A little bit of Monday Motivation! Farnoosh Brock, founder of Prolific Living shares her insights on corporate career motivation. Some of her tips include:
1. Care about what you can control and the people around you
2. Work smarter and focus on what matters
3. Convey an appropriate and professional attitude
Think about this. According to PeopleKeep.com, it is estimated that the cost to replace an employee is anywhere from 20% of an employee’s salary for low paying jobs to over 200% for higher level positions. What’s more, we are living and working in a candidate’s market.
So just what is your company doing to keep your employees and keep them productive, successful and happy? It all starts from the moment you onboard your newest superstar and the companies I see most successful in their employee retention strategies share two common qualities.
Build and Live a Strong Culture: As soon as you walk through an office door, you know if a company gets it or not. The office environment not only needs to reflect the company, brand and culture but it must express gratitude for the employees that work there and ultimately make the company what it is. This recognition can be shown in a variety of different ways and can be something as simple as signage and something more strategic such as making sure every employee plays a direct role in the company’s success and can see their impact. Knowing that their company cares about them and appropriately rewards them goes a long way in strengthening employee retention. These companies identify what makes them different than other employers, especially the competitors, and show employees how important they are too.
Companies with higher retention rates tend to even go so far as to allow what they stand for to exist outside of their office walls. Corporate social responsibility and opportunities to give-back to the community go a long way to strengthening a company’s culture, which in turn strengthens retention. Consider giving employees time off to run a race supporting cancer research or coordinate a team building activity around helping out at your local food bank. You will be amazed at how demonstrating how a company’s culture functions in the greater community fosters employee tenure.
Active Employee Engagement: The number one reason that I hear from candidates as to why they are looking for another job is for growth opportunities. This can be addressed through transparent conversations around employee skill set and overall company direction Clear goal setting, cross-training, mentorship opportunities, and encouraging external formal education play a huge factor in employee retention and motivation. Employees stick around for a company that invests in them.
The companies who listen to their employees and actively encourage open communication get the best kind of feedback there is. I always remind colleagues and clients that the exit interview is just as important as the hiring interview for learning what is keeping employees at your company and what might be driving them away. Whether it’s through one on ones, weekly team meetings or simply a routine walk to grab a coffee, the conversations shared during these moments inform companies on just how the teams really are doing and also nip potential issues in the bud. And we all know how they can escalate and cause employee morale and productivity to drop. For example, especially if a particular position has become a revolving door of employees, what you might discover in these conversations is that the manager of that group may require some training or reminders regarding conflict-resolution, work styles, or motivational tactics. As hard as it may seem to broach sensitive topics in the workplace, it is essential to build teams with staying power.
In honor of CREW Network’s National Convention coming to San Diego this week, I wanted to share some tips on how to shape what people say about you when you are not in the room. Carla Harris spoke at the CREW Convention I attended a few years ago and offers phenomenal insight. Hope to see you there!
In September, Carly collaborated with her alma mater to host a webinar specific to the current candidate’s job market. If you weren’t able to attend, please view the webinar in the link below.
Carly Glova is the Founder and President of Building Careers, an executive search firm serving the commercial real estate world. Having determined that no executive recruiting firms in San Diego focused exclusively on supplying talent to the commercial real estate industry, Carly decided to take a risk and establish a firm that would have this specific market focus. In transitioning to recruiting, Carly used her affinity for and knowledge of the commercial real estate industry to make a difference in other people’s careers and inspire both employees and companies to succeed. What does a candidate-driven job market mean for me? What does it mean for my company? Feeling stuck or conflicted in your career choices or having trouble assessing or fulfilling the motivations of potential new hires? This increasingly prevalent market trend affects hiring and career decisions and adds a sense of urgency to the process. Carly aimed to prepare employers and employees alike for how to handle hiring and how to stand out in this war for talent. Check out her tips and tricks on how to crack a candidate’s market!
While income growth is still below what you would expect of a recovered economy nationally, San Diego’s median household is the highest of the 50 largest US metros. Median income rose 5.4% in 2017 to $76,207.
