Are Your Employees Motivated & Engaged – Or Ready to Jump Ship?

Company ABC and Company XYZ are in the same industry, offer similar products, and are both experiencing a cash crunch due to the economy. But whereas employees at Company ABC are feeling either overworked and stressed out or completely disengaged, employees at Company XYZ are motivated and optimistic about the future.

How can two such similar companies have employees with such different attitudes?

As one of Houston’s top staffing agencies, we know that the simple answer lies in leadership. Employees at Company XYZ are feeling optimistic because company leaders know how to motivate them and navigate them through a high stress environment.

So how can you keep your employees on board and moving forward during tough times? Below are 4 tips that can help:

1. Get Connected

Great managers are great because they know how to connect with their employees. They know the importance of getting to know their employees on a more personal level, and therefore, they have a good understanding of each employee’s strengths and weaknesses and of what makes them tick. As a result, if it does come down to layoffs, they know how to best reposition people in order to fill in the talent gaps, while still maximizing strengths.

2. Set Clear Expectations

This might sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at how few employees know, in very certain terms, what’s expected of them on the job. Setting clear expectations becomes even more important if your company has experienced layoffs and remaining staff are unclear as to where to pick up the slack.

3. Communicate a Vision

Managers should let their employees know what their vision is for the future of the company – and how each employee fits into that vision. Why? Because without a strong vision, employees don’t really know what they’re working toward or why their roles matter. It’s also important to communicate new opportunities on the horizon and how the company plans to take advantage of them.

4. Recognize Employees

It can be easy to focus on mistakes and correcting weaknesses, and forget about recognition altogether. But when times are tough – and people are being bombarded with bad news everywhere – recognition becomes even more important. So what’s the easiest and least expensive way to boost recognition efforts? Praise often and generously when employees do great work or go the extra mile.

Click here for more ideas on employee recognition efforts.

And if you have a talent gap you need to fill at work, Murray Resources can help. In fact, for more than 23 years, we’ve helped high-performance organizations – including numerous Fortune 1000 companies – build strong teams. If you’d like assistance from one of Houston’s premier staffing agencies, please contact us today.

5 Ways Staffing Agencies Can Help Your Houston Small Business

As one of the top staffing agencies in Houston, we know that staffing is one of the most difficult, yet critical tasks, a business can undertake. If you have a top tier team in place, you can get more done, improve customer satisfaction, and increase profitability.

However, one bad hire can cause your entire staffing function to suffer a big blow. Hiring the wrong person for a job can lead to decreased morale and lower productivity, not to mention that it can cost you a lot of money.

So how can you avoid staffing mistakes?

By working with a reputable staffing agency in Houston. An agency has the knowledge, skills, and resources in place to help you hire the most qualified candidate for your team. They know where to look to find the top talent and know the right questions to ask to uncover weaknesses.

That said, a staffing agency can do more than just help you avoid hiring mistakes. Here’s a look at four other ways an agency can help your small business:

1. A Staffing Agency Can Help You Save Money

While there is obviously a cost to working with a staffing agency, you can actually save money in the long run. Rather than having to implement an expensive recruitment campaign, as well as develop your own screening, interviewing, and testing processes, you can hire an agency that has the knowledge, experience, and processes in place to perform these tasks more efficiently.

2. A Staffing Agency Can Help You Save Time

When an employee quits, you can quickly lose productivity until you fill the position, especially if they give you less than a few weeks notice. But most staffing agencies have a candidate database with pre-screened and qualified individuals they can tap into to speed up the hiring process for you.

3. A Staffing Agency Can Help You Avoid Hiring Hassles

If you’re like many small businesses, you don’t have a dedicated HR department. Or you may have an HR professional on staff who is already busy with many duties, like handling benefits and payroll.

If this is the case, a staffing agency can take on the many time-consuming hassles associated with hiring, including recruiting, screening, interviewing, conducting background checks, verifying references, and conducting skills testing – and then send only a handful of highly qualified candidates to you.

4. A Staffing Agency Can Improve Your Flexibility

While a staffing agency can give you access to candidates for full-time positions, they can also help fill temporary job openings, as well. So if your company experiences busy seasons or you have an employee going on an extended leave, you can leverage the power of temporary staffing to ensure you have the right people in place…when you need them.

So what can Murray Resources do for your small business? Give us a call. Together, we can explore staffing solutions that can help you more easily manage your staffing function – and help your company grow. Contact us today.

Should I Hire a Bookkeeper, an Accountant, or Both?

