Employee Retention – 2018 Style

In December 2017, the unemployment rate was 4.1 percent. This is great news for employees, but for employers who are struggling to attract and retain good workers and top talent – it’s time to get creative.  So what are they doing?

A January 12^th article in the Washington Post entitled Companies Struggle to Find, Retain Workers in a Hot Economy,” the following examples were cited:

• In Ames, Iowa, which has the lowest jobless rate (1.5 percent) in the nation, the Mary Greely Medical Center adopted more flexible employee scheduling to appeal to students from a nearby university. It has also tried to recruit “nontraditional workers,” including retirees, to fill entry-level positions.
• Working with the local Chamber of Commerce in Ames, it’s head of workforce development served as a “matchmaker” for several companies with vacancies to help place workers laid off as the result of a plant closing.

An article in Forbes Magazine’s December 2017 edition talked about innovative ideas in an article entitled Competition is the New Union. 

• Procter & Gamble is offering it’s 95,000 employees world-wide an equivalent of 1 to 2 percent of their salary set aside for a benefit for their choice – anything from disability insurance to financial planning to extra vacation. Let the employees choose the benefit that best fits their wants and needs!
• Hershey introduced a suite of “SmartFlex” policies for its white-collar workforce, which include leave options for new parents and expanded opportunities to work from home or work flexible hours. 
• Nvidia, an artificial intelligence firm, recognizes that if employees are going to do their best work, they need to offer them the best benefits. They will repay up to $30,000 in student loans and offer new mothers 22 weeks of paid leave.
• Accenture is committed to training. As its focus shifts to the cloud and consultancy services, and with technology changing so rapidly, helping employees develop cutting-edge skills is crucial – and it engages the employees they want to keep and advance!

As the economy continues to (hopefully) expand, the labor market will continue to shrink – especially when and if baby boomers retire. Organizations will continue to be challenged with new and exciting ways to attract and retain talent. What will your organization do? We’d love to hear from you!

Making Promotions Matter!

The Harvard Business Review had an article recently entitled “How You Promote People Can Make or Break Company Culture” Jamie Herzlich, a reporter for Newsday, recently spoke with me about it. She wanted my insights about whether promotions are important, especially in small or mid-sized companies. Yes, they are. 

Here are some of the thoughts I shared with her:

• Promotions can be a powerful way for organizations to retain employees and help them grow. When people have the opportunity to learn, develop and grow, it sends the message that they are valued contributors. 
• Managers have to know their people – their strengths, their development needs, and their individual career goals.
• Organizations should have a process for promotions. The process need not be elaborate – just a way to let people know there are opportunities available. It shouldn’t stop with announcing the opportunities. Consider all qualified individuals who express interest. 
• Encourage employees to express their interest in those opportunities. It’s a way for the organization and managers to understand who is interested in certain types of opportunities.  
• Managers need to be honest and candid with employees about their career aspirations and development needs. If aspirations are unrealistic – the opportunity will never be available within the organization or the employee needs to develop more – then help the employee recalibrate his or her aspirations.
• Support employees’ career development needs. Provide them with training opportunities – and this need not be attendance at expensive conferences. There are webinars and courses at local community colleges that may be the right fit. Provide them with mentors or stretch assignments so they will be ready in the future.
• Provide feedback to employees about promotional opportunities. If the employee expresses interest and is not ready for a promotion at that point, let them know why, and have discussions about career development. If the employee is considered, but not chosen, let them know why and encourage them to continue to express interest in future opportunities. 

Often time, promotional decisions are clouded with the perception that someone was already pre-selected for the position. It may be that someone is promoted because the scope of his or her job has changed and more responsibility has been assumed. If that’s the case, explain the circumstances when the promotion is announced so other people don’t feel “passed over.” Someone may be hired from the outside because they bring skills and experience that no current staff members possess and for which there’s an immediate need. If that’s the case, explain it. People may be disappointed, but they can accept it when they know the underlying facts that support the decision that was made. Make the promotions work for your employees and for the organization!

Bad News/Good News – Which Comes First?

Conventional wisdom about performance feedback indicates that you should start off a meeting with the employee with good news. Indeed, we’ve written in the past about the importance of creating a positive communicative atmosphere. In that spirit, we said:

• Be sensitive to the employee’s feelings. Always begin the meeting by providing positive feedback. Point out specific accomplishments, noting how they’ve contributed to the group’s efforts and to the organization.

• Emphasize problem-solving and concentrate on future actions that can be taken in any areas that need improvement.

That always seemed to make sense. Build them up before you talk about where things went wrong or can improve.

Then I read an interview with Dan Pink in the Washington Post on Sunday, January 7, 2018. Dan was talking about his new book, When. The last question posed to him by Jena McGregor was: “When you’re giving feedback to employees, should you give good news or bad news first? Dan responded, saying that he’s changed his behavior and thinking on this issue. There was a time when he agreed with the conventional wisdom and wanted to “offer a cushion before bringing down the hammer.” 

He explained why he’s reversed thinking on this. Apparently, there is research that shows most people prefer getting the bad news first and ending on a positive note. If we stopped to consider what we’d prefer, we would probably agree – have an ending that goes up rather than down. However, we act in ways different from our own preferences because we think we’re unique and other people don’t have the same preferences as we do.

The interview made me stop and consider how I might approach giving negative feedback or news in the future. Nevertheless, I still advise being sensitive to the other person’s feels and emphasizing problem solving. The news may be negative, but it needs to be delivered in a positive manner.

What do you think? Bad news or good news, which should come first? How might you adjust your future performance discussions? 

Up Your Game in 2018

A new year is here and with it brings all the trials that come with people management. We’d like to offer not a resolution, but a challenge to managers – up your game and let us help.

We’re starting the year off by finishing our manuscript for The Manager’s Answer Book – scheduled to be published this spring. This has given us the opportunity over the past months to consider, discuss and write about those traits and skills that make a manager great – curiosity, courage, and collaboration – just to name a few. 

Here’s a preview of what we have to say about those traits:

• Curiosity.  Curiosity is one of the most important tools managers should be using in their management journey. Curious people are always learning because they're always asking questions, reading up on topics outside their field of expertise and generally exploring. Be curious about what’s going on in your organization. Find out what other departments or teams are doing. Ask about the challenges your external and internal customers face.  It will help you gain a deeper understanding of what’s going on in the organization and industry. 

• Courage. Courageous managers speak out, take opposing points of view, and confront unpleasant situations and bad decisions. In addition, they suggest and advocate for ideas and positions that may be unpopular.  They are not afraid to put the interests of an employee, their team, or even the larger organization above their own self interests.  They move beyond the “what’s in it for me” mentality, sometimes to their own detriment, because they have the vision to see greater, long-term outcomes. 

• Collaboration.  Build collaborative relationships with your peers. No one person or department stands alone.  Work is interdependent. Seek out your peers and explore common business and personal interests. Determine how you can support the work of each other's department or operation. Agree on those things that your can do to support each other and develop a follow-up plan. Be sure that plan is ongoing and commit to maintain it. 

Throughout the year we’ll be looking at these and other attributes that define a good manager. We’ll also be sharing stories from our own experiences and asking you to share your stories about managers who demonstrated the particular traits that we’ll be writing about. We want to make sure that 2018 is about Making People Matter.