The Insync Surveys and RedBalloon 2011 Dream Employers Survey showed the top three drivers this year are:

• pay, benefits and conditions (38%) – up 11 percentage points from sixth position in 2010
• work-life balance (37%) – up nine percentage points from third position in 2010
• culture (36%) – down three percentage points from second position in 2010.

This is a notable shift from last year when the top motivation was brand or company reputation.

Employee engagement is a clear and present challenge for many businesses at the moment with only 40% of respondents satisfied with their current employer and 45% planning to look for another job in the next 12 months. 

Many employees, having survived much of the recession with limited or no pay rise over the last two to three years, were thankful that they just kept their jobs, Ryan HR Specialist Jason Yuill Proctor says.  People have also had to cope with survivor guilt in companies where colleagues have been made redundant and an increase in workload, or more difficult work conditions as a result of companies trying to survive through extreme cost-cutting exercises.  These employees are now searching to see if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, Jason says.

It is also the day-to-day working environment that really effects engagement and morale and this is clearly displayed by the survey’s top three areas people want to improve about their workplace: systems and processes (41%); communication (39%); and rewards and recognition (38%).

Employees want to know their work is meaningful and connected to the organisation’s goals, Insync Surveys CEO James Garriock says.  “It is strong communication that creates this link, as people feel respected and empowered if they’re informed about things that matter to them.”

Google ranked first as the dream employer for the second year running, while self-employment ranked second, moving up from third place last year.  These were followed by Virgin Group, Qantas and Apple, all of which featured in the top five last year.

For more information see http://www.insyncsurveys.com.au/news/2011/09/dream-employers-2011/

David’s 14 years in the military in a variety of roles, has given him the expertise and ability to build relationships with people from all walks of life. He has experience ranging from peacekeeping missions in challenging environments to working with senior military and Government officials and helping troubled youth.  Through his experience, David understands the importance of building relationships to ensure the needs of both the clients and candidates are met. He’s used to taking the initiative to work out the best way forward to solve issues.

David is a runner and has already completed several half marathons. He is building up to compete in a marathon.

There is greater demand for sales and marketing staff which indicates many companies are ramping up in this area due to customer needs. In some occasional cases our clients are replacing an employee who is retiring or relocating.

From our vast experience it indicates that temporary staff are in demand for both private and public sector jobs. It clearly confirms that it is business as usual for most companies, particularly for professional services, legal and accounting firms, which tells us that although their SME client base may have been eroded slightly, they are working on property lease, insurance or other earthquake-related projects. 

In our Industrial area, skilled logistics and engineering professionals are being highly sought after as well as drivers (Class 2,3,4,5).

Ryan is definitely the place to come to for any HR advice solutions from our specialist, Jason Yuill-Proctor.

In our recruitment area we have full capability to provide talented employees for roles in management, engineering, sales, operations and marketing as well as technical staff, finance and accounting, business support, call centre/customer service and skilled industrial staff.

Organisations in the current economic climate are under immense pressure: pressure to survive and thrive; pressure similar to that experienced in professional sport where mistakes cost reputation, money and jobs.  Success in business, as in sport, often comes down to the execution of a successful plan and effective execution comes down to capability and role clarity.  If Tony Woodcock did not know his role during the set move off the lineout 10 metres out of the French try line, the All Blacks would not have won the 2011 World Cup.  If a sales manager is unsure how much of her/his time should be spent on account management versus creating new business, how can they be expected to adequately focus their attention on either?   An effective up-to-date PD can provide this role clarity to ensure employees focus on the right tasks at the right time.   It can also help avoid duplication of work and reduce the risk of tasks falling between the cracks. As a result an up-to-date PD can help businesses to achieve their vision and purpose. 

PDs should be live documents – as roles adapt and change to meet the demands of changing economic demands, so should the PD.   To keep them live, managers should use these as a framework to talk to their team about their roles.  They can also be used as a base to set regular key performance indicators that allow managers and employees to track progress in the role and can act as a base to provide employees with regular feedback, to keep them on task, to keep them engaged and to continuously improve performance.

