In light of the recent violent incident at the FedEx facility in Indianapolis, many organizations are likely reviewing their workplace violence protocols. Although the incidence of workplace violence is greater in industries like health care and retail, no industry or organization is immune. Almost 20% of all violent incidents occur at work and these incidents can be life-changing for both those directly and indirectly affected.

Workplace Violence Defined

Workplace violence has a broad definition that includes any act in which a person is abused, threatened, intimidated, or assaulted during the course of his or her employment. This includes incidents that occur at the workplace, immediately outside the workplace, or offsite during a workplace event. The act can be physical or non-physical and includes behaviours like hitting, kicking, spitting, throwing objects, oral or written threats, sexual harassment, bullying, vandalism, rumours, and verbal abuse.

The four recognized types of workplace violence are:

• External Perpetrator: the violent person has no relationship to the worker or workplace
• Client / Customer: the violent person is a client or customer at the workplace who becomes violent towards a worker or another client or customer
• Employee Related: the violent person is a worker or has some type of job-related involvement with the workplace.
• Domestic Violence: The violent person has a personal relationship with an employee or client

One of the best things you can do to ensure the safety of your workers is to train them on how to recognize and handle violent incidents. All employees should know to watch for potential precursors of violent incidents, including:

• Angry outbursts
• Intimidating behaviour
• Talk about weapons
• Holding grudges

All employees should also be trained on general safety precautions and how to avoid workplace violence, including:

• Don’t provide access to strangers
• Be familiar with all exits
• Know who to contact if there’s a security issue
• Try not to work alone

Employee training should also include tactics on how to avoid or de-escalate a violent situation, including:

• Remaining calm when confronted by a violent person
• Do not argue with a violent person
• Do not respond to the threats of a violent person
• Alert other people to the situation however possible
• Do anything you can to avoid going elsewhere with the violent person

Lastly, it’s essential for employees to understand the seriousness of workplace violence and that it should be reported immediately. There should be clear policies and procedures for employees to follow so that they are comfortable reporting incidents without fear of retaliation.

Sincron HR Software

Using the Sincron HR platform managers and employees can note and raise safety concerns within the employee portal while HR can periodically post updates and articles to raise employee/manager awareness. In addition:

• • • The platform features a full learning management system (LMS) to train manager and employees to mitigate violence
    • Sincron HR configures the platform to ensure organizations meet or exceed industry/accreditation standards
    • The new HR Essentials platform is now available for just $2/month per employee
    • Training and tech support (call, text, video library, etc.) is included

To learn more Contact Us Today!

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When you think of workplace safety, you probably think about high-risk industries and occupations like manufacturing, health care, and construction. However, workplace hazards exist in every organization, even those that operate in seemingly safe office environments.

If you don’t know what your workplace hazards are and how to protect your employees from them, it’s time to make safety a priority. Not only is it the right thing to do to protect your employees, but reduced workplace incidents also mean less lost productivity and workers’ compensation claims.

There are a number of workplace health and safety practices that you can use to form the foundation for a health and safety program:

• Identify and Reduce Hazards: You are responsible for identifying workplace hazards and taking steps to eliminate or reduce them. Your safety plan should tell your employees about these hazards, what your role is in ensuring their safety, and what is expected of them.
• Conduct Workplace Inspections: You and your employees share a responsibility for checking all equipment, tools, and physical spaces to ensure that they are maintained and safe for use. Employees who work with tools and equipment should have checklists to aid them in safety inspections and keeping the workplace free of physical hazards is a responsibility shared by all employees.
• Ensure Proper Training: Every employee needs health and safety training and the level of training will depend on the specific role. Basic health and safety training that reviews ergonomics, fire exits, violence prevention, and cybersecurity should be provided to all employees. Employees with an elevated risk of injuries should receive specialized training specific to their particular role and hazards. Retraining should be done at regular intervals and written instructions on safe work procedures should be provided so employees can reference them on an ongoing basis.
• Communicate with Employees: Create an open dialogue around health and safety so that employees will feel comfortable voicing concerns and reporting incidents. Get employees involved in health and safety by encouraging them to share best practices or forming an employee-run health and safety committee.
• Investigate Incidents: Any safety incident, regardless of whether or not it results in injury, should be investigated. You need to ensure that new hazards are identified and mitigated and that a subsequent incident does not occur.
• Keep Thorough Records: Records of safety incidents, inspections, and investigations must be kept. Maintaining up-to-date training records is also essential, particularly for employees in occupations that require retraining and recertification on a set schedule.

