Maximizing the Human Potential

Maximizing Loyalty

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andrew shaffer consulting maximizing loyaltyLast week I attended a discussion on attracting and retaining employees. One interesting fact is with unemployment at historically low numbers it is harder and harder for companies to attract and retain valuable employees. This has undoubtedly caused a paradigm shift in employee’s attitudes and behaviors. As opposed to the recession of almost 10 years ago, where people were happy to have a job, employees now think that the company is lucky to have employees. In order for you to compete for employees, keep them loyal and maximize productivity you have to offer something that others cannot replicate. Today I am going to share with you how you can create a competitive edge by attracting and retaining your ideal employees by maximizing loyalty.

Maximizing Loyalty

I once heard an Air Force Colonel saying he wanted to give his warfighters an unfair advantage in combat. He wasn’t looking for a competitive fight, he wanted to have all the advantages. That makes sense when people’s lives are at stake. How does that relate to how you run your company? Well, lives are at stake. Maybe not life or death, but your employees depend on you to provide for their livelihood.

Attracting and retaining the highest quality employees will certainly help you get a competitive edge, right? Think of all you can get done if everyone was on board and as dedicated as you. If they just “got it”. Competitive benefits and competitive pay are necessary, and are the price to admission. The challenge is they can be copied by your competitors. Today I am going to share how you can create a competitive edge by attracting and retaining your ideal employees.

Why

Simon Sinek has made a name for him self by encouraging people to “Start With Why?”  Why? Because a good “Why” resonates. Think about it, how many foundations have been started by someone after a loved one was impacted by a devastating disease? How many companies were started to solve a common problem?

Your employees have a reason for working for you. When I talk to employees, I hear a wide range of reasons why employee work at a company.

  • It’s a paycheck
  • I believe in the mission
  • the hours a great
  • they treat me well
  • I’m just waiting for retirement.

Why do your employees work for you? Is it because they believe in the company (good) or because they haven’t found another job yet (bad)? Either way getting to understand why your company exists, and why your employees choose to work for you can go a long way in attracting and retaining valuable employees.

Values

As I look back over my career, I think the biggest influence that impacted my decision to change jobs (and eventually get into consulting) was because my values didn’t align with my company. Now, that isn’t to say that the companies I worked for were immoral or had poor values – not at all. They just didn’t align with my values.

Most companies have a list of core values. I bet you can tell me your companies core values, and they are most likely displayed proudly on your website or careers page. The challenge is, do you always live your core values? Your core values are there to guide your decisions, and how you conduct your business. If you have a core value of people first, and you make decisions that seem to put profit or shareholder above your people are you living your core values?

Motivators

I know you don’t have time to be a cheer leader and give your teams pep talks every day to get them motivated to do their job? Actually, it isn’t necessarily your job to motivate them. Well, not directly. You can, however, create an environment or condition that helps motivate your employees. It’s all about getting the right people in the right seats.

Let’s say you have an employee that is naturally creative and thinks big picture. Is this person likely to be motivated by looking at spreadsheets? Probably not. On the other hand, if you an employee that really liked to get into the details of your business accounting, do you think this person would be good a developing marketing material? Again, probably not. Finding motivators of your employees will help you see dramatic improvements on productivity, retention, and profits. (check out this video)

This Week’s Challenge

Give yourself a competitive edge by evaluating your companies why, values and motivating loyalty. These things make your company unique and give you a competitive advantage. If you need help, please contact us to learn how we can help!

Employee All-Stars

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andrew shaffer consulting employee all-starsHappy Veterans day to all veterans.  Thank you for your service. Last week I had the opportunity to speak at a lunch sponsored by What’s Up Media and the Crofton Chamber of Commerce. I talked about elevating performance and how building a team of high performers can help your company beat 80% of the competition. The challenge for many small businesses is that they often can’t pay the highest salaries or provide the best benefits.  So how do you attract and retain employees that give you a competitive advantage?

Employee All-Stars

When it comes to working with employees, business leaders KNOW that about 20% of their team takes most of their time. Typically, what happens is the highest performers get ignored. Why? Well, because are doing a good job, and really don’t require much attention. They work hard, get the job done and are always dependable. Karie Willyerd points out in her article “What High Performers Want at Work”, that “A high performer can deliver 400% more productivity than the average performer”. (Karie Willyerd – NOVEMBER 18, 2014).  So, the questions aren’t about being able to afford your All-Stars, but can you afford to lose your All-Stars?

