PeoplePulse eNewsletter

PeoplePulse E-Newsletter - October 2007

Welcome to our latest quarterly PeoplePulse Newsletter for clients and colleagues where we aim to provide a range of useful information to help you get the most from your feedback program.

In This issue ...

Feature Article: Staff Turnover - Improving Staff Retention

Staff Turnover: Want to Know The Secret To Better Retention?

Renowned HR expert Dr. John Sullivan once wrote:
Asking employees at time of termination "why are you leaving" is like asking your spouse "how to improve the marriage" on the day before the divorce is final! By that time it's too late to do much anyway.
Although staff retention rates are a major concern amongst many of today's HR leaders, there are some who still......

Click here to read this article.

Welcome to the PeoplePulse Family!

The number of new PeoplePulse users continues to rapidly grow, with a record number of new clients joining us since our last newsletter. As such, we would like to officially welcome the following organisations to the PeoplePulse family:

Special Offer: FREE client-branded retention pack!

All companies registering their interest in the PeoplePulse ‘Retention Pack’ before the 31st November 2007 will receive a complimentary client-branded demonstration of all 3 retention pack surveys.
Simply e-mail us now at: offer@ peoplepulse.com.au (without spaces) to register your interest!

Amcom Telecommunications
Angus & Robertson
ANZ Bank
Delta Electricity
Gold Coast Tafe
Hunter Valley Gardens
James Adonis
LexisNexis

Maxim's Travel
Orica
Professional Edge (NZ)
Royal Australian Institute of Architects
Sork Human Capital
Springboard Health & Performance
Triathlon Australia
Trojan Recruitment Group

If you know anyone else that you believe we may be able to assist, we'd be happy to help! Simply drop us their details by completing our brief referral survey or point them our way!

Survey in Profile - Training Needs Analysis Survey:

To most organisations, the benefits of investing in ongoing staff training are clear. They include:
- Process improvements,
- Cost savings,
- Improved profitability,
- Performance improvement,
- Behavioural improvements and
- Increased staff satisfaction.
Furthermore, research undertaken to uncover the financial impact to an organisation of investing in staff training shows a clear and quantifiable link between an above average investment in staff training and superior bottom line performance:
Based on the training investments of 575 companies during a 3-year period, researchers found that firms investing the most in training and development (measured by total investment per employee and percentage of total gross payroll) yielded a 36.9% total shareholder return compared with the 25.5% weighted return for the S&P 500 index for the same period*.
Enter The Staff Skills Audit:
A staff skills audit (uncovering current situation) and training needs analysis (guiding future direction) is a vital first step in obtaining company-wide quantitative data on what skills an organisation's workforce currently has, and (based on the company's business objectives) where the skills gaps lie.
Conducting face-to-face meetings with a select few staff members to discuss training requirements will not give you an accurate company-wide picture of the organisation's skills status and future training requirements at one point in time. As such, an annual or bi-annual online staff training needs survey is becoming an increasingly popular approach to address this requirement.
When assessed against the alternatives of paper-based or face-to-face training needs analysis surveys, we find the online approach has a number of clear advantages. These include:
1. Speed and ease of reporting - with easy access for multiple parties online.
2. Data entry time/expense/errors reduced.
3. Lower cost (verses traditional paper, phone or face to face methods).
4. Consistency of data collection.
5. Negation of interviewer bias.

*Source: American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).)

Click here to view a free demo of a Training Needs Analysis Survey.

Please contact us at enquiry @peoplepulse.com.au (without spaces) if you are interested in finding out more about how we can assist you with tailoring the above Training Needs Analysis Survey to your requirements - we welcome your enquiry. Alternatively, you can phone us on +61 2 9232 0172.

Website Resources:

If you haven't already done so, you may be interested in checking out the following new websites which continue to be well visited. These sites have been built by us and are aimed at providing visitors with useful information on topics relating to Exit Interviews and Training Needs Analysis.

Please visit these sites at:

.
www.exitinterviews.com.au

.
www.trainingneedsanalysis.com.au

Did you Know? . . .

Between 54-70 percent of business from complaining customers can be won back if the process is handled promptly and professionally.
- Source: TARP Research

Manage Your Subscription:

You are receiving this newsletter because you are either an existing PeoplePulse user, or you have been in discussions with us about using the tool. Feel free to forward this newsletter on to other colleagues or friends who you feel may be interested.

If you were forwarded this e-mail, and would like to join our PeoplePulse eNewsletter mailing list to receive your own free subscription, please e-mail us at subscribe @peoplepulse.com.au (without spaces) and specify the e-mail address you would like to send correspondence to.

As a matter of protocol, if you would like to be removed from the PeoplePulse eNewsletter mailing list, you can unsubscribe at any time by e-mailing UN-subscribe @peoplepulse.com.au (without spaces) and specify the e-mail address you would like to remove.

Thank you for taking the time to read the quarterly PeoplePulse eNewsletter – we hope that you found it useful and informative.

If you would like further information on any of the content covered above, or if there are any topics that you would like to see covered in future issues, please email us at newsletter @peoplepulse.com.au (without spaces).

Until next issue, all the best.

Kind Regards,

Paul Quinn

Managing Director

Quinntessential Marketing Consulting
Ph +61 2 9232 0172

http://www.quinntessential.com.au/

PeoplePulse - Empowering Better Business Decisions - http://www.peoplepulse.com.au/

This eNewsletter was sent using PeoplePulse's 'eInvites' Module.

Did you know?? ....

Common uses of PeoplePulse include:

1. Measure Employee / Customer Satisfaction & Feedback:

Survey Name

Typical Survey Frequency

	Employee / Customer Satisfaction and Motivation	Quarterly
	Staff Cultural Vitality Surveys	Yearly
	Salary Satisfaction / Salary Surveys	Yearly
	Career-Path Assessment	Quarterly, Yearly
	Employee Award Nomination	As needed
	Corporate Suggestion Box	All the time
	Exit Interviews (and/or Post Exit Surveys - eg. 6 months after)	As needed
	Stay Survey (or Pre-Exit Survey)	As needed

2. Measure Recruiting Programs:

Survey Name

Typical Survey Frequency

	Pre-Interview Assessment	All the time
	Post-Interview Follow-Up	All the time
	Graduate Program Effectiveness	As needed
	New Starter feedback - after 30 / 60 /90 days	As needed
	Soliciting Employee Referrals	All the time
	Employee Reference Checks	All the time

3. Measure Training:

Survey Name

Typical Survey Frequency

	Job Competencies Survey	As needed
	Post-training feedback	As needed
	Skills Assessment / Training Needs Analysis	As needed
	Job Skills Inventory	As needed
	Corporate Policy Knowledge	As needed

4. Measure Benefits:

Survey Name

Typical Survey Frequency

	Employee Benefits Usage	Quarterly, Yearly
	Benefits Requirements	Annually

5. Other:

Survey Name

Typical Survey Frequency

	OHS compliance and/or training audit	As needed
	Website Exit Survey (What did people think of your site)	All the time

Feel free to contact us to discuss how PeoplePulse can help you with any of the surveys above. Just use our online product demo request form, OR phone us on +61 2 9232 0172.