Author: Fay Owen

As an agency worker, you are entitled to certain additional employment rights. One option your agency may offer is a permanent contract that guarantees pay between assignments when there is no work. However, accepting this arrangement means you forfeit your entitlement to equal treatment on pay after 12 weeks in the same job.

Following a busy but successful year for our team, we thought it was the perfect time to introduce our new Meet the Team feature.

We’re going to be introducing each of our brilliant team members, so you can learn a little about each of them and what they do in their roles. Who better to start with than our fabulous Managing Director, Debbie McDermott!

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

As a busy mum of two young kids, ages 8 and 10, life often feels like a balancing act. When I’m not shuttling my children to their various activities, I try to make time for my own health and wellbeing. I’ve found that group exercise classes are a great way for me to stay motivated – I love the energy of working out with others and having an instructor push me to work harder than I would on my own. If left to my own devices, I’m likely to sit on the sofa and lose motivation.

To unwind, I look forward to Friday nights when I can enjoy quality time with my family. My kids love picking out a fun movie to watch together, we order a tasty Chinese and my husband and I can relax with a nice glass of wine. Weekends are when we can step back from our busy schedules and focus on each other.

As you’re the Managing Director, how did Bluestones Staffing come to be?

I’m very passionate about recruitment and enjoy providing clients and candidates with exceptional service, ensuring everything is managed effectively.

After starting my family, I was ready to get back to my challenging but rewarding career. I couldn’t find an agency that matched my values and work ethic, so with 23 years of experience, opening my own agency felt like the obvious next step in my career.

In your role, what do you do?

My responsibilities are far-reaching and diverse. On any given day, I may be creating and publishing job advertisements, networking with potential candidates online, speaking with clients to understand their hiring needs, interviewing applicants, or motivating and supporting my talented team. I enjoy the challenge of juggling these different initiatives and wearing many hats.

What do you enjoy about working in recruitment?

I enjoy the fast-paced, ever-changing nature of recruitment. No two days are ever the same, which keeps things exciting. My focus is on attracting top talent, building relationships, and guiding candidates through the recruitment process with care. It’s rewarding to help people find roles where they can thrive while also ensuring a great hiring fit for our clients. The variety and working with so many people make recruitment a dynamic, meaningful career.

What is it like working with the rest of the team?

Like storm Agnes, it’s ever-changing. No two days are the same in our unpredictable, fast-paced roles. While it can feel like a rollercoaster ride at times, the support and solidarity amongst our team make the highs higher and the lows more manageable. There are certainly stressful, difficult moments when obstacles arise, but we face them together with optimism and humour. My team are brilliant, and we always have plenty of laughs together and their loyalty inspires me. They have the same passion and drive that I do, and I’m excited for the future of Bluestones Staffing.

What do you enjoy most about working with clients?

I’ve been fortunate to develop meaningful relationships with clients that have evolved into lifelong friendships. When you work closely with someone over an extended period, you get to know them on a personal level that exceeds business. I actually invited some of my clients to my wedding! If you treat clients with genuine compassion and integrity, you can develop friendships that last forever. Recruitment is an incredibly rewarding career.

What do you enjoy most about working with candidates?

When working with candidates, my priority is to understand who they are, beyond their CV. I take the time to genuinely listen to their career aspirations, what motivates them, and the type of environment they want to work in. I make sure they know I’ll always make time for them, whether they want career advice or to simply grab a coffee and have a chat. As with my clients, I’ve worked with some of our candidates for a long time and I’ve built genuine friendships with them. When I’m placing candidates, I aim to make meaningful matches between candidates and roles that align with their skills, interests, values and professional goals. Every time I place someone in a position that is a good fit and meets their needs, it’s incredibly rewarding.

You can connect with Debbie on LinkedIn

Tel: 028 95 219 313

Email: [email protected]

In today’s competitive job market, attracting and retaining top talent has become a crucial factor for businesses to succeed. While attracting talent is a challenge in itself, retaining the best employees is equally important. Companies that prioritise retaining their top talent reap numerous benefits, including increased productivity, reduced turnover costs, and a competitive edge.

