Hagel and Company Human Resources Blog - California, Idaho, Washington State HR News

Ok, it isn’t exactly a news flash that the global economy has slowed to a crawl. You know the story… companies laying off workers and watching sales decline. The question is, what can you do to improve your bottom line when revenue is drying up? Well, you cut costs, streamline operations, and do more with less. So let’s talk about technology that will answer the question “which tasks can be automated to free up some time and cut my operational costs?”

Every Minute Matters

Today, every minute of every person’s workday matters – and now is the time to take a critical look at the tasks that each person performs and ask yourself “Could that task be automated?” If, for example, you have staff that are manually generating and sending invoices, creating POs for vendors, or tracking down late deliveries, an investment in Sage KnowledgeSync can save you tons of time by automating these tasks.

Put it on Auto-Pilot with Sage KnowledgeSync

Sage KnowledgeSync is a “monitor & response” system that watches for changing conditions within your business and automatically executes the appropriate response. On the “monitor” side of the equation, it leverages familiar alert technology. You know, anytime inventory is running low, a new order comes in, or a shipment is late, someone in your company gets a real-time alert to their email, cell phone, fax machine, or PDA.

But when it comes to the “response,” Sage KnowledgeSync really excels. After all, it may not be good enough to simply receive an alert because you still have to stop what you’re doing to take care of the situation … unless you have Sage KnowledgeSync. It works hand in hand with your <> so once an alert condition is triggered, it can be configured to automatically generate and fax a purchase order, run a report and email the results to you, send a reminder of an overdue invoice to your customer, and just about any other action you’d normally perform manually.

If You’re Curious, Give it a Try

KnowledgeSync comes preconfigured to monitor hundreds of common business conditions, and gives you the ability to specify an unlimited number of additional “trigger points.” So it’s easy to get your feet wet and have it up and running quickly.

You can get started with Sage KnowledgeSync with a FREE trial. And if you decide that you like it, just flip the switch and go live. Contact us at info@hagel.net if you’d like more information about a free trial.

This impressive article regarding Halogen Software was recently released to the press.

Leading AIDS organization brings talent management to employees worldwide

Ottawa, ON —June 7, 2010 — The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation has selected Halogen Software talent management solutions to be used in its global operations. As a leader in the fight against pediatric AIDS, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation operates worldwide, with a primary focus on 12 countries in Africa. The Foundation is deploying Halogen solutions globally within these 12 country programs – to include even our most remote satellite offices. The organization is committed to ensuring that every employee, regardless of location, has clear goals and understands how their work supports the Foundation’s mission.

“With employees spread out worldwide, delivering HR and talent management programs can be a real challenge, but it is critically important that we’re able to engage employees and have them see a clear link between their daily efforts and our ongoing mission to eliminate HIV/AIDS,” said Chrissie Shea, Senior Human Resources Manager for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. “Halogen has been wonderful to work with as we have rolled out its software in Africa to numerous field offices.”

The Foundation’s global field offices have provided some unconventional settings for the use of advanced talent management software – for example, one of the field training sessions for rolling out the Halogen solution in Tabora, Tanzania, was conducted inside a tent. Despite these non-traditional enterprise locations, the organization’s HR team recognized the importance of a simple, unified solution to drive performance management consistency and goal alignment.

The Foundation selected Halogen following a competitive RFP process, in which Halogen proved its ease of use and flexibility.  “Ultimately, the solution we chose had to be flexible to adapt to the needs of individual countries, including culture and language. With Halogen, this need was readily addressed, and we have already deployed in English, French, and Portuguese,” explained Shea. “We’re looking forward to seeing the results that come from this powerful link between action and outcomes for our employees and the impact on our organization as a whole.”

 For more information on the Foundation’s work in the global fight against pediatric HIV/AIDS, visit its web site.

 About Halogen Software

Halogen Software is recognized as a market leader by industry analysts and is strongly endorsed by the thousands of HR professionals who use their talent management solutions. The company offers a complete suite of web-based products that automate, simplify and integrate performance appraisals, 360 degree feedback, compensation management, succession planning and learning management. Halogen’s offering makes HR best-practices accessible to companies of all sizes and its healthcare, financial services, professional services, manufacturing, public sector and education specific suites meet the unique needs of these industries. Halogen is consistently recognized by the industry and its customers for its exceptional implementation and support services. Halogen was named a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for employee performance management software in 2009 and has won multiple awards for its corporate leadership and product innovation, including HR Technology Product of the Year. For more information, visit www.halogensoftware.com.

 About the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is a global leader in the fight against pediatric HIV and AIDS, working in 17 countries to implement prevention, care, and treatment; further innovative research; and execute global advocacy activities to bring dramatic change to the lives of millions of children, women, and families worldwide. For more information, visit www.pedaids.org.

 If you have any questions regarding Halogen Software, please let us know at info@hagel.net.

Job losses are slowing. Corporate earnings have been rising. Signs of real economic recovery are finally beginning to show. But what about hiring? If out-of-work employees can’t return to the workforce, they can’t return to their normal patterns of consumption. Hence, any economic recovery is hampered by high unemployment.

Many industries have experienced heavy layoffs

Although layoffs have slowed in most industries, we still have not seen much recovery in hiring. A recent survey of over 2,300 HR professionals found that many industries have endured extremely deep staffing cuts¹:

Percent of Companies who have Reduced Staff by 10-50%
Manufacturing – 54%
Construction – 49%
Services – 37%
High Tech – 37%
Finance -26%

Only 42% of HR professionals felt their company was experiencing a significant, or even mild, recovery compared to other companies in the recession. Is that enough to stimulate hiring decisions?

How Chief Financial Officers view the recovery

When asked to predict near term business conditions, CFOs believe that corporate earnings will rise sharply in 2010 – up as much as 12 to 14 percent. They also plan to increase capital spending by 9%, indicating that for now at least, we could see a robust recovery in business spending². But the outlook of CFOs is still decidedly cautious; they believe full-time employment in the U.S. will only increase by 0.2%, with a 0.5% improvement in temporary hiring. Further, U.S. CFOs believe that employment will not return to pre-recession levels in their organizations until 2012 or later.

Signs of hiring

Nevertheless, workers today are starting to find some opportunities in the job market. According to the SHRM survey, 62% of HR professionals surveyed were starting to hire at least some full time positions. Most hiring is taking place in a few key industries, including: the federal government, healthcare, high tech, and finance.

The good news for corporate recruiters? With high unemployment levels, HR professionals in every industry report that it is easy to find qualified candidates. If your firm is in a position to hire this year, you may have a once in a lifetime opportunity to build a team of highly qualified overachievers!