With estimates for the true cost of turnover ranging from 25% for entry level jobs to 250% of annual salary for senior management, it’s not rocket science to realize that this can’t continue.

A new study from the Canadian Grocery Human Resource Council (CGHRC) takes the analysis a little further. In this study, conducted across the grocery industry in 2008,  and released in April 2010, they found that:

• Participants reported an overall employee turnover rate of 38.7%, with an average voluntary turnover rate of 31.7%.
• The reported turnover rate was highest for part-time non-management staff (64.9%).
• Facilities located in urban areas experienced a higher rate of overall turnover (40.2%) than those in rural locations (28.1%).
• Turnover varied with the type of ownership structure: the rate was highest for chain facilities (40.9%), followed by independent facilities (31.8%) and franchises (27.2%).
• The size of operation did not appear to influence the rate of turnover

They went further in their study to take a look at the cost of turnover for one of the most basic positions in a grocery store – front line, part time grocery clerk. Their findings. across a statistically significant sample, was an average cost of $1,300.

Now $1300 doesn’t really sound like a lot of money but it does become significant when you are facing a turnover rate of 31.7% to 38.7%. Further, to put that $1300 figure into perspective they performed an impact analysis of store sales to recover that cost – what they found should give us all pause for thought.

• If a store’s net margin is between 2% and 4%, the store has to sell between $32,500 and $65,000 in groceries to recover that cost.

The study concluded that turnover should be defined as “an expense without an invoice”.

If you would like a copy of the CGHRC Cost of Turnover Study please contact www.support@prevueassessments.com.

Written by:  Lynne Wallace, QuikApps Inc., May 11, 2010

Otto von Bismarck said that “people never lied so much as after a hunt, during a war or during an election”. If Otto had lived in the 21^st century he would likely have added “on submitting job applications” as a fourth category for circumstance where people lie.

I think we all know applicants are likely to put their “best foot forward” when drafting a resume but lying in job applications is more common and more blatant than you might think. In fact a six month study conducted in 2006 by resumedoctor.com found that 42.7% of 1,000 resumes submitted for positions ranging from entry level to executive positions had one or more significant errors (or maybe we should be truthful and call them misrepresentations).

That study and others like it should have made us cautious about relying on resumes, but of course we always had the option of checking out resumes and references before we relied on them. Now even that option is in doubt with the appearance of a new online resume/reference service that adds quite a new dimension of deceit to the job application process. CareerExcuse.com actually offers job seekers the following services:

• You choose your career history, your start and end date and your salary!
• We provide a real company just for you, a real address for that company, a website for that company and a real 800 phone number!
• We will have our operators standing by!
• We will email you every time someone calls!

According to kens5.com in San Antonio, Texas, the operator of CareerExcuse.com, one Mr. William Schultz, contends that “since a resume is not a legal document, people can lie without legal ramifications”. I would question that conclusion from a legal point of view because a false statement of fact (and particularly one that is fraudulent) made by one party to induce another party to enter into a contract (in this case a contract of employment) can entitle the deceived party to rescind the contract and possibly claim damages. It appears Mr. Schmidt is aware of this legal risk because the site does make one thing very clear to its customers – if you get caught you are on your own.

Of course employers aren’t really interested in pursuing legal actions against their employees for contract termination or damages. Employers simply want to hire good people and get on with their business. So how do you address deceitful resumes and references? We suggest you consider implementing the following strategies:

1. First and most obvious is that if you are going to rely on the information contained in a resume you had better be prepared to take the time to check that it is correct. If you don’t want to call references or check credentials for all applicants (which could be very time consuming), you should at the very least ask the finalists for the position some very specific questions about the aspects of their resume or references that you found compelling.
2. Second, you should not just rely on resumes and references in making hiring decisions. Astute screening questions and the use of job fit assessments like the Prevue Assessments not only provide information that allows you to examine job fit but also provide you with measures to compare the applicants for the position. There is of course an issue as to whether the person responding to online questionnaires and assessments is in fact the applicant but this can be verified in the interview simply by asking the finalists for the position some of the same questions they were asked in the questionnaires or assessment they completed.
3. Third and easiest is to make sure applicants are made legally responsible for the information contained in their resumes and the references they provide. You simply require all applicants to certify the information they submit in the course of applying for a position is true and correct. This is easy to incorporate into written applications and even easier to include in online applications made through online applicant processing systems.

Written by: Kenneth Danderfer

February 12, 2010

Let’s start with the economy and its impact on employee recruiting activity. Based on reading way too many economic forecasts we concluded that the USA will continue to show signs of recovery with some, but not a lot of recruiting activity beginning in the second half of 2010. The UK and other parts of Western Europe will continue to hope there is a recovery that will start sometime in 2010 and Canada, Australia and South Africa will all see some pretty good but not robust hiring activity.

There will be two major problems for those who are fortunate enough to be hiring in 2010. In most cases there will be too many applicants for new job postings that will require extra time and cost to screen or filter down to find those who are actually qualified for the position – but despite the larger numbers of applicants it will still prove difficult to find top talent. On the other hand there are some fields like health, financial services and IT where the biggest issue will be trying to find applicants, let alone talented applicants.

There are many reasons for the dearth of top talent in almost all occupations – such as changing demographics with the retirement of baby boomers, attitudes of the Generation X and Y groups, the rising cost and declining quality of educational institutions (or facilities) and many more. We can’t individually do anything about those problems in 2010 but we can do things to perform better within the constraints that have been imposed upon us by the recession.

We believe that if you want to hire good people you will have to respond to job applicants more quickly and more effectively. Not only are there large numbers of people now seeking work there are several recent studies that confirm there are equally large numbers of people who will be looking to change jobs as soon as the job market warms up. So there will be lots of people to choose from and some good opportunities to find top talent but if you want the best you will have to move fast to identify and hire them. If you don’t, you will be making your hiring decisions out of the second best applicants and maybe even the third best.

So what can you do to become more effective and efficient in hiring new employees? We believe there are two objectives you should set:

• First is to develop a hiring process that is more effective without costing the moon;
• Second is to use tools and online facilities that reduce staff time, increase speed of response to applicants and help focus your available time on the best applicants to make sure you are hiring top talent.

And how do we propose to help you to meet those objectives? Our answer for 2010 is to encourage you to examine and implement the following;

• Take the time to examine your hiring process. Do you have a good understanding of what you are looking for in your labor force, both short term and long term? What talent do you already have on board who may not currently be in the right seat? Do you really know what you are looking for in your new hires – i.e. do you have good job descriptions for your positions? Are you seeking applicants from the right sources? Are you using your Prevue Online hiring facilities as effectively as you should be? Your authorized Prevue Distributor can help you to find answers to these and other questions that will help you improve your hiring process. Take advantage of their talent.
• If you are not already using online applicant tracking or applicant processing facilities then get on with it – now. These systems are not expensive and the benefits are innumerable. Prevue will be offering a range of these services through 2010 that will provide Prevue customers with larger numbers of qualified applicants for each job opening, identify the best applicants more quickly, simplify the use of Prevue testing, reduce response time to applicants and reduce overall time to hire – all of which will assure that Prevue customers are making better hires.

We would like to hear your thoughts and feedback on what you see in the way of recruitment issues and solutions for 2010. Don’t be shy; we will only publish your response on the blog if you give us permission to do so, unless of course you would like to become a feature article.

Written by Ken Danderfer