Organizations generally want to pursue both a mission and goals, and make money while they do it. However, many factors determine a firm's success. One of the most influential is the quality of its employees.
To maximize efficiency, reduce expenses, and make the largest possible financial gains, companies need to screen out problematic employees as soon as possible, while retaining their best workers.
Screening out bad fits is part art, part science, and part lessons learned from painful experiences.
Don't let an overwhelming workload rush you to fill an open position. This can lead to bad hiring decisions, which in the long run, is often worse than not filling the position at all.
Don't let your employee management cause explosions: Keep the danger away from your team. Flickr/Kevin Dooley
You also shouldn't rush to terminate underperforming employees. Even if there's no way to turn their performance around, ending an employment contract is a complicated procedure. Even managers who do this with integrity, tact, and compassion can bring about a major discrimination lawsuit.
To reduce your legal liabilities, maintaining a written record of employee performance is crucial. Frequent feedback and performance reviews, even for hourly employees, are a good idea. Increase the frequency of your communications with problem employees, and get feedback from them to see how you can help them succeed.
Company standards and performance reviews go hand in hand. All employees, great and not-so-great, should have a clear understanding of their responsibilities, the organization's values, and its operational goals. If an employee garners a negative performance review because they were confused about their role in the company, or the tasks they were assigned to do, the fault lies squarely with management.
Background and reference checks are also useful for screening out problem employees before hiring them. While obtaining this information legally is relatively easy, it can be an intimidating process for companies trying to manage a large number of hourly employees at low cost. Consider using standardized forms and talking to an HR consultant.
Successful businesses must also retain their best employees. Popular strategies for this include recognition, cash incentives for great work, and measures to promote a workplace environment in which all employees are free to make suggestions and express ideas.
Creativity and imagination are very beneficial for all companies. The workplace should be an encouraging and supportive environment for everyone, where managers recognize that excellent ideas often come from unexpected sources. For a company that's stuck in the mud, cultivating this type of environment is like a breath of fresh air!
Companies of every size need to consider two things when developing a strategy: retaining good employees, and releasing not-so-good ones (or better yet, screening them out during recruiting). A firm whose managers effectively accomplish these tasks is already well on its way to success.
Get well on your way to success, with TribeHR's affordable software to help manage hourly employees.
Keeping employees motivated throughout their career with your firm can benefit both them and your company. You receive the benefits of increased productivity, loyalty, good work habits and a happy employee. Your employee receives the benefits of working for a company that appreciates their talents, skills and insight. This post considers the relationship between how your company values employees, and how loyally they'll pursue your corporate goals as a result.
You Are the Key
As a manager, you play a key role in keeping your employees motivated from the time they're recruited, to the day of their retirement. As a manager, you are their role model.
If you are not motivated, how can you expect your employees to be? When you show up at work in a grouchy mood, it creates a doom-and-gloom atmosphere that ripples across your workplace. Lower productivity, job dissatisfaction, and disgruntled employees are more than likely to result.
Increase your team's motivation by surrounding yourself with optimistic individuals and promoting a positive climate. Positive people see the potential benefits of every failure. Failures should create opportunities, not misery.
Make sure you have fun
Keep your employees motivated by holding fun events that bring everyone together for an activity that isn't work-related. Treat your employees to a professional sporting event, or schedule a company picnic.
Be easy to talk to
This isn't going to cut it. What else can you offer? Think intangible. Flickr/net_efekt
Open communication plays a key role in keeping your employees motivated. Make it easy for them to talk with you face-to-face. Being personable makes people feel secure and appreciated, and human interaction helps build group cohesion at all levels.
Make sure jobs are important
Everyone likes to feel that their job is meaningful. The roles you create need to have clear positive outcomes, and these need to be clearly communicated to the people who hold them. Where does each position fit into the grand scheme of things? Meaning and work must be intimately intertwined.
Knowing that their work makes a difference increases motivation, job satisfaction, and productivity. Employees want to help your company achieve its goals. When they do, they'll proudly talk about it with their families and wider social network and you will benefit from engaged employees, good PR, and wide-armed recruiting.
Give autonomy
For modern HR practitioners, employee autonomy is the highest tier of motivation. Give your employees the chance to perform the way that works best for them. They'll figure out a way to get the desired end result, and they'll be motivated to discover it.
