Look beyond your workforce’s current skills to assess their potential and you might just find a diamond in the rough.
Gone are the days when workers spent their entire career within a single organization. According to a 2018 report from the recruitment firm LiveCareer, today’s workers spend an average of 3.8 years with an employer. This number is even lower among younger generations like millennials. In fact, while the average employment duration was 8 years for baby boomers, it was just 5.4 years for generation Xers and a mere 2.4 years for millennials.
This mobility creates major recruitment and retention issues for employers, and the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t helped ease the pressure. An Angus Reid survey found that in Quebec, 41% of respondents who are currently employed are either actively looking for a new job or plan to do so within the next year, once market conditions improve. Here’s what workers are looking for:
- Personal development opportunities;
- Sense of belonging within the workplace;
- Recognition from the employer;
- Being given responsibilities;
- Good relationships with colleagues and managers;
- Competitive compensation.
Now more than ever, organizations are faced with the challenge of helping employees achieve their professional development goals, even though workers are increasingly inclined to change employers regularly. At the same time, organizations have to promote a management philosophy that encourages professional wellbeing. So, what’s the best strategy for meeting these goals? It can start as early as the recruitment phase.
Recruiting for today—and tomorrow
Traditionally, recruitment specialists review resumes to see whether candidates meet the criteria for a specific position. Do they have the right level of education? Will they bring the right skills to the table? Is their past experience relevant to the challenges that the job entails?
Next, recruiters interview candidates to further assess their skills and compatibility with the manager, team, workplace and conditions. The purpose of all this is to find someone who meets a clearly defined need. But what happens if the employee wants to grow within their role after a few years?
There are ways to help workers develop their professional potential within an organization—and boosting their job satisfaction at the same time.
Assessing potential in addition to skills
A person’s potential is their aptitude for developing new competencies in order to assume more complex roles within an organization. It’s important not to confuse an individual’s potential with their current job performance.
Performance assessments measure whether a worker is successfully completing their tasks. These evaluations don’t usually provide any indication of whether the worker has the potential to take on different or more complicated responsibilities.
There are three key factors that can influence a worker’s development potential within their organization:
Good match between the individual and the organization
The worker’s values are aligned with the company’s. People who are naturally curious, independent and looking for challenges will want to advance their careers in companies that promote innovation and accountability.
Ability to learn
Given the fast pace of change in today’s workplace, workers who are willing and able to learn new things tend to be more agile, credible and adaptable.
Personality
When determining what roles and responsibilities a candidate is suited for, some points to consider include their self-reliance, ambition, leadership skills, priority management capabilities, personal interests and ability to manage stress.
Is there a diamond in the rough within your ranks?
Could your next manager already be working for your company? Are there people within your teams who can help your organization meet its medium and long-term goals? Evaluating a person’s potential can help you answer these questions and more. By assessing each candidate’s potential, you can:
- Make an informed choice based on a deeper understanding of the candidate and their potential to help the organization grow;
- Understand their aspirations in order to provide them with professional development opportunities and boost their engagement;
- Help the worker make a smooth transition into their new role or team;
- Find out what motivates workers and how to engage them;
- Prevent unpleasant surprises and dodge costly recruitment mistakes.
By gaining insights into each candidate’s personality, interests and values, you’ll be able to gauge whether they can grow into more complex roles. You’ll also get a better idea of how the organization can help them advance their career.
Our human resources professionals have developed a candidate potential assessment model that’s backed by a range of helpful tools. These include skills and aptitude tests, as well as personality, interest and values inventories.
Interested in learning more? Contact us to inquire about our personalized recruitment services. Our multidisciplinary team will be pleased to connect you with the right solutions for your needs.
This article was written in collaboration with Mathieu Beaudoin, Human Resources Advisor.
22 Sep 2020 | Written by :
Mr. Martel is your expert in potential assessment at the Sherbrooke office. Contact him today!
See the profileYou could also like to read
Next article
The Grant Thornton International IFRS team has updated the document Insights into IFRS 16 – Lease term.
The document Insights into IFRS 16 – Lease term was updated to reflect the latest thinking in this area, including the November 2019 Agenda decision on Lease Term and Useful Life of Leasehold Improvements issued by the IFRS Interpretations Committee (IFRIC).
The document now covers how an entity determines the lease term of a cancellable lease or a renewable lease and provides additional examples in this regard.
The issue
Determining the lease term under IFRS 16 is significant.