California ranks as the 5th largest economy in the world and as such, the job market continues to tighten, which also has a hand in the growing wages. The job market is still hot, especially for candidates looking for that next step in their career and salary level.
The Labor Department recently reported that initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest level it has been since December 1969.
The economy is still in an upswing and it is still a candidate’s market.
Finding the right candidate for the job is not an easy process. And for the best results, you ultimately want to ensure an all-around candidate fit. And by all-around fit, I mean a candidate’s fit with the role and pace of work, the company culture, the team and the hiring manager’s leadership style. Here are some things to think about to help make your hiring strategy more effective.
360 Company Review Believe it or not, not every company does this. Before you post the job and start the interviews, round up your own team and ask them what their expectations are for the new hire, in conjunction with their business goals and team needs. And at the same time, it never hurts to revisit your company’s overall business plan to think strategically about what employee additions are needed to align with and support company objectives to lead to success. New hires should not just be hired to complete tasks, but to further the growth of the entire organization and live the organization’s culture.
Define Success Goals You only want qualified candidates to apply for the job, so take your time when writing the job description. Instead of writing a standard job description focused on job responsibilities, consider writing a job description focused on goals and metrics that this person will hit if they are successful. Get your team’s input. And during the interview process, explain the job description clearly to every candidate so they know what they can expect and what will be expected of them. The number one reason I get from candidates as to why they are looking to leave their current job is because of lack of career growth. They have not been given any defined goals and ways to track their success.
Assessments
Using personality assessments as part of the hiring process has become common practice. Some of the more popular ones are Personality Index and DISC. Personality Index works well when compared to historical data or data about the team’s make up whereas something like DISC can be used as more of a standalone tool.
While more companies are hiring for personality and then training for skills, I always suggest using a skill set assessment (such as an excel or a writing assessment) along with the personality assessment to help get a more holistic understanding of the job candidate and their all-around fit. Also, I typically recommend conducting the assessments within a particular time frame (timed) and administering them later in the hiring process unless it is being used as part of an initial application screening.
Hiring Department Research has shown that hiring managers aren’t successful the majority of the time. I believe this has more to do with teams not having the proper tools and resources to search, find and hire the right people or the interest and drive to allocate the proper amount of time to this task. If this is the case in your company, think about providing your hiring team with training, reorganizing responsibilities, or looking to external resources. And when it comes time to interview a candidate, have multiple interviewers and decision-makers and give each one different areas to focus on during the interview.
Outreach Efforts Don’t wait for qualified candidates to come to you. With the job description and goals in hand, get the word out everywhere you can. This could be through targeted searching and outreach through your network or through proven hiring resources.
Join Penn State alumna, Carly Glova, ’08 Finance, for a Smeal Lifelong Learning Webinar, “It’s a Candidate’s Job Market: How to Succeed in It,” on Wednesday, September 12, at Noon ET/9:00 AM PST. Reportedly, the economy’s strengthening and both jobs and wages are moving up. Carly, Founder and Executive Recruiter at Building Careers LLC, will discuss how employers and employees can survive in this war for talent! Secure your spot today! https://bit.ly/2IqHZt
“When you meet someone, treat them as if they were in serious trouble: … and you will be right more than half the time.” — Henry Eyring
This idea really hits home with me. We get so caught up in our lives trying to complete one task after another that sometimes we forget that we are all connected and that we each have our own struggles. What if you genuinely asked someone how they really were, and they were able to open up to you? What if this created a deeper bond between you and allowed the other person to heal? Adding the human element of compassion for one another into your daily life and interactions could save or change someone’s life. Allow others to be heard and you will be in turn rewarded.
Go ahead and give living compassionately a try. I would love to hear how your experiences!
Published by Benjamin P. Hardy on Aug 28, 2018 on Ladders.com
This post by Jeremiah Gardner on his website jeremiahgardner.com hit home with me as I hear a large number of candidates complain about the number of pointless meeting their job description requires them to be in all day. Following these four simple guidelines can make your meetings exponentially more effective.
Each participant knows the goal(s) of the meeting
Meeting members understand what their contribution will be
