Michelle Painchaud: A premier consultant on optimizing employee performance and an acclaimed speaker. Learn more about Michelle.

For many businesses, outsourcing HR is more cost effective. You get professional human-resource expertise, but avoid the added employee costs (administration, reporting, and the time it takes to administer and manage programs). Outsourcing offers many other advantages, including a more diverse expertise from which to choose, including focusing on core competencies, and providing advanced human-resources services, including employee handbooks and company policies.

We work with several recruiting affiliates, so you can avoid hiring the wrong person. By combining our assessment tools and their recruiting services, we can help you hire the right employee. Our employee assessment tools (Profile XT™ and The Profile Team Analysis™) provide you with the information that will help you hire the right person for the position; by understanding underlying motivations, you can make a more educated decision.

Myers-Briggs is a good tool, but is subjective due to it being “ipsitive.” Ipsitive tests are based on forced choice questions and responses. Each choice is scored. These scores can only represent the relative strengths of the person being tested and cannot be compared to any other individuals. Such assessments typically ask the person to “describe himself or herself.” The results of the assessment don’t define individuals; it just provides a general overview of the kind of person he or she is.

At PPG, we partner with Profiles International to give you the competitive advantage no other employee-assessment provider can offer. Our assessments define intangible job requirements and help you match employees to the work they do. When people match their jobs, they perform up to and beyond your expectations. Give it a try and see for yourself!

The tests are conveniently administered online, so you can assess employees and job candidates anywhere there is Internet access. The reports are detailed, easy to read, understand, available immediately, and can be easily shared with decision makers in any of your offices, anywhere in the world, by simply logging on using a unique ID.

The assessments satisfy all requirements of the EEOC, the ADA, the DOL, and the Civil Rights Act. It was designed and developed to be specifically job related and has been validated in accordance with American Psychological Association standards. Tests are validated to be age-, gender-, and ethnicity-blind.

Sometimes organizations think they know what an employee wants by jumping on the latest trend. Rubik’s Cube Tuesdays anyone?

What might work for one organization, may not work for another. You need to have a better understanding of what makes your employees tick, so that you can keep and retain them, and hire new ones. We offer many different motivational-assessment tools, including culture audits and employee-assessment tools, to help you understand what motivates your employees now and predict what will motivate them in the future.

A company’s culture is how employees describe where they work and their understanding of the company, including how they see themselves as part of the company.

Good example: “I understand the work I do, and feel like a valued person.”

Bad example: “A monkey could do my job, and I hate it here.”

Building a strong company culture is key to determining and attracting talent to your organization.

So, a culture audit helps you gain a better sense of the overall culture of your organization and offers the insights you need to strengthen it. An audit encompasses employee surveys and interviews; by understanding your company’s culture, you can better aim toward the success of your business objectives by first satisfying your employees’ objectives.

The terms “talent management” and “performance management” refer to the ability to manage the entire employee lifecycle, from attracting and hiring, to promoting, to succession planning.

Talent and performance management help you build a great workforce and allow your company to grow and succeed. How does PPG help? Through practical experience and assessment tools, and developing performance programs, we can help you reach the next level of business success with energized cultures and high performing, motivated, and engaged employees.

PPG’s services include: executive coaching, training and development seminars and workshops, keynote speaking, culture audits, and employee performance consulting; the “full-meal deal” for all of your talent and performance management needs.

Yesterday!

An aging Canadian population means that the portion of workers nearing retirement is rising significantly. According to a CBC story:

“In 2006, workers aged 55 or older made up 15.3 per cent of the total workforce. That was up from 11.7 per cent five years earlier.

This was the result of the aging of the baby boomers, and the increased tendency for older workers to participate in the labour force, Statistics Canada said.

Some observers predict the aging workforce could lead to staffing shortages, as the number of younger workers entering the workforce is not equal to the number of individuals leaving the workforce.”

Employment demand is rising in every part of the country. You need to be at the forefront of this situation before it’s too late. A salary and barebones benefits package won’t cut it anymore; employees need to feel engaged, important, and optimistic for the future. Through a well-designed succession program, PPG can help you ensure that the old adage “hoping for the best and preparing for the worst” pays off now and in the long run.

How’m I doin’? It’s a question we’re bound to hear more and more as the workforce changes as a new generation takes over.

The new workforce requires constant feedback. Employees want to know how they’re doing NOW, not wait for their annual performance review to find out. Smart companies train managers to give frequent feedback. On-the-spot reviews lead to consistent improvement, and consistent improvement makes your company a success. PPG can help you train your managers to give and receive effective feedback, including employee assessment tools for ongoing use. With PPG, you’re doin’ fine.

The best source of new employees is existing employees. And workers whose organizations take measures to create a sense of spirit and pride are much more likely to recommend their place of work to their friends.

According to a recent article on BNET about a recent study on workforce commitment:

“In the battle to recruit and retain top talent, employers are putting millions of dollars into work/life benefits such as concierge services and pet walking. But simply providing these new perks won't do any good if employers do not first pay attention to basics.”

PPG can help you create this sense of spirit and pride and restore “the basics” that will help you retain employees and make your organization one of the best places to work, by anyone’s standard.

Just ask General Patton; “leaders are made, not born.”

Effective leadership is a key element in the success of any group. PPG can help you measure your success and help you become a more effective leader as you go along by using Profile Team Analysis™. By using this assessment tool, we can supply you with a blueprint for team building and give you the insight into team strengths and weaknesses that you need in order to lead effectively. The computer compiles the results, which are instantly printable, so you can act quickly to capitalize on your assets and compensate for deficiencies.

A workforce team is a powerful tool, and the Profile Team Analysis allows you to harness that knowledge to succeed. Let PPG help you be all that you can be.

In today’s competitive business environment your employees are a critical part of the company, which means your company’s productivity and profitability depend on making sure every person in your organization is working to their potential. PPG can help develop a solid performance review program. The program, specific to your company, ensures that employees have a clear understanding of what’s expected from them and are working toward the goals that contribute most to the long-term success of your company.