Firstly, the longer the lease term, the larger the lessee’s right-of-use asset and lease liability will be.
Secondly, the length of the lease term determines whether a lease qualifies for the short-term lease exemption.
Finally, IFRS 16 contains additional application guidance on how to deal with periods covered by options to extend or terminate a lease. While the new detailed guidance can be helpful, it also means there is more to consider when determining the lease term.
This document explains the key aspects of determining the lease term at commencement date and when it should be reassessed.
The Insights into IFRS 16 series provides insights on applying IFRS 16, Leases, in key areas. Each edition focuses on an area of IFRS 16 to assist you in applying the guidance in the standard.
Service
Next article
Are you planning to transfer your business to a promising successor? Take the time to do it right, step by step, with a structured and integrated approach.
Quebec’s economy relies on a large number of SMEs. The numbers say it all: Quebec is home to nearly 240,000 businesses with less than 99 employees and another 4,300 with 100 to 499 employees. Combined, these companies account for more than 87% of all jobs in the province.
The pandemic has had serious repercussions on the economy. Uncertainty and anxiety have cast a shadow over many businesses. For a lot of entrepreneurs, the health crisis has prompted hard questions on both professional and personal matters. Work-life balance, personal success, relationships, health and wellbeing have emerged as important values.
Not to mention the fact that 35% of Quebec entrepreneurs are 55 or over, and the average business owner is 49. At this stage of a person’s working years, it’s only natural to start thinking about what comes next.
Successfully transferring a business takes time—and a plan
It’s important to take a structured and integrated approach to the entire transition process. Economic statistics show that business ownership changes fail 70% of the time in Quebec and across Canada. Moreover, just 10% of business owners have a successor in mind.
An entrepreneurial succession professional can help you make the right decisions. Their role is to anticipate potential problems, facilitate communication between all parties and help stakeholders make smart business decisions.
There are different types of ownership transfers. It’s up to you to decide which one works best for your business, employees and customers.
Ownership transfers should be gradual and involve 2 to 8 years of preparation.
Your options include:
- Transfer to a family member;
- Transfer to a company manager, employee or even the board of directors;
- Sell to a third party.
A company’s spirit is defined by the people behind it. Creating a business succession plan is like planning a road trip: you need to decide where to stop along the way in order to ensure a smooth journey to your destination. The itinerary should include pausing to consider various legal, financial, tax, strategy and human considerations.
A people-focused process
Human resources professionals can help sellers and buyers with their respective tasks in order to protect the company’s long-term viability. We recommend an eight-step process involving different stakeholders:
- Hold an initial meeting with the outgoing owner in order to gain an understanding of the business context, assess their expectations for the ownership transfer, and discuss prospective projects.
- Meet with all involved stakeholders to review the next steps.
- Conduct one-on-one meetings with each potential buyer to assess their interests and intentions.
- Carry out psychometric evaluations for each potential buyer as well as the seller if he or she plans to stay involved in the company.
- Review the test results with each respondent and hold a group meeting to share the findings while also encouraging effective communication and a culture of sharing between all parties.
- Develop a plan for onboarding the buyer(s) based on their strengths and interests, and discuss their roles and responsibilities to ensure a smooth transition.
- Present the report to the seller and discuss each party’s new roles and responsibilities.
- Provide management support and coaching to ensure the transition process is aligned with the business’s objectives, as well as those of the seller and buyers.
Each step in the process is important and gives you the opportunity to determine whether the buyer is a good fit for the company’s needs. Finding the right match is crucial for the transfer’s success. After all, just because someone wants to make it work, doesn’t mean they can. Running a business is challenging and prospective owners require certain skills, including those listed below.
Work management skills
- Results-oriented;
- Initiative and action-oriented.
Interpersonal skills
- Persuasive;
- Strong networking abilities;
- Effective communicator.
Leadership skills
- Strategic vision;
- Managerial courage;
- Gets the job done.
Self-awareness
- Stress management and emotional control;
- Independent;
- Persevering;
- Humble.
There are various skills assessment tools available on the market, including personality tests, cognitive ability tests, in-basket tests, structured interviews, and more.
Working with a human resources advisor can help you gain a better understanding of a person’s strengths and weaknesses, and allow you to compare their profile against the company’s needs and values. This can help prevent problems down the road, while also ensuring a smoother transition for the new business owner. All of these factors are important for a successful business ownership transfer.
