Category: HR and Payroll

The Over-utilization of Giving Up

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Keep on trucking.  Never give up.  You can do it! Believe! 

Easier said than done, yes?  It is soooo much easier to grab your phone and watch someone else go through Hell.  Ignore everything that would move your day and life forward.  So disconnected it makes you feel connected. 

This is not an advice blog.  Just a gal expressing her True View.  At the core, I think people give up way too often.  I have been guilty of said action more than once. All I want to do here is explain myself and get your thoughts.

I am a seasoned (amateur) athlete.  I love to play golf, tennis, softball. Love to bowl, workout and take long walks on the beach. I have many irons in the fire, from clothing design to a book of poetry, to mentoring, to volunteering. My work experience and expertise is Human Resources and Payroll Systems and Processes. I haven’t given up on ANY of these ideas as a whole. I just need a shot of perseverance and control on the smaller tasks that lead to success.

Perseverance and control.  In spite of.  Because of.  Or lack thereof.  Perseverance is crucial to not giving up.  Control is the ability to impact momentum. 

Here is an example of me giving up, losing control:

I gave up on the golf course, in match play, during a very important team event. I was angry at a decision made where I had no control or recourse. My tee box was moved 1,100 yards back – I was told 10 days before the event. Blah blah blah.

Lost all control on the golf course. Being a baby.

Maybe the opponents could care less about me and simply had the tees setup in the back all along. Whatever or whoever, the issue stuck with me the entire day. I persevered to make it on the green. I stopped short (gave up) in my revenge planning and didn’t plan to fight on the green.

Here’s an example of me not giving up:

Hole-in-one January 27, 2019
5th Hole par 3 Los Verdes, CA

Same sport (golf just happens to be my passion at the moment). I was playing in another team event. For whatever reason, we were struggling as a team. At the par 3 5th hole, we had some time to chat. Kathy says, “..this is the hole I got my hole-in-one”. I thought Wow! At 134 yards over a sand trap, that’s pretty good. Tanya and I talked about our holes-in-one over at The Lakes in El Segundo. The holes are much shorter there. Steve said his kids and wife have had multiple holes-in-one. He has yet to get one. Aw.

Although we all knew the safe shot was to land to the left of the hole, at the bottom of the hill, I wanted to do better than that. I wanted to take control. So I decided to use my draw and grabbed my 7-iron and hit the ball. I hadn’t thought of getting a hole-in-one. Simply because we were just talking about it and I got one 81 days earlier. However, I knew the best shot to make was the draw over the sand (didn’t give up). I hadn’t thought far enough ahead to see it in the hole. I wanted to hit my best shot!! And I did!

Should I expect to get a hole-in-one every par 3? No! Should I work hard and practice and learn the game so I have a better chance of making the best shot, an ace? Yes!!!

How do you gain control? Perseverance: practice – work hard – work harder – work more!

Need a Boost?

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HR and Payroll Brothers and Sisters: It’s the end of the year.  Projects are due.  In addition, there are plenty of year-end / year beginning tasks that need to be completed.  Teams are planning their holiday vacations.  If your resources are being used for that last minute audit, that last minute report or that last minute project somebody forgot to tell you about ten months ago, you may be thinking there is not enough time to complete everything!

You need a boost.

And that boost is me.  I specialize in human resources and payroll systems and processes.  I am that person who will help you get your last minute projects completed and/or start new projects.   Help your team do their day to day… and also enjoy the holidays.  Check out my resume below.

Rebecca Clites Resume Oct 2018Download

I’m Not a Robot

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We have all been here:

Throughout just about every online job application (and many other applications), we have to prove we are not robots (that we are human) on software that acts like a robot.  We don’t get to ask the software to prove it is human because simply put, it’s not.

Automation does not work everywhere!  Particularly with jobs that include “human” in the title.

I’m not a robot.

I get how companies want to streamline the hiring process.  In fact, my job is to help companies streamline HR processes and systems.  Eliminate as many people as possible right off the bat so you don’t have to sift through the un-qualified.  Free up time so recruiters can do other things like chase candidates who somehow made it through the robot system and yet have no clue what they’re doing.

Every recruiter that I have been fortunate enough to speak (in person) with has come away from the conversation grateful for the time we spent together.  They always make comments that they learned more about my work experience and about me that they would have learned through their applicant tracking system.  They love people, not robots. They all seem to question their “system”.  As do I.

That system is what lies between great jobs and great candidates.  I keep hearing the US is short of good employees.  No we’re not!  We are short of patience and good processes.  The hiring process is broken.  No one has time to filter through 1,000 resumes and weed out the top 10 to call in for interviews.  What we don’t realize is, within the 990 candidates automatically filtered out, the best match exists.  How do we find the best match?  Simple: In person!

  1. Put together a general job description.  This is not a list of every little task you want the employee to do every day.  Hint: no one will ever complete that list
  2. It’s OK to use an applicant tracking system.  Just make sure you setup the criteria for parsing candidates in a way that is fair (and legal).  Focus on the attributes you must have – and be realistic.  Create an actual skills test and integrate into the application.  Only weed out what absolutely will not work and keep everyone else
  3. Remember that the automated system is a robot and not at all human.  Make time to contact every candidate who passes your initial test
  4. Again, make sure your criteria for weeding out candidates is fair and legal
  5. Call in your top 10 for face to face or phone interviews.  Include as many coworkers as possible in the conversation
  6. Refer back to the job description, your company’s culture and how this person responds and assess if the candidate is a great fit.  Dig deep
  7. Discuss the candidate and how they would impact your organization and make a decision based on your fair and legal criteria
  8. Celebrate with your new employee

 

 

Systems and Processes Working For You?

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Are your Human Resources and Payroll systems and processes working for you?

  • Do your employees understand how to update their benefits?
  • Are your employees electronically updating their personal data?
  • Are managers and/or administrators requesting job changes electronically?
  • Do you have all of the state tax localities setup properly?  KY?
  • Is your Onboarding process seamless from ATS to Payroll?
  • Can your system calculate Regular Rate of Pay?  In CA?
  • Does your system calculate Sick Pay per jurisdiction?
  • Does your Time and Attendance system track and pay meal penalties?
  • Is employee training tracked in your HR system?
  • Are you writing robust reports with integrated data?  Or do you rely on Excel?
  • Do employees track their own performance goals?
  • Are you aware of all of your system features?  Whether you use them or not
  • Have you reviewed your most recent invoices?  Getting what you paid for?
  • Are you auditing payroll numbers before you process?  Gross to net

If you answered “No” to more than three of these questions, please reach out to me here.  Together, we can assess the situation and figure out next steps.