16-07, 20-37, 37-26, 37-20, 41-26 (x2),
12-04, 12-13, 12-46, 18-17, 26-41, 27-16, 10-20, 15-10, 15-41,
52-28, 33-25 (x2), 03-13, 04-41, 43-11, 02-13, 02-28, 09-25.
This week's
leads focus...
- Lisa Wolfe
- Joe
Zingale
- Amy
Ahrensdorf
Board
elections schedule...
Board
Elections -Two positions are
opening up. Mark Dreher and Dave Spiess will be
stepping down. 
- February 3 & 10 - Nominations
- February 17 - Speeches
- February 24 - Elections
Nominees: Mike Tanner, Barbara
Kollman and
Mark Howard.
Speeches...
Mark Howard was the only nominee in attendance today.
His speech was short and to the point. If nominated, I
will run. If elected, I will serve. But I can't do
the splits!"
Greg Stewart
nominated Mike Tanner so he felt obliged to give a speech
on his behalf. Why should Mike be elected?
Because he is a good looking guy and we need that on the
board! He drives a long way to come to our meetings and
that shows dedication. He has compassion, integrity, a
desire to serve and he is not afraid to speak his mind. He
will also pay $5-10 per vote.
Barbara Kollman could not be here today. She had an
urgent client meeting. But she did submit the following
via email...If
I am elected to the Board of Directors, I would accept such a
position with "honor" and "humility". "Honor" because it would
be on honor to represent my fellow MABE members, and if elected,
this represents a vote of confidence in my ability to serve my
fellow MABE members. "Humility" because as a relatively new
MABE member, I am humbled by the nomination.
MABE
is an excellent organization with high standards. I am
proud to be a member of MABE.
Some members may say that it is too soon for me to be on the
Board of Directors, and this may by true as I have only been
a member of MABE for 11 months. But as a new member, I
would bring fresh new ideas and insight to the Board of
Directors.
Whether I am elected to the Board of Directors or not, I am
truly honored by the nomination.
Brochure Updates...
Next week is
the final cutoff to get your brochure updates in!
Nick
Mawrenko
Compass-i,
LLC
Today Nick wanted to do an
interactive speech on hiring and firing. Not everything
will apply to every person or business but the information will
still have value.
Nick handed out 2 sheets of
interest. The first was a sample drug policy.
Anyone can take it, modify it to fit their company and put it
into practice. You are cautioned, however, to get legal
council on the form before you do anything with it. Nick
told the story of a man who was fed up with an employee that he
knew to repeatedly show up for work while on drugs. He
started a drug testing policy and made it mandatory for every
employee. Turns out that 50% came back positive. He
lost half of his personnel which put him in a bind.
The second handout was "The
Myth of the 25th Employee".
How many people have a
routine? Having a routine helps get things done.
People are better able to accomplish goals with a routine.
This is especially true at work. Employees work better
when they know their employer's routine.
When you think of your
best employees, what words come to mind? Punctual,
integrity, skills, efficient, unselfish, etc. Two things
make a good employee, their behavior and their attitude.
We can train skills but we need to look for good behavior and
attitude when conducting interviews. Mike Whalen suggests
that there is a middle ground to this. It costs a lot of
money to train someone. Also, you run into people that
have the skills but are reluctant to do things your way.
Past Employer
References...Greg Stewarts suggests that the resume is the
first indicator that they lie. But you will be lucky if
you get a useful response from previous employers. You can
ask them if they would hire this person again and they can say
"yes" or "no" but they can't elaborate. Chris Curran
offered that this question can be a loaded. If they
employer was mad that the employee left they would say "no".
But that doesn't mean you should not hire them. Sandro
Menasci disagrees. He finds that he gets fair answers when
he calls previous employers. Mark Dreher added that he
doesn't find much value in references although he did have one
instance where he narrowly avoided helping a client hire an
embezzler that put his last employer into bankruptcy.
The importance of a
predictable, workable hiring system...There are a lot of
ideas being shared here today. Members can take these
ideas and develop a model that works for them. If you hire
right, you will find firing to be a small issue. It is
also important to have a firing system. When you are going
through the hiring process, you can mutually agree upon an
outcome if it doesn't work out. Yes, it can be a tough
conversation.