In this blog, we will explore effective strategies that organisations can implement to retain their most valuable asset: their employees.

Positive work culture

Employees want to work in an environment that values their contributions, provides opportunities for growth, and encourages a work-life balance. Adopting certain strategies can promote a positive work environment that encourages employee retention.

Encouraging open communication is crucial. You can promote transparency and engagement by establishing channels for employees to voice their opinions, concerns, and ideas, such as feedback sessions and suggestion boxes.

Promoting work-life balance is fundamental in 2023. You can achieve this by offering flexible work arrangements, promoting wellness programmes, and respecting boundaries between personal and professional life.

Furthermore, recognising and rewarding achievements plays a significant role in retaining talent. Regularly acknowledging outstanding performance through public recognition, rewards, and opportunities for advancement not only boosts morale but also demonstrates that your organisation values and appreciates its employees’ contributions.

Development and growth opportunities

Businesses that want to retail their top performers should recognise that top performers are often motivated by opportunities for growth and development. Investing in employees’ professional development can be achieved through various strategies, including training and skill-building programmes and career advancement opportunities.

Offering your employees opportunities to take part in training programmes, workshops, and courses to enhance their skills and knowledge, demonstrates your commitment to them and encourages long-term loyalty. By investing in their growth, you will empower employees to expand their capabilities and stay relevant in a rapidly evolving professional landscape. These opportunities for personal and professional development not only contribute to the employees’ individual growth but also equip them with the tools they need to contribute effectively to your organisation’s success.

Establishing clear career paths and providing growth opportunities can promote employee motivation and engagement. Regularly reviewing employee performance and engaging in meaningful discussions about their aspirations are essential components of this approach. When appropriate, you should offer promotions or lateral moves to employees, aligning their goals with your company’s objectives. This not only helps employees envision a future within the business but also serves as a powerful motivator to excel in their roles. By actively supporting their career progression, you can develop a loyal and driven workforce that is committed to achieving both personal and organisational success.

Additionally, implementing mentoring programmes that pair experienced employees with newer team members is an effective way to promote knowledge transfer, guidance, and support within the organisation. This initiative creates a nurturing environment where seasoned professionals can pass on their expertise and provide valuable insights to those who are just starting their journey. By facilitating this mentor-mentee relationship, businesses not only promote a sense of belonging and camaraderie but also enable the professional development and growth of their employees.

Compensation and benefits packages

Competitive compensation and benefits play a crucial role in both attracting and retaining top talent. To create an appealing package that meets the needs of employees, businesses should consider several key factors.

One aspect to consider is offering a competitive salary. Conducting thorough market research allows organisations to ensure that their salaries are in line with industry standards. Regularly reviewing and adjusting salaries demonstrates a commitment to recognising employees’ contributions and staying competitive in the job market. By providing fair and competitive compensation, you can attract accomplished employees and retain high-performing employees.

In addition to a competitive salary, offering a comprehensive benefits package is essential. You can include a range of benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, and other perks. Providing a comprehensive benefits package demonstrates that organisations care about the well-being and overall quality of life of their employees.

Implementing performance-based incentives is another effective strategy for improving employee retention. By offering bonuses, profit sharing opportunities, or stock options based on individual and team contributions, you can motivate high performance and reinforce loyalty. Performance-based incentives not only reward employees for their exceptional work but also create a sense of fairness and recognition. This approach encourages employees to strive for excellence, resulting in increased productivity and a stronger commitment to your company’s success.

Work-team alignment and employee autonomy

Creating an environment where employees align with your organisation’s mission, values, and goals is crucial for employee retention. There are several strategies you can implement to achieve this.

It’s important to clearly communicate your organisational values. Regularly emphasising your mission, vision, and values through internal communications, team meetings, and performance evaluations helps employees understand and connect their work to the larger purpose of the business. This gives employees a sense of shared purpose and encourages them to align their efforts with your organisation’s overall goals

Trusting employees to make decisions and providing them with autonomy in their work allows them to take ownership of their tasks and projects. By encouraging innovation and creativity, you can tap into your employees’ potential and benefit from their unique perspectives. Offering opportunities for employees to contribute their ideas and solutions not only enhances job satisfaction but also cultivates a sense of ownership and engagement.