Provide a challenge

All-Stars don’t become all-stars on accident. They challenge themselves to improve, and do things better, faster, and cheaper than others. They enjoy the challenge of performing at a high level. Without that challenge, high performers will get bored, and look to fill that need elsewhere (like your competition). There are always new challenges and problems you are facing as a business owner. Ask your All-Stars to help you find new and challenging problems to solve. Include them on strategic initiatives, new projects, or process improvements. Your business will be able to separate from the competition, and your star employees will remain challenged and engaged.

Create a game

Creating games in your business is always fun. It brings out the competitive nature in people, and boosts morale (if the game is fair). I’m not talking about going bowling or having a bocce tournament in the lawn at work. I am talking about a game that affects business outcomes.

Ideas would be to challenge each shift in a manufacturing facility to see who can produce more on a single shift or have the fewest quality defects. You could challenge salespeople to see who can land the biggest contract. Create a game that promotes desired business outcomes, make it challenging and achievable, and again you’ll see morale improve. Not only will your all-stars benefit, but you may create some more all-star employees!

Performance based pay

As I stated earlier that “A high performer can deliver 400% more productivity than the average performer”. If you truly have a high performer, and they are that productive, you will get a competitive advantage.  Share in some of the reward with the employee.  Pay could be based on commission, based on overall company performance, or even equity. This gives the employee a feeling that he/she had skin in the game. They are recognized and rewarded for their hard work and incentivized to continue to improve. This is another win-win for you and the employee.

This Week’s Challenge

Don’t forget your employee All-Stars. If you take them for granted, your competition may not. Find ways to incentivize and recognize your all-stars to make sure they continue to give you the competitive advantage you need!

If you need help, or would like to learn more about how to retain your top performers,  please reach out to me. I’ll be happy to help!

Finding and Keeping the Best Employees

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best employees andrew shaffer consultingOne challenge many business leaders are sharing with me is a frustration with finding and keeping high performing employees. Some companies are struggling with retention, others with finding qualified candidates, and still others are dealing with a lack of productivity or innovation. No matter what the issues is, business leaders are always looking ways to help their employees improve. Today I am going to talk about how to help you attract, retain, develop your employees to give you a competitive edge.

Finding and Keeping the Best Employees

Business leaders spend countless hours developing and executing strategies. Much of that strategy is centered around two things, developing new business and executing on existing business.

In a recent client meeting I asked the management team some simple questions about who their customers were. They nailed it! They knew exactly who their customers were, what they wanted and how they provide that. Companies often come up with an “avatar” or ideal client so they can market to them.  But how many people do the same thing for the employees they want to attract? Here are some basic questions you should be asking about your current employees as well as those you hire in the future.

Who are your employees?

Just like companies identify who their target market is for their customers, business leaders should have a target market for their employees. If you look through any job search site, most (not all) employers describe who they are looking for by a set of skills and experience. Skills and experience don’t mean that someone will be effective in your company.

Look at your current employees. List some of the characteristics of your top performers. Those that have been there a while, what do they all have in common? You might even want to do the same exercise with those that haven’t worked out. What went wrong there?

What do they need?

This is something that is often overlooked or minimized. I mean they need a paycheck, right? I’ll tell you with 100% certainty, if that is the only need you are filling, you will have a hard time keeping employees. No matter how big that paycheck is, there is always someone willing to write a bigger check.

Everyone has different needs, and each generation has different needs as well.  Baby boomers needed job security. Millennials need flexible work arrangements. Employees at non-profits and charity organizations feel the need to serve (and usually don’t get paid well). When I work with companies I typically use an assessment to determine the employee needs, and how well those needs are being filled. This is almost always eye-opening for leadership!

How is the need satisfied?

Knowing is half the battle, so understanding the need is only the beginning of the solution. How do you fill that need? Learning opportunities is one of the common motivators, and motivational gaps, I find in my assessment. Employees are interested in professional development and expect the company to support that in some way.

It won’t be uncommon for business leaders to provide a laundry list of things they offer with respect to learning opportunities.  What they often don’t realize is their employees find the process to take advantage might be too cumbersome (needs too much approval), or they don’t feel like they are able to balance learning with their current workload. After you determine what need you serve for your employee, do you have a way to satisfy that need, that the employees are taking advantage of?

When do you satisfy the need?

Flexible work hours are becoming common place in todays workforce. From flexible hours to work from home options.  But not all businesses can accommodate these types of arrangements. And even those businesses that can, it isn’t feasible to do it all the time.  If you are a tax accountant, chances are you will have very little flexibility during “tax season”.