Offer a variety of incentives
Not everything comes down to money. You can increase loyalty and motivation with total compensation. Free daycare can make finding time to work be less of a challenge for parents. Corporate retirement plans help people feel secure about their futures.
Gym memberships promote physical activity, which makes people feel good about themselves. Even small things like discounted rates to local attractions or the occasional free meal are good reminders that your business cares about its team.
Be socially responsible
Keep employees motivated from recruitment through to retirement by involving your firm in social issues. Corporate social responsibility is your firm's commitment to behaving ethically and improving the quality of life for employees, your community, and the world.
The more socially responsible your firm is, the more engaged your employees will be - both in and out of work. Employees involved in a wide variety of activities and interests can bring positive results to both your company brand and bottom line.
Getting involved in social issues can be as easy as taking part in a local nonprofit walk-a-thon, or holding a fundraiser for your favorite charity. These activities encourage teamwork, boost motivation, foster loyalty, and increase employee engagement.
Track what motivates your employees, and work to do more of it, with engaging HR software from TribeHR.
In academia, teachers and researchers are encouraged to take a sabbatical once every 7 years. It gives professors the chance to do something different, forge new relationships, and recharge their batteries and creative juices. This system works well for them.
There's no such thing as a sabbatical though, in most jobs, and after 7 long years in the same job (and often even before then), employees commonly begin to lose interest and start looking elsewhere. This "7 year job itch" can affect people in any profession, in any economic climate, anywhere in the world. When it's time for a change, it's time for a change.
These strategies are like Anti Monkey Butt Powder with Calamine Lotion, but for employee retention. Stop the itch.
Flickr/djeo
Unhappy faces, reduced social interaction, and frequent tardiness are telltale signs of burnt out, 7-year itch employees. The discontent associated with the mundane can build into frustration that ends in resignation. Keen managers and HR pros will make sure that this never happens.
Surely you already know the advantages of retaining staff, there are many: Less time spent recruiting and onboarding, faster task completion, great relationships, stored organizational knowledge, etc.
When measuring employee morale or tracking projects, pay special attention to medium term employees, as they are most at risk of the seven year itch. If you can identify what bothers them earlier rather than later, you can take steps to improve the situation. These approaches might help:
1. Offer a Role Change
Monotony is everone's biggest enemy. When employees learn to perform all of their job tasks with enough efficiency, it can quickly become very boring. An ideal job should be appropriately intellectually stimulating. If it isn't, after some time, productivity can decline quickly.
Talk to employees about their career development, and how they can align their current roles with their aspirations. Maybe they can mentor the next generation of team members? Maybe there's a similar job in the organization where their knowledge and experience would be very valuable?
If you can frame lateral moves as promotions (either of salary, of responsibility, or both), they're more likely to be accepted. This can boost your employee's sense of achievement and self-confidence. A clear development course helps to make employees' objectives clearer, and gets them more focused.
2. Offer a Break
Sometimes deadline after deadline after deadline burns your employees out. Tremendous work pressure can crack the most dedicated and strong-willed person. You should always encourage your team to cash in the paid time-off that they accumulate. If they don't have enough, consider offering unpaid time off, a cash incentive to take a vacation, or a company trip.
Employees will return from their break feeling refreshed and eager to work. Vacations are calamine lotion for your 7-year itch.
3. Release them to a different project or team
Sometimes the goals of employees are not aligned with those of their project group. Assigning them to another project or team within the organization can help move employees closer to their goals. Even if one project loses vital resources, another will gain them. In the end, if the employee comes out ahead, the organization does too.
4. Let them go
In the worst case scenario, employees feel trapped in the wrong job and at the wrong company. It's best that you separate on good terms. Help your employee find a new job. For example, a software programmer may want to become a professional photographer, or an unhappy accountant may want to run her own restaurant.
Be civil and help them pursue their dreams. If it doesn't work out, they'll be more likely to come back to your organization, or to refer a friend or colleague who would be successful in their old job.
Track employee projects to make sure that they're working on things they enjoy. Get started on TribeHR today with a free 60-day trial.
Employee turnover is inevitable for every business, no matter how much you may dislike it. Fortunately, you can reduce the threat by using only a few simple strategies.