Creating a comprehensive health and safety program is a challenge for every business, but a safe workplace is a better workplace. Fortunately, there are many resources available through provincial workplace safety organizations, like WorkSafeBC, that offer specialized assistance to get you started and to continue to help you as you grow.

Sincron HR Software

Using the Sincron HR platform managers can launch health and safety committees, save meeting minutes, and share events. Managers and employees can note and raise safety concerns while HR can periodically post surveys to track employee morale and garner feedback on this critical issue. In addition:

• • • The platform allows organizations to integrate their strategic planning objectives and KPIs into performance management
    • Sincron HR configures the platform to ensure organizations meet or exceed industry/accreditation standards
    • The new HR Essentials platform is now available for just $2/month per employee
    • Training and tech support (call, text, video library, etc.) is included

To learn more Contact Us Today!

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In 2019, employees in the province of British Columbia (Canada) missed more than three million days of work due to work-related incidents. As a business owner and employer, it’s your responsibility to try and protect the health and safety of your employees by preventing workplace injuries. Prioritizing the safety of your employees not only helps protect them from potentially tragic injuries and reduces the costs associated with missed time, but it also helps drive employee retention.

No employee wants to sacrifice their personal safety for an employer who does not care about them. When employees do not feel safe at work, they are likely to seek other employment. A strong safety program that emphasizes communication and injury prevention will improve your ability to retain employees for the long term. A commitment and investment in health and safety is the best way to protect your greatest resource – your people.

Workplace safety and employee retention are closely tied in the following ways:

1. Improved Communication: Without open communication, employees will not feel confident in voicing safety concerns. It’s critical for companies to provide clear and frequent communication about safety policies and protocols as well as workplace safety incidents. If safety improvements are made in response to an incident, employees should be made aware and reassured that workplace safety is a priority. Open communication about health and safety is also essential so that employees can feel comfortable raising concerns or questions.
2. Reduced Incidents: When employees experience a workplace injury or see colleagues injured, they lose trust in the organization. If employees do not believe that the organization cares about their safety, they will look for new employment where they feel valued and safe at work.
3. Improved Morale: When employees feel safe at work, they will be happier and more productive. Constant concern about the risk of injury impedes the ability of employees to focus on their responsibilities. A safe work environment is a fundamental part of creating a workplace where employees can be successful and grow.
4. Increased Productivity: Implementing safety programs designed to reduce injuries helps employees succeed in their roles and remain productive on a day-to-day basis.

Particularly for companies operating in higher-risk industries, workplace safety can be a key driver of employee retention. It’s also important to consider the influence that a company’s safety reputation has on the ability to attract top talent. A strong culture of workplace safety can provide a competitive advantage when it comes to attracting and retaining top talent.

Sincron HR Software

Using the Sincron HR platform managers can launch health and safety committees, save meeting minutes, and share events. Managers and employees can note and raise safety concerns while HR can periodically post surveys to track employee morale and garner feedback on this critical issue. In addition:

• The platform allows organizations to integrate their strategic planning objectives and KPIs into performance management
• Sincron HR configures the platform to ensure organizations meet or exceed industry/accreditation standards
• The new HR Essentials platform is now available for just $2/month per employee
• Training and tech support (call, text, video library, etc.) is included

To learn more Contact Us Today!

