It takes more than money to motivate employees. In fact. while money is important to employee morale — workers need to be paid fairly for the skills and talents they bring to your company — it’s not the most important motivator. Not by a long shot

In fact, the things that truly motivate people to do a good job at their place of employment pretty much have nothing to do with money at all. Instead, people want, in no particular order:

• the chance to learn new skills
• interesting work, with variety
• A culture where managers are open to feedback, positive or negative (the proverbial “open door”)
• Respect for the needs of their personal lives (“work-life balance” and possibly flexible work hours)
• Fairness at work
• Regular and proactive communication from management
• Leaders and managers who do what they say and say what they do
• Positive feedback and praise
• Requests for employee input and heeding that input where applicable
• The chance to be promoted
• Recognition and rewards for exceptional work

That said, here are some ideas as to how to motivate employees without increasing pay.

Don’t micro-manage. Trust your employees to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done in the manner it needs to be done. Delegate responsibility to those employees you feel are up to the task and then leave them be. Be available to them, of course, and set clear, identifiable deadlines and goals. Then step back and watch the magic happen!

Encourage and then encourage some more. If some employees doesn’t meet expectations, avoid criticizing. Instead, help find where the problem lies and help them find solutions to the challenges. If more training is needed, provide it.

Offer non-monetary incentives. An afternoon off at a local amusement for an entire department if goals are exceeded, for example. Lunch on the manager to an employee of the month. Extra paid days off. And so on.

Always, always, always show respect. Listen to what your employees tell you, even if it’s critical. If they have legitimate concerns, do your best to alleviate them or solve the problem of which they speak. Trust their judgment. You hired them, after all (you didn’t hire dolts, did you?).

Encourage a culture of openness, tolerance and respect among coworkers. Train your managers to be flexible in their interpersonal skills so that they’ll be able to get the best out of their individual employees.

Look to Bayside Solutions for help in sourcing motivated workers. As one of San Francisco’s premier staffing agencies, we know how to source and screen top employees for your firm. Contact us today; we look forward to serving you.

Business cycles ebb and flow, yet keeping a highly-paid professional employee on your payroll when things are slow may not be the best use of your company’s payroll dollars.

Instead, consider using professional temporary professionals — think attorneys, financial analysts, marketing directors, even CEOs — to help you when the good times roll, but you’re concerned they may last just a few weeks.

The use of high-level professional temporaries is showing considerable growth. An article on MSNBC.com in January reported that a large international staffing services firm placed “placed more than 100 people — including lawyers and scientists — in interim stints that paid more than $250,000 a year.” The article reported that a large executive staffing firm that its “roster of 1,000 executives has done jobs at companies like mobile-phone content provider Fox Mobile, health care company Healthways, and private equity firm Carlyle Group.” The executive staffing firm said that  “client demand rose 50 percent in 2009,” the MSNBC.com article stated.

So when you have a critical member of your executive or management team absent from your company due to resignation, maternity leave or illness — or even if you need an experienced project manager to get you through that bid you just won that requires completion in just three months, contact  Real Street Staffing for just-in-time executive, scientific, technical, project management, and other professional-level workers.

You don’t want to wait –  leaving such critical positions to remain empty can leave your company vulnerable, especially during crunch times.

Bringing a high-level temporary CEO, manager, scientist, project manager, UNIX administrator, etc. will help you stay the course while you search for a replacement for a departing executive. Some high-level temporaries also are looking for a regular position, so you both could try “each other out” while you work to fill the position. Other executive contract workers enjoy “temping” too much to go back to a regular position, but having one there in the interim can keep your company on an even keel while you search.

You’ll also be able to avoid costly mistakes. Too many companies take a nosedive in productivity, sales and profits when an important executive or management position is left empty. Workers begin to take it easy, projects get put on the backburner, and so on. Yet having someone around to lead a company, even if it’s only for a little while, can help keep your company moving in the right direction — forward.

Look to Bayside Solutions when you need help sourcing critical members of your executive or management teams. As one of San Francisco’s premier staffing agencies, we know how to source and screen top employees for your firm. Contact us today; we look forward to serving you.

Turnover happens. Whether your company is large or small or somewhere in between, employees leave. Some businesses experience a turnover that’s slow and steady, with employees leaving only because the commute is too long, there’s no room for advancement, their spouse has a terrific new job 200 miles away, etc.