Start by promoting company loyalty. Do this by making your employees feel like they're an important part of your firm. For example, get their advice about how to complete a project, and incorporate their suggestions into the ultimate solution.
Save the magic for birthday parties. You have more reliable strategies. Flickr/Taylor Library
When this type of success is achieved, don't keep it a secret! Share with the rest of the team. Recognition is an easy way to boosy engagement, increase productivity, and increase loyalty.
Who said rewards don't work at all? It doesn't take magic to figure out that incentives are a simple way to show that you care. Consider increasing stock options, offering additional vacation time, or covering more of your employees' health insurance premiums.
In addition to having annual year-end bonuses, consider offering them as a surprise throughout the year. Going the extra mile to make your employees smile, no matter what your strategy, is sure to keep turnover low. Employees who are happy and feel appreciated will naturally want to stick around.
Another easy way to decrease employee turnover is by making your work environment a fun place. Have contests to bring your team together, to support and encourage each other, and to achieve company goals. Enrolling your organization in a team building workshop can promote mutual understanding and cut down on frustrations and conflict in times of stress.
Project tracking and productivity tools can help you highlight which employees are your highest producers. Nuture and support these people. Consider organizing an appreciation party, or arranging for other forms of public recognition. Take pictures or write summaries to make sure that your support leaves a lasting impression.
Promoting employee engagement is another sure-fire way to decrease turnover. To encourage engagement, make sure that employee skills match their job descriptions and expectations for job tasks. As skills and interests evolve, change job requirements so that they remain relevant.
For optimal results, commit yourself and your management team to focusing on the needs of each and every employee in your firm. High job satisfaction is vital for reducing employee turnover. Recognize your employees' efforts, and meet their needs, to keep them around for as long as possible.
It doesn't take magic to decrease employee turnover. It takes loyalty, innovation, engagement, and the development of easy solutions that benefit everyone.
Track projects to identify your highest producers, and retain them with great HR software from TribeHR. Packages start at just $2/user/month. Learn more.
The economy is still struggling. Many organizations are trying to decide if they need to cut the number of employees on the payroll, or if they should wait the situation out.
Yet even in times of uncertainty, valuable, productive employees may be thinking about changing employers. Businesses that want to keep top talent must constantly work to retain their top talent. Forward-thinking employers keep their staff engaged, so that they can meet current and future needs, stay competitive, and respond quickly to changing market demands.
Organizations that invest in their employees are able to maintain higher levels of employee engagement, which is crucial to employee retention. Here are 7 tips for retaining top talent:
1. Keep Lines of Communication Open
Handcuffs can only take you so far. Flickr/TamaraWeikel
Honesty is always the best policy. Let employees know the "real deal," and keep them updated regularly. Speculation and rumor are deadly to morale. Openness is essential to maintaining trust, and employees who feel that they can trust management stay with companies longer.
2. Demonstrate Loyalty to Current Employees
Times can be tough, but losing staff during an economic downturn can have expensive long-term repercussions. Hiring and training new staff always costs more than keeping existing employees. Let your team know that the company is committed to keeping everyone on board. If necessary, redeploy staff to other departments, or ask if they'd be willing to work less hours. If star employees see that the company wants to keep them, they're less likely to look elsewhere for work.
3. Make Wise Choices When Hiring Managers
Hiring the wrong manager can cause considerable problems. Retaining key staff under a leader who doesn't fit into the company culture can be difficult. Choose managers wisely, or a poor choice might mean that key staff jump ship.
4. Be an Ethical Employer
Florida State University published a study in the Fall of 2007. It listed some of the major flaws that employees disliked in employers. The study notes that:
39% of employees noted that supervisors repeatedly failed to keep promises.
37% stated that managers failed to give credit due to staff.
31% stated that supervisors often gave them the "silent treatment."
24% were angry over bosses invading their privacy.
23% cited instances in which they were blamed to cover up the personal mistakes of a supervisor.
Star employees are leaving bad companies in droves. They're fleeing from bad bosses.
5. Offer Encouragement to Employees
Inspire your employees. Motivate them to perform. Listen to their ideas. Provide encouragement and discover how quickly they begin to champion the company. Happy employees are amazing corporate evangelists.
