Candidates market remains tight
The candidate market is still very competitive, as there are not enough skilled individuals to meet demand of open roles in several sectors such as accounting & finance, healthcare & life sciences, construction, logistics, and technology. A tight candidate market further drives the growing trend of skills-based hiring. Think about identifying retooling & training opportunities for your team. We believe thinking outside the box will be the way to win the war on talent.

To develop a strong skills-based process, start with assessments to evaluate the hard & soft skills needed within your organization. Then, begin mapping those skills to internal roles. This will allow you to set benchmarks, implement training, and evaluate success.

Additionally, as candidates make decisions, we are seeing hybrid and flexible work with a focus on employee well-being remain a top priority. This means organizations who offer flexibility and invest in employees remaining happy and healthy are often more competitive in securing top talent.

Role of AI
Continuing into this year and growing in Q1 are the use of AI and automation in the human resources function, including AI powered recruitment tools and real time analytics providing actional data for your talent pool. Today, nearly 2 of every 3 companies use AI to develop job descriptions, 42% use it to customize target audiences, and two-thirds use AI to review and screen applicants according to SHRM. If you haven’t begun evaluating how AI can support your organization, now is the time to start.

Post election regulatory shifts
While regulatory changes happen every year, the changes in early 2025 have potential to impact HR professionals and the policies they develop and enforce. It is best practice to find an internal subject matter expert, or an external consultant, who can help navigate these ever-changing waters.

Workplace culture
Last year, the Society of Human Resource Management launched a civility campaign, amid rising concerns of workplace conflict as it relates to political viewpoints, social issue differences, generational and cultural differences. Post election, it is safe to assume half of your team will be disappointed, as a leadership team or HR professional, it is more important than ever per James Atkinson, SHRM VP, Thought Leadership to “be clear about what workplace culture you want, and make sure that your leaders model it.”

Identifying opportunities in your workplace to bridge gaps and offer conflict resolution skills building will help create a more cohesive team with respect for differences while working toward a common business goal.

If you have questions about these insights or how our team can help you navigate the hiring market, please contact us today.

The post Hiring Market: Q1 Recap & Insights appeared first on Find Great People.

We are excited to share that the results of our NPS surveys across business lines were overwhelmingly positive, which is a testament to the hard work of our teams and their leaders. 

It’s important to give context to our team’s scores, knowing they far surpass the industry’s standard. In 2023, the average NPS for HR service providers was 46, according to ClearlyRated. For the staffing and recruiting industry specifically, the average net promoter score was 36 in 2023, and candidates who were placed in new roles reported an NPS score of 30.

At FGP, our teams take the time to understand our clients’ needs, and as a company, our goal is always to provide our clients with thoughtful and effective talent solutions to help them build their business. Whether that is through a temp-to-hire candidate or a full compensation audit, our teams are here to help.  

We are grateful for the opportunity to hear from our clients and candidates, allowing us to capture feedback to help us improve our processes and enhance our customer experience. We are excited to implement our NPS survey process annually for clients, with the ongoing opportunity for candidates to give real-time feedback through Great Recruiters.  

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Whether formal or informal, research on current executives shows that those who had a mentor at some point in their career are more likely to earn more money at an earlier age, are better educated, are more career-driven, and are happier with their job in the long term.  

A mentor can share first-hand knowledge and career advice. A more tenured employee can be a significant source of information throughout the early years of an employee’s career, making transitions smoother and success more attainable. Many employees who have a mentor in a specific field may continue in the same path their mentor did, leading to continued growth and commitment to that field as they gain genuine insight into the field. 

Additionally, having a mentor ensures that a mentee is provided with an ally for decision making and facing challenges. When an employee is facing a difficult situation or in need of direction with a career, having an established mentor who you can consult with gives you additional insight to make informed and well thought out decisions.  

A mentor relationship can shift perspectives and allow insight into different generations altogether for both parties involved. These relationships create opportunities to grow with each other and foster a personal connection with someone who may have different ideas and experiences than your own. This can work to break down the barriers of generational divide. 

At FGP, we understand the importance of mentorship and are excited to launch a new internal mentorship program in 2025. This program, “G.R.E.A.T. Connections”, is designed to support FGP employees through shared experience and connections with more tenured employees. Implementing this program into our workplace is a milestone in our continued success and dedication to our employee growth. We look forward to seeing the impact “G.R.E.A.T. Connections” will have on our team.  

