DataDome Blog

Behavioral Style Strategist and President of Data Dome, Inc. Art Schoeck shared his expertise with executives at a recent seminar given as part of a week-long program at the Scarlett Leadership Institute. Participants received advanced training in leadership applications and strategies using the insights of DISC behavioral style analysis.

The Scarlett Leadership Institute, located at Belmont University in Nashville Tennessee, brings together world-class business minds from Fortune 500 companies and successful leading-edge organizations to interact with a selected class of participants. The “for-leaders by-leaders” Center for Executive Professional Development was designed to develop the people and talent that leading executives most need to support the continued success of their organizations. Participants in the Signature Executive program must be high-potential individuals nominated by senior leadership in their organizations.

Evaluations of the participants indicated that Art Schoeck’s seminar was their favorite piece in a special week-long leadership program.

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One of our fellow bloggers from the Blog Catalog community has included us in his Link Love to 365 Random Blogcatalog Members.

The post is set up as a calendar, with a blog url for every day of the year.

Cute idea, Part Time Blogger. Thanks for including Data Dome!

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In 2008 U.S. employers still find themselves struggling with a shortage of qualified candidates, despite signs of a slowing economy and even fears of recession.

According to a hiring trends forecast by CareerBuilder.com, nearly 20 percent of employers say they will offer more comprehensive benefits in the year ahead in an effort to attract and retain skilled employees. 56 percent of employers expect to increase salaries on initial offers (up from 49 percent in 2007), and they also intend to offer alternate work arrangements such as compressed workweeks, job sharing and telecommuting, according to CareerBuilder. The survey was conducted in November 2007 among 3,016 U.S. hiring managers and HR professionals, and 6,704 U.S. employees, in private-sector companies. (SHRM)

But what if the reward system isn’t the problem?

Carrots across the board may not be enough.

80% of hiring decisions are made on the basis of hard skills, but 85% of turnover is a result of behavioral incompatibility.

• Do you know the best ways to attract and retain talent at your company, for your team?
• Do you have any idea why your current talent would leave?
• Do you know how to hire and retain the “right people” – from defining job competencies to understanding the roles of personal values and motivations?

Data Dome has helped organizations at all levels actually increase compensation and benefits while at the same time reducing overall labor costs.

Free B2B Consultation

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To cope with employee and customer theft, many retailers are upping their investment in surveillance systems and technology. Digital security systems, remote and live viewing, and point of sale monitoring of trends and patterns may help to deter and prosecute individual and organized retail theft by consumers.

However, there is a much simpler solution for employee theft. Don’t hire thieves.

Too many retailers have an “any warm body will do” approach to hiring. When you look at how much employee theft can cost (particularly when it is organized), it becomes obvious that a different hiring procedure for retail is needed:

According to an annual survey conducted by the University of Florida with a funding grant from ADT Security Services, U.S. retailers lost $40.5 billion to theft last year.

The survey measures retail shrinkage defined as a combination of employee theft, shoplifting, vendor fraud and administrative error and found that employee and internal theft account for the largest portions of retail theft followed by loses from shoplifting.

“The dollar loss to retailers from theft is staggering,” said Jeffrey Bean, vice president ADT retail sales and operations. “Retailers are looking for more sophisticated and integrated security technology solutions to help limit losses, lower costs and keep prices down.”

Conducted annually since 1991, the survey included responses from 150 corporate retail chains and shows that employee theft accounted for $19 billion in losses or 47 percent of the total.

Shoplifting accounted for about $13 billion or 32 percent of the total this year.

Opinion surveys and integrity assessments for retail positions are relatively inexpensive and are used as part of the hiring process.

Here are some of the assessments that we recommend to address theft and safety issues for hourly retail, as well as for store managers and assistant managers.

• Select Associate Pre-Employment System – Identifies candidates with vital integrity characteristics, stable work-related personality characteristics, and productive work behaviors.
• Orion – Comprehensive opinion survey provide accurate, valid and illuminating insight, free from adverse impact, into the job related attitudes your applicants will bring with them to the workplace – from work ethic to theft and safety.
• E-Net Hire Workplace Attitudes – Analyzes up to 16 positive (dependability, attention to detail, customer service etc.) and negative behaviors (theft/honesty, substance abuse, violence, diversity, etc.).