Every business cycle is different, and every need is different. As a leader you must determine the best way to satisfy employee needs without compromising business needs. What is ultra-important here, is to effectively communicate expectations, and when you will be able to satisfy certain needs.

Who provides that need?

Once you learn who your employees are, what their needs are, how and when it will be provided, someone must be responsible for providing it. Who will fill those needs? Often it is a combination of leadership, employees, and maybe HR. So, as a complete picture it is important to decide who is responsible for providing what.

For example: the need is career advancement. HR would be responsible for determining pay and promotion criteria. Leadership would be responsible for giving guidance and assignments to meet those criteria, and the employee is responsible for execute.

This Week’s Challenge

Take action to decide who your employees are and what they need. You will soon find that you will have higher productivity and retention (yes even with millennials)! If you need help, or would like to learn more about our assessments,  please reach out to me. I’ll be happy to help!

First Impressions

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andrew shaffer consulting first impressions

When new employees are hired, many companies go out of their way to make sure the employee’s first day is a pleasant experience. I’ve been talking a lot recently about the need to retain and attract high performing employees. As I’ve been having these discussions, I was reminded of a true story of an engineer’s alarming experience on his first day at a new job. This week I wanted to share that story with you as a cautionary tale about who is making your first impressions. The employee names and companies are changed.

First Impressions

Eric is an engineer that I know, who just relocated his family for a new job. To take this job Eric had to uproot his family to relocate to another part of the country and start all over. Eric and his wife had a young child, and were both working. So, this was a sacrifice of a pretty high level for Eric’s career.

Eric flew out to the company for an interview. The interview went well, the management team he met was friendly, and he was even able to meet some of his future colleagues at lunch. After receiving a job offer, Eric and his wife decided this was the right opportunity. Eric relocated with his family leaving their support network behind them to start fresh someplace new.

The First Day

When Eric showed up for work on his first day, he went through the typical indoctrination and onboarding. This was pretty much as you’d expect. However immediately after the onboarding things started to shift rapidly. When he reported to his direct manager, they didn’t seem ready for him.  Eric was given a temporary desk, secluded from anyone else, with a pile of paperwork to complete. Occasionally his boss would check on him, but for the most part he spent the first few days secluded filling out paperwork.

After those initial few days Eric was finally introduced to a fellow engineer and assigned some tasks. This was temporary work, because the project he was hired to do, once again wasn’t ready for him. So, Eric was given a temporary cube to do some work. And, by a temporary cube, he was told he could sit at someone’s desk while they were on vacation. Eric still wasn’t able to have a place to call “home.”

To add insult to injury, the employee in the cube next to Eric spent pretty much the entire day talking on the phone complaining about the company. She complained about EVERYTHING.

The Result

Now imagine you are Eric. You relocated your family to move to a new part of the country. You left a support network, your wife left her job, all for the promise of a brighter future.  When you finally arrive at work, you feel like they didn’t know you were coming, and all you hear is complaints from the people you will be working with.  What kind of impact would that have on your new employees? How do you think Eric felt about his decision to accept the job?

Eric no longer works at that company.

This Week’s Challenge

Your corporate culture has a dramatic impact on your ability to attract and retain talent in your organization. It is important that your company maintains a culture that is leadership and people focused. Take time with your leadership and review your onboarding processes.

What is your company doing to attract and retain talented professionals in your organization? Once you think you understand it, seek outside validation. You might think everything is OK in our business, only to later find out that your best employee just left for your competition. Can you afford that?

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.

Recruiting Talent

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andrew shaffer consulting recruiting talent

Last week I talked about the need for having “ball players” or superstars in your organization. What if you don’t have any ball players? What if you have some, how can you stop them from leaving to work at your competition? This week I am going to share with you three differentiators that will help you in recruiting talent and retaining superstars in your organization. Spoiler alert… it’s not money!

Recruiting Talent

Identifying and retaining talent these days is difficult. In today’s work force highly skilled individuals are in high demand, and can often pick and choose where they want to work. When recruiting top talent, you don’t always have to be the highest bidder (i.e. pay the most) although you do have to be competitive. Today’s employees are looking for more than a paycheck, they are looking at what the company offers above and beyond the pay. College level athletics recruit talent all the time, and are unable to use pay as a differentiator. Let’s look at some of the strategies used by top athletic programs for recruiting and how that applies to your business.