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Prioritize Formalizing a Talent Strategy

When budgeting for the upcoming year, planning for growth is typically at the top of the list. For many organizations, growth comes from investing in the right team members to ensure business goals are met. This could be adding new talent or shifting existing talent on your team. As you forecast financials, spend time forecasting the need for additional talent or the benefit of upskilling present talent so they are ready for organizational changes and growth.

A formal talent plan includes many pieces and should be tailored to fit your business size and needs. Areas to explore include onboarding, analytics, workforce planning, diversity hiring, talent pipelines, employee referral programs, and finally, the interview process. Once you set a plan, don’t forget to set goals around your plan and track progress.

Review Internal Talent Mobility

One often overlooked part of a talent strategy is the opportunity to mobilize internal talent. Internal talent mobility, also called career mobility, is the lateral and vertical movement of team members within an organization. A mobility review can help your organization improve employee engagement, retention, and loyalty. It can also reduce the need for external hiring.

As you review your talent, focus on skills rather than job titles. For example, if someone in a support capacity has the skillset needed to pick up additional accounting responsibilities, allow that to happen. Those transferable skills could include data entry, attention to detail, or a bend towards numeric understanding. That might create space for mobility internally.

Additionally, allow your employees the opportunity to take charge of their career paths. When you have a top performer who is loyal in a specific role, odds are they will continue to be a top performer in a different role, especially if they have interest and skills that align with that new role. This circumvents repetitive responsibilities and keeps your top performers learning new areas of the business.

When you review talent mobility, you will organically create a development-oriented review or annual meeting cycle. This creates space for feedback too, as some team members may have no interest and prefer to stay in their present seat, which is also wonderful and can be useful to your organization, while others may find new energy and excitement in learning a new area that ultimately adds value to your business.

Goal Setting and Tracking

Now more than ever, your employees want to understand what the overarching organizational goals are, how as a team you plan to get there, and lastly, what that means for their individual seat as a part of the team. While sharing an annual goal is powerful, breaking this down by quarter and then communicating within each department or business line what their expectations of contribution are leaves no stone unturned.

Everything each group does can link back to the overall goal established. This can be both a measurement of performance, as well as an opportunity to celebrate as a team when milestones are accomplished. The key to goal setting is tracking and communicating. Communication of progress or areas of shortfall allows the team to be more invested in the outcome. The goal: by the end of January 2024 each member of your team should be able to clearly communicate their responsibility towards meeting your business objectives for the year.

Decide Just How Much to Invest In AI

In an ever-changing technical landscape, it is important to stay ahead of the game. AI is part of our business – present and future. So, as a business leader, how do you ensure you don’t under or overinvest? Start slowly, and identify areas of your business where large amounts of data are generated, tasks are repetitive, or where customer interactions could be personalized. Can these areas be automated with the use of an AI based tool?

For example, is there a member of your team that handles scheduling for a majority of the day, or, one who is consistently reaching out to customers for a repeatable need (meter reading, AR, etc.)? These are areas to investigate the use of AI that require minimal investment. Consider what you could do proactively if 40% of those individuals’ time was available to you. It may allow you to retool them in another area, causing a lessened need for external hiring. If you are unsure where to start LinkedIn is a great resource with many subject matter experts who have contributed thoughts.

As you prepare for the new year, our team is here to help. Contact us today to learn more about our talent solutions!

The post Preparing for 2025: Talent Considerations appeared first on Find Great People.

Our Senior HR Consultant, Carrie Cavanaugh, recently led a webinar on this topic, and in this blog, we’re sharing details from her presentation on what a compensation philosophy entails and why it is important to businesses.

What is compensation philosophy?

Simply defined, a compensation philosophy is a formal statement that documents a company’s position on employee compensation. It explains the “why” behind employee pay and creates a framework of consistency for current and future employees.

A well-designed compensation philosophy supports the organization’s strategic plan and initiatives, business goals, competitive outlook, operating objectives, and compensation and total reward strategies. The philosophy should account for various factors, such as a company’s financial position, company size, industry, business objectives, market salary, the level of difficulty in finding new hires, and other unique circumstances. Once defined, it should be reviewed periodically and updated based on current factors affecting the business.

Why is it important?

