FAQs

What services do you offer?
How do I know which of your services are for me?
Can you tell me more about how Jouta can offer HR assistance?
Why is having HR so important and what are the basic HR practices I should have in place?
If I hire Jouta to take care of my HR, what’s in it for my organization?
Can you help me improve employee performance?
How much does it cost to use your services?
Why don’t you use HR templates?
What is an HR assessment and why do you recommend one?
What is an employee handbook and why do I need one?
Do you offer coaching services too?
I’m having a problem with staff turnover, can you help?
Why should I call you?
What are the risks of not having HR?
Can I hire a Jouta speaker to hold an HR workshop for my organization?
 

What services do you offer?

Our Vancouver-based HR team helps small- to medium-sized organizations implement effective HR.

Jouta believes that each organization has a unique business culture. Based on this belief our team of HR specialists work in partnership with you to create the strategies that align with your unique culture, values and needs.

In many businesses, employee salaries and benefits represent one of the largest operational costs however employees are also one of the most valuable assets of the firm. Generally, success in business means investing in employees.

This is just a small selection of the many areas in which we offer HR assistance:

• Helping establish or articulate values that define company culture
• Establishing clear terms and conditions of employment
• Aligning policies and practices with regulatory and legislative requirements with consultation with our lawyers
• Increasing staff retention
• Building teams and motivating employees

For more information please see the next question “How do I know which of your services are for me?”

 

Full-service HR

Jouta’s HR services offer a fully outsourced team of HR professionals that pro-actively takes care of all your HR needs.

Our team of HR specialists begins working with you to identify your HR challenges and establish how HR can help your company achieve success. We review our findings with you, agree on a plan of action and make it happen. It’s that simple.

We take care of your people, policies and practices, and deliver integrated HR solutions that align with your unique culture and values.

 

Customized HR consulting projects

Jouta’s team of HR specialists is ideally suited to provide support with specific HR consulting projects. We deliver the same exceptional level of service and expertise as our full-service HR, but our engagement is tailored to shorter-term projects.

You may already have projects in mind, or perhaps you require an HR assessment of your current situation to develop a specific area of focus.

We begin by working with you to identify your HR challenges and unique business culture. We review our findings with you, agree on a plan of action and make it happen. It’s that simple.

 

Recruiting

At Jouta we are not recruiters but HR professionals looking to fulfill the human resources needs of our clients. We are in a unique position of already knowing your business requirements, your company culture, your industry and team dynamics. We seek out candidates with the attitudes, behaviours and vital skills you need.

This inside knowledge and our strong recruiting process means we’ll present only the very best candidates with the most potential to help you meet your business objectives.

For more information about how our recruiting process works or details about our post-hire services see our recruiting page.

 

Employee leave management

Jouta Leave Manager is an affordable, web-based, leave management tracking system.

Our secure, easy-to-use software tracks everything you need to know about employee leave, from who is on vacation this week to how many days of sick leave an employee took this year, or when time-in-lieu has been booked. You can also create additional reports to account for time lost due to absence.

Employees simply request time by logging in, which sends an automated prompt to the employer letting them know there is leave waiting for their approval. With the click of a button the leave is approved or denied, and enters the calendar accordingly.

For more information, please visit our Jouta Leave Manager page.

 

Jouta HR Hotline

The Jouta HR Hotline offers unlimited advice from our trusted and reliable HR specialists over the phone, email or Skype.

Our advice will help your organization become more efficient and more productive by guiding you towards better decisions around your people, policies and practices.

What sets us apart is that we believe all HR advice (even if given over the phone) should be based on your organization’s individual culture, practices and values—not on minimum employment standards or everyday information found in HR textbooks or manuals.

Our first step is to therefore to get to know you. We do this by working with you in person to create an HR Reference Guide, around which our advice is based. It’s a user-friendly document that contains customized HR practices and policies for use by you and / or your employees.

Following this, access to unlimited hours of HR advice is just a phone call away.

 

How do I know which of your services are for me?