Be a Winner

Everyone likes to win. I know we tell our kids things like; it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, it’s how you play the game, just do your best. But honestly, if you do your best and play fair it still hurts to lose. Right?

When colleges are recruiting athletes, they will boast their winning records. If they cannot boast about a winning record, they’ll talk about a history and a plan to start winning. We’ve hired new coaches, we recruited new players etc. When talented athletes have a choice of where to go to school, they will want to play for a winning team.

The same is true when recruiting talent to your company. They will want to see you have a winning organization, or at least the potential to be a winning organization. Boast about the growth you’ve seen recently, new large contracts or expansion. Let potential employees know about any awards you may have received, and company history. These things will send a message to your prospects that when they come work for you they will be joining a winning team.

Culture

Everyone wants to fit in. We are tribal by nature, and we want to be surrounded by people with the same values and motivations. Have ever worked at a company, or joined an organization, where you just didn’t fit in? How hard was it to make friends? Did you feel comfortable? Even if you did, did you really enjoy yourself? Probably not.

Again, it isn’t uncommon for college recruiters to have prospects visit for a day or more. Typically, they’ll shadow someone from the team and see what it’s like to be part of the program. The idea here is to get the prospect a “feel” for what it’s like to be part of the team. The coach, and the player will want to know if they will fit in, if they can be part of the culture or if they’ll be an outsider. Those that fit in can thrive, outsiders tend to hold back.

The same is true in your work place. Although it’s not typical for a company to invite a prospect to shadow another employee during a job interview, but there are other ways that prospects can learn about culture. When you bring in a prospect for an interview, how are they received? Websites like indeed.com or glassdoor.com often have employee reviews so candidates can get an idea what it’s like to work at your company. What do prospects see when they look you up online?

Development

Prospective athletes understand that they are investing time to play at the college level, and in return want to know that they will become better during that process. In college sports, this is an easy discussion. Coaches can talk about the number of players that went on to play professional sports. If that isn’t an option, they will talk about graduation rates, and successes that former athletes have had in professional careers.

Your prospective employees will have similar questions:

  • If I work for you, what will the future look like for me?
  • Do I have career advancement opportunities, or will I be stuck doing the same thing for my entire career?

Top performers didn’t get to be top performers by accepting the status quo. Top performers achieved success by learning, developing and growing. Having a proven employee development system will help you attract and retain high performers and high potential employees.

This Week’s Challenge

I know there are still some employees that will go to the company that pays the most. Most of the time it’s best to let them work somewhere else. Eventually someone else will offer them more money and they’ll leave. Save yourself the headache and cost of losing talent. Create an environment that attracts and retains talent. Develop a strategy for:

  • Competing and winning at a high level
  • A welcoming and inclusive culture
  • A proven effective employee development system

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.

Evaluating Talent

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andrew shaffer consulting evaluating employees

I was coaching my 7 year old’s baseball game last week when one of the kids asked me if I was a “real” coach. When I asked him what a “real” coach was, he said someone that coaches Major League Baseball. For the record I am not a MLB level coach, but I was flattered that he thought so highly of my skills. It did get me to think about how many different seasons I have been coaching. This week I am going to share with you some of the things I’ve learned about evaluating players, their impact on the team, and how this relates to your business.

Evaluating Talent

In the more than fifteen seasons I’ve coached various sports (some as head coach others as an assistant) I have noticed there are three types of kids that play sports. We have the kids that are there because their parents want them to. These kids go through the motions of playing, but don’t really enjoy it. There are those that are there to play. These are the ones that show up to practice, do the drills, contribute in the games.

Good players only think about the sport when they are practicing or during a game. Then there are what I call the ball players. Ball players are the first ones there, last to leave. They always give it there best, and they practice between practices. They play ball outside, not on a video game. These players give any team a competitive advantage.

Businesses have the same three levels of employees.

  • Paycheck Collectors: Paycheck collectors show up just for a paycheck. They do the bare minimum, and complain about doing that.
  • Work Horses: Then there are your work horses. Work horses come in, do the work needed. They do solid work, but rarely go above and beyond.
  • Superstars: Then there are your superstars. These are the people that are there early, stay late, and get the job done no matter what.

If your company has people there just to collect a paycheck, you might want to consider why you are still employing them. This article will talk about the difference between your work horses and superstars and why developing superstars impacts your bottom line.