A well-defined compensation philosophy not only motivates current employees but also attracts future talent, supporting overall employee satisfaction and engagement. To effectively support business goals, it is essential to design pay programs and reward strategies that are aligned with the organization’s objectives, competitive positioning, and workforce needs.

This helps to ensure that the company remains competitive in the market by offering compensation and rewards that appeal to employees. Establishing a competitive market position is critical, as it helps the organization stand out in the industry while also promoting fairness and compliance. This includes ensuring equal pay for equal work, with any lawful pay differences based on legitimate factors.

Have any questions about how to craft an effective compensation philosophy? FGP can help. Contact us today!

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With the constant state of change in the market, companies today must focus on the latest people and culture trends to remain current and meet the needs of both their people and the business.

The midyear point is an opportunity to pause, evaluate, and adapt. To help us understand the current landscape and what businesses might expect in the second half of the year, we asked our Executive Vice President and leader of our Consulting Division, Vicki Peek, to share the top trends the HR Consulting team is seeing and key takeaways to consider as we finish 2024.

Hybrid is Here to Stay

As employees and candidates seek workplace flexibility, many companies have settled on a workforce model that seems to be a “win/win” for all – hybrid. Fully remote can be a barrier to culture building, team collaboration, and alignment, and we are seeing more companies move away from this and fully adopt a hybrid model as the standard. As you implement, a best practice is to have the team “in office” on the same day to promote team collaboration and alignment.

Talent Readiness for Critical Roles

Companies are putting a strong emphasis on planning for the future and discovering it’s never too early to begin thinking about the development and growth of “next level” talent. We often hear from companies that “succession seems conceptual” and can be hard to formalize. But, with a well-defined succession process, readiness assessments, and intentionality around development, companies can successfully prepare for expected or unexpected transitions of talent.

Compliance—Keep an Eye on the Latest

Two compliance areas that companies have a close watch on are the new overtime rule & the non-compete contracts ruling. It is important in both of these areas of compliance to work with your HR leaders or consultants as well as your legal counsel to make determinations and plans based upon the regulations in place and your unique workforce.

Leveraging AI Within the HR Function

To many small to medium-sized companies, AI has been something they have been aware of, but either don’t have knowledge of how AI can be helpful or have concerns about the risks associated with the use of AI. We expect that AI will be more of a focus over the next 12 months. Our clients utilize AI in several core HR areas to include but not limited to Talent Acquisition, Performance Management, Correspondence, Basic Training, and Safety. If you haven’t already done so, being to explore ways that AI can be a benefit to you.

Mental Health and Employee Wellness

Regardless of company size or industry, overall health, specifically mental health, is a growing need, and companies are prioritizing responding to the needs of their employees. We encourage companies to get creative and talk to your insurance broker about options to expand mental health benefits. Be proactive to provide expanded resources (i.e. mental health days, offering EAP, increase number of free visits for EAP calls, webinars, books, yoga classes, etc.).

Optimization of Core Processes

Companies are prioritizing process optimization as they are seeking to be more efficient and leverage people and tools to solve business needs and serve internal and external customers. One area that we are seeing as a focus within HR is optimization of benefit & payroll processes. There is a desire to integrate benefit & payroll processes making these more streamlined and less cumbersome while also ensuring accuracy and timeliness.

Streamline Your Hiring Process

The battle for top talent remains fierce despite shifts in the hiring market. Companies who want to secure top talent for open positions need to evaluate and refine their processes to ensure they are agile and can move quickly and efficiently to secure top talent before competitors. And don’t forget – the candidate interview experience matters – you are selling your brand and job opportunity as much as candidates are selling their knowledge and expertise.

If you are a part of your company’s HR or leadership team and would like to learn more about talent trends in the current market and how adapting can help you grow your business successfully, reach out to our team today!

The post Midyear Market Update appeared first on Find Great People.

Many people are in and out of the office, with varying schedules and summer commitments. The best way to avoid gaps and remain productive is by planning strategically for your time away, particularly if you are in a production role like sales or recruiting. We recently shared several tips with our team to promote productivity in the summer that can be applied regardless of your role or industry as producer.

While it’s critical for employees to take time away, we believe focusing on managing expectations, preparation, and utilizing technology to fill gaps will keep business opportunities flowing while you’re away, resulting in positive outcomes for you, your colleagues, and your business.