Additionally, promoting a collaborative work environment where employees can freely share knowledge, ideas, and resources creates an ethos of cooperation and synergy. Encouraging cross-functional collaboration and organising team-building activities can strengthen relationships among employees and further a sense of belonging within the organisation.

Conclusion

Overall, the implementation of effective talent retention strategies is essential for businesses. It ensures the availability of a skilled and motivated workforce, encourages a positive work culture, and contributes to long-term success. By investing in talent retention, businesses can thrive in a competitive market, build strong employer brands, and create a workplace where employees feel valued and motivated to contribute their best.

If you’re looking to hire top talent to join your business, you can complete our short enquiry form and a member of our team will contact you to discuss how we can support your recruitment needs.

Conducting a good interview is essential for hiring the right candidate. A good interview can help you evaluate a candidate’s skills, experience, and qualifications. Additionally, you can get an insight into their work ethic, problem-solving and communication skills, and identify whether they’d be a good fit for your company’s culture.

This blog is going to cover our top tips for conducting effective interviews and making the right hire.

Preparing to interview candidates

Reviewing CVs and cover letters thoroughly gives you a better understanding of candidates’ qualifications, experience and skills before you interview them and can guide your questions during the interview process.

Preparing a list of interview questions in advance that are tailored to the specific job and company culture will ensure that you ask relevant and insightful questions that allow you to gauge whether the candidate is a good fit for the position.

It’s also important to create a welcoming environment for interviews. Make sure that the interview space is comfortable and free from distractions so that both you and the candidate can fully focus on the conversation at hand. Additionally, be sure to greet each candidate warmly when they arrive, as first impressions go a long way in making them feel comfortable during an interview.

Creating questions

It’s essential to create questions that will allow you to get a sense of the candidate’s skills, experience and personality. One way to do this is by asking behavioural interview questions that require candidates to draw upon past experiences in order to answer. For example, “Can you tell me about a time when you had to handle a difficult customer? How did you approach the situation?”

Another important aspect of creating effective interview questions is making sure they are specific and relevant to the position being filled. This means doing your research beforehand and identifying the key skills and attributes needed for success in the role. For example, if you’re hiring for a project manager position, some relevant questions might include “Can you describe your experience managing complex projects with tight deadlines?” or “How do you prioritise tasks when working on multiple projects simultaneously?”

Finally, it’s important to strike a balance between open-ended questions that allow candidates to showcase their knowledge and expertise while also giving them enough structure, so they don’t ramble off-topic or give irrelevant answers. By following these tips for creating effective job interview questions, you’ll be able to identify top talent who can help drive your business forward.

Evaluating responses

One of the most critical aspects of conducting an effective job interview is evaluating the responses provided by candidates. Evaluating responses involves more than simply listening to what the candidate says, it also requires assessing their body language, tone of voice, and overall demeanour.

To evaluate a candidate’s response effectively, you must have a clear understanding of what you are looking for from them. It may involve asking follow-up questions or seeking clarification on certain points they make during the interview. This helps ensure that you are getting accurate information and can make an informed decision about whether they are the right fit for your company.

It’s important to remain objective during the evaluation process and avoid making assumptions or judgments based on personal biases or preferences. Instead, focus on how well their responses align with your company’s values and goals while keeping in mind any specific requirements for the role in question. Ultimately, evaluating responses effectively will help you find the right candidate for your company and build a strong team that can drive growth and success over time.

Listening actively

Giving your undivided attention to the candidate and being fully present in the conversation is fundamental during an interview. Not only does this show respect for the interviewee, but it also allows you to gather more information about their qualifications and fit for the role.

Active listening involves more than just hearing what someone is saying. It includes paying attention to nonverbal cues such as body language and tone of voice, as well as asking clarifying questions and summarising what has been said. By doing so, you demonstrate that you value the candidate’s input and are engaged in understanding their perspective.

In addition to improving your interviewing skills, active listening can also benefit your overall communication abilities. Practising active listening in all aspects of life can help build stronger relationships and prevent misunderstandings or conflicts from arising.

