Provisional Blog

Imagine this scenario:

You’re looking to hire for an important position. You post a job, receive a flood of resumes, and start the screening process. You come across one candidate in particular that seems like the perfect fit in terms of skill set and experience…there’s only one catch: they have an online degree.

So should you run the other way, or dig a little deeper? And if it’s the latter, should you give equal weight to that candidate’s education as you do to a candidate with a degree from a brick-and-mortar institution?

As one of the leading staffing agencies in Spokane, Provisional knows that if you’re like most HR professionals, you would give the candidate a second look, as long as the candidate has the right experience. In fact, according to a survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), many HR professionals are demonstrating an increased level of acceptance toward online degrees. Here’s a look at the survey’s findings:

• 87% believe degrees from online institutions are viewed more favorably than five years ago.
• 79% said they had hired someone with an online degree within the last 12 months.
• 73% think that taking individual classes online are just as credible as courses taken at a traditional institution.
• 49% agreed that online degree programs are equally credible as traditional degree programs.

An online degree may still not be viewed as favorably by all as a degree from a traditional college. But with college costs rising every year, it’s likely that more and more students will enroll in online programs versus traditional ones. As a result, you’ll probably have an influx of job candidates with online degrees in the years to come.

The good news is that many online degree programs are offered by accredited institutions. Being accredited means that the online program has had to prove that they adhere to the same level of academic standards that’s required at a brick-and-mortar school.

Need Help Hiring Qualified Talent?

If you’re tired of screening resumes on your own, give Provisional a call. As one of the leading staffing agencies in Spokane, we can handle the hiring process for you – including verifying that a candidate’s degree is from an accredited institution – so you can focus on other priorities. Call Provisional today to learn more.

When it comes to an under-performing employee at your Spokane company, it can be tempting to ignore the problem or go to the other extreme and dismiss the employee altogether. But, in some cases, fixing an existing problem is less expensive than recruiting, hiring, and training a new employee. So here are some ways to help you deal with this tricky situation.

Identify the Problem

First, you should identify the problem and try to find the reasons behind it. For instance, maybe the employee isn’t in the right role and needs to be re-assigned. Possibly, the employee is having personal or family issues that are impacting their work quality. Or, as is sometimes the case, the problem could be an indication of a bigger management issue in the department or at the company as a whole. Whatever the reason, the only way to find out is to talk to the employee privately.

If the performance issue rests solely with the employee, not with management, then your next step should be to work with the employee to develop a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). In simplest terms, a PIP is a plan to help an employee improve his or her performance. Here are the steps to take to develop an effective PIP:

• List what performance areas needs improvement. Be as specific as possible. Don’t talk about behaviors, talk about results. For instance, don’t say “Your aren’t being productive enough.” Instead, say something like: “You’re often quite late in the morning, which is impacting your ability to get your work done.”
• Also describe the expected standard of performance. Be very clear, using examples, about how you expect the employee to perform in the future.
• Let your employee know what resources, training, materials, and support you will provide to help them meet expectations. For example, an employee might need to participate in a training program in order to gain knowledge and skills to perform their job better.
• Create a plan for offering feedback to your employee. Let them know when and with whom they will be meeting to discuss performance. Be specific when it comes to the measurements you will be using to evaluate performance. Also, make clear the consequences of not meeting performance expectations.

Once you’ve developed the PIP, make sure your HR department reviews the plan to ensure it’s consistent with company policy and that it treats the employee fairly. And if, throughout the process, you and your HR department determine the employee is not making acceptable progress, it may then be necessary to take disciplinary action, such as verbal and/or written reprimands and if those don’t work, a suspension from work. If the employee is still not willing or able to make progress, then it may be necessary to terminate them.

In the future, conducting regular performance reviews can help you tackle performance issues. At the very least, conduct reviews annually, but you’d be even better served by conducting performance reviews every few months. That way, any issues that arise can be addressed quickly and don’t come as a surprise to the employee. In addition, by having frequent performance reviews, you can set smaller, more achievable goals and check in more regularly on whether goals are being accomplished.

And if you need help finding top-performing employees in Spokane, please contact Provisional. As a leading Spokane staffing agency, we can help you find experienced, reliable, and skilled employees for temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire positions. Contact us today to learn more!

The end of the year is rapidly approaching, which means it’s time to start thinking about scheduling those dreaded employee performance reviews. While most employers – and employees – are uncomfortable with the process (after all, who likes giving or getting criticism), these reviews are a great opportunity to offer feedback, and revisit expectations and goals.

As an experienced Spokane staffing agency, we’ve put together some tips and advice to help make the review process a little less painful for you:

1. Create a performance file on each employee.

At the end of the year, it can be difficult to remember the good, the bad, and the ugly about every employee you’re reviewing. To make it easier, create a performance file for each employee and make notes throughout the year about their performance. Include letters from customers, copies of work (good or bad), and notes to yourself. While it’s too late to create files for this year’s reviews, consider implementing this idea to make next year’s performance review process easier.

2. Use an evaluation form.

A week before performance reviews, hand out evaluation forms to be completed by your employees. On the form, you should ask employees to note specific objectives and goals they have achieved over the course of the past year, what areas need improvement, and what their short- and long-term career goals are. Employees are often aware of their short-comings and this form helps to open the door to discuss them, as well as the more positive aspects of their performance.

3. Get input from others.

When appropriate, get feedback and specific performance examples from other staff members or from customers.

4. Set the tone with a positive.

Always start each performance review with a positive. This is a good time to tell each employee how much you value their hard work.

5. Be specific.

When you do have a criticism to offer an employee, it’s important to be as specific as possible. Give the employee an example where they didn’t meet expectations. Don’t just say something like: “You’re not a good communicator.” Instead, consider something like: “Some of the mistakes you’ve made are a result of not asking enough questions at the start of each project.”

6. Review regularly.

Implement a policy for regular performance reviews. For instance, make sure you evaluate employees every year. For new hires, you may want to conduct performance reviews at the three-month and six-month marks, as well.

Another reason you should consider regular reviews is to avoid having to conduct a review prompted solely due to bad behavior or poor performance. This can imply that information is being collected to document the poor performance should the employee be fired.

And if you need help implementing a performance review process, please contact Provisional, a Spokane staffing agency with over 16 years of experience.