Expectation Management

• Prioritize clear and consistent communication throughout the summer.
• As you prepare for time away, be sure to clearly communicate your plans and time away with your team internally, as well as externally with important stakeholders. Don’t forget to communicate appropriately with each audience.
• Set your out of office message and ensure you have a plan for coverage for any needs that arise while you are away from your desk.
• Consider your time away and think about what might typically come up during that time of the week, month, quarter, etc. Prepare your colleague who is covering for you appropriately.

Activity

• Even if you are away from your desk, other people are still working. To avoid any lags in new business opportunities, work to keep your proactive outbound activity consistent.
• Think about your typical outreach & activity and try to achieve that same level throughout the summer – perhaps just more one week than another. For example, if you will be out of the office for a week, send twice as many emails or phone calls for two weeks prior to your absence. That way, when you return you will still have a healthy pipeline of opportunities. Don’t forget to make sure someone is following up with them in your absence!

Technology Utilization

• Think about maintaining consistency both internally and externally, even if you are gone, and consider how technology might be able to help you achieve those goals.
• Whether it is utilizing automated communication or scheduling emails or calendar reminders for your internal or external contacts, be sure to leverage all the technology available to you to help you sustain a consistent workflow this summer.
• Make a list of holidays, regular tasks, and other things you typically “check in” about that might occur during your absence. Then, automate that outreach or set reminders for your team to check in on those activities while you are away.

Have questions about how to manage your team’s productivity or time off? We can help. Contact us today!

The post Preparing for Time Away appeared first on Find Great People.

We know there are many situations where you may need to be creative and flexible with hiring to achieve a particular business goal. Whether it is finishing a high-impact project, adjusting for business seasonality, hiring a remote employee, or wanting to ensure a long-term fit, we offer many staffing solutions to suit your needs. But first, we take time to listen. Then, we create a flexible temporary staffing strategy that reflects your business priorities, and then we help find the right people quickly.

Our staffing services include temporary, contract, and temp-to-hire placements. We’ve broken down the use cases for each, along with examples in today’s blog.

Temporary

• Ideal for expanding team bandwidth on a short-term basis or adjusting for seasonal business trends.
• Example: Having recently completed a merger and in need of additional bandwidth, a national financial institution came to us in need of several clerical/administrative temporary candidates across multiple locations and states. We have been able to identify and place fifteen candidates in the past five months with clerical, customer service, filing, and accounting skillsets.

Contract

• Perfect for filling gaps with interim support or hiring specialized talent for a specific project need.
• Example: A faith-based wealth management firm came to us in search of a temporary Receptionist to cover while their employee had to go out on medical leave. We were able to identify and place a candidate there who is now the first face that clients will interact with at their firm.

Temp-to-Hire

• Great for filing an immediate need with a long-term potential candidate or to verify a candidate’s capabilities to ensure a good fit before a permanent placement.
• Example: A telecommunications client came to us in search of several temp-to-hire candidates for their entry level IT positions. We were able to identify and place six candidates in a one-month period that aligned with the technical skill set required. As of May 2024, five candidates were converted to full time employees.

Want to learn more about how FGP can support your hiring needs? Contact us today!

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Many companies are unsure what it would be like to work with a staffing agency, which can cause hesitation. So, we are breaking down how we work with clients, how FGP can help companies build top-tier teams to achieve their business goals, and the key benefits of working with a staffing firm.

With anyone we work with – client or candidate – we start by taking the time to understand the specific needs of the individual. Whether a business is looking for 10 temporary employees to complete a special project or a new CEO, our team has the expertise and depth to help with almost any request.

Within our staffing team, we can customize our services and how we structure searches to help our clients achieve their goals through purposeful talent solutions. Our goal is to build a partnership where we can support our clients and their employees every step of the way.

Additionally, working with a staffing agency like FGP gives you a competitive edge in the ever-changing hiring market.

1. Conserving Your Resources

From drafting job descriptions to reviewing resumes and screening candidates, the hiring process can be time-consuming – especially if it is not your full-time job. Particularly in a challenging hiring market, it is important to thoughtfully seek out candidates, ensure a culture fit, and focus on making the right hire, so that you don’t end up needing to start the process again. Our team works with clients from start to finish, even checking in post-hire, to ensure seamless transitions and consistent communication. Our team has the expertise and resources to find your next great hire, so that you can continue to focus on building your business.