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Workplace diversity and inclusion are top of mind for many CEOs and HR professionals. While attributes like ethnicity and gender are frequently talked about, religion and faith are beginning to enter that conversation as well. A study by SHRM found that there are significant effects on employee morale (62%), retention (38%), and loyalty (37%) when organizations grant religious accommodation to their employees.

Employee morale, which is affected the most by religious accommodation, is a key driver of a number of measures that are critical to organizations. This includes employee satisfaction, productivity, and retention. Investing in activities that support the religious diversity of employees contributes directly to the financial and cultural health of an organization:

Recognize Non-Christian Holidays Equally:

The SHRM study found that very few companies are aware of non-Christian holidays and this creates inequity for non-Christian employees. One option to create more inclusiveness is to provide time off for all key religious holidays. This means that non-Christian employees will not have to use vacation time or unpaid time-off to observe their holidays. Another option would be to offer flexibility in which holidays are worked and taken off. For example, an employee can choose to work on Christmas and take off a different day instead.

Include Religion in Diversity and Inclusion Policies:

While diversity and inclusion policies are now very common, religion is not always included. The SHRM study found that almost half of companies have no policy on religious diversity. It’s important for companies to clearly include religion in their general diversity policy or create a separate policy. In either case, accommodations related to religion should clearly be stated.

Create a Designated Area for Religious Practices:

If space is not an issue, companies should provide a small room that employees can use for religious practices during the workday. This gives employees the space to practice or observe when and where they need to.

Provide Training on Religious Diversity:

Education on religious diversity is important for both leaders and employees. Training should be focused on helping employees understand how they can take steps to create a more inclusive environment at work. Recognizing religious differences and making accommodations for employees with religious beliefs is a key part of being an inclusive organization. Employers should use religious differences to their benefit by creating diverse teams. Diverse teams are proven to be more productive and higher performing than their non-diverse counterparts and this is proven to be a source of competitive advantage for organizations.

Sincron HR Software

Using the Sincron HR employee portal HR managers can notify employees about upcoming holidays, holiday shift availability, and diversity and inclusion policies. Our revised learning management module allows organizations to create online training sessions or post videos for managers and employees on topics related to inclusive environments, religious differences, and accommodations.

• The platform allows organizations to integrate their strategic planning objectives and KPIs into performance management
• Sincron HR configures the platform to ensure organizations meet or exceed industry/accreditation standards
• The new HR Essentials platform is now available for just $2/month per employee
• Training and tech support (call, text, video library, etc.) is included

To learn more Contact Us Today!

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The emergence of COVID-19 really challenged the preconceptions of interviewing. Hiring managers who would otherwise insist that they couldn’t possibly hire someone without meeting them face-to-face were forced to shift to virtual interviewing. Video interviews are now commonplace and have become an essential part of the hiring process for most companies.

Types of Video Interviews

There are two types of video interviews: live and pre-recorded. Live video interviews are simply a video call between the recruiter or hiring manager and the candidate. This type of video interview is the most popular and is the go-to substitution for the face-to-face interview. A pre-recorded interview is less common and is often used in the candidate screening process. In this type of interview, the candidate is the only person on the video call and there is an automated system that prompts the candidate with questions. The system notifies a recruiter or hiring manager once the interview is complete so that the candidate’s responses can be reviewed.

Benefits

Live video interviews are an excellent replacement for in-person interviews and offer a number of benefits to both the hiring team and the candidate:

1. Reduced time to hire: A face-to-face interview takes considerably more time than a video interview. When a candidate arrives for an in-person interview, you’ll likely take time to welcome them, show them around the office, walk them to the meeting room, and get them a glass of water. This process is likely adding at least 10 minutes per candidate. Video interviews do not require any of this additional time and this means a greater candidate throughput. Reducing the time to hire also equates to cost savings.
2. Increased satisfaction with the interview process: Video interviews are much more convenient for the candidate than in-person interviews. To attend a face-to-face interview, most candidates have to take time off of work during the workday. Especially if it’s early in the interview process, many candidates will appreciate an initial video interview followed by an in-person interview. With this approach, both parties can decide if it’s a fit without investing the time in an in-person interview.
3. Access to a greater talent pool: Video interviewing allows you to interview remote candidates and removes geographical barriers. If it’s not 100% necessary that your candidate live and work in a specific location, open up the search to include talent outside your typical cities and regions.