Full-Service HR

This service delivers immediate value to clients with varying requirements:

• Full-time, full-service human resources management
• Pro-active team of HR specialists that anticipates and takes care of your HR needs
• Practical, results-oriented HR service that caters to your corporate culture and ensures the appropriate policies are in place
• Personalized service, tailored to your exact needs, culture and values, that drives the organization’s success
• Ongoing, personalized support

 

Customized HR consulting projects

This service delivers immediate value to clients with specific short-term requirements:

• A team of HR specialists for specific projects
• An HR assessment of your current situation to develop specific areas of focus
• Project support, advice and guidance with specific budget allocation
• Measurable, meaningful improvement

 

Jouta HR Hotline

This service delivers immediate value to clients with modest ongoing requirements:

• Small- to medium-sized organizations
• Telephone access to advice from a team of HR specialists
• Personalized advice from skilled HR professionals who understand your company, your culture and your needs
• No restrictions on how often you can call or the length of the discussion

 

Can you tell me more about how Jouta can offer HR assistance?

With both our full-service HR and project-based HR, our team works in partnership with you to look after your people, policies and practices.

Areas in which we can assist include:

Aligning HR practices to organizational culture
Do you know the kind of culture you want to create or are already creating, and how to align your HR practices to that culture, and your overall objectives? We will help you discover and define your culture…before it defines you!

Uncovering where you could be losing money
Areas such as lost productivity, turnover, vacation and absenteeism (download our HR guide on “HR steps to save you $$ thousands” for more details on these areas)

Understanding employment law from an HR perspective

Building your HR Infrastructure
Creating tools such as an employee handbook that engages employees rather than polices them; employment agreements; setting up, maintaining or just understanding payroll and benefits; all you need to know about proper employee record keeping

Recruitment, selection and hiring programs
Including orientation

Performance Development Programs
We’ll help you implement programs that are aligned with your culture, grounded in measurable objectives and have a developmental focus. We’ll also help you build on this by putting in place HR structures and integrated HR solutions that encourage behaviours throughout the year that support success.

Managing change
In today’s business culture this can be daily

Compensation plans or programs
To suit your size and style

Reward and recognition programs
With measureable ROI

Continuous learning and professional development
Programs, coaching and resources

Workforce planning
Who will you need when you grow, when will you need them, where will you find them, and how will you keep them?

Leadership / Management
Helping you understand the difference between leadership and management, and working with the team to establish organizational clarity to drive profits and foster a happy and healthy workplace. Research shows that employees leave managers, not the workplace, therefore great leadership is essential to sustainable success. How are you and your managers doing?

Terminations
Before, during and after

Occupational Health and Safety
All aspects

 

Why is having HR so important, and what are the basic HR practices I should have in place?

Unfortunately HR isn’t always seen as a priority for organizations. The reality is that having sound systems and people practices in place not only prevent you getting in to some sticky (and costly) situations, they also increase productivity of teams, boost morale, positively affect the bottom line and make everything work so much smoother.

Some basic HR practices include:

• Access to an HR subject matter specialist (in-house or external)
• Consistency in administering policies and practices
• A pay review process
• Organizational clarity
• An employee development program
• Efficient and effective communication
• Ensure all employees have signed employment agreements

The bottom line is that no matter what size your organization, if you have employees you really do need HR.

 

If I hire Jouta to take care of my HR, what’s in it for my organization?

Whatever your needs, our practical HR solutions are guaranteed to improve performance, boost morale, and make your organization both more effective and more productive.

Why choose Jouta? The value is in the results we bring:

• We ease your HR worries by pro-actively managing your human resources, allowing you to focus on your organization
• We work to your budget and within your timelines
• A highly personalized service, tailored to your exact needs, culture and values
• Flexibility – hire us as full-time HR consultants, for individual HR projects or for over-the-phone advice. The choice is yours
• Practical, prompt, realistic, “on the ground” advice, tailored to your organization’s needs and culture
• Friendly, dedicated HR team able to provide specialist advice
• A positive return on your investment and meaningful results
• Attention to detail
• Improved employee retention, motivation and loyalty
• Increased efficiency and productivity

 

Can you help me improve employee performance?

Yes, but it’s not likely to be through a traditional Performance Management Program. In fact, sometimes we find these can be more of a de-motivator rather than a motivator (see our article on Performance Programs: are they necessary?).

We’re not saying that Performance Management Programs can’t be effective it’s just that unfortunately many people associate them with uncomfortable discussions held during a once yearly appraisal process, with a possible pay raise based on the outcome.