2. Candidate Pool & Experience

Our dedicated team of recruiters has spent time building their network, resulting in a large pool of qualified candidates in FGP’s pipeline. In 2024, 70% of the global workforce consists of passive talent not actively seeking jobs, so knowing the right audience can be crucial. Our team’s job is to expand your candidate pool and proactively seek out passive candidates while also managing active candidate interest to find you the best person for the job.

Our team also focuses on candidate experience. With an average recruiter rating of 4.86 on our Great Recruiters platform, we work hard to make sure candidates are well-informed and prepared from the interview to the first day on the job. Starting with clear and open communication during the job search process, ensures that we are finding you the right person to fill your role, and that the candidate clearly understands expectations and responsibilities, setting them up for long-term success and building your employer brand.

3. Efficiency

Top talent moves quickly – everyone wants the best people! That means efficiency in the search and hiring process is crucial to success. With our team’s market expertise, industry knowledge, cutting-edge tools, strategic processes, existing candidate networks, and access to specialized skill sets, we can help you find the talent you need, when you need it. At FGP, in the last 12 months, our average time to fill a staffing level position is 35 days, compared to the average of 47.5 days in the general market according to SHRM. Our team works effectively and efficiently to find your next great hire.

The FGP team is here to support clients and give them a competitive edge in the hiring market. If you are interested in learning more about how our staffing team can support your business, contact us today!

The post Want a competitive edge in the hiring market? Work with a staffing agency. appeared first on Find Great People.

Senior HR Consultant

At the start of each year, conversations around goal setting are common. Most often when we think about goal setting, it is focused on personal growth and individual goals. As you set and review goals for 2024, we’d encourage you to also consider how you can connect employee goals to business growth and profitability – and how you can incentivize those goals.

In order to make this connection, it is important that goals are well-drafted, well-defined, and have clear metrics behind them, so that an incentive program can be properly implemented and managed. Most incentive plans are designed to encourage employees to reach a certain goal that ultimately brings success to the organization.

Today, we are looking at benefits of incentives, types of incentives, and tips for getting started with incentive programs.

Benefits of Incentives

Incentives, both financial and nonfinancial, can increase productivity and foster employee loyalty. Incentives can also increase morale and accountability because employees may feel more valued when rewarded for their achievements and have a stronger drive to accomplish their goals. The use of incentives allows an organization to tie compensation to productivity – thus being another way to measure success in a position.

Incentives are most effective in roles that have clear metrics, but can work in many different situations. The most important thing to remember is that incentive plans work best when everyone knows and understands the goal of the incentive. If there is not a clear understanding of what it means to succeed, then incentives can become a point of contention rather than motivation.

Types of Incentives

When most people think of incentives, they are thinking of monetary incentives – these would be compensation-based incentives that provide income above and beyond the hourly rate or annual salary of an employee. Since motivation is internal and often unique to individuals, we also recommend that you talk with your team about what would incentivize them. Some employees want cash, but others might be incentivized by additional time off, company swag, internal or external recognition, and more. By understanding what your employees would like, you can tailor your incentive program to your company, balancing monetary and non-monetary incentives.

Tips for Implementing Incentives

1. Have the right people involved, including employees.

People will support what they help create, so getting buy in from all parties early in the process is essential.

2. Ensure that your program has extremely clear goals, along with metrics to measure those goals.

Some topics to think through include what you are going to measure, where will that data come from, are there any exceptions or special situations, etc. Make sure this is all clearly outlined and communicated to employees. It’s also essential that employees understand the specifics of the metrics.

3. Ensure that the people involved have the ability to participate in the goal.

Incentives should be tied to something the employee can actually influence. For example, if you are setting a production goal, that would need to be an incentive for production employees, not salespeople.

4. “Pilot” the program – look at the best and worst care scenarios.

You don’t want to create an incentive plan that you ultimately cannot afford or one in which achievement is impossible. Look at your best years and your worst years and see how the program would have panned out so you can prepare for all scenarios.

5. Honor all the promises that you make.

Don’t implement an incentive program and forget about it. Your employees are working towards a goal with a reward in mind, and if you don’t see that through, you will lose credibility and potentially create an apathetic workforce.

If your company doesn’t have an incentive program in place yet, but would like to act towards implementing one, start with the end in mind – what you are trying to improve, solve, etc. – and then work backwards. If you would like additional assistance on implementing incentives, or you have questions about incentivization, please contact our team! We would love to help you get started.

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