Level of Competition

My boys play sports, and there are basically two levels of sports. There are the recreational (rec) leagues and there are the competitive leagues (or travel teams). The rec leagues are filled with kids that play ball, and occasionally a player that is there because their parents want them to play. In rec league we can have some intense games, and decent players, but we don’t really play at a high level. Occasionally a team will have a ball player (we’ll call him/her a ringer). This is a person we consider that should be playing at a higher level of competition.

Ball players play at a higher level of competition. These players are the ones that are on travel team, all-star teams, or play in the little league world series. Ball players elevate the level of performance for the entire team, and when surrounded by other ball players, the team competes at a whole different level.

Your employee base is filled with those that play ball (work horses) or ball players (superstars). Identifying potential ball players on your staff, and developing them to their highest potential will give you a competitive advantage. Even if you are not the business owner, and work for someone else, learning to become a ball player, and elevating your level of play will take your career to the next level.

Retention

In most little league organizations, the older the kids get the less kids that actually come out and play. For example, in my local organization, when my oldest started there were eight teams in his age group. Today there are three teams. That means roughly 60% of the kids that played a few years ago have stopped playing. Now, the competitive teams, the travel teams, are generally still intact. They might lose a player here and there, but they don’t have the 60% turnover that the rec leagues experience.

Employee retention is expensive for companies. Studies show that to replace talented employees can cost 150% of their salary. Not to mention the impacts of lost production and morale on your team. Developing your talent to ball player status, and creating a company that plays competitive ball, will help you improve retention and avoid unnecessary costs associated with losing good people.

Productivity

When a rec team has a ball player on the roster, the other teams take notice, and quickly. Why? Because they are more productive than anyone else on the field/court. This is the basketball player that scores more than your entire team combined or the baseball player that always hits the ball to the fence and pitches harder than anyone in the league. This is the kid that is faster and kicks harder than any other soccer player. They give you a competitive advantage because they produce more.

I read a statistic the other day that high performers produce 400% more than their mediocre counterparts. Wow! That means if that person left your company, it would take four people just to get the same level of production that you were getting for one! Let me ask you, how would your company benefit from having someone that was that productive? Maybe two or three people like that? These are your ball players. They come to work and produce. They are engaged, motivated, and energetic about their work.

This Week’s Challenge

Take a look at your company and the competitive landscape. Are you playing rec league, or are you playing competitive? Do you have employees that are there to play ball, or even worse employees that are collecting a paycheck, or does your team develop and attract ball players?

If you want to get real results, you must be playing competitive ball, AND must identify and develop your talent to maximize their potential.  Next week, I’ll talk about how to retain and attract ball players to your company, and it’s more than just a hefty salary!

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.

Employee Development and the Bottom Line

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andrew shaffer consulting employee development

I appreciate all the positive feedback from last week’s blog post.  It was supposed to help you think about the message you send, by the words you choose. Last week, I attended an event featuring Gerry Sandusky (voice of the Ravens), and in his talk he also highlighted the fact that people like to win. When trying to attract and retain talent, always keep in mind that people want to be part of a winning team. Develop a winning team, and watch your success skyrocket! Today, I’m talking about how employee development can help your business grow.

Employee Development and the Bottom Line

I grew up in Illinois, and I was a HUGE Chicago Bulls fan. HUGE! When I say a Bulls fan, it was probably more of a Michael Jordan fan. I wanted to be like Mike. Why? Well, because Jordan was the best of his time (and maybe all time). Having Jordan on the court was a game changer, he gave the Bulls a competitive advantage. Need proof? Michael Jordan led the Bulls to a championship in ’91,’92 and ’93, after a brief retirement and an unsuccessful pursuit at a baseball career. He came back to basketball and lead the Bulls to another threepeat in ’96, ’97 and ’98. Fun fact: I was in the United Center in Chicago when the Bulls won in 1998.

Almost everyone I knew wanted to be like Jordan. Jordan was more than a winner; he was a game changer. Every athlete I know dreamed of being the player that was given the shot with the game on the line as the clock is ticking down and comes through with the clutch shot, or play or whatever is necessary to win. Nobody dreams about being the guy that passed Jordan the ball.

Athletes at that level have a tremendous work ethic. However, we all know people with extraordinary work ethics that get ordinary results. Perhaps you have people in our company like this. Perhaps your company is like this. To achieve greatness, you need to combine that work ethic with a useful employee development tool. You may not have a championship trophy to show for it, but you will see the impact on your bottom line as you leave your competition behind.

Retention

I have talked with team leaders, and executives that have lost a top performer from their team. The story is almost always the same. I didn’t see it coming, and I wish I’d have known so I could have done something. These leaders struggle, often in vein, to find a direct replacement. In fact, most of the time they end up needing two people to get the same productivity.