Why hire a thief in the first place?

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Our old friend and colleague Ira Wolfe has been collecting statistics about the shortage of skilled workers for some time, and has authored a book on the Perfect Labor Storm.

Ira has now created a five-minute video with some of the statistics. It’s dramatic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAXZIeaNrAA

To be successful, companies will have to view their people as their #1 resource and plan accordingly.

Hire better, manage better, communicate better, sell better – and retain your best employees.

Contact us for a complimentary business-to-business consultation.

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Are you doing all that you can to sort the wheat from the chaff?

How do you identify potential employees for service and associate-level sales that will show the characteristics necessary for success in these positions?

Warm bodies are not enough – turnover is too costly. More important, every customer interaction with your company helps or hurts your reputation.

Who will be reliable and treat your clients, customers and patients with courtesy and friendliness?

One of the pre-employment assessments that really works for this particular set of job positions is called Select.

Select measures key dimensions of the service personality – the information you need to know: positive service attitude, energy level, frustration tolerance, multitasking, diversity, accommodation to others, integrity and other dimensions important to success in a given job. It produces a predictive score including a 3 to 8 page report with a structured interview and specific questions based on the candidate’s score.

Validated templates are included for specific job. For example, the Call Center template has validated questions specific to inbound and outbound sales as well as inbound service.

Modules are included for customer service, personal services, production and distribution, hospitality, administrative support and call center positions. Specialized versions for the health care industry, retail sales and sales management are also available.

Easy to customize and validate for your organization, some of the situation-specific dimensions that could be assessed include: multitasking, attention to detail, self-reliance, task focus, interpersonal insight, criticism tolerance, social comfort, empathy, and so on. Benchmarked dimensions of a particular position may include:

• Integrity
• Energy Level
• Frustration Tolerance
• Accommodation to Others
• Positive Service Attitude
• Acceptance of Diversity
• Multi-tasking
• Dependability
• Empathy
• Attention to Detail
• Self-control
• Criticism Tolerance
• Productive Attitude
• Interpersonal Insight
• Self-reliance
• Task Focus
• Retail Math Skills (optional)
• Reading Skills (optional)
• Counterproductive Behaviors (optional)

Great for interview preparation!

Select

• Validated for Specific Jobs and Industries
• Predictive of Job Success
• Developed by Organizational Psychologists
• Graphic To-the-Point Simplicity
• EEOC/ADA Compliant
• Structured Interview Development
• Includes a Rating of Responses
• Interview Suggestions for Potential Problem Areas
• Summary Reports
• Demographic Breakdowns
• System Reports (by score, position, date, location, type)

Select Available Assessments by Position:

• Select Administrative Support
• Select Call Center Inbound Outbound Sales
• Select Call Center Inbound Sales
• Select Call Center Inbound Sales and Service
• Select Call Center Inbound Service
• Select Call Center Outbound Sales
• Select Call Center Staffing Suite
• Select Convenience Store Associate
• Select Convenience Store Manager
• Select Customer Service
• Select Healthcare
• Select Help Desk Agent
• Select Hospitality
• Select Leasing Agent
• Select Office Staffing Suite (also includes Light Industrial)
• Select Personal Services
• Select Production Distribution (ie, Driver, Warehouse)
• Select Receptionist/Operator
• Select Retail Clerk/Cashier
• Select Retail Sales Associate
• Select Retail Combo Cashier/Sales
• Select Entry-level Retail Manager

Download sample reports

Contact us to order

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A McKinsey global survey has found that sociopolitical issues are making a more significant impact on companies.

A few of the findings include:

• Executives expect the environment, including climate change, to affect shareholder value far more than any other societal issue during the next five years. Their concern now exceeds that of consumers.
• Most managers are personally worried about global warming. Only one in ten reports not worrying at all, and just 3 percent say they do not believe that it is happening. Corporate political influence and involvement, health care and other employee benefits, and job losses from offshoring also rank high on the sociopolitical agendas of business leaders.
• Executives indicate that companies are getting a little better at managing sociopolitical issues and understanding what the public expects of them.