But for some companies, employee turnover is almost a constant churn. This can be quite expensive, since the cost of hiring a new employee often can be at least 50 percent of a worker’s annual salary.

And that doesn’t even count the amount of money and/or productivity lost because the other employees must fill in and do some or all of the departed worker’s tasks until a replacement is found.

Here are some ideas to help cut down on employee turnover:

Are you paying your employees fairly? Are they receiving at or above the rate of pay other companies in your industry and geographical area pay their employees?

If you can’t raise salaries, try beefing up some other on-the-job benefits such as giving more vacation time, starting flex time and/or job sharing.  For those employees who do mostly desk work, think about starting a telecommuting program. Reward those employees with perfect attendance with one or more days off. Think about starting a job sharing program

Make sure you reward your employees for doing outstanding work. Be sure to acknowledge their accomplishments publicly. Merit pay can be a terrific way to keep good employees.

Promote from within. Strive to make sure every single position in your company has a place to which an employee may “move up;” don’t let any job be considered a “dead end.”

Seriously consider offering to pay a portion of continuing education expenses, particularly for college.

No matter how great a place your company is, you will experience turnover. To help fill in the skill gap while you search for departing employees’ replacements, look to Bayside Solutions to help. We can bring in terrific temporary employees for companies in the construction, manufacturing, green, scientific and other technical industries in the San Francisco area. Contact us today.

As the economy shows signs of improving, you may start thinking of bringing on additional regular employees.

Here are some tips to help you decide if it is indeed the “the right time to hire.”

People are getting “testy.” Overwork will do that to a team. Once calm and composed people can turn sullen and morose, even curt. If you start hearing that employees are increasingly becoming short — and even rude — to customers, or that they’re starting to miss deadlines, calling in sick more and more, etc. it may be time to add another employee or two to help lighten the load.

News of expansion or more clients  normally is happy news. But if you and your team hear of new sales that will bring increased revenue as well as extra demands and you and your team members express concern about meeting the increase in workload, it may be time to bring more employees on board.

You notice that even your best employees are missing deadlines and/or not performing at the normal high level. Work loads may have become so burdensome that deadlines that were expected even just a few months ago have become impossible to meet.

Is just about everyone staying late on a regular basis? It may be time to bring in more hands.

Are managers doing the work of their staff members — work they normally wouldn’t do — in addition to performing their own job functions?

It may not be necessary to hire full-time, regular employees onto your payroll. Bayside Solutions can provide San Francisco-area companies with skilled employees on a temporary, temp-to-hire or even direct-hire basis when business picks up. This will help you ascertain whether you need these employees temporarily or if it truly is time to bring new workers onto your payroll. Contact us today.

If you’ve been working at one employer for a few months and think it’s time for a promotion, here are some ideas to help you do so.

First of all, promotions go to those who deserve them. Who do extra. Just because you’ve worked at a business for two years doing the same thing doesn’t mean a promotion comes automatically. Those who get promoted have earned it.

So, do the work. Be a positive force. Have enthusiasm. Aim to do your best every day.

Do you have the skills and education to do the position you seek? Do you walk your talk and do as you say you will. Do you have the necessary degrees, if a certain degree is necessary? Are you continually upgrading your skills? Do you do more than “just enough”?

When you’re given a challenging assignment, do you embrace it, or do you whine (and if you do whine, we hope you don’t do so at work!)?

Don’t rest on your laurels. That is, if you finished a terrific project last month, don’t sit back and do nothing. Instead, focus on giving it your all on the tasks and projects before you now. Only you care about how well you did yesterday; your boss is going to care big time about how well you do tomorrow.

Volunteer for projects. Take initiative. Solve your boss’ problems.

If you’re an assistant manager and are gunning for the manager position, do your work as a manager would. Demonstrate that you already have what it takes to be a manager now.

Document your successes. Write them down. Do them today because six or nine months from now, when it’s review time, you — and your boss — will have forgotten. You can this success document to put together a case for a promotion because you’ll probably have to….

Ask for a promotion. If you want to be promoted, you’ll more than likely have to ask for it. Be prepared to present your case to your boss in a professional manner, reminding her of your accomplishments, how you’ve helped your employer grow, save money, get new clients, run more efficiently, etc. State your case clearly and use any documentation you may have on hand (your success log, an “atta girl” letter from you boss, etc.) to prove your case.