Interested in talking to someone about your situation? Contact us to find out more about our personalized business ownership transfer services. Our multidisciplinary team can offer the solutions you need.
This article was written by Jeannette Boulanger in collaboration with Marie-Eve Authier, Human Resources Advisor.
17 Sep 2020 | Written by :
Jeannette Boulanger is a Human Resources Consulting expert at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton. Contact...
See the profileNext article
Updated on May 13, 2021
The work world is in the midst of a transformation. What was true yesterday may no longer apply today. Employers, how do you set yourselves apart?
Long before the pandemic, recruiting and retaining skilled resources was one of the biggest concerns of organizations. In fact, in a Léger survey conducted in April 2019 on behalf of Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, more than 60% of small- and medium-size business leaders said that labour issues were the biggest challenge for the next three years.
The labour market landscape has changed significantly as a result of the pandemic. While there is a better balance between supply and demand in certain industries, including sales, human resources, engineering, and marketing and communications, the issue is still as important in others.
While the lack of skilled resources was already a problem before the pandemic, there is a marked need in the following areas.
- Accounting and finance (technician, analyst, assistant controller, controller, manager);
- Information technology;
- Health and social services;
- Skilled trades (manufacturing and construction industry).
Listening to employees’ needs
Organizations actively seeking resources must now deal with a new reality where the requirements of potential candidates have evolved.
The reality for workers in the manufacturing and retail industries has changed mainly due to the implementation of health and safety measures for employees, but the scenario is entirely different for clerical and professional workers.
According to the Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés, 67.1% of employees were working remotely last June. There is no indication that this trend is slowing down: telework is here to stay for a large majority of professionals.
Not so long ago, telework was on the list of benefits that some employers were willing to offer to those who requested it. So how can you stand out as an employer if telework has become a way of life?
The watchword: listen to the needs of professional workers and adapt to their new requirements. The work world has undergone a transformation during the last year, and priorities are no longer necessarily the same for everyone. As an employer, ask yourself about your level of attraction and differentiation based on the following.
Flexibility
Some employees enjoy teleworking while others find it stressful. The trend to telework is still prevalent, but in the longer term the situation will be more of a 25-25-50 split, with 25% of employees teleworking full time, 25% in the office, and 50% in a hybrid arrangement with a mix of working remotely and in the office.
Autonomy
Managers, watch out for repeated interruptions and micromanagement. Know how to trust your employees. It can be tempting to ensure that your employees who work from home are actually working by providing multiple directive communications, but these can quickly become very irritating and a source of frustration.
Accountability
A work environment and corporate culture based on accountability foster employee engagement and, therefore, results. Create a work climate that is based on performance or achievement of goals, not on “how”. Focus on the achievement of goals rather than physical presence in the office or number of hours “online”.
Employer brand and employee experience
Consistency between employee and organizational values can make a difference, especially in the wake of major upheavals. Individual priorities have changed. What about the organization’s? Is work-family balance a core value that you believe in?
Agility
The Baby Boomer, X, Y, and Z generations are all in the workplace together – can you provide a stimulating environment where everyone can achieve their potential without penalizing others? Teaming up with employees from different generations can be very rewarding, but it can also be challenging – employees at the end of their careers and new recruits don’t have the same needs.
Professional growth
Human nature being what it is, when boredom sets in, people look for ways to remedy it… like changing jobs. Opportunities for advancement within an organization can therefore be a decisive factor. Knowing how to recognize a candidate’s or employee’s potential can generate opportunities and, as a result, help you retain your resources, in addition to motivating them to evolve professionally.
Overall remuneration and benefits
Salary, benefits and other conditions certainly remain key factors to be considered overall. Some people are willing to accept a lower salary if they find the hours or other benefits more suitable. Being sensitive to expectations can lead to win-win solutions for everyone.
Better work-life balance, alternative working hours, integration of technologies, redesigned processes and, of course, new health measures are just a few examples of the changes brought about by the pandemic. As an employer, you cannot ignore this new normal. To retain your recruiting competitive advantage, you must focus on employee needs first, rather than those traditionally defined by the organization.
A crisis can lead an organization to question its organizational culture, rethink certain policies that are no longer in line with the new reality and re-evaluate the organizational ecosystem.
Would you like to find out more? Contact us for more information about our personalized recruiting services. Our multidisciplinary team is ready to provide you with the solutions you are looking for.
17 Sep 2020 | Written by :
Philippe Marceau is a Human resources expert at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton.
See the profile