Employee Engagement

Libby Sartain, Chief People Officer at Yahoo says that “What makes a great employer brand is how it serves to attract and retain and engage talent.” It seems like we are all trying all sorts of ideas to do just that. Ms. Sartain, along with Mark Schumann, has completed a book entitled, Brand for Talent, a sample of which can be read here.  There were a couple of issues that caught my attention. They were how a talent brand must “be the strategic tool for a company to attract and retain people and survive Social Media.” Connect to article here.

In the book, the authors emphasize that there is a new “consumer of work.” This consumer is what we used to call job seekers. While the leaders of this new shift are members of Generation Y, it can just as easily be those well before Generation Y. It is not as much the age factor that is working here as it is a comfort level with and reliance on technology. These are people who see no reason to shift their reliance on technology when looking for a job. 

If these new “consumers” are not totally engaged in the organization, they will continue to look for opportunities even after they have taken a position with your company.  Their overall job performance will likely suffer if technology isn't central to the duties of the job.  Therefore, it becomes even more important to begin that engagement process at the earliest possible moment à from the time they view your application process(including addressing the social media piece) to how you ask your interview questions to how you onboard them.

This means using HR software as a cornerstone to your recruiting and human capital management processes is critical.  Applicant Tracking Software is the first interaction most of these "consumers" will have with your organization.  You want to utilize a solution that  provides the tools you need to be user friendly, technology savvy, and offers a way to express your company brand effectively.  In addition, the solution must provide multiple ways of using  social media to get your brand and job opportunities visibility in the employment marketplace.  Finally, this applicant tracking software should offer a way to ask those critical interview questions right on the application that can help ensure that a person is going to fit within the culture of your organization. This most definitely contributes in a positive way to ensuring the engagement of these "consumers of work" and their long term commitment to your organization.

Visit our website at www.exacthire.com to learn more about how our applicant tracking solutions can help you better acquire the right consumers of work for your organization.

Most of us will do more shopping in the months of November and December than we do all year. Have any of you left a store and wondered what process the company used for hiring the associates you just had to interact with.

Have you wondered if your customers ask the same questions about your staff and your company?

While we as owners and key managers feel we know how to treat customers and prospects the truth is that most of the time it is not us that interacts with this key group. So our job is to hire  people that have great Job Fit and will have great employee engagement to make a difference.

When I explain great customer service to my staff, I tell them that it is not complicated. "How does the customer feel when they hang up from talking to you?" That is how customer service is defined, and they measure it every time they interact with us.

If you want help figuring out who will be great in this crucial area of your company visit our website. In short order we can show you how to make changes in your company that will return significant results.

Visit us at www.exacthire.com to learn more.

"Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed tem-
porary jobs increased by 547,000 to 8.2 million in March.  This group has nearly 
doubled in size over the past 12 months."  Yikes.

I wish you could have been with me at the store last night.  I was picking up some essentials for dinner and making a dash in a hurry.  With the grey skies and grey parking lots and foggy complexions of my fellow shoppers, I was a grouchy as I shopped.  That ended when I hit checkout. 

"How are you?"  A simple question - but with the power and inflection behind it, I stopped and told the clerk the truth.

I'm cranky.

She made strong eye contact and said "You are choosing your mood.  Everyone here is choosing to be cheerful, and you should join us." 

Really.  I looked around and she was right -  there was perkiness and a happy vibe everywhere.  It was in the air.  I was irritated because I don't get grouchy often and I kind of enjoy it when I do.  My irritation at the world was falling away.  Grr.  Hm. Hah.

Then I went into HR mode, trying to figure out how they did it.  Did they use career personality tests?  Did they interview for job fit? Did they train their managers in Employee Engagement techniques?

I sought out the manager and asked how he staffed.  "I make sure my best people bring their friends in for an interview.  That, and we subscribe to fish philosophy, where we encourage fun and "being in the moment".  If we do that, the success of the store will follow."

