Expert Interview Series: Joey Price of Jumpstart:HR on Why Good HR People are Compliance Experts, Talent Consultants, and Workforce Planners

An excerpt from a recent Expert HR leader interview of Jumpstart:HR CEO Joey V. Price:

What are some of the recent compliance issues that are causing small businesses to alter their HR practices and procedures?
The false-start on overtime compliance regulation changes, potential minimum wage hikes, and the national conversation on immigration reform have small business HR experts on the edge of our seats trying to strategize for what comes next.

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Company culture analysis

Corporate culture is an organizational mindset that is present in every facet of business operation. It is characterized by the level of communication between management and staff. The staff will typically go all-out to meet or go beyond the standard once they are told about the company’s corporate culture. This is most evident in businesses that offer workers the opportunity to share in the rewards of company success, via additional benefits or profit sharing.

Your company’s corporate culture is an intangible asset that you can use to generate a competitive strategic advantage to distinguish it from other firms and to improve performance. It has a significant function in the development of your company’s reputation. A 2004 study proved that culture works together with communication and the relationship companies have with their staff to predict how the outside world views a particular company.

A detailed corporate culture analysis usually calls for profound understanding of the core values of the company. It won’t completely explain the idiosyncrasies of individual units, groups, and workers, but it usually will reveal practices and values that are common among most employees. The overarching objective is to find out how and why things are done in a particular organization.

A company with strong culture has employees who respond to incentives because they are aligned to the values of the organization. On the other hand, the employees of a company with weak culture are usually not aligned with the values of the organization and you can only control their work and behavior through extensive procedures and red tape. Studies have shown that companies promoting strong cultures usually have clear values that give workers a reason to fall in line with the culture.

Your prospective customers’ corporate culture is also important: a lack of understanding and alignment with your clients’ culture could be a key setback to achieving the results that each party wants. You need to know whether the companies you’re doing business with will micromanage your projects, or whether they prefer free thinkers or envelope-pushing talent.

Most culture changes don’t succeed because organizations don’t turn their vision and values into daily behavior. Organizations get over-involved in the activity of training and improvement teams, but see little impact from them due to lack of focus. Your staff needs to know how the company’s vision will be attained, and this “how” is contingent on the values of the organization.

You can change your corporate culture for the better … or you can live with it. Many executives are taking a closer look at the internal mechanism of their businesses – their values, attitudes and main concerns – to see if they can fit into the new American business setting of reengineering, downsizing, acquisitions and a crowd of other pressures causing havoc on the morale of your staff.

One of the big mistakes in this fast changing environment is the theory that corporate culture is consistent and resilient. Jumpstart:HR uses very refined and specific tools that will give you quantitative and qualitative information, which will result in total understanding of your company and its resources and how to use them effectively and successfully.

Is HR Afraid to Step on The Scale?

“You get what you inspect, not what you expect”

– Business Proverb

We’re almost a quarter of the way into the year 2012 but it seems like only yesterday we were counting down the seconds until the New Year and lining up our goals for 2012 and beyond. Individually we made goals to lose weight or join more clubs and corporately we made goals to retain more professionals, get more bang for our buck in our corporate overhead and more.

If you’re like most people, you wrote your goals down or at least kept a mental note of them…

…but just how good can our goals be if we’re not measuring them? Is HR afraid of the scale?

Metrics, metrics, metrics. One of my favorite roles in HR Consulting is establishing and tracking HR Metrics.  Measurements used to determine the value and effectiveness of HR strategies. Typically includes such items as cost per hire, turnover rates/costs, training and human capital ROI, labor /productivity rates and costs, benefit costs per employee, etc.

Metrics are the foundation for growth. If you don’t know where you are, how will you know what it takes to get where you are going? If you are driving from your town to the next major city, that experience is full of metrics. You’re measuring the time and distance that it takes with your GPS. You’re looking at your gas tank to see if you have enough gas. And you’re even probably going to take a bathroom break to make sure you don’t have to “go” before you get to your destination! Why is Business any different? We make goals but do not take inventory of statistical data that helps give us a clear picture of where we stand and what it takes to get where we want to be.

Fighting monsters in the dark. What happens when you drive for growth but do not take into account the metrics surrounding the move? It’s like boxing in the dark. Sure you may be able to identify some key general areas that will always improve as a result of changes but you can hardly know how effective your decisions are and that can be a time and financial drain. The best planning involves calculated investments of time and resources  into the areas that matter most. Metrics help in this a great deal.

What are some common HR Metric formulas?:

Leadership Takeaway: Metrics are not to be used as a tool for micro-management but they are a tool to be used for effective leadership and guidance. Jumpstart:HR offers a unique year-long HR Outsourcing/Advising service to it’s costumers that allows us to chart metrics and for your organization and recommend  growth strategies that are both measurable and cost-effective.

Human Resources Takeaway: HR is constantly asking to prove itself by the value added contributions that it brings to an organization. If you’re having trouble communicating your value to Senior Officials then it may be time to consider Jumpstart:HR as a trusted Strategic Partner. Work with us to define your specific HR goals and manage them in a long-term plan.

Professional Development: Dead-end jobs are found in organizations that don’t track metrics that a relevant to your career growth and development. When interviewing for a position, ask what kind of tools the organization uses to track staffing and career development. If your organization doesn’t do such things then it may be time to hire your own personal HR Department. Jumpstart:HR offers personal career development coaching sessions to help you get the most out of your career.

Your guide to workers’ compensation insurance

A newly published guide for Business Owners and HR Professionals has been published on InsuranceQuotes.com. It features Seven important tips that must be considered to help employers save money and decrease the stress surrounding this process. The guide features the following quote and supporting information from Jumpstart:HR CEO Joey V. Price:

7. Make note of pre-existing conditions.

Workers sometimes get hurt on the job by tweaking a pre-existing injury, says Joey Price, CEO of Jumpstart HR, a human resources consulting firm in Washington, D.C. A construction worker who injured a knee while playing sports several years ago, for instance, may be more likely to suffer knee problems while working at the project site.

For pre-existing conditions, you may be able to prove that your work site did not contribute to the injury, Price says. Doing so can free you from any liability charges that may arise from an incident. Screen employees during the hiring process, and document any pre-existing conditions. If an injury does occur, you’ll have notes ready to help assess the situation.

To read the guide in full, visit this link.

To learn more about how Jumpstart:HR can help you navigate the challenges of WC Insurance, send a message here to schedule your free 30 minute consultation.