6. Create a Culture of Respect
Competent employees are a company's best asset. Show them respect, and expect it back. Nurture talented employees, and make sure they realize how valuable they are to you. Cultures of respect are especially important to top talent.
7. Offer Flexible Hours
Most employees want to have a good work-life balance. In some cases, great employees leave jobs they love simply because work was getting in the way of their family life. Provide alternate work schedules whenever possible, and allow employees to exercise a greater degree of control over their personal lives.
Companies that can minimize turnover during tough times—without chaining employees to their desks—consistently perform better than those who've had massive defections. Managers who want to see their company succeed should ensure that team satisfaction and engagement are always top of mind.
Could one project or task be chasing your star employees away? TribeHR lets managers track project commitments and levels of engagement, and look for relationships between the two. Learn more.
There are plenty of things that influence corporate culture, but none is more important than keeping your employees. Culture lives in your team: if your team is constantly changing, your culture will too.
Too busy or too cheap to go out for lunch? Pull together some
ingredients and have a taco buffet in the office!
Many businesses would like to work on their employee relations, but often management and HR feel like they're so busy that there simply isn't time. But building good employer-employee relationships doesn't have to be difficult or time consuming. By making a few simple changes, you can build a great relationship with your workers.
Keep Employees Happy
Happy employees, who feel like valued members of the company, will strive to do their best. They'll feel fulfilled, and they won't quit at the first available opportunity.
Unhappy employees, by comparison, are often unproductive employees. If an employee feels like just another number, or that their employer doesn't know who they are, then why would they feel the need to work hard for that employer? This is destructive for your culture.
Socialize
With the stress of the job, employees often do not get the chance to socialize with each other. This can lead to employees becoming distant, not working well together, and even arguing. A great way to decrease any office tension is to take your employees outside of the office, and put them in a fun, social environment. Taking your employees out somewhere, such as to a restaurant, is a great way to get everyone to socialize.
Taking your team into a new environment can strengthen not only your relationship with your employees, but the relationships between the employees themselves.
Be Supportive
If an employee is having a hard time, but doesn't feel like they can talk to their employer, then they won't. Unfortunately, unexpressed frustrations can have a negative effect on their performance.
Always make sure that your employees know that you're there for them, and that you'll always be fair. If they have concerns, they need to know that you'll listen without judgement, and handle the situation in a professional and fair manner.
Learn to Listen
A problem with many businesses is that management simply doesn't listen to the team. Often employees have great ideas and solutions, but don't feel empowered to share. People who feel like their ideas are respected and taken into consideration are more likely to be satisfied with their employment.
Always take the time to really listen to what an employee has to say, no matter how trivial. Sometimes the best ideas spring from the strangest conversations.
Give Recognition
It's vital that your team receives credit for their successes, both in groups and individually. Employees who don't feel valued don't stick around. Take the time to give praise where it's due.
What does you team spend its time working on? Track projects, improve commitment, and build a culture of success with TribeHR. Learn more.
It's a fact that job tenures have grown shorter over the past few decades. There's a perception that employees today are only "loyal" to the idea of furthering their own careers. But many business leaders still firmly believe in the notion of organizational loyalty. The challenge is to actually keep good employees working for you.
Workers don’t expect to stay in one company for years on end. In fact, they prefer not to. For companies, constantly replacing the workforce can prove costly. Yet even for employees, shifting between jobs can be dangerous—when the recession struck, many people who took time off between jobs were left with nothing for extended periods.
Surprise, we really appreciate your hard work! Have some money! Flickr/John Lambert Pearson
The good thing is that human resource officers, managers, and organizational leaders can employ simple ways to promote company loyalty. By making employees feel that they belong, and keeping a healthy work environment, employees are more likely to stick around for the long haul.
1. Build a team
Studies have shown that employees who feel that they're a part of the organization tend to stay there longer. This is why some employees would feel de-motivated if their manager or close workmate resigns.
An easy way to promote loyalty is to start with the smallest group. Loyalty can then be expanded and grown by building relationships into and across this group.
Many HR departments organize team building activities to foster camaraderie and loyalty. Working with their team gives employees a sense of pride and belonging, especially if they successfully reached a goal. After establishing a positive relation within teams, it’s much easier to stress the importance of teamwork across the organization as a whole.