Do you ask interviewees if
they are loyal? Mike Whalen does. Some have to
think about it. If they respond "yes" right away, he
proceeds with the interview. Greg Stewart asks them for 3
adjectives that they would use to describe themselves.
People usually don't respond with "loyal" but if they do he
believes it. Mark Dreher's company will take applicants to
lunch to see how they fit in with the group. Nick
commented that this was a simple but brilliant thing to do.
Dave Lathrop prefers to check character references. If
they are loyal in their personal life then that tends to carry
over to their work. Nick says that we must ask the
question of loyalty 3 times during an interview in different
ways. Ask for an example every time. Chris Curran a
considers running a credit score to be a better indicator of a
good employee vs. asking them if they are loyal. Their
credit reflects how they live life.
Assessment tools...Sandro
Menasci believes it important to fit the person to the job.
There are assessment tools available. Gus Dekavallas's has
a recruiting company that uses an assessment tool to find
employees qualified for the job.
Using an agency...Paul
Kavanaugh is now using a hiring agency. He doesn't have
time to interview 30 people. They do it all for him.
He pays $15 an hour to the agency that turns around and pays the
employee $10. That is not bad when you consider that they
cover taxes, benefits, etc. He can request a replacement
if one is not working out. He can give them criteria to
look for such as finding someone capable of working with a group
that is "rude, crude and socially unacceptable". They come
on to his payroll after 90 days at no additional fees. If
he brings them on under this timeframe he pays a conversion fee.
The generation gap...Greg
Stewart has given up on Generation Y. They have an
unacceptable attitude towards work. They want to tell you
how much they will be paid, how many hours they will work, etc.
It is all "me, me, me." He hired some of them when there
wasn't much to choose from and he paid for it. Nick would
agree that it is better to not hire anyone than to hire a bad
employee because you will ultimately pay the price.
Guarding against ethnic
discrimination...Being mostly small companies, we don't have
to file EOC reports and there is no tracking. But if you
are concerned that this could be an issue, develop a checklist
that you will use during interviews. Rank applicants on a
scale of 1-10 in different categories. Your defense is
that you picked the best candidate. The form is your
backup.
Hire slowly, fire
quickly...This has flip-flopped in today's economy.
With unemployment low, owners tend to hire on the spot and give
bad employees chance after chance. Arizona is an "at will"
state. You can fire anyone for almost any reason as long
as you have no written contract giving up those rights.
Realize that keeping around bad employees has a ripple affect on
the other employees. They will not be as inclined to work
hard if they see others getting away with doing a poor job.
Nick suggests that you look at your employees every year and
seriously consider firing the worst one. It will boost
morale. Joe Zingale asks a follow-up question to
this...What are you obliged to pay? The simple answer is
"hours worked". Of course your handbook, if you have, one
will dictate your obligation. Carefully word things such
as how vacations accrue. Nicks company can help you
develop one. But he always recommends having a lawyer
review your handbook.
Create a desirable
environment...It is a tough time to get qualified employees.
Give yourself an edge. Create a desirable environment and
you will find that you will attract the right type of employees.
Conclusion...Hire the
right person for the right job and equip them with the right
tools.
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Nick Mawrenko
5+ year member
Member since May
2005 |
PAYROLL/HUMAN RESOURCES
Human Capital Strategies
2152 S Vineyard Ave, Bldg 6, Suite
117
Mesa, AZ 85210
Phone: (480) 962-1580 • FAX: (480) 302-7966
Cell: (480) 577-2552
E-mail:
nmawrenko@aol.com •
www.hcscando.com
E-mail:
nick.mawrenko@hcscando.com
Website:
www.hcscando.com
We assist you with the entire employment
cycle. This begins with the hiring process and ends with the termination
process. Our unique approach keeps you from overpaying for services you
don't need, while still having all the services you may need available.
We fix payroll problems.
E-Verify - Payroll - Human Resources - Employee Handbooks - Much More
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