FINDING RELIABLE EMPLOYEES, PART 3

As we continue our discussion on finding reliable employees, this week I want to cover 3 more key points,


HOW ARE PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYEES TREATED WHEN THEY ARRIVE AT YOUR OFFICE?

Take a look at your facilities. Does it invite someone in? Have you vacuumed the carpet lately? Mopped the floor? Painted the walls? How about the exterior of the building? How does the signage look? Is the parking area clean? Are the windows clean? Remember, we are in the business of keeping things clean and prospective employees judge the quality you expect in your accounts by the quality you maintain in your own facilities. For that matter, what if a prospective or current customer visited your office today? Would they be impressed?

So when they enter your facility and assuming the appearance is inviting, how are they greeted? Does your receptionist greet them with a smile and create a feeling of we're happy to have them apply or do you make them feel like second class citizens? Are they given an application and pencil with a smile or are they treated like an interruption of the schedule?

I know of BSC's that have coffee machines for their applicants. Some even provide sodas. How about a popcorn machine in the lobby for the children? Many times the applicant has no choice but to bring their children with them and a piece of gum or small bag of popcorn can keep the children occupied while Mom or Dad completes the application. Remember, those children some day will want to apply for work as well, so let's leave a positive impression with them. Many grocery stores today have miniature shopping carts that children can push along with Mom or Dad. The stores don't do this to buy extra carts, they do this so the children will always remember the fun they had at that grocery store. The children will one day become grocery consumers and you can never start too young.

So, needless to say, it is important that we have an inviting facility for prospective employees and a warm and friendly person greeting them as they come in the door. How are you doing on that front?


HOW IS THE INTERVIEW CONDUCTED?

 Do you put the applicant at ease? Just as important and maybe foremost, do you interview them when they are in your office and don't ask them to come back? It is hard for me to understand why, when we are needing people, we only will interview at certain times like 2-4PM or only on certain days of the week. Why? We are in the people business and shouldn't we be talking to people when they are in our office? Asking them to come back only invites them to go to our competitor's office where they can get an immediate interview.

Do you know what you can or cannot ask in the interview? On our web site at www.consultantsincleaning.com we have included some pages that offer questions you cannot ask along with a serious of questions you can and should ask to get the answers you need to make a decision. Just click on the WORKSHEETS  icon and scroll down to the Operations/Human Resources section and there you will find the pages to download along with others that may be helpful. All of them are free.

Are you also aware of the culture of the individuals you are interviewing? Certain cultures teach different demeanors for job interviews and it is important to know those so you don't unknowingly eliminate someone who might otherwise be a great employee.


DO THEY RECEIVE A THOROUGH ORIENTATION AND INITIAL TRAINING BEFORE THEY START?


It is critical to have a scripted consistent new employee orientation process for all new employees. On our web site in the same section referred to above, we have a New Employee Processing Checklist that you can download that may be helpful. In this way everyone is processed into the organization in the same way and all the needed information is covered.

Just as important as the orientation is a consistent scripted initial training program that is the same for all new employees, based on the way YOU want the cleaning done in your company. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Sending a new employee out to work with that experienced employee only will serve to teach the new employee bad habits that you probably don't want them to learn. By the way, the latest issue of SERVICES magazine has an article we wrote on setting up an effective training area in your company. Let me suggest you read it to reinforce your existing training program or to set up your first training area.  We'll talk about ongoing training in next week's blog.

So...there you have some more suggestions on finding reliable employees. Hope you find it helpful. There is so much information to cover in each area that we could write an entire book on each topic or at least a chapter on each subject but we have just provided an overview in keeping with our desire to make these blogs short and to the point. As always, we are interested in your comments. Let us know what you think. And don't forget to listen to and watch our weekly podcast at www.tripodcast.com.

Till next time.