Even if you didn’t have to hire multiple people, the replacement costs can exceed 1.5 times the salary of the person that left. Not to mention the impact to morale and team cohesion. And now your best employee, the one that gave you a competitive advantage, might be giving your competition that advantage you just lost. Wow!

Retention has an indirect, but real impact on your bottom line. Let’s keep this in perspective. As your company grows you run the risk of higher attrition numbers. Now not all attrition can be avoided, but if you could reduce turnover by 3-5%, how much money could you put back into your business. Where would you rather invest your hard-earned capital?

Productivity

Having an employee development system will improve the productivity of your team. We’ve all heard the 80/20 rule, where 80% of the work is done by 20% of the employees. There is a natural tendency in business where teams typically have about 20% that are exceptional. Roughly another 60% that are solid performers, and the remaining employees just don’t fit. What if you could tap into the underutilized productivity in the 60% of your solid performers and improve productivity by just a few percent. What you’ll see is dramatic increases in productivity.

For illustration purposes. Suppose you had about 50 employees in your organization. Increasing productivity by just 3% will yield an additional 3000 hours of work over the course of a year. That is like having another 1.5 people on your staff without all the overhead of having employees. And an additional 3% isn’t really all that much. It comes out to ~15 minutes a day/employee. Think of it this way: 5 minutes first thing in the morning, 5 minutes after lunch, and 5 minutes at the end of the day. How does this happen? Just being more deliberate, and focused.

Employee Development System

An employee development system is not an annual performance assessment. It is not long drawn out conversations about why someone needs to improve. I have 2 boys that play sports. I do my best to coach them both. When a player strikes out, as he’s walking back to the dug-out I often give him a quick piece of advice. Adjust your hands so you can get the bat around, or shift your balance so you can get a more level swing. Something quick and immediate. I didn’t wait until the end of the season (like an annual review). We try to make corrections now so we can see improvements at his next at bat.

To continue with the coaching analogy, there is one coach, one piece of advice, and one conversation. I don’t overload the ball player with three for four pieces of advice. It’ll clutter his head, and he’ll certainly fail again next time. We don’t have every coach giving advice at the same time (I do see this at times). Again, keep it simple, direct and understandable. Normally the change doesn’t come immediate in a game, and that is OK. But at our next practice I remind the player what we needed to work on, then we practice it until we get it right.

As a coach I develop my players on a game by game, day by day system. I work to elevate performance, so at the end of the season we are better ball players. Hopefully at the end of each practice we are a little better. When creating an employee development system, these same fundamentals apply. A quick, simple, timely  process for feedback, with the intent of elevating talent, will improve productivity, lower retention, and drive profits that you will see in your financial statements.

This Week’s Challenge

Do you have an employee development system in place that is designed for continuous improvement? Do you have a system in place that elevates the talent on your team on a continuous basis? Are you creating a system that gives you a competitive edge?

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.

The Problem with Competitive Benefits

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.andrew shaffer consulting competitive benefitsI am writing this week to challenge companies to stop offering competitive benefits. Almost every job post I’ve read, and company I’ve worked for has told me they offer competitive benefits. HR departments love to tell employees that their pay and benefits are competitive, to attract and retain employees. Today, I will explain why this strategy might actually work against your efforts to attract and retain talent.

The Problem with Competitive Benefits

Whenever I had an HR professional, or an employment recruiter use the words “competitive benefit package”, or “competitive pay”, I typically discount the offering. To me, this means that the company wasn’t using their pay or benefits to attract and retain talent but pay and benefits are were not going to be a sole reason for leaving.

Before I offend anyone that offers benefits, and uses that as part of a talent attraction and retention tool, offering benefits is absolutely important. Most small business owners I know struggle to find ways to offer benefits, such as health, dental, and retirement plans to their employees. I am also aware that some of these offerings can be expensive, and businesses cannot always offer “the best.” My issue is with the language.

Differentiator

My issue with using the term “competitive” is that there is no differentiator. I think advertising competitive pay and benefits implies you are looking to do the bare minimum. Meaning, if the competition lowered their standard of benefits, so would you. I’ve seen companies lower their standard of benefits and justify it because they were being competitive in the market. Using pay and benefits as a tool for attracting and retaining employees should mean there is some differentiator between you and your competitors.

