Reward and performance management programs are not keeping pace with current business demands and needs, according to a new Towers Perrin study. The study, fourth in a decade-long series of studies on rewards and performance management, is based on a survey of 600 human resource and compensation managers in 21 countries.

Although the majority in the survey said their reward strategies were designed to retain and attract talent, few of the actual tactics were consistent with this focus, the survey finds. Among the trends highlighted in the study: most customized rewards are directed to sales positions, not customer service or research and development; a “disturbing” 68 percent of the respondents said their company had no formal method of measuring the return on their investment in rewards; and over 40 percent said that their performance management systems did not effectively link to business needs, and that their systems did not effectively equip managers to identify, develop and reward high performers or deal with poor performance.

Employers have up to two years in which they may be able to change a retiring worker’s decision by offering incentives to remain with the company, according to results of a survey by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute.

“Although no single incentive is likely to motivate the majority of retirees to stay longer with their employer, it appears that employers may be able to assemble a toolkit of alternatives that would be effective in retaining substantial numbers of workers,” says EBRI. It cited incentives such as making the potential retiree feel “truly needed” for assignments, providing a pension while the retiree is working, contract work, pay raises and health benefits, allowing telecommuting or part-time work, among others.

Since today’s job seeker is often focused on building skills and qualifications, consultant Bill Broderick advises company recruiters to quiz hiring managers to find out job roles and assignments, key selling points in the job offer. In an article for Kennedy Information Recruiting Trends, Broderick outlines some important questions to ask the hiring manager so that recruiters can improve the hiring process.

The U.S. Dept of Labor Office of Labor-Hiring mistakes fall in two categories, says business consultant and writer Lou Adler. Either hiring people you shouldn’t have or not hiring people you should have. He recommends avoiding or eliminating hiring mistakes by developing a broader definition of competency and not being affected by a candidate’s interviewing presentation.

“Don’t assume that a well-prepared, enthusiastic candidate with a great first impression is a top performer,” he says. “Conversely, don’t assume a nervous or soft-spoken candidate, or one who is unprepared, or one who doesn’t ‘look the part’ is an underperformer.” See the rest of his article in Kennedy Information’s Recruiting Trends.

See the Dept. of Labor and Industrial Relations web page Hire Net Hawaii for potential sources of job candidates. Employers may also register to be matched with potential employees.

Millennial workers—those born between 1980 and 2000—will soon be replacing the retiring baby boomers, and employers will have to learn to “understand their generational footprint in order to keep this tech-savvy, plugged-in group of employees engaged in their work,” writes Tom Gimbel, CEO of The LaSalle Network, in a recent article for Kennedy Information Recruiting Trends.

He says that to keep millennial staffers “passionate” about their work, employers have to provide challenges as well as guidance. “Give them a mentor — someone they can connect with on a personal and professional platform who will provide them one-on-one attention that will help them gain experience and knowledge,” Gimbel says. “The most important thing to remember about recruiting and managing millennials is that just like buying a new pair of jeans, the perfect fit is hard to find. But with a little time and wear and tear, they become comfortable, and eventually, irreplaceable. Always keep in mind that eventually, change leads to comfort.”

After compensation, the most important reason why employees accept a job offer is the organization’s reputation, reports Kenexa Research Institute.

An organization's reputation consists of a variety of characteristics, including their involvement in corporate responsibility initiatives, product quality or profitability, says Kenexa. The survey results revealed that senior managers and sales people placed the most value on the organization's reputation in weighing an employment offer, as did employees in countries such as India, Italy, Russia and Brazil.

"The correlation between the organization's reputation and successful recruiting efforts strongly supports the importance of employment branding," says Kenexa spokesman Jack Wiley. “Investing in living organizational values, whether it's profitability, longevity or social good, and then communicating the fulfillment of these goals is an impactful way to attract and align engaged employees."

Despite a slowing economy, getting top talent for your organization means maximizing all resources in a competitive marketplace, says Consultant Barbara Bruno, President of Good as Gold Training, HRSearch, Inc. In a recent article for Kennedy Information Recruiting Trends, Bruno poses ten questions that organizations should ask themselves about their recruiting efforts, and what the current realities are in obtaining the people you want.

Making a bad hiring decision can cost the company more than just wasted time and effort. In an article for Kennedy Information Recruiting Trends, attorney and consultant Lester Rosen discusses the problems facing staffing professionals if they don’t do a proper job of screening out dangerous, unqualified, unfit or dishonest candidates.

New hires who have unrealistic views of the company will often leave very quickly, according to Eric Kramer, CIO of Innovative Career Services. In an article for Kennedy Information Recruiting Trends, Kramer proposes the “employment interview presentation,” where candidates address their understanding of the critical requirements of the job, including tasks, functions, success metrics, and immediate goals of the position. Candidates and the hiring manager then can develop a clear expectation of the position, and candidates can better discuss how their background, skills, education, and experiences match the requirements of the job.

Companies will need to prepare for the impending retirement of “vast numbers” of baby boomers, says business consultant Sharon Birkman Fink, President and CEO of Birkman International, Inc. In an article prepared for Kennedy Information Recruiting Trends, Birkman Fink analyzes some basic strategies to identify leaders, and attracting and retaining higher quality talent.

One out of every five chief financial officers polled for Robert Half Management Resources said that finding skilled staff would be their greatest challenge in the next 12 months, and meeting customer needs was the second biggest concern, cited by 16 percent of the respondents. The survey also revealed a decrease in the number of CFOs who saw government regulation as their biggest challenge: “Now that the initial requirements of the Sarbanes Oxley Act have been met, corporate governance policies are more established, and the focus is on repeatable processes that ensure internal control over financial reporting,” says Robert Half spokesman Paul McDonald.

Companies looking to put together successful work teams must look beyond the “hard skills” of individuals and include those that will work well with the other members of the team, says assessment expert Sharon Birkman Fink, President and CEO of Birkman International, Inc. In an article for Kennedy Information Recruiting Trends, Birkman says that with the advent of behavioral personality assessment, recruiters can predict with a degree of certainty what might happen based on how individual work styles and preferences mesh to create a functional team.

Employers recruiting through job boards are likely in the group of 90 percent chasing after 10 percent of job candidates, says Steven Rothberg, president of CollegeRecruiter.com. In an article written for Kennedy Information’s Recruiting Trends, he says a great way to go after 90 percent of job candidates is to read their blogs.

In a tight hiring environment, recruiters have to give themselves every chance to “close the deal” with a top candidate, says Consultant Louise M. Kursmark, author of How to Choose the Right Person for the Right Job Every Time. Kursmark points to a recent survey which showed that one out of four managers or executives reported that something had happened during the hiring process that made them decide not to work at a particular company, including rude treatment, long waits, insufficient follow-up, a protracted selection process, or unprofessional behavior on the part of the interviewer. She suggests some tips to keep candidates interested, such as responding to resumes, staying in touch with candidates, and providing honest feedback. Kennedy Information’s Recruiting Trends.