Hello and welcome to Episode 135 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

In today’s episode of the podcast we are chatting about becoming the boss, and the journey I have noticed every business owner goes through in building their business and their team to become a business that is truly people powered.

You see this is a journey I notice our People Powered HR members take, it’s one I have taken and it’s one every small business owner makes. It’s not always a straight line, sometimes we bounce between the stages in the journey, but that’s how we learn and create a stronger business for the future.

The stages we all go through are:

• Having an Idea Powered business, where we are a start up, full of enthusiasm and ideas;
• Being You Powered – where we are starting to build our team and outsource things, but we are in the drivers seat across everything, and involved at every level;
• Becoming Person Powered where we have a team of key people and roles,...

Hire right in a tough market 

What are you doing to attract the right applicants in a tough market?

Hiring right in a tough market isn’t anything new but we are experiencing a particularly challenging period for attracting great applicants to roles across the board.

If you’ve hired recently, or are in the process of hiring right now, you’ll know what we’re talking about.

Where before you would be inundated with applications, right now it’s looking more like a dried-up oasis. Even the bad applications aren’t coming through. You don’t always want to hire anyone as a stop-gap because they could create more damage to your business and team in the long-run. It’s still incredibly important to be considered and strategic with your recruitment processes.

Business owners and managers alike are frustrated, desperate for help and uncertain about how to continue without finding the right staff (or any staff) for their under-resourced teams....

5 Key Elements to Effective Onboarding

Do you know the core principles of effectively onboarding your new hire?

Did you know that onboarding effectively can drastically reduce the speed at which your new hire is functioning at full capacity?  This timeframe can be reduced down from the typical 12-18 months down to 2-6 months.

According to SHRM, the first 45 days of employment account for up to 20% of worker turnover while Sapling HR credits poor onboarding experiences as doubling the likelihood of the employee finding another position.

Effective onboarding is critical to engaging your new hire in their new role and for your business or organisation. This can increase the likelihood that your staff will stay on longer and be performing their best sooner rather than later.

According to ClickBoarding, interactive employees who engage in a structured onboarding program are 69% more likely to stay for three years.

There are 5 key elements that a business of any size can...

Hello and welcome to Episode 134 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

I am super excited to be joined by special guest, Chantel Gilbert from Bluegum Electrical Solutions on today’s episode.

Chantel generously shares with us her business journey, the importance she places on team, and some of the challenges, lessons and wins she has had along the way.

As a member of our People Powered HR community, I have seen firsthand how Chantel has really stepped into the role of CEO in her business, and the passion, dedication and commitment she brings to looking after her people, and creating a culture of trust, reliability, impeccable customer service and high performance.

As she points out in our discussion, you can’t make money without a good team. Realising this has been key to their business growth and success over the years.

If you’d like to reach out to Chantel, you can contact her and find out more about Bluegum Electrical Solutions at ...

Hello and welcome to Episode 133 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

In today’s episode of the podcast we are discussing the importance of onboarding new employees. For many small businesses they see onboarding as something for big corporates only, and something HR should take care of. Noting could be further from the truth. Effective onboarding is even more important for small businesses, because without it turnover increases and retention is lowered, which has a ripple effect on the entire business.

Today I shared with you the 4 core elements of effective onboarding that any business could implement right now. These were designed by Dr Talya Bauer from the SHRM Foundation and include:

• Compliance;
• Clarification;
• Connection;

Like building blocks, you need to start at the base, the beginning, with compliance, but stopping there will see you’re your onboarding efforts falling flat.

If you’d like to ask questions or start a discussion about effective...

How are you increasing the chances of keeping great team members onboard?

If you employ or manage staff in any capacity you’ll know what a sucker punch it can be when a great staff member turns in their resignation, perhaps out of the blue, or even hints at the idea of moving on.

Finding great staff is like winning the lottery but keeping them long-term can prove tricky depending on a variety of factors. Post pandemic, we’re seeing trends that reveal keeping great staff is becoming even more challenging but there are some essential things you can do to keep great people in your team, longer.

Why do you want to keep great staff in your team in the first place?

The most obvious reason would be because they’re great. You can trust them, they are reliable, they show up and they do great work and you don’t have to worry about them – what’s not to love about keeping great staff?

The great players in the team you already have are part of what...

Hello and welcome to Episode 132 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

In today’s episode of the podcast we’re talking about something that I know is top of mind for many small business owners right now – how to keep the great staff they have!

The reality is, it is harder than ever to keep great people right now. They are getting offers and opportunities placed in front of them every day of the week, and at some point in time they might start to think the grass does look greener on the other side.

The stats support this, with data out of the Australian Bureau of Statistics showing us that resignation rates are at a 10 year high and unemployment is at a 50 year low.

So how can we keep great people in this environment? In today’s episode I share with you 3 fundamental concepts you need to be paying attention to when it comes to retaining the best people:

• Making the right decisions;
• Harnessing their greatness;
• Creating complete alignment.

All three concepts...

What are you doing between your new hire’s offer acceptance and start date?

If you employ staff, engage contractors, or rely on people to help deliver your products or services, then you know that sometimes there’s a gap between the acceptance of an offer and your new hire’s start date.

This is what we in HR call the High-Risk Pre-Start Date Zone.

What exactly is the high-risk pre-start date zone?

It’s the period of time between when you extend an offer of employment and your applicant accepts, and their actual start date.

This period of time will vary from applicant to applicant, and a trend that is growing is applicants taking an extended period of leave, up to six weeks, added to their typical four weeks’ notice period at their current place of employment before they get started with you. While not every applicant will take almost three months to begin work, it does happen.

During this zone of time, typical behaviours can be an email the night before...

Hello and welcome to Episode 131 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

In today’s episode of the podcast we’re talking about the High Risk Pre Start Zone. This is the period of time between an applicant accepting your offer of employment, and them actually starting with you.

Right now, you’re probably doing a whole range of things during that period of time to get ready for your new starter, but they know about none of them.

Conversely, they have other employers talking to them and other offers being extended to them. They have no more connection with you than any other employer they are interviewing with, so it’s easy for them to take another option during this period.

By putting in place the 3 strategies I shared in today’s episode you’ll have the best possible chance that they’ll be there to start their role with you on day 1!

If you’d like to ask questions or start a discussion about this dangerous pre start zone, I have an...

The most successful recruitment campaigns rely on you as the business owner or manager being able to choose from a great list of quality talent, a perfectly suited shortlist, who are all skilled for the role you are hiring for – and ultimately are a great fit for your team.

But have you ever found yourself without this stellar shortlist? Instead, you may have found yourself with only one or two applicants, neither of whom are ideal, but you’re desperate, so you’ll probably hire one of them. Or you have a lengthy list of people you’re considering, but none are ideal, they are ok, they have applied, but they are a mish mash of skills, experience and suitability.

The thing is, in order to achieve a high-quality shortlist of applicants to choose from, it’s imperative that your candidate attraction strategies, including any advertising process, social posts or invitations to apply are targeted, aligned to your requirements and engaging to your...