We’ll help you implement Performance Development Programs that are aligned with your culture, grounded in measurable objectives and have a developmental focus.

We’ll also help you build on this by putting in place HR structures and integrated HR solutions that encourage behaviours throughout the year that support success.

 

How much does it cost to use your services?

That’s a good question!

It really depends on what service you choose because everything is priced accordingly. What we can guarantee is that using Jouta will be more cost effective than hiring an HR manager.

Our guarantee:

• For the cost of a generalist, you get a team of HR specialists
• For the cost of an individual, you get a team
• For the cost of a novice, you get a team of experts
• For the cost of the ordinary, you get the extraordinary

 

Why don’t you use HR templates?

We will never EVER use templates. We don’t believe in using them and nor should you. In fact, we get quite worked up about it! Your organization is as unique as you are; it certainly didn’t come out of a mould, so why would you want to rely on standardized, cookie-cutter HR templates to have all the answers?

The truth is that they don’t. Your HR practices and policies should be based entirely around your own HR needs and your own culture. Your HR should be integrated in a way that aligns with these.

It’s just not possible to achieve this with templates, which is why we don’t use them and why we emphasize you don’t either.

Everything about our service (from the advice you receive to the documents we prepare) is personalized. It’s how we are able to help you become more efficient and more productive.

 

What is an HR assessment and why do you recommend one?

An HR assessment reviews your current structures, policies and practices and recommends areas for improvement. Think of it as a free HR consultation.

We set up a meeting to visit your organization and chat with you in person, asking questions about what you currently have in place. While onsite we use a small sample of employee files to build a picture of the kind of information currently being tracked.

Afterwards, we produce a report detailing your HR risks, and recommend areas for improvement.

Depending on your organization or situation, such risks might include policies that leave you unprotected, practices that affect productivity or activities that may be damaging your company culture.

We provide this information to you at no cost and there’s no obligation afterwards.

Want to learn more? Contact us for details or request HR assessment.

 

What is an employee handbook and why do I need one?

An employee handbook is a manual given to all employees containing everything they need to know about their company. It contains advice and guidance on topics ranging from vacation pay to policies, procedures, compensation and benefits, right through to where things are located and who’s responsible for what (i.e. ordering a pen if you need one). With all this information at your fingertips it becomes an essential go-to-guide that helps you and your organization become more streamlined and productive.

It’s highly recommended that all companies, no matter what their size, invest in an employee handbook. Word of caution though: avoid using templates. An employee handbook should be as personal and unique as your company, and customized entirely for your needs and culture. Don’t let anyone persuade you that one-size-fits-all.
Once you have your handbook in place, it is vital that it’s kept up to date annually to reflect ever-changing laws and practices. Employees should sign off annually that they understand the terms and conditions within it.

This then leads to another very important role of the handbook. By having lawful policies and procedures in place, employees understand what should and shouldn’t be taking place and how to correctly deal with something if it arises.

This helps protect a company against lawsuits including harassment or discrimination claims, and ultimately saves time, money and heartache.

 

Do you offer coaching services too?

Yes, we do offer coaching services. Our CEO, Cori Maedel, is a Certified Executive Coach with over 25 years of coaching experience.

We offer four types of coaching (all of which can take place within or outside the work environment)

• Personal growth coaching
• Leadership coaching
• Individual performance coaching
• Group performance coaching

So often, we prevent ourselves from doing what we really want to do. We get in our own way, stopping ourselves from becoming successful. Through coaching we can take you to where you want to be.

With personal growth coaching we focus on breaking down the walls that stand in your way and help you achieve your personal aspirations.

With leadership coaching we help you gain an understanding of where your organization wants to go and the type of leadership it needs, then coach you in how to become that leader.

With personal performance coaching we focus on improving your performance in a particular target area (be it your personal performance or that of your organization).

Group performance coaching brings together a small group of like-minded people with a commitment to creating positive change and support one another through that change. We call this unique coaching Kokoro(e) (a Japanese word for heart, spirit and mind + knowledge) and it’s an ideal setting for team building.

Learn more about our coaching services or request a free 30 minute coaching session.

 

I’m having a problem with staff turnover, can you help?

Yes, absolutely we can help.

Everything we do for you as HR specialists focuses on taking care of your people. They are one of your largest expenses—and your largest assets—therefore employee retention, motivation and loyalty are paramount to your success.