How to Deal with Technical Issues

As with any other video call, video interviews are not immune to technical difficulties. Trying to push through a video interview with persistent technical issues will be a frustrating experience for both you and the candidate. If you or the candidate is having technical issues, reschedule or change the interview to an audio-only call instead. Despite the potential technical snags, video interviews can be a great, or even necessary, addition to your hiring process whether you’re using them as a screening tool or as a way to interview remote candidates.

Sincron HR Software

Our ATS (recruitment module) allows users to schedule individual or panel interviews. Communicate to candidates the date, time, and video link (Zoom, Teams, WebEx, GoToMeeting, etc.) via email or SMS. During interviews, HR users and managers can notate responses to questions and assess skills in real-time.

• The platform allows organizations to integrate their strategic planning objectives and KPIs into performance management
• Sincron HR configures the platform to ensure organizations meet or exceed industry/accreditation standards
• The new HR Essentials platform is now available for just $2/month per employee
• Training and tech support (call, text, video library, etc.) is included

To learn more Contact Us Today!

• #hr #humanresources #recruitment #hiring #videointerviews #hris #ats

Even though the business case for workplace diversity is crystal clear, companies continue to struggle to level the gender equity playing field. Creating a diverse workforce starts with reducing bias in the hiring process, but the work doesn’t stop there. In order to retain the talented women that you recruit, you need to have a culture and policies that support them. Here are a number of changes you can make to invest in your women employees:

Flexible Schedules: A flexible schedule is more than allowing employees to work 8am to 4pm vs. 9am to 5pm. A truly flexible schedule allows employees to work when and where they want when life throws them a curveball. Whether it’s a sick child, sick parent, or a mid-work day dance recital, flexible schedules allow for work-life balance that working mothers (and all other employees) appreciate. The foundation for offering flexible schedules starts with a performance-based culture where employees are valued for the results they produce, not the hours spent at their desk.

Women Leaders: Promoting women to leadership positions shows junior-level women that they have a future with your company. Women in leadership positions can be valuable role models and mentors to younger staff. If women represent a large percentage of your leadership team, celebrate it and use it as a recruiting tool to attract women to your organization.

Paternity Leave: Offering maternity leave is a given, but paternity leave can be just as important to women. Men need to have an equal responsibility and opportunity to be caregivers so that these responsibilities don’t default to women. Providing paternity leave benefits gives women the option to both be mothers and get back to their professional careers.

Sexism: Take a no-tolerance approach to sexism. This goes beyond requiring employees to read policies on discrimination and harassment and requires proactive education. All employees should receive training and education on unconscious biases and feel empowered to speak out against it. A culture of equality requires open dialogue as well as swift corrective action. If sexism is occurring in the workplace, employees need to know what avenues they can take to report it and be confident that company leaders will take action.

While these changes will help you retain women employees, it’s essential to also consider pay equity. The gender pay gap still exists in many roles and industries and correcting this inequality is necessary for creating a diverse and inclusive organization.

Sincron HR Software

Our platform includes time and leaves management with customizable options to embed company policies in the software for tracking and analysis. Organizations can create mentorship/succession planning programs, reporting structures, and training all within the HRIS. Along with powerful analytics, we provide support to organizations seeking a review of existing company policies.

• The platform allows organizations to integrate their strategic planning objectives and KPIs into performance management
• Sincron HR configures the platform to ensure organizations meet or exceed industry/accreditation standards
• The new HR Essentials platform is now available for just $2/month per employee
• Training and tech support (call, text, video library, etc.) is included

To learn more Contact Us Today!

