Human Resources Blog
McConnell HRC PostsTake a glance through our elaborate Human Resources blog, to find out more about the Human Resources questions you have. If you don’t find the answers you are looking for, feel free to contact us today!
Notes on CEO – Executive Director Salary Surveys
Overall Approach to Executive Compensation Surveys As an Adjunct Professor, Tim McConnell of our firm taught graduate courses in Compensation and Compensation Strategy in the Advanced Program in HR Management at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto...
New Team Member
McConnell HR Consulting Inc. is pleased to welcome a new addition to our team. Beau (Mr. B.) regularly attends staff meetings and greatly enhances our company culture and morale. He brings 12 weeks life experience to the role. His performance objectives include:...
Top Seven Warning Signs of Poor Organization Design
Do these symptoms exist in your office? Let’s examine the case of the ABC Agency (name protected). Silos - Lack of Inter-Office Coordination An international aid agency had a mandate to deliver health programs for children in Less Developed Countries. They had two...
McConnell HRC’s Consulting Work Environment
I was asked the other day to describe McConnell HRC’s consulting work environment. We run a pure 24/7/365 operation. Our personal and work lives resemble the intertwined ribbons of the DNA helix depicted on the cover of my book. With a strong emphasis on the former,...
Merit Pay Programs for Non Profits
Our Non-Profit (NPO) clients regularly ask us about Incentive Pay and Merit Pay programs for their organization. These inquiries are often driven by their Board of Directors and/or their CEO / Executive Director. The concept sounds great on the surface – let’s not be...
A Few Words about Process Flow
Our Experience In the famous movie The Sixth Sense, Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) tells Bruce Willis ‘I see dead people’. Don’t worry, we don’t claim to do that. We do claim however, to ‘see’ process flows, especially ones that aren’t functioning properly. It’s like...
Industry Agnosticism
It’s amazing how many people are stuck in their grooves. To the point where “stay in your lane” is a common saying. “Who are you?”. People ask us this question all the time. We walked into an automotive supply corporation the other day and the President asked: “who...
Best Practice Tips in Salary Administration
Are you paying your employees properly? A simple question. Or not? How do you know what is fair in salary administration? Fairness has many sides to it. Your staff will get very irritated if you don’t get it right. Internal Equity – the relative worth of jobs...
Employee Retention Best Strategies
Susan, the Manager of Member Programs, walks into your office at 4:00 p.m. appearing a little nervous. She advises you that she is resigning. She has found a job with another association. You haven’t seen this coming and you are shocked. She is your best performer....
Organizational Design Tips for Boosting Profits
Great speech from the CEO last week about transforming organizational design. S/he moved a bunch of boxes around on the organization chart, closed a plant, laid some people off, and centralized (or decentralized). Your portfolio company is ready for an exit. Think...
HRO: Understand and Implement
Effective management of the Human Resources function is critically important to the health of every organization. CEOs in small organizations often complain that ‘people issues’ are their number one priority. Unfortunately, due to competing demands and staff...
Strategic Human Resource Management
Strategic Human Resource Management is a concrete plan created to direct the development and improvement of HR policies, processes, and approach. It has been further defined by Paul Kearns as “A conscious and explicit attempt to maximize organizational value by...
Compensation Strategy Using Salary Surveys
Notes on CEO / Executive Director Salary Surveys (Compensation Strategy) Overall Approach to Executive Compensation Surveys As an Adjunct Professor, Tim McConnell of our firm taught graduate courses in Compensation and Compensation Strategy in the Advanced Program in...
Performance Management for NGOs
The main performance management dilemma when considering NGO Salary - To Pay for Performance or Not? NGO’s are non-governmental agencies. They include charities, professional associations and a variety of not-for-profit agencies. NGO’s tend to stay below the public...
Succession Planning Key to Success
Succession planning is the flexible, long term, developmental view of future management staffing. A key aspect of overall HR Planning is having a systematic process for defining future management requirements, identifying candidates and matching this demand to supply...
Human Resource Management Top Ten Mistakes
As Human Resources consultants, we work on the ‘front lines’ of Human Resource Management. We are engaged on a regular basis with a variety of organizations; large and small, and from every sector. We have had the privilege of observing (and learning from) the very...
Organization Design for Business Structure
Your goal is to achieve competitive advantage in your business structure. But is your company doing everything it can to succeed in this VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) economy? Are you sure? Is your company properly designed to meet your goals? Are...
Functional Structure for NPO’s
In this article we will be analyzing Functional Structure, and how it relates to Non-Profit Organizations (NPO). Do you have the right jobs in your Non-Profit Organization (NPO)? Is your organization properly designed to meet your goals? Is your structure fully...
Practical Approaches to Organization Design
How is your Organization Design? How do you know? What does good organization design look like, and how does it feel to work there? How is it different from a poorly designed one? The answers to these questions lie in the functional structure, also known as the...
Human Resources Planning Case Studies
In this article we examine case studies of reviews we conducted for Human Resources Planning. Reliable Human Resources Planning Children’s Aid Society The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa wished to improve efficiencies in the HR function. Staff time was consumed with...