What do you do if you are offering the best benefits you can afford, and they happen to be on par with the market? Or what happens if you cannot even afford to provide benefits that are on par, but you are doing the best you can? Change the language. Don’t promote it as competitive, or even as a differentiator. State it as it is, that you offer benefits, or even a comprehensive benefits package. Find your real differentiator (career path, employee satisfaction, flexibility etc.) and highlight those.

Being Competitive

I have been a part of many competitive teams in my life. The problem with being competitive is I’ve found myself on the losing side of a competition. I coached a little league baseball team that was extremely competitive. Unfortunately, we lost more games than we won, and usually by one or two runs. You don’t walk away from losing a competitive game, with the same feeling you get when you win.

In business, I’ve been in situations where a prospect or agency was taking bids for a certain project. Every time the company would spend many man-hours putting together a competitive proposal, and the company lost more than they won. Ironically, they expected to lose more than they would win. What impact does that have on morale, when people spend countless hours coming up with a proposal only to have it rejected, and to have this more often than it is accepted?

Being competitive gives the impression that you will win and you will lose. When a company is voted a best place to work, they post that all over their website, job posting, marketing material. People want to win and be part of a winning team.

This Week’s Challenge

This week, I am going to challenge you to take the words competitive out of your attraction and retention strategy. Start providing a strategy that differentiates you from your competition. Create a strategy of winning, and your efforts will be much more successful.

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.

Three Reasons Employees Leave Their Jobs

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three reason employees leave andrew shaffer consultingIt is the last week of March, and spring is officially here (although it’s not warm enough for me). Watching the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament, I really appreciate the effort and challenges the coaches have every year. Because the athletes have only a limited number of eligible years to play, and that can be reduced if a player gets hurt or is eligible for the NBA, coaches are constantly dealing with player turnover. Coaches are always recruiting talent, developing talent, and building a team. While that is unavoidable in the college sports profession, it is a profit killer for businesses. Today I am going to talk about the top three reasons employees leave, and how you can defend yourself against it.

Three Reasons Employees Leave Their Jobs

Last week I came across this fascinating LinkedIn Blog about the top three industries with the highest turnover (is your industry on the list?). I was glad to see that they took the next step and identified WHY people leave. When you know why, you can put actions in place to prevent unnecessary turnover.

Turnover is costly, in fact according to Josh Bersin, Deloitte, the costs can be up to two times the annual salary! With this in mind, it makes sense to have a system in place that minimizes turnover. Competitive pay, competitive benefits, or even an amazing reward system might not be enough. Here are some things you should include in an employee retention strategy to be successful.

Career Development

Focusing on employee development is ALWAYS a good idea. After you’ve hired someone, the time and money you invest in developing them will only benefit your company. If you want to have the best employees, that give you a competitive edge, it is much better to develop talent from within.

While I am a firm believer that the responsibility for career development ultimately belongs to the employee, the leader or manager must be a guide and a mentor in the process.  Most employees are looking to grow and develop. They want to know that their work is meaningful and that there is a career path for them. And if they are happy with the status quo, you might want to consider why they are on the team to begin with.

Managers can and should have regular career development discussion with their employees. I recommend monthly. These meetings should be structured, and result in definite actions. When the manager and the employee co-create a career development plan, and meet regularly to evaluate progress of the plan, employee productivity, then morale increases.

By investing the time for career discussion with our employees, they will know that they are making progress towards the next step. And, they will be less likely to look outside the company for their next promotion.

Management

People don’t quit their job, they quit their boss. At least that is how the saying goes. An employee’s direct manager has the biggest impact on the employee’s experience at your company. The direct supervisor is who has the most contact with the employees. They are often the face of the company, in terms of communicating and implementing policy. The direct supervisor is often responsible for merit increases and promotion opportunities.

A bad manager can kill morale, motivation and productivity. Eventually the pain becomes too great and people leave.

Some of the common mistake’s managers make (especially new managers) are:

  • Micromanaging
  • Relying on authority
  • Lack of leadership

Managers and supervisors need to be trained and understand that their job is to coach and develop talent. Leaders inspire others to take action. They inspire others to give that extra discretionary effort that sharpens your competitive edge.

Culture

I have been focusing on culture all month. Culture is simply the paradigm of any particular group. It is basically a combination of morale, company habits, and is reflected in how people treat each other, productivity, and profits. It is what makes each company unique, and why some people fit in at one company better than another company. Because culture encompasses so many different aspects, and penetrates the very fabric of your company, it is often the hardest to change.