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Finding great employees is no easy feat and it can be more than a little disappointing to lose employees who barely make it past their probationary period. Keeping employees for the long term starts from the moment they’re hired and a great onboarding process is essential. In fact, a study commissioned by Glassdoor found that a strong onboarding process improves retention by 82%.

The onboarding period is much like a first impression in that it’s your opportunity to show the candidate your best side. Here are four things you can do to show your new hire that they made the right choice:

Get administrative paperwork out of the way before the employee’s first day. New employment comes with a host of forms to fill out and this is not a great way to spend the first day. Completing forms before the first day frees up a lot of time for the employee to form relationships with managers and colleagues. Using digital forms that integrate with your ATS is a great way for you to easily keep track of information and manage employee files. Not to mention that digital forms can autofill with details provided by your new hire during the application process. This provides a much better candidate experience than asking your new hire to resubmit information or manually complete paper forms.

Provide a first-day welcome. You want your new employee to feel like they are a celebrated part of the team. If your new hire has a dedicated desk, display some company swag like a coffee mug, pens, notebook and a welcome note from the team. If your new hire is working remotely, you can send a package of the same items to them ahead of their first day. Socialization is a key part of the onboarding process and an informal lunch with the team can help foster a sense of inclusion.  These little touches go a long way to providing a great first impression.

Assign an onboarding buddy. The onboarding buddy should be a peer who has been with the company for at least one year. He should also be familiar with the company’s inner workings, a supportive resource, and a champion of the workplace culture. Starting a new job can come with a lot of anxiety and unanswered questions and an onboarding buddy can be a great source of information and moral support. One study found that new hires with buddies were 23% more satisfied with the onboarding experience than those without.

Check-in regularly. A key part of onboarding is making sure that your new hire has all of the necessary tools to do their work effectively. However, onboarding certainly doesn’t end there. Your new hire will need regular check-ins through their first six months. Regular performance feedback is critical for employee engagement and those 1:1 meetings are an excellent way to find out what’s going well and not-so-well from your new hire’s perspective.

Feedback on the onboarding process can be extremely valuable. Ask your new hires to tell you about their onboarding experience by completing a short survey within their first 60 days. Their feedback can be used to enhance your onboarding process to facilitate greater employee retention and engagement.

Sincron HR Software

Our e-onboarding module includes options allowing new employees to upload documents, complete e-forms online (coming soon), read and accept policies, take tests, and complete feedback forms. HR administrators can create tasks (send a welcome message or distribute swag), assign an onboarding buddy, create check-in reminders, assign 1:1 meetings, and send one or more surveys.

• The platform allows organizations to integrate their strategic planning objectives and KPIs into performance management
• Sincron HR configures the platform to ensure organizations meet or exceed industry/accreditation standards
• The new HR Essentials platform is now available for just $2/month per employee
• Training and tech support (call, text, video library, etc.) is included

To learn more Contact Us Today!

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Company leaders and hiring managers understand the importance of a diverse workforce. The business case for diverse teams is clear and being an inclusive employer is undoubtedly the right thing to do. However, despite your best efforts, it’s highly likely that your hiring process is biased and unfair. Everyone has unconscious biases, and a Yale study found that even when interviewers are trained for objectivity, they still were influenced by their unconscious biases. With the understanding that unconscious bias is unavoidable, it’s critical to consider how the impact on the hiring process can be mitigated.

Acknowledgment and Education

To manage unconscious bias, everyone involved in the hiring process needs to understand what it means. It’s important to acknowledge that interviewers and hiring managers are not intentionally trying to make decisions that are unfair.  The “gut feeling” they have about a candidate is very likely driven by their unconscious bias and they may be completely unaware of their bias and its impact. Providing your team with education and training on unconscious bias will help open up the conversation and allow employees to recognize that everyone possesses them and help them acknowledge their own.