Now, when many organisations are struggling to survive, when 45% of employees in Australasia are looking to move jobs (Dream Employers Survey 2011), and staff morale and employee engagement have taken several hits from global recessions and natural disasters, now is the time to dust off employees’ position descriptions, update them and use them to help with employee engagement and, ultimately, business success.

Kate brings a wealth of experience across key industries to the team at Ryan.  With over 5 years in the recruitment industry in Christchurch, Kate has a passion for working in partnership with key clients to ensure the best recruitment outcomes are delivered.  With a focus on supplying high quality business support staff to a broad range of industries, Kate prides herself on understanding a business and its needs to identify the top talent available in the market.

Kate takes great satisfaction from helping candidates broaden their skills and tackle roles that are outside their comfort zone because they often under-estimate their capabilities. Kate handled recruitment for New Zealand’s largest insurance company for two years and she has a wealth of knowledge in this field. Many long-term clients are pleased to have her back recruiting for them.

Emma Wipou

Emma brings with her to the team at Ryan over 5 years’ experience as a consultant within the Christchurch market. Specialising predominantly in the business support area on a temporary and permanent basis Emma has worked with a variety of clients locally and nationally including large SOE’s and government departments. Emma believes in working as a trusted advisor to clients and candidates to ensure that all needs are clearly understood and met.

To discuss any temporary needs that you may have please call 365 0294 and ask to speak to either Kate or Emma who will be happy to assist.

We have specialist staff ready to assist your business in the following roles:

• Personal Assistant
• Accounts Payable / Receivable
• Credit Control
• Reception
• Administration
• Data Entry
• Customer Service
• and many more

Employment training company Leadership Management Australasia regularly questions thousands of employees, managers and business leaders in Australia and New Zealand for the compilation of its Leadership Employment and Direction (LEAD) Survey. (see www.leadershipmanagement.com)

This year the research shows employees, managers and leaders share a common understanding of the five most important characteristics of a good boss, but unsurprisingly, they rank the priorities differently.

Both managers and employees rank trustworthiness and an open approach as the most important characteristic. For business leaders, the most important factor is a boss who gives them space to do their work but provides support. Interestingly, the ranking of this characteristic was inverted to fifth most important for employees and managers. If you incorporate all of these five characteristics as integral facets of your style, you will boost your managerial reputation.

The next batch of entrants are those born after 1997, and according to Jeanne C Meister and Karie Willyerd at the Harvard Business Review they will be working with four other generations when they hit the workforce.

That will start happening within the next 10 years.

First up are the traditionalists who were born before 1946, many of whom will remain in the workforce because they cannot afford to retire or wish to stay active for longer.

After the traditionalists come the boomers born between 1946 and 1964. They’re not going anywhere, and many of them have no plans to retire for pretty much the same reasons as the traditionalists.

Then there’s Generation X born between 1965 and 1976, followed by Gen Y born between 1977 and 1997. 

As some have pointed out, we are going to see people in workplaces with a range of formative experiences, from World War Two to the Cold War to the War on Terror to World of Warcraft.

Welcome to the future. So what can we expect?

Stereotyping generations is always problematic, but there is a growing body of evidence to suggest we are shaped by the events of our formative years, whether it’s the demonstrations and rebelliousness of the 60s to events like terrorism and recession.

So as much as one can generalise (and you have to be careful doing that because there are always exceptions), some maintain that boomers are better team players while Gen X are supposed to be more the individualists and Gen Y supposed to be more team oriented.

The next lot, generation Z as some like to call them, will change everything again. Penelope Trunk at the Brazen Careerist site says they will be smarter, more educated and because they grew up with the internet, Facebook and text messaging, they will be able to process information a lot faster.

