Innovation Exchange

The Florida Associ= ation of Homes and Services for the Aging

Innova= tion Exchange

Submission Form

Name and Title of Submitter:

Nadine R. Fisher, Residential Housing Administrator<= /p>

Facility/Organizatio= n Name:<= /p>

Westminster Towers of Bradenton

Address:<= /p>

1700 3^rd. Ave. West, Bradenton, Florida 34205

Phone:<= /p>

941-748-1700

FAX:<= /p>

941-782-3241

E-mail:<= /p>

nfisher@wservices.org

Date of Submission:<= /p>

4-6-10

Title of Innovation<= /span>:<= /p>

Improving the Employee Selection Process

Topic for Submission= :<= /p>

(Please choose a topic from the list included in the attached submission guidelin= es which best describes the innovation you are submitting.)

Workforce Issues

Audience<= span style=3D'font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>:<= /p>

(Choose one or more, as appropriate.)

&= nbsp; Affordable Housing (HUD, tax credit, etc.)

Assisted Livin= g Facilities

Home & Com= munity Based Services

Nursing Homes<= o:p>

x Retirement Communities (CCRC or Fee for Service)

All of the Abo= ve

1.= Description of Innov= ation: Please succinctly describe the innovative program or service, creative idea or best practice and the resulting benefits to your organization or the consumers you serve. Limit= the narrative to three pages, excluding attachments such as forms.

We developed a behavioral based interview technique to improve the employee selection process to reduce employee turnover and increase retention of quality employees. Employee turnover is extremely costly. In our organization alone the cost ranges from $8,000.00 to $10,000.00 to recruit, train and replace an employee.&= nbsp; High turnover rates affect the overall productivity and morale of = the remaining employees as well as negatively affecting the level of service provided to our residents. =

In our organization, we were experiencing what we considered to be excessive turnover in several departments despite the expansion of the employee candidate pool and Florida’s high unemployment ra= te. According to The Integrity Training Institute, “most managers hire for skills, but fire for character”. The housekeeping department was targeted because they were running= at a 37.04% turnover rate. Wit= h the assistance of the Human Resources department, it was determined that 3 ou= t of 4 of our employee terminations were as a result of character not because = they could not do the job. With = this information in hand, we set out to determine how the manager was intervie= wing and what they were basing their hiring decisions on. By observing and sitting in on s= everal interviews it was determined that the manager was predominately evaluating skills and very little evaluation was being done in regards to character.=

Discussion with the manager included determining what characteristics an employee needed to possess in order to do the job effectively. Current housek= eeping department employees were polled to get their input as well into what they thought a potential employee needed in regards to skills as well as chara= cter in order to fit in with the team and to produce the quality of work that = was expected. With this informa= tion in hand, research was initiated to develop an interview process that would allow us to better evaluate a candidate’s skills as well as charact= er to fit in with our organization. We determined that the interview process should be accomplished wi= th a character based interview integrated with a traditional type interview. The process would include a two = stage interview, the first stage with the manager and the second with fellow prospective teammates.

The goal of the project was to reduce employee turno= ver within the housekeeping department and to strengthen the departments over= all teamwork and effectiveness. Research was concluded in regards to the types and scope of questi= ons that would be effective for determining which applicant would be best sui= ted to our “team”. = The manager was then given training in regards to the questions and how to evaluate the answers to get the desired information. Once this process was complete we initiated training with the housekeeping team members to determine their roles in the interview process.

As a result of the changes in the interview and hiri= ng process, employee turnover in the housekeeping department has gone from 37.04% to 0% in the past 90 days. Although there is no way to totally eliminate employee turnover, t= his has proven to be very effective in improving the employee selection process. We are confident t= hat with continued use and development of the character based interview proce= ss for all of our departments that the turnover rate will greatly improve for the organization as a whole.

SAMPLE CHARACTER BASED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

&nbs= p;

(3) QUESTIONS TO REVEAL PERSONALITY, TEMPERAMENT, AB= ILITY TO WORK WITH OTHERS

1.= If you took out a full-page ad in the New = York Times and had to describe yourself in only three words, what would those words be?

2.= How would you describe your personality?

3.= When I call your references, what will they say is your greatest strength and your greatest weakness?

4.= Do you consider yourself a risk taker? Describe a situation in which yo= u had to take a risk.

5.= What kind of people would you rather NOT w= ork with?

6.= What kinds of responsibilities would you l= ike to avoid in your next job?

7.= What are two or three examples of tasks th= at you do not particularly enjoy doing?&nbs= p; Indicate how you remain motivated to complete those tasks.

8.= Tell me about a work situation that irrita= ted you.

9.= Tell me about a recent time when you resol= ved a conflict with a co-worker or client.

10. Describe the appropriate relationship betw= een a supervisor and subordinates.

11. What sort of relationships do you have with your associates, both at the same level and above or below you?

12. How have you worked as a member of teams in the past?

13. What previous job was the most satisfying = and why?

14. What job was the most frustrating and why?=

15. Tell me about the best boss you ever had.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Now tell me about the worst. What made it tough to work for h= im or her?

16. What do you think you owe to your employer= ?

17. What does your employer owe to you?

18. Why should we hire you?

19. What do you think it takes to be successfu= l in a company like ours?

20. What is the best thing a previous employer= did that you wish everyone did?

21. What are you most proud of?

22. What do you expect to find in our company = that you don’t have right now?

2. &nbs= p; Budget: Provide information= about the annual budget or total cost of your innovation (if a one-time expense) and the number of staff or volunteers used to implement it. If your innovation did not require a budget or staff, please indicate.

None

<= o:p>