So, there are two reasons culture can drive turnover. The first is sometime people just don’t fit. In the book The Great Game of Business, the author created a certain culture within his company that focused on certain metrics and team buy in. The author admitted that some people weren’t on board, so they left. This is also evident when companies merge or one company buys another company. There is always shift in culture and some people will just leave because of it.

The second reason culture can drive turnover is when the culture is toxic. If the culture cultivates distrust, favoritism, or discriminates against others (intentional or unintentional), these issues need to be fixed immediately and change must come from the top down.

It goes without saying, but a company needs to have an inclusive culture. Where people are free to create, risk, suggest, try, fail and succeed. Your business isn’t an open lab for everyone to work when and how they want. Set guidelines and boundaries, enforce them, but encourage people to bring new ideas to the table.  Setting the right culture from the top down, will have a noticeable impact on your companies’ turnover rate.

This Week’s Challenge

Do an evaluation at your company. Do you have a system (not policy) in place to minimize the impact of employee turnover? Does it focus on career development, management and culture? If your system is lacking or needs help in any of these areas, get to work on making necessary changes to help minimize the negative impacts of turnover in your company.

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.

How to Avoid Having Dissatisfied Employees

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how to avoid hearing i quit andrew shaffer consultingI’ve had some serious writers block today, so I scrolled through some social media to see what inspiring things people are posting, or articles that are being shared. I thought I’d write about something that seems to be on the minds of other people. I found it quite surprising, that there were a lot of articles and statistics about people quitting their jobs to find new work. One article went so far as to state 60% of all employees have quit or are considering quitting right now! Do you have dissatisfied employees? Are your employees looking for a new job? How would you know?

How to Avoid Hearing “I Quit!”

As a business owner or a team leader you know how costly turnover can be to your bottom line. Retention is especially important when you have highly skilled workers that are in demand. I recently wrote a blog on the key to retention. In today’s economy there are more jobs available than people to fill them, and highly skilled workers are in high demand.

To be completely honest, I have quit more than one job and it took my boss by surprise. When I give an honest assessment of my performance leading up to deciding it was time to move on, the signs were obvious. If your employees are displaying any of the following traits, it’s a good idea to talk with them about their future.

Engagement

For the weeks, and months prior to ever leaving a job, there was almost always a lack of engagement in my work. I was doing my work, but I’d have a tendency to procrastinate, or let a task take longer than was necessary. During this time, I would participate less in meetings, and was reluctant to volunteer for any “extra” assignments. I didn’t necessarily do this on purpose, but most of the time, my mind was elsewhere. Sometimes, I was thinking about where I wanted to work next, or other things I’d rather be doing. I would easily be distracted by non-work-related things which resulted in a lack of concentrated focus on my current job.

High performers generally have a high level of engagement. They bring excitement and enthusiasm to their work which drives them to be top performers. As a leader, it is important to monitor and observe changes in behavior in your employees. Changes in behavior, and engagement, are symptoms of an underlying issue. When you observe these symptoms, it is in your best interest to identify issues quickly and resolve them if you can.

Absenteeism

Employees looking for new work tend to miss work more often. If they are less engaged and can be doing something else, they are more likely to do so. Also, if your employees are looking for work, they are likely to take time off to attend job fairs, networking events, or even interview for another job. Unplanned or one day time off can be an indicator that someone is looking for another job.

Absenteeism isn’t always manifested in unplanned time off or time off with short notice. Often times, it is strolling in just a few minutes later than normal. Nothing completely unusual, but a sign that getting to the office wasn’t a priority. Leaving promptly and taking longer than usual lunch breaks are also signs of absenteeism. If you notice a high performer taking more time off than usual, or longer breaks than they are accustomed to, this could be a sign someone is looking for another job.

Productivity

Your high performers are high performers because they are productive. I mean these are the people you count on when things absolutely have to get done, right? Productivity decreases as engagement decreases. This can sometimes be difficult to spot, but the signs are there. High performers, engaged or not, will still be productive. They are wired that way, and really don’t know how to not be productive. However, there will be signs of slowed productivity. Maybe they are completing tasks on time, instead of beating deadlines. Another symptom could be turning acceptable work quality instead of the exceptional work they typically provide.

This Week’s Challenge

Dissatisfied employees always leave signals of their dissatisfaction. Attentive leaders are tuned into changes in behavior and are willing to take action. In an economy where the employer is at a disadvantage, and qualified highly skilled employees are in demand, ensure your leaders are watching for signs that your best talent is looking for another job. Being proactive with your employees can help you retain your best performers and keep your competitive edge.

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.