Consumers vote with their wallets, and employees want to work for the most reputable companies.

We expect that consumers and employees will expect a higher standard of ethics – including a concern for the common good – from companies in the coming years.

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Yes, I’m sure you know about the Dilbert comic strip by the hands-down master, Scott Adams. I haven’t seen anything else as good as that one, but here are some others to enjoy.

• Stars ‘n Toads – Life at WorkRFun Inc.
• Marty Bucella Business Cartoons
• Ted Goff’s Mostly Business
• Working Daze
• Business Casual
• PC Weenies
• User Friendly
• General Protection Fault
• Grimes Cartoons
• Life in A Box – A Cubicle Life Comic Strip
• The Recruiting Life

Feel free to comment if you like some other comics about business, corporate culture, and office life.

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Personal illness accounts for just over one-third of unscheduled absences. Why? Family issues and caretaking, personal needs, stress, burnout, an “entitlement mentality” and probably a host of other (unreported) reasons.

According to the 2007 17th annual CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey by Harris Interactive:

Most people today are juggling the demands of busy personal and professional lives, and are trying to do their very best in both places. Organisations need to stop the tug of war with people for their time, and become a partner to employees to help them, and the business overall, be more successful.

…The fact that two of the programs that companies rated as most effective – telecommuting and compressed work week – are not also among the most used signals the need for employers to step back and assess if they have the right programs in place for their people,” stressed CCH employment law analyst Pamela Wolf.

Disciplinary action remains the most commonly used method of controlling absence, but others included yearly review, verification of illness, paid leave banks and no fault programs.

Paid leave banks (that provide a bank of hours to be used as the employee wishes, rather than managing separate sick, vacation and personal time) or other forms of paid time off (PTO) programs continue to be the most effective absence control method. U.S. companies on average offered 9 work-life programs – down from 11 in 2006 – and 5 absence control programs – down from 6.

Productivity declines and presenteeism and disengagement increase when employers rely on disciplinary measures.

• 38% of employers reported that presenteeism was a problem in their organizations.
• Nearly 9 out of 10 sick employees who showed up to work were suffering from contagious short-term illnesses.

Employees show up for work when they shouldn’t just as others stay home. Why?

• Too much work/too many deadlines
• No one available to cover
• Desire not to use up vacation time.

However a full half also said they showed up for work sick because they feared being disciplined; organizations with traditional sick-day polices enforced by disciplinary action may make presenteeism worse.

The survey found that the more unhappy employees were and the lower the morale, the more reasons they found not to come to work.

Data Dome can help.

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The main Data Dome web site still requires top priority, so here are a few of the more interesting posts on our kinds of topics. Enjoy!

After finding almost 40 headlines in 21 days that showcased matters relating to corporate fraud or incompetence (or both), Jim Kissane “wonders” if fraud and incompetence can be considered a skillset, even a corporate value.

Has greed overtaken “core values” as being more desirable for workers than working hard, protecting company assets and keeping the customer satisfied?

Workforce Developments has a helpful post on understanding the Department of Labor’s (DOL) monthly jobs report.

You can check out the White House spin, or you can read the business media to find out how Wall Street reacted. One good source of analysis is the monthly Jobs Byte from the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Jay Shepherd at Gruntled Employees uses his classic wordplay to make an important point: More Ept managers are needed!

Universal truth: Inept managers lead to disgruntled employees, which in turn lead to diminishing profits. (And employee lawsuits, of course.)

Parallel universal truth: Ept managers lead to gruntled employees, which in turn lead to minishing profits. (And fewer lawsuits.)

Finally, Chief Happiness officer Alexander Kjerulf has office design eye-candy at “10 seeeeeriously cool workplaces.” (I’ve added this blog to the reads).

Many companies have buildings that are sleek, modern, architectural glass-steel-and-cement sculptures on the outside – and cubicle wastelands on the inside. These companies need to remember that most employees tend to work inside the building.

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