When you’re running a small business, today’s software and technology solutions have made it easier than ever to handle accounting tasks yourself. However, there are likely times when you’re uncertain if you’re doing things correctly or when these tasks are cutting into the time needed to grow your business. If that’s true for you, it may be time to hire a bookkeeper or an accountant. But which do you need?

A bookkeeper is responsible for the day-to-day accounting tasks, such as:

• Paying and submitting invoices; following up on them if necessary
• Paying bills
• Making bank deposits
• Tracking and recording company expenses and other transactions
• Ensuring new employees complete the proper paperwork for payroll
• Managing payroll

An accountant is responsible for the larger picture tasks as they relate to a company’s finances, including:

• Analyzing the numbers and offering strategic advice and guidance
• Preparing and filing company tax returns
• Preparing financial documents, such as profit and loss statements

So the answer may be that you need both. Possibly, you can hire a bookkeeper – whether full-time or part-time – and then just work with an accounting firm to handle those strategic accounting needs. Whatever the case, when you have the right team in place to handle your finances, you’ll benefit from:

• More organized records
• More accurate billing for your clients
• A better understanding of how much money you’re really making
• A better understanding of how much money you’re really spending
• More time to focus on managing employees, increasing sales, and growing your business
• Money saved from any late fees you’ve been accumulating as a result of inefficient bill paying
• Being able to make better-educated decisions about your finances and your business
• Peace of mind that comes with knowing your accounting functions are being properly handled

Whether you think you need a part-time bookkeeper, or a full-time accountant, Murray Resources can help. As one of Houston’s leading staffing agencies specializing in accounting and finance, we have the knowledge and experience to source the finest candidates for your contract and full-time job openings. Contact us today to learn more.

How to Evaluate Houston Job Candidates

As a Houston staffing agency, we know that hiring is a lot easier – and much more successful – if you use the right candidate assessment tools. So beyond the basic interview, what tools can you use to evaluate candidates? Here are a few:

1. Qualification questionnaire.
This is simply a questionnaire that will help you determine whether the candidate has the right qualifications to perform the job. You may ask questions such as “How many years of related experience do you have?” and “What is your availability?”

2. General abilities test.
These tests are used mostly for entry level positions or jobs that don’t require advanced degrees. They measure abilities such as verbal, written, spatial, and reasoning.

3. Specific ability test.
These tests evaluate a very specific ability, such as typing speed, mechanical aptitude, or reading comprehension.

4. Job simulation test.
A job simulation test requires a candidate to demonstrate that he or she can actually perform the job. There are a variety of options for job simulations, including role-playing, exercises on the computer, and written tests.

5. Knowledge tests.
These tests are typically used to determine how much knowledge an individual has about a very specific subject matter, such as mortgage laws or OSHA regulations.

6. Personality measures.
These tests evaluate a candidate’s personality traits, such as leadership skills, self-confidence, communication skills, and problem-solving ability, to ensure they are a good fit for the position.

7. Background investigations and drug screening.
These checks are important because they can help you to avoid potentially catastrophic hiring mistakes. With a background investigation, you can gather information about a candidate from outside sources, such as police records and former employers. With a drug screen, you can determine any drug use, which can help prevent accidents and work-related injuries.

If you would like to know more about these assessments or need help evaluating job candidates, please contact Murray Resources.

Murray Resources Provides Discounted Fees To HCDE Purchasing Cooperative Members

HOUSTON, T.X. – Murray Resources has recently been selected to receive a contract from the Harris County Department of Education (“HCDE”) cooperative purchasing program. As a program vendor, Murray Resources can provide temporary staffing and substitute teachers for the government entities, school districts and other public, nonprofit agencies and organizations made available through the HCDE Purchasing Cooperative.

Upon completion of all program paperwork and application, Murray Resources was subject to a thorough verification of its credentials. As one of three staffing vendors selected for participation in the cooperative, Murray Resources can now market its services to more than 300 member organizations. The HCDE Purchasing Cooperative member organizations are entitled to a significant discount in fees for utilizing Murray Resources’ services.

“HCDE has worked for more than 100 years to advance public schools in the Greater Houston Area. Murray Resources is proud to receive this designation from HCDE, and to utilize this new relationship to provide superior service to our clients,” said President Marsha Murray.

Murray Resources is a 100 percent certified, woman-owned small business providing recruiting and staff augmentation and payroll services nationwide for more than 20 years. For more information, visit http://www.murrayresources.com.