Trunk writes: “How does this affect the workplace? A wider range of people can do cognitively challenging jobs. And, if you think Gen Y is obnoxious about being better at processing information than the older people, think how Gen Y will feel when the next generation tells them their IQ is much higher. And they’re right.”

As I see it, there are four potential flashpoints for conflict in a five generation workplace. These are work ethic, organisational hierarchies, dealing with change and managing technology.

HR experts identify several ways to handle potential problems. The first is to consider the generational factor. Is there a conflict going on because these people were born at different points in time or is something else going on?

To bridge these differences, you need to consider the values of the different generations (eg boomers like team work and buy in, while Gen Xers just want to get things done), find creative ways to get them working together (eg getting boomers and traditionalists to work as mentors, assigning special assignments for Gen X and getting Gen Y and Gen Z to work the technology and identify emerging trends).

Roberta Matuson at Human Resources Solutions says a number of things will have to change.

Employers will have to embrace social networking, they will have to work out how to communicate with a generation that knows how to do it with 140 characters or less, they will have to get rid of long winded memos and change training programs to e-learning and online game simulations.

If nothing else, this will make for some interesting water cooler conversations in 10 years time.

STUFF: LEON GETTLER,  11/07/2011

• Be receptive to staff needing leave, whether annual or for stress reasons;
• Demonstrate flexibility with hours and remember in most cases it is about productivity levels  and not about completing 40 hours in the office.
• Show genuine empathy and help with transport to accommodate your possible new location or early finish times to enable people to address other issues going on in their life.

Simple tips for motivating your team:

Leaders need to recognize that they can make or break their employee’s motivation. Following are some simple tips to ensure motivation remains at a high productive level.

• Employees look to their leader or supervisor for motivation and they will notice your moods, words, actions and body language. Make sure you are the best image consultant you can be and portray the image you want your employees to remember.
•  An easy way to start is to make sure you begin each day on the right foot – smile, say good morning to all of your team, share your expectations and be positive. Don’t come in flustered and panicked as you will change this and it will ripple throughout your entire team.
• Use simple words to motivate – when asking for things from your team don’t forget the simple things like always saying please or thank you. And if someone is doing a good job make sure you tell them. The simple kind words don’t cost a thing but go a long way to making someone feel valued which is key to motivation.
• Consistency – most managers and supervisors probably know what they need to do is keep their team happy, but they may let it slide. One step forward can easily be undone by taking two steps back. You need to consistently, in a disciplined manner , stick to what you know about employee motivation. Consistency in your behavior is key!
• Focus on development – one of the strongest needs humans have is to grow and develop. Employers can play to this and encourage a culture of personal development in their organization. Investment need only be minimal but it will tell your employees that you can about them as an individual.

HR Specialist

PG Dip. MSc. BA (Hons). BSc. Psychology

Jason is a registered psychologist with over eight years experience in developing the people capability of managers and their staff, athletes and sport coaches.

Jason brings his understanding of performance psychology and expertise in psychometric assessment to provide strategic HR support to organisations.  Jason works closely with clients to ensure that he understands their unique business needs before developing pragmatic people solutions to help achieve business goals.

Jason often works with organisations to conduct health checks allowing managers insight into their staff’s perspective of their organisation.  He will identify what is being done well and key areas for improvements before making recommendations to improve employee engagement, reduce truancy and staff turnover and increase overall efficiency of the organisation. 

Jason is an experienced facilitator and executive coach helping individuals and teams cope with the pressures of performance, developing leadership and staff management skills and enhancing team cohesion.

Jason is also an experienced career coach who works with both groups and individuals to help them through the difficulties of career transitions and then gives them practical skills to help them move to the next stage in their career.

When not working within business Jason supports athletes and sports coaches cope with the pressures of competition in order to achieve their peak performance.  He has worked within a multitude of different sports with national representatives through to athletes just starting out in their chosen sports.

All of our other contact details remain the same.

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