2. Increase benefits and offer bonuses
Many employees would agree that if they’re given the best benefits and bonuses, they’d end up staying longer with a company. While this can be a superficial form of loyalty, it can also be effective. There are a number of ways to provide employee benefits, from health insurance, to stock options, to transportation or gas allowances.
Bonuses are most often awarded at year end or on special anniversaries, and should be something that employees can look forward to. But they can also be more effective when they come as a complete surprise. Instead of only giving Christmas bonuses like a broken record, award them when employees least expect it:
"Hey Jim, I know you're having a tough time with this project, but I just want you to know that we really appreciate your hard work. Expect your paycheck this week to have a little extra money on it."
Going the extra mile helps to keep employees happy, and happy employees are most likely to be productive and loyal to the organization.
3. Value tenured employees
Appreciating employees who have been working for the company for a few years will make them feel valuable and important. This will not only make them happier with their work, it will also make them think twice about leaving the company for another one. They can also be set as an example to other employees and make them look forward to staying.
Creating loyal employees is a business investment with rewards that go beyond what management can foresee. At the end of the day, loyal employees are happy employees, and happy employees are those who are most productive.
Improve your team relationships, manage salary information, and show your employees that they're a priority, by investing in engaging HR software from TribeHR. Learn more.
Employee engagement is an area in which many managers fail to deliver. “I'm too busy to deal with my staff,” and “they're all grown-ups, I don’t need to babysit them” are the common excuses we hear from such managers.
But engaging employees is one of the most basic functions every manager should perform. After all, employees overall do far more work than managers do.
Engagement isn't all about big bucks. Money will only get you so far, while effective and sustained employee engagement efforts have more lasting and significant results. It’s more about relationships, communications and emotions. But the key to employee engagement is task ownership.
Owning a task means that employees are responsible and accountable for their work. Engaged employees are partners in the growth and success of the organization. But how specifically does this relationship play out? Here are some of the merits of promoting task ownership among your employees:
1. Employees work harder
If their name is on the line, people will be more diligent in completing work on time, within budget, and with excellent results. Knowing that there will be a reward for a job well done is also a strong motivating factor for hard work. If the employee owns a task, they might even feel compelled to work extra hours just to complete it to your—but more important, to their own—expectations.
2. Employees become more productive
Engaged employees not only work harder; they also work smarter. Since they understand that they're directly responsible for completing the task, they'll find ways to do it more efficiently, but without sacrificing quality. Thus, they're usually able to finish the job ahead of schedule, then move on to another task. As a result, what others might finish in five days, they'll do in half that time.
3. Employees feel proud, valued, and trusted
Having been assigned a specific task, employees feel they're part of the “elite circle.” They take pride in the fact that they were chosen among a pool of equally talented individuals to work on a critical project. Their confidence also gets a boost, as they feel valued and trusted by their superiors. This is a strong driver for both professional and personal growth and development.
4. Employees develop their capabilities
In their efforts to prove they're worthy of the trust they've been awarded, employees find innovative solutions, think of creative ways of doing things, and develop unique strategies. They'll also want to make their mark in the company, and be known not as a regular manager, but one who has well-rounded skills and good planning strategies. Task ownership develops the skills and capabilities employees need to progress within a company.
5. Employees become more loyal to the company
As more tasks are assigned to them, employees develop a stronger emotional attachment to the company, helping it develop into “our company.” Engaged employees feel that they owe it to their company to stay and continue delivering the results. They also develop a stronger sense of partnership with organizations that have shown them confidence and trust. In the end, engaged employees who own their tasks are more likely to stay with a company, even despite other opportunities that are available outside.
Manage goals, measure engagement, and tie them both to organizational values, with HR software from TribeHR. Get started today with a free trial.
Debates for and against bonuses are rife in HR circles, with proponents and opponents giving a raft of issues for and against. But for modern HR practitioners, the debate needs to evolve beyond simply a question of how bonuses should be served, to a greater ideal of what a bonus really is and should be.
Smaller companies may not have the luxury of offering cash-rich bonuses, but they do have a range of perks and other effective ways to give "bonuses" and compete for talent.
