The last few years have seen a dramatic spike in the number of warm bodies looking for work. If you’re currently scouring the local community for potential housekeeping employees, that’s the good news.

The bad news, with apologies to Mae West: A good employee is still pretty damn hard to find.

And savvy, veteran managers appreciate that even with the swelling pool of available employees — thanks to a recent rash of company buyouts and consolidations, not to mention, the highest level of work-force reductions in more than a decade — finding (and keeping) a dependable, productive, well-adjusted and happy worker is an entirely different story.

Guaranteeing that your housekeeping department is manned by only the very best professionals starts, first, with a resourceful recruiting strategy — followed by a thorough and relatively sophisticated screening process.

Looking around
With some human resource studies suggesting that up to 80 percent of employee turnover is avoidable, one of the mistakes you can eliminate is not paying close attention to the means your organization employs in prospecting for workers.

Marty Shafer, operations director for the University of Iowa hospitals and clinics, relies on job postings throughout the university campus and the surrounding community. He also takes advantage of the university’s Web site that provides a department where staffers can post job openings. Job fairs and newspaper advertising sometimes augment Shafer’s search — especially during those periods of time when — due to a variety of reasons — the worker pool is limited and there is a significant amount of competition for workers.

Dennis Miller, operations manager for setup and housekeeping at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, advertises in several newspapers, posts with the state unemployment office and lists jobs on the state Web site.

These search methods are fairly helpful. But HR experts say other strategies may give managers an even greater edge in attracting top-notch employees. One of the best recruiting tools, according to a number of veteran housekeeping managers, is positive word-of-mouth from current members of a particular housekeeping work force.

“When employees are happy and know their managers care about them, they are highly apt to find other individuals for you that will work with the corporate culture,” says Marcella McMahon, chief operating officer, Positive Results, a consulting firm that specializes in hiring issues. “More likely than not, they won’t want to spoil a good situation by bringing on someone who is not right.”

Also, let your vendors, customers and family know you are hiring. One industry management leadership consultant even suggests trying to entice former employees back into the fold whose work ethic impressed you.

Interview techniques
Culling a good group of potential hires is only the beginning of the recruiting process, of course. Considering work-force statistics that two of three new hires will disappoint in the first year, and two of three employees would ultimately rather work somewhere else — the screening process becomes a critical aspect of any search.

Some screening tips:

  • Take your time. Most hiring decisions are made in haste — research tells us, often during the first five minutes of an interview. How much can you really learn about someone in a few minutes?

    “The best interviews are those when you talk for a long time,” says Shafer. “That’s when their true feelings come out.”

  • Establish criteria. Spend time before the interview coming up with a list of the most important qualities you are looking for in a new employee. They vary for each company and each position, but some important qualities are compatibility with the job and organization, dependability, accountability and personal demeanor.

    “Really think about the qualities that make up the ultimate employee for various positions,” says McMahon. “Then craft interview questions that help you discover whether the candidate has those skills and personality traits.”

    “A positive attitude comes across in a job interview a lot of times but there’s no surefire guarantee,” says Shafer. “It’s always a dice throw.” Perhaps that’s because 95 of 100 applicants exaggerate to nab a job.

  • Develop an interview routine. Don Blohowiak, owner of New Jersey-based Lead Well consulting firm, suggests that before the interview begins, let the candidates know there are no right or wrong answers and that you just want to learn more about who they are. Then press candidates to give you more than simple stock responses.

    “When a candidate says, ‘I’m a hard worker,’ ask ‘What do you mean by that?’” says Blohowiak. “The trick is to get people to reveal who they really are by having them tell you what they’ve actually done, not what they think you want to hear.”

    The best way to dig deeper, McMahon says, is by asking open-ended and situational questions. Open-ended questions begin with “what,” “how,” “tell me about,” or “share your ideas on.” Situational questions set up a scenario for the interviewees and ask how they would respond to the situation.

  • Conduct qualification assessments. Depending on the size of your work force, it might be financially wise to invest in assessments in addition to interviews. Most job applicants now accept testing as a routine part of the hiring process. Testing companies contend that using assessments ensures that the right people are hired 66 percent of the time (without tests, they say, the right people are hired just 54 percent of the time).

    Another worthwhile addition to the hiring process is an audition.

    “The most reliable way to assure a good fit is to watch the employee doing the job before you hire him or her,” Blohowiak says. “Have them spend a day or two auditioning by following one of your regular employees around and actually doing the job.”

    If you choose to do this, make sure to pay the candidate for his or her time and have your lawyer draw up an independent contractor agreement for the applicant to sign.

  • Have a probation period. Finally, be sure that your company has a probation policy. Make all new employees aware of the probationary period and keep them apprised of their performance along the way so there is no surprise if you decide to end the working relationship.

“After hiring someone, spend an unusual amount of time both assisting and watching them,” says Blohowiak. “The sooner people get into the groove of the job, the sooner they are more fully productive. The sooner you catch problems in the performance of the new hire, the sooner you can correct them. And the more you observe the new hire, the faster you can determine whether the fit really is good or not, and act accordingly.”

Turnover’s High Price Tag

Is management fully aware of what high turnover rates are actually costing the organization?

"People who think they save money by paying people the least and running a revolving door operation are kidding themselves in a very expensive way," says Don Blohowiak, owner of New Jersey-based Lead Well, a consulting firm that teaches leadership skills to managers.

It is difficult to put a price tag on turnover, but the real costs are typically estimated at one-third to one-half of an employee’s annual salary. That figure is even higher for management positions.

"Turnover costs dearly," says Blohowiak. Especially if your turnover rate is high, which is quite common in the service industry.

The housekeeping department at University of Iowa hospitals and clinics turns over about 30 to 35 percent of its 265 custodians each year. Marty Shafer, operations director at the university, estimates that it costs him at least $2,500 each time a new employee comes on board — that’s more than $200,000 a year. And training is just one expense associated with turnover, experts say.

"Turnover is extremely expensive," says Marcella McMahon, chief operating officer, Positive Results, a consulting firm that specializes in hiring issues. "The cost includes loss of the employee’s [job] intelligence and the cost of searching for, hiring and training the new employee — as well as the time loss, overtime, and management time."

Productivity usually suffers with each turnover. It’s not unusual for the new hire to require some time before he or she gets up to speed in the job.

It’s no wonder, then, that many managers hurry through the hiring process. They may hope that by just getting someone in place they will recoup some of those recruiting expenses. Experts tell us that’s not the smartest of moves.

"Quite often the rush to get someone in to fill an unexpected vacancy creates more problems than dealing with the vacancy a little longer to get the right candidate in," says McMahon.

Becky Mollenkamp is a free-lance writer based in Des Moines, Iowa.
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POSTED ON: 6/1/2003