Lost productivity due to turnover costs you thousands of dollars per year. For example, BC Jobs® states: a large hotel chain calculated that a 10% decrease in annual employee turnover led to a decrease in lost customers between 1% and 3%. That translated to a $50-$100 million increase in annual revenues. (In this case, not only did they save money on turnover costs, but they also improved their bottom line by having longer-term employees.)

There are also many hidden costs associated with turnover that most business owners almost never take into account. These include potential recruiter fees, the cost of posting ads on websites and the cost of the time spent by the individuals conducting the interviews. Beyond just the money being spent, these also account for a loss in productivity because the interview is taking the interviewer (or panel of interviewers) away from their job.

Most would be shocked at how high the hidden or less visible costs can be.

Some of these hidden costs are:

1. The loss of knowledge by the departing employee
2. Separation costs: severance packages and costs of out-placement services
3. Vacancy costs: often when an employee leaves there is a period of time before a replacement is found. During this time period, other employees will be required to do the work of the vacant position and this can lead to employees being over-worked and stressed. This affects morale and can cause an increase in absenteeism, both of which negatively affect productivity
4. Orientation and training costs: time spent for employees to orient a new employee and to then train them is all time away from completing the tasks and responsibilities of their own jobs. It can take an employee as long as six months (or even longer) to get up to speed before they are operating at full capacity. In this case the company can be paying the equivalent of 1.5 times the salary for the same productivity
5. Morale cost: productivity can be lost when morale is low, and high turnover has a very negative affect on morale especially if well-liked and respected people leave the organization

In the end, companies can save thousands and thousands of dollars by reducing employee turnover, and the most effective way to achieve this is to have proper HR systems and programs in place.

 

Why should I call you?

The danger is, “not knowing what you don’t know”.

For example, are your policies and procedures up-to-date? Do you know what your employees worry about? Is your culture aligned with your HR practices? Are your employee performance programs motivating or de-motivating your teams?

Read more about the benefits of hiring Jouta.

Let us do a HR assessment to eliminate the danger of the unknown. We’ll review your current structures, policies and practices and recommend areas for improvement. Think of it as a free HR consultation, at the end of which we produce an executive summary with our findings.

Did we mention that it’s free and that there’s absolutely no obligation?

 

What are the risks of not having HR?

What’s keeping you up at night? Or better yet, do you know what should be keeping you up at night? An organization can be challenging to run. Let us take care of your people practices so that you can focus on your organization.

Here are some common HR questions and situations that could make or break your organization and how Jouta’s HR expertise can help you sleep with peace of mind.

 
Are you effectively managing your employee records?

• We saved an organization and its employees $100,000 in potential legal fines by working alongside lawyers to ensure all files were complete and legally compliant

 
Are you losing money you’re not aware of?

• One organization hired us because they were forced to pay 45 vacation days to an employee leaving the organization because of improper employee tracking. Soft costs include such things as absenteeism costs, cost of turnover, etc., and are often the greatest unmeasured expense until an experienced HR professional comes into the picture. We will develop consistency in your practices and policies, which will save you money and increase productivity
• In another example, our web-based leave tracking system saved one company $15,000 in productivity costs when comparing their paper-based tracking system to our automated one

 
How do you ensure you get the most out of your people and appropriately manage your company culture as you grow?

• We’ve seen many organizations struggle with effective communication. Not only does this lead to a fragmentation of your culture, you also lessen productivity while employees wonder where the company is going, what the big picture is, when they will get a review, if they will get a bonus, and what the clarity is around sick time, benefits and company policies in general. This results in not everyone working towards the same vision or goals. We will help you create an environment that engages your employees so they feel like part of the team through a fair and consistent approach to employee relations and communications

Can I hire a Jouta speaker to hold an HR workshop for my organization?

Of course! We’d love to work with you to create a workshop or seminar for your event or organization.

We hold HR workshops across BC and AB on many different topics ranging from “How to create and implement effective HR policy” to “The Coach Approach: How to coach and motivate staff at all levels“.

Organizations at which we’ve spoken include:

• BC Human Resources Management Association (website)
• University of British Columbia (website)
• Vancouver Regional Construction Association (website)
• Aboriginal Financial Officers Association (website)

Please visit our HR workshops page for more details or contact us for more information.