Here are three ways you can incentivize your employees without having to throw bags of cash at them:
1. Give autonomy
This will only get you so far. Flickr/coda
Motivating employees is a hard nut to crack. Many small businesses feel they've done it all, yet employees still leave. For next-generation HR practitioners, employee autonomy is the highest echelon of employee motivation.
Everyone wants to know what they're doing and feel like they're capable of doing it well. Employers need to create the type of environment that gives employees the freedom to do their work quickly and in their own way.
To cut micromanagement and unnecessary supervision, create recognition programs that enshrine the individual responsibilities of each employee. When the program succeeds, make sure you help it percolate to every department and managerial accountability.
2. Help your employees master their profession
Boost your team's skill sets, value, and self image by offering training programs that allow them to refine and gain mastery of their work. Effort can only boost productivity when it is supported by skills.
Training workshops, task rotation, and self-improvement subsidies will help to boost knowledge transfer in your company, in a way that your team finds enriching and engaging. Motivated employees should feel that their employment is constantly improving their skills, general knowledge, and life experience.
What's more, introducing non-linear training classes for things like cooking and origami helps add value to your employee's lives, increases motivation, and boosts loyalty towards the company.
3. Provide a reason to be there
Motivation is often mistakenly restricted to monetary rewards. This is perhaps the biggest misconception that many small companies have bought into, which prevents them from going out and winning top talent.
Performance incentives are more complex than a biweekly or monthly cash exchange. Employees are looking for a higher purpose and vision. It's management's job to ensure that corporate values and vision are well understood and supported by employees.
Think about the human or social reasons you're in business: Is it to make people's lives easier? Is it to solve a social problem? Is it to create an enjoyable experience? Employees who feel that a company's only motivation is to boost the bottom line are more difficult to retain.
People will invariably tie their life purpose to their work experience. Good managers will ensure that these are complementary, not antithetical.
These three simple methods have been tried and tested by countless businesses who win top talent without having the budget to offer kingly bonuses. Implement them effectively, and you'll hear bonus clamoring drop, and productivity soar.
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Business owners know that high morale leads to a productive workforce. Employees who are mentally and emotionally engaged tend to reach their potential and work well with coworkers.
As these five ideas illustrate, creating a positive atmosphere where employees are satisfied, and band together for the good of the company, doesn't have to be a complicated, time-consuming task.
Hopefully your workplace isn't a warzone! But that shouldn't make employee morale any less important. Flickr/CT State Library
1. Ask for feedback
Employees feel valued and motivated when you take their opinions seriously. Foster an open-door environment that encourages an honest exchange of ideas. Elicit feedback through surveys, suggestion boxes, contests and brainstorming meetings. Most importantly, when employees come up with viable ideas, implement them as soon as possible, and give credit honestly, graciously, and frequently.
2. Say thank you
Sounds simple enough, but you'd be surprised at how often acknowledgements are forgotten. According to Harvard Management Update, half of employees complain that they don't receive credit for jobs well done, but that they do hear from management about poor performance.
It takes just a few moments to bolster confidence and fuel enthusiasm by giving kudos to your employees. Tell them how pleased you are with their job performance, and how much you value their contributions. Handwritten notes can hold even more significance, because they add a personal touch.
3. Have fun
All work and no play makes for a dull office atmosphere. Socializing builds camaraderie and takes the ho-hum out of the workday. Allow for some decompression time around the office by throwing parties. Mark special occasions such as employee birthdays, company milestones and holidays with cake or a catered lunch. Occasionally go big and organize an all-day, off-site event that includes friends and family, such as a company picnic.
4. Adopt an office charity
Rallying around a cause can benefit the office as much as the charity. Volunteer work on company time gives employees a welcome break and can be deeply satisfying. Reaching out and helping those in need is also good for the physical and mental well-being of your personnel.
Choose a charity that appeals to the majority. Causes that have touched the lives of employees tend to be the most meaningful. Dedicate time on a regular basis towards the community service project.
5. Encourage advancement
Employees feel valued and motivated when you invest in their future. Offer avenues for growth in the company, such as training opportunities. Educate interested employees in the newest technologies and industry advancements, either on-site or by sending them out to seminars, conferences and classes.
Boosting morale by making employees feel valued may be the biggest little investment you ever make.
Enable feedback, kudos, and employee engagement with human resource software from TribeHR. Get started for free today.