out whether they have a disability and whether the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 / Equality Act 2010 applies such as the need to make a reasonable adjustment

· Establish if their sickness is work-related and whether there are any health and safety issues you need to address

In addition to this, I would suggest it would be good to find out if the employee visited the doctor, what (if any) medication they were prescribed and whether there are any side-effects to the medication. As well as the benefits detailed above, having all of this information documented also helps if you need to resort to the disciplinary procedures as you will have a bundle of contemporary evidence to rely on.

Author: Neil McLeese

Recruitment basics

Recruitment Basics – Job Description

Recruitment basics – Job Advertising

Recruitment Basics – Essential and Desirable Selection Criteria

Reducing Short-term Absence

Have an Absence Policy

Measure your absence

Implement Trigger levels

Return to Work (RTW) Interviews after short-term absence

Northern Ireland

Scotland

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