If you’re ready to promote yourself into a new position, give Bayside Staffing a call. We have some terrific temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire assignments at some of San Francisco’s best companies. Contact us today.

Most of us want to do well at work. We take pride in a job well done and in putting the effort necessary to help the company for which we work succeed.

There’s probably no one among us who doesn’t like recognition for our work, whether it be through an “atta girl” from the boss, a commendation from the company’s CEO or a promotion and raise.

Still, just doing good work and hoping higher ups notice and reward you for it without you asking will get you… probably not much other than the self-satisfaction of doing a job well.

Here are some tips to help you impress your boss:

As you perform your duties, keep the whining to a bare minimum. Don’t commiserate with your co-workers; don’t let yourself be sucked into a never-ending vat of negativity that occurs all-to-often at workplaces. You don’t have to be Pollyanna, but you should work to keep a positive attitude while at work. If you must vent, do after hours (and never with co-workers; word gets around).

Volunteer for projects others avoid. In fact, to become more visible to higher ups elsewhere in your organization, offer to work on company-wide projects, such as the HR diversity counsel, or the United Way committee. Take initiative and get things done — without being asked.

Become the go-to person for something. In another words, hone some skills in at least one aspect of your position that are difficult to master, so that when your boss needs someone to handle this critical aspect of a project, she knows to go straight to you.

Give 100 percent. Meet your deadlines (or, if missing one is unavoidable, come to your supervisor as soon as you know so: explain the reason why the deadline will be missed and be sure to give your boss a new deadline. Do what you say you will do; be reliable.

Keep your skills up and learn new ones. Ask you boss if you may attend educational conferences. Sign up for one-or two-day workshops (with your boss’ permission). Show your supervisor you have a yearning for learning; never just coast along.

Keep a “bragging file” of all the things you accomplish. Note any times you completed projects before the deadline, under budget, etc. This file will come in very handy when you sit down with your boss for your annual review. In fact, if you’re itching for a raise/promotion, writing a short report detailing all you’ve accomplished can go a long way to helping your boss see in black and white why you deserve a promotion and a nice raise to go along with it.

If you’re looking for your next terrific position and live in the Bay Area, give Bayside Solutions. We can help place you in temporary, temp-to-hire and direct placement positions with some of San Francisco’s finest companies. Contact us today!

Are there individuals at your company who seem to “know it all” and enjoy letting others know they know it? Are there people who can take a seemingly offhand remark and make it into a declaration of war? Are there those who appear to hear instructions, yet do things their way on their time schedule?

Yet as maddening as these behaviors are, sometimes a company’s “divas” are the best performing employees, mavericks with ‘tude, but with a solid work ethic and who enjoy reaching and exceeding goals.

Basically, there are two kind of office “divas.” Those who  are high-performing mavericks as described above and, well, those who are drama queens, making Everests out of problems and challenges that truly are anthills. (Both men and women can be drama queens, by the way.)

Both are challenging to manage. Both can be a true pain in the keister. But the mavericks are keepers as they stretch your management style to the max while accomplishing far more than other employees, while the drama queens are true pains in the derriere.

Here are just a few tips on how to deal with each:

Mavericks: Yes, they can be arrogant. Yes, they can be hard to control. But so long as they exceed at their positions, which they invariably do, you need to aim to give them  clear objectives and goals while also giving them a long and loose leash. Should your mavericks be annoying as all get out to other employees — the imperial attitude, the flaunting of rules, etc. — you should sit with them and give unambiguous goals regarding their behavior with others (thankfully, many mavericks tend to congregate in sales positions, so they may be out of the office more often than not).

You’ll need to listen to their venting that they meant no harm, people are too sensitive, etc., when you tell them they’ve hurt the feelings of others, and you’ll need to listen gently and with some sympathy. Then, as you counsel them on their behavior, do so quietly but firmly, engaging their sense of being “above all this” and stressing that you know they prefer to walk a higher path.