Following up

Following up with candidates after an interview is a crucial aspect of the hiring process. It not only shows that you respect their time and effort, but it also keeps them engaged in the process and gives them a sense of where they stand. One effective way to follow up is to send a personalised email thanking them for their time and reiterating your interest in their candidacy. This can help build rapport and ensure that they remain interested in the position.

Another good way to follow up is by setting clear expectations for the next steps. Let candidates know when they can expect to hear back from you and what the next steps will be if they are selected for further consideration. This helps manage their expectations and ensures that there are no surprises later on when decisions are made. By following up promptly and with clear communication, you can create a positive candidate experience that reflects well on your organisation, even if someone isn’t ultimately hired for the role.

Conclusion

Conducting an effective job interview requires careful preparation and attention to detail. As an interviewer, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the position you’re hiring for, including its responsibilities and required skills.

Finally, it’s essential to remember that an interview is not just an opportunity for you to evaluate candidates – it’s also their chance to learn about your organisation and decide if it’s a good fit for them. Be sure to answer any questions they may have about the role or company honestly and thoroughly, so they can make an informed decision if offered the job.

Looking to fill a vacancy?

Understanding our clients’ businesses and conducting effective interviews are key elements of the service we provide. We can simplify the recruitment process and help you find the right candidates for your vacancies.

If you’d like to find out more about our client services, you can contact us by calling us at 028 95 219 313 or emailing us at [email protected], and a member of our team will be happy to help you.

The modern workplace is constantly evolving, making it essential for employers to stay on top of trends and new technologies. Investing in the upskilling of employees is one surefire way to keep ahead of the curve. This blog will explore the many benefits of upskilling employees, from increasing productivity and efficiency to improving employee satisfaction and retention levels. Understanding these benefits can help any employer achieve their goals and have a more successful business operation.

Increased productivity

Undergoing training and learning new skills increases employees’ confidence as they can complete tasks more efficiently and effectively. Improved productivity results in better workflow and employee engagement and will benefit your business in the long run.

Fill skill gaps

As industries evolve and technology advances, it’s likely that your business will encounter skill gaps within your workforce. Your existing employees may already have, or have the potential to acquire, the skills you’re looking for in order to grow.

Your current employees already understand how your business operates, your goals and your customers. Creating an effective upskilling strategy will allow you to identify any skill gaps that have emerged and identify employees whose current capabilities coincide with the requirements of a new role.

Investing in your employees and allowing them to expand their skill set and progress in their careers improves attrition rates and will save you time and money.

Improving employee retention

The recruitment process can be difficult and expensive, and you’ve already invested a considerable amount of time, money and resources in training your employees to be proficient in their current positions.

What’s more, workers are often looking for development opportunities. Learning new skills and retraining are considered important objectives for employees as it improves their career prospects. Providing your employees with opportunities to upskill in areas relevant to their roles and supporting their career progression can encourage company loyalty.

When equipped with the right skills to master new technology and methods to streamline processes and drive growth, employees will feel valued and supported and can confidently manage any challenges they face. Additionally, they’re likely to tell others outside of the organisation that they feel supported at work, and word of mouth is an invaluable aspect of talent acquisition.

Brand reputation

Organisations that invest in employee learning and development are innovative and ready to adapt to changes. Continually offering opportunities to upskill builds a channel of tech-smart talent that can answer future demands and keep your business competitive. In addition, improving employee experience will magnify your brand’s appeal; happy employees are likely to have commendable things to say about working for you, which is especially beneficial with the existence of sites such as Glassdoor.

Solutions

You might be thinking about how you can implement upskilling into your business or how you can increase employee engagement.

Firstly, evaluate your organisation’s current situation and determine what skills are needed or missing. This will enable you to set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-based) goals and create upskilling initiatives that will genuinely contribute to the business.