Job Postings

Job postings can create unconscious bias through the particular language that is used. Specific words and phrases can affect your candidate pool by attracting a specific group to the exclusion of others. When women read masculine language like “competitive” and “strong” they are less likely to apply for the position. The reverse is true for words like “collaborative” and “team” which tend to attract more women than men. To eliminate this issue, you can either choose neutral words or you can intentionally try and balance the type of descriptors and verbs that you use. Tools like Gender Decoder can also be a helpful ‘second set of eyes’

Resume Review

Anonymizing candidates’ resumes can be an excellent way of ensuring the interview team is focused on skills and qualifications and not demographic data. Simply removing the names of candidates from the resumes can help ensure a level playing field.

Assessments

An assessment that mimics the type of work that candidates will be doing on the job can help level the playing field. It can provide an objective measure of how well a candidate will perform on the job and gives the interviewers a decision criterion that is free of bias.

Interview Structure

Structured and standardized interviews are essential for minimizing unconscious bias. Candidates should be asked the same set of questions that are based on factors directly related to the job. The candidate responses should also be scored using a predefined scale. The scoring of the various candidates can then be compared and discussed much more objectively.

Improving workplace diversity and inclusion is a job that is never done. As seen with the New York Times, even large organizations with resources and people dedicated to diversity struggle to provide all employees with a safe and fair work environment. Do not think of workplace diversity as a project with a start, finish, and an end. It will be continuous and ongoing and it’s important to set your own diversity goals and metrics so that you can measure success over time.

Sincron HR Software

We work with HR staff by reviewing job descriptions and employing best practices.

• The platform allows organizations to integrate their strategic planning objectives and KPIs into performance management
• Sincron HR configures the platform to ensure organizations meet or exceed industry/accreditation standards
• The new HR Essentials platform is now available for just $2/month per employee
• Training and tech support (call, text, video library, etc.) is included

To learn more Contact Us Today!

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One of the most important indicators of organizational health is employee turnover. Despite the high unemployment rates we’ve seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, almost 30% of hiring managers say that employee turnover is a major concern.  Employee turnover is an extremely costly problem and organizations spend thousands of dollars on retention activities trying to mitigate it.

Direct and Indirect Costs

To understand the total cost of employee turnover, it’s important to look at both the direct and indirect costs:

• Direct costs include hiring costs (advertising and recruitment fees), interview expenses (time and travel), and training and onboarding costs. If you consider that recruitment fees alone can be 30% of the new hire’s base salary, it’s easy to understand just how costly it is to replace an employee.
• Indirect costs consist primarily of lost time and productivity. If you have replaced a sales representative that was consistently bringing in $5,000 per week, it’s very likely that the new hire is going to spend a number of weeks bringing in zero revenue, followed by additional weeks of ramp-up to bring them up to the same productivity level. In addition, the productivity of your top performers suffers due to the time they spend training the new hire. Persistent turnover can also be very culturally disruptive and employees who have lost managers or team members often have reduced productivity and morale.

Effective Retention Practices

It’s clear that employee turnover is extremely costly and has both negative financial and cultural effects on an organization. Let’s examine some areas where retention practices are effective in helping organizations reduce turnover:

• Recruitment practices can strongly influence turnover and there is research to show that unrealistic job previews can lead to poor retention. It’s easy to get caught up in selling the role to a candidate, but this can be a problem when their expectations aren’t met. One study shows that nearly 50% of employees have left their job because of a mismatch between their expectations (based on the recruitment process) and reality. A realistic job preview goes beyond the tasks and day-to-day responsibilities and includes expectations regarding team collaboration, performance goals and feedback, and the growth potential for the role.
• Socialization practices delivered through onboarding are important for helping new employees understand the company culture and norms. Employees who develop connections with coworkers and become embedded in the company culture are more likely to stay long term.
• Training and development are important for keeping employees long term Employees who are given the opportunity to upgrade their skills are more likely to stay with a company, whether it be on-the-job training with a supervisor or formalized education outside the workplace.
• Active supervision is also an important driver of retention. Employees need supervisors to effectively communicate expectations and provide frequent feedback on their performance. The saying that ‘people leave managers, not companies’ is often true.