As for the office drama queens, counseling also is in order, with specific goals and objectives regarding their behavior as well as outcomes. Never tell them they are drama queens; instead keep any counseling session business-like and based on facts. Give them deadlines regarding when you expect tasks and projects done (their love of drama and problem creation often distracts drama queens so much that they often miss deadlines and fail to finish tasks.) As you counsel them, be prepared: they may start blaming others for the missed deadlines, etc.

Be very firm with drama queens. Give them deadlines and give them firm consequences for missing those deadlines.

Tired of sourcing new employees and finding too many with poor attitudes? Bayside Solutions finds excellent employees for San Francisco companies. Whether you need workers for temporary, temp-to-hire and direct placement positions, we thoroughly screen our candidates for skills and attitudes, ensuring that anyone we send your way will be able to fit right in to your company’s culture. Contact us today.

Sometimes the least expensive isn’t the best. We all know it, but sometimes we need to be reminded of it.

Of course we love to get a good deal. Hunting for bargains seems to be human nature. But when it comes to hiring a temporary staffing service, selecting the service with the lowest price often isn’t the best use of your company’s funds.

Instead, as you interview different staffing agencies, find out the value they offer. Ask questions – lots of questions – and you’ll discover that there’s so much more to their services than simply asking the first person who comes into their office to go on over to your company to work for you on a temporary basis.

A staffing firm that offers you workers at a rate below what other employment agencies in your area offer may have to cut corners to provide you workers at that low rate. Are you really willing to give these up?

For example, hiring a cut-rate staffing company could mean that the firm won’t have the resources to thoroughly source and screen temporary employees. At worst, this could result in employees who have sketchy work backgrounds. At the least, this could mean your staffing service may not be able to find the workers with the skills and background you need.

If the firm does hire a lower-skilled person to fill your open position, you may have to take the time to train the person on the job. One of your regular employees may have to do double duty “cleaning up” the mistakes an unqualified temporary makes on assignment. Naturally, you may request that the firm replace the low-performing person. You also may decide to seek another personnel service to fill the position. Both actions cost you added time and money, costs that could have been avoided had you hired a staffing agency that has the means to find employees who can come to your site and be productive immediately.

In addition, lower priced staffing firms generally pay their employees less than a firm that charges a higher fee to you. Word gets around an area as to which firm pays temporary workers more and the best employees naturally will seek those personnel staffing firms first, leaving the lower-priced firm you’ve hired to send you  the least skilled and least reliable workers.

So is it worth saving a bit of money in the short term to possibly be saddled with the costly problems outlined above in the long term?

We believe in providing our client companies only the highest caliber of temporary employees. Won’t you call us today to discuss your staffing needs?

The Boomers are out; Gen Y is in.

So how do you attract the best and brightest, without turning your IT organization upside down? You have to strike a new balance. Prepare for the changes to come by learning more about Gen Y. Stay flexible, and meet millennials halfway by accommodating their needs as much as possible.

To help, here are some great strategies for recruiting the best IT talent the next generation has to offer:

1. Take a viral approach. Develop Flash videos and other materials for your organization (think interactive, entertaining and hip) that young people will want to send on to their friends. For example, Facebook allows you to develop apps that sit on other people’s profile pages. They, in turn, can invite friends to include the app on their own pages. A viral approach can enhance awareness, properly position your IT organization with millennials, and increase job referrals.

2. Leverage industry blogs, forums and social network groups. The best Gen Y professionals stay on top of their game by constantly seeking out new information. Become a trusted source they turn to. Write and post articles that are ahead of the curve in your area of technical expertise, and you’ll attract the IT performers you need.

3. Put your best foot forward. Like it or not, millennials judge organizations by their technology acumen and arsenal. In many cases, millennials even research your IT portfolio before agreeing to sit down for a job interview. So if you haven’t already, develop or update your IT profile. Outline your current platforms, software and hardware; create a review of your company’s cutting-edge projects (current or slated); show how your organization incorporates Web 2.0 tools.

4. Beyond your technology profile, you should also be prepared to demonstrate your company’s CSR (corporate social responsibility). Gen Yers place a high importance on an employer’s ethical standing–show them how your ethics and beliefs match their own.

5. Use your current Gen Yers. Millennials are particularly peer-influenced. As a result, your Gen Y employees may be your best choice for connecting with Gen Y candidates–especially on college campuses. As already devoted members of your IT staff, your current millennial employees can tell potential candidates what life will be like “in the trenches,” and serve as “IT ambassadors” to address individual questions and concerns.