The methods you use to upskill your employees will depend on the nature of your business, the identified skill gaps, your existing resources and your long-term objectives. You can use a combination of approaches to upskill your workforce, including:

• Digital and e-learning courses
• External courses
• Upskill coaching
• Peer Mentoring

Once you have a clear plan of what skills you want your employees to attain, develop a personalised approach that they will engage with. For example, you could create specific development programmes for each department within the business to ensure they’re gaining relevant and beneficial skills.

Increasing employee engagement with training and development programmes will rely on making them accessible. The rise of e-learning has made learning opportunities more available than ever before. As a result, employees can learn when and where they want and save time and resources – no travel time and less paper waste.

Additionally, digital learning allows you to analyse how effective a programme is and monitor employee progress, so if something isn’t working well, you can discuss any issues with employees and use their feedback to make adaptions moving forward.

In conclusion, upskilling employees is a beneficial and necessary practice for companies to stay competitive in the ever-evolving business landscape. Not only does upskilling help an organization stay ahead of the technological curve, it can also boost employee morale and satisfaction, leading to greater productivity and collaboration. Furthermore, upskilling employees reduces costly turnover while providing them with more meaningful career opportunities.

Bluestones Staffing

Looking to fill open roles with skilled candidates? We work with industry recognised awarding bodies to recruit, induct and train candidates throughout Northern Ireland. In addition, we can simplify the recruitment process with our bespoke client services, designed around the needs of your business.

If you’d like to find out more about our client services, you can contact us by calling us at 028 95 219 313 or emailing us at [email protected], and a member of our team will be happy to help you.

Transport managers know all too well that wasted miles equals wasted money. Fuel prices have soared this past year and don’t show signs of significantly decreasing any time soon. Therefore, ensuring your transport operations are as efficient as possible has never been more essential. Throw in the headache of unexpected delays and detours and it’s a recipe for disaster, with lost income and disappointed customers.

Routing and scheduling software can significantly cut costs by automatically managing the full range of transport constrictions that logistic operations face daily. Still, you can implement several additional practices to optimise your vehicle route.

Route planning

The weight of a vehicle can significantly impact fuel consumption; the heavier your load, the more rapidly your fuel levels will deplete. Optimising your routes to deliver the heaviest items is a simple step to reduce fuel consumption. Equivalently, collecting the heaviest items last will cut down your fuel expenditure, as they’ll only increase the weight of your vehicle for the remainder of the route rather than the entire journey.

Most modern route-planning software can produce a series of planned drop-offs following this money saving strategy.

Combining deliveries and collections

 Allocating collections and deliveries to the same vehicle, by coupling supplier backhauls and delivery schedules, for example, can improve efficiency and increase production times. In addition, combining deliveries and collections enables your driver and vehicle to carry out both operations without unnecessary trips back to the depot, reducing time and fuel costs.

Implementing this system may be time-consuming, but route planning software can make managing deliveries and collections a straightforward coordination process.

Depending on your business, this could be a fundamental process that assists with output production. If you supplied oil, for example, collecting empty containers for replenishment would reduce the number of containers needed at the production site.

Utilising vehicle load

Utilising vehicle space ensures you efficiently use every cubic meter of cargo space. You can use metric data on the size of your freight to make sufficient use of vehicle space while considering other complexities involved when developing improved routes and schedules.

Whether you’re transporting groceries or furniture, maximising the volume of your shipment will reduce the number of vans or HGVs on the road, in turn reducing associated operational costs.

Eliminating obstacles

You can integrate vehicle tracking information with route planning software, which will allow you to analyse the performance of your route planning strategies. For example, this information enables you to establish if the miles driven during each journey are higher than approximated or if a driver hasn’t reached their destination at the scheduled time. Furthermore, this data allows the transport manager and the driver to identify any obstructions and determine what can be evaded moving forward. Additionally, examining operational information enables you to keep transport costs to a minimum, whilst also reducing your carbon footprint.

Supply chain solutions

Bluestones Staffing is a dedicated recruitment partner specialising in logistics and industrial sectors. We provide bespoke solutions to organisations throughout the supply chain, including temporary, contract, and permanent staff built around the needs of your business.

So, if you want to find out more about how we can support your recruitment needs, head over to our Client Services page, where you can explore our client services and make an enquiry using our short and simple form.