Tools

It’s important to not only implement good retention practices but to also measure their effectiveness using an ATS or HRIS.  Tracking employee turnover monthly and annually, and across different jobs and departments, can help you proactively respond to turnover issues and retain great employees. At Sincron HR our users utilize the recruitment and retention metrics embedded in the platform as well as the electronic onboarding module to address pain points associated with poor socialization, supervisor feedback, and relevant training and development programs.

• The platform allows organizations to integrate their strategic planning objectives and KPIs into performance management
• Sincron HR configures the platform to ensure organizations meet or exceed industry/accreditation standards
• The new HR Essentials platform is now available for just $2/month per employee
• Training and tech support (call, text, video library, etc.) is included

To learn more Contact Us Today!

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The Challenge

When you think about improving applicant conversions and the effort spent to create a great job ad, what comes to mind? You’ve spent time identifying the need, getting the necessary approvals, and creating and reviewing the job ad, and it’s likely there’s been at least another two or three people involved in the process as well. So when you finally post the compelling job ad that you created, there’s nothing worse than seeing only a few applications trickle in. Well-written job ads can catch attention and generate page views, but if candidates aren’t applying, you need to identify the reasons why.

Analysis

The first thing to consider is your ideal candidate pool and whether your job ad is tailored to pull them in. If you’re seeing a lot of click-throughs on your job ad, but they’re not translating to applications, you may be attracting the wrong candidates. This costs you time and money and there are a number of things you can do to ensure these candidates aren’t using up your valuable clicks.

What You Can Do

If you want to improve your applicant conversion rate it’s critical to make sure you have a clear job title or headline. Sure, ‘Chief Happiness Advocate’ may resonate with your company culture, but it’s not specific enough to be included in the search results when candidates are looking for a Head of People Operations role. You can be more creative with job titles within your organization, but externally you should be using titles that are typical and familiar.

When posting your job ad it’s important to specify the location. If you have four offices in and around your head office location (i.e. Vancouver), don’t forget to specify which office the candidate will be expected to work out of. Office location can be a deal-breaker for candidates, especially in larger cities with long commutes. Many candidates will not put in the effort to apply if they’re uncertain of the location and your job may get excluded in search results, or included in the wrong search results, if not properly specified.

If your job ad is compelling and includes all of the information to attract the right candidates, but your applicant conversion rate is still low, you’ll want to consider the application process. In fact, 60% of job seekers abandon their applications midway through due to the length and complexity of the process. Understanding the candidate experience and simplifying the application process can lead to better conversion.

To simplify the process, remove the “nice to have questions” that you don’t actually need answers to in the initial job application. Asking candidates to provide references, identification, or educational transcripts isn’t necessary at the application stage and introduces barriers for candidates and makes them less likely to apply. The same applies to requiring candidates to manually enter their work history after they have already uploaded a resume. A good ATS will scrape the information from the resume so that a candidate can simply review it for accuracy – no manual entry required.

Ultimately improving applicant conversion is about optimizing the candidate experience. Taking the time to make the process easier and quicker for candidates can dramatically improve applicant conversion, particularly if you can reduce the length of the application process to five minutes or less.

The Sincron Solution

At Sincron HR we are working to resolve this critical process issue. We work with various job boards to automate postings and have recently streamlined our recruitment module (ATS) so key candidate data and filters are easily accessible to your HR team. Candidates can use the “Apply Spontaneously” on client career pages so applications are processed in seconds using cutting-edge artificial intelligence.

• The platform allows organizations to integrate their strategic planning objectives and KPIs into performance management
• Sincron HR configures the platform to ensure organizations meet or exceed industry/accreditation standards
• The new HR Essentials platform is now available for just $2/month per employee
• Training and tech support (call, text, video library, etc.) is included

To learn more Contact Us Today!

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