6. Market your company to parents, too. Many millennials were raised by hyper-involved parents. Now, these “helicopter” moms and dads hover over every life decision their children make – including career moves. To win over Gen Y, you must win over their parents as well. Consider offering family site tours, hosting a Parent’s Day, or including information on your website that parents would find helpful (plain-language overview of your business, review of benefits and extras that emphasize company support, training and/or mentoring programs, etc.).

7. Consider a virtual job fair. Some companies have used Second Life to recruit talented millennials for IT slots. By creating avatars to conduct virtual job seminars, these employers have attracted a subset of talent not easily recruited by traditional methods. While the start-up cost is moderate, your organization may want to consider a virtual job fair if you have the internal talent to handle scripting, avatar development and recruiting video creation.

8. Enlist the help of specialists. Recruiting millennial IT talent is a daunting task, under the best of circumstances. To help save time and money, while minimizing your frustration, consider working with an IT staffing service.

At Bayside Solutions, our Technology Solutions division maintains a database of highly qualified candidates, and can quickly deliver the tech-savvy candidates you need.  To discover more please contact us today.

Whether preparing to evaluate job candidates, or getting ready for an upcoming job interview yourself, this list of top interview questions will help you prepare:

Question 1: Describe a recent project where you were responsible for managing multiple people or teams. What were some of the key challenges and how did you handle those challenges?

This question demonstrates a result-oriented leadership behavior. Project managers need to demonstrate delivery and a desire to attain the end goal. Staffing project managers who simply point out problems but do not help resolve them will not drive the project to completion. Effective project managers demonstrate how they’ve managed a project, coordinated across multiple teams, overcame obstacles and delivered the project’s goals.

Question 2: Describe a time when you implemented a new idea without being asked or pursued a new opportunity that could improve the project or company.

Demonstrating courage and a willingness to take action without being asked is a key delivery characteristic of effective project managers. Project sponsors entrust the project’s goals, budget and their own reputations on their project managers. Project sponsors don’t have all the answers and need intelligent and motivated people to solve problems, identify new opportunities and take action without being prompted.

Question 3: Describe a scenario where you had to balance competing customer demands with project constraints. How did you ensure customer satisfaction while maintaining the goals of the project?

Maintaining a customer focused approach while ensuring the project deliverables are completed on time is a delicate balance. Business partners don’t understand all the technical details required to turn business processes into software solutions. They just want the system to work and accommodate their changing business needs. Effective project managers build rapport with their business partners, seek to understand the underlying needs and proactively address their concerns. It is a difficult balance as project managers commit to delivering the project scope while addressing a business customer’s changing requirements.

Question 4: Describe a time when you had to balance quality management with a challenged project schedule.

As projects execute and schedule variances occur, there is a tendency to shorten the quality testing cycle to maintain a project end date. In some projects, the end date can be extended, and in other projects, the end date must be maintained. Effective project managers recognize the importance of quality management in the software development cycle and prioritize the test cases and test cycles that deliver the project’s critical functionality. These project managers successfully commit to a quality mindset and ensure defects are resolved or mitigated.

The project manager should also recognize the challenge of managing the triple constraint and maintain a commitment to quality. Recognizing delays in the schedule early will help project managers adjust testing schedules so the support team isn’t called in from a day off or a holiday.

Question 5: Describe a time when you had a difficult situation working with a vendor or another peer. What was your approach to resolve the issues while maintaining a positive relationship?

Without a cohesive team, a project manager cannot be effective. Projects often depend on vendors and supplier team members to provide services. The nature of the client-vendor relationship emphasizes mutually beneficial goals. However, the vendor doesn’t always prioritize the client’s interests as heavily as their own. The ability to effectively develop teams across corporate borders is critical to project delivery. Clients will always try to maximize services at a minimal cost while vendors are motivated to increase costs for additional services.

In a challenged project with strained vendor relationships, it becomes even more important to focus on the critical issues to work together and deliver the end goal. The same skill is needed when working with other peers who are not necessarily motivated to help the project team. Strong relationships help solve problems and support project delivery. The best project management system, tools and techniques cannot replace the power effective relationships have across multiple teams.

Need more help?  Our Technology Solutions Team would be happy to help.
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