Well said.  If the store's customer service levels are important, then a happy shopping experience will surely follow...

Employees who are more engaged are less likely to leave when things get tough. Their persistence translates into positive effects on the bottom line. Today’s workforce, particularly high performers, want their work to resonate with their core self, their reason for being.  Imagine the increased contribution from a passionate staff whose roles are aligned to their core interests and capabilities, engaged to contribute their full measure.  It forms the infrastructure of the organization’s culture. Its strength is the organization’s strength. 

This - the impact of passionate people doing good work - is the reason I'm so passionate about increasing the standards in hiring, in using applicant tracking and assessment software, and in implementing good talent management tactics. Care to join?

As I listen to the automated voice outlining my customer service options (I think she was on number 8, so I had plenty of time to contemplate), I ponder business articles I’ve studied with advice on customer service being the key to distinguish your business as one of the best.  Success = Profit.  Okay, then why do we so often find ourselves trapped on the phone with a telephone tree more often than not?

If you would ask these companies why they do customer service this way, they would probably tell you the reason is cost savings.  But, how do they assess the losses from customers leaving their company and going to a competitor because of the personal one-on-one service they get from the competitor?

Consider this—if your customer is welcomed and supported by an engaged, committed customer service representative who makes that customer feel a part of the “family,” it just makes sense that a new customer becomes a loyal customer.   
 

Now, you know a  great customer service representative when they serve you.  BUT, how do we define those successful traits and bring them through the hiring process for a perfect job fit?  Good news!  Through preemployment testing, applicant management, human resource planning, successful talent acquisition can be achieved through thought-provoking pre-interview questions created through Pre Employment testing.  Thus, change the nature of your hiring process!  How do you do this?  ExactHire can teach you how to do this.   Now that’s cost savings! 

My final employee engagement recommendations revolve around creating employee satisfaction, by creating a future and perfect job fit.  Human resource planning should include the following steps.

FIFTH: Make your on-boarding process of new employees unique. Your goal should be to have the employee go home at the end of the first day and tell those closest to them that their first day with your company was the best first day they ever had. There are many ways to make your employee engagement special.

SIXTH: Develop a mentoring process in your company to make sure your new employee is immersed into your company as efficiently as possible. This is especially important when you consider the generational diversity we are all facing in the workplace and the timeline that younger employees use to judge whether they have made the right decision.

SEVENTH: Communicate the career path options that employees have and be clear as to the expectations you have for them to be considered for these other assignments.

EIGHTH: Talent management also involves employees in decision making and open communication with them. The more knowledge they have, the more they can offer your company. The more they feel part of the company and the process the better the results they’ll produce.

LAST: Warehouse the candidate data and new employee information you have obtained in a secure website. This allows you to develop analytics, feedback loops and meaningful metrics. Then evaluate your processes for higher performance payback. This will help as you search for new candidates as well as manage those you have hired. This information can also be used to show candidates that you understand how to manage the human capital component of your business.

I do not have to tell you that the competition for top talent is getting more intense. Furthermore, we all are noticing that the younger generations entering the workforce are not as patient as the baby boomers that are retiring. As business owners, we do not have as long to "get it right". The generation X and Y employees are quicker to judge and to correct a decision they feel is not a good fit for them.

By implementing these processes, you can leapfrog your company right over best practices to NEXT PRACTICES. You will improve how your organization manages talent acquisition and develops human capital; the capital that delivers the world class customer service that truly differentiates your company from the rest.

Because as I always say "it's all about people"!!

As business owners, we ALL worry about having enough capital to run our businesses. Most of us immediately think of financial capital. Without cash, we are out of business. However, I suggest that the most important capital we contend with is the human capital of business!

Why “Human Capital”? 
It is clearly the most complicated component is talent acquisition and talent management. In fact, once our companies grow and we solve the cash situation, the people factor remains. Furthermore, it’s the human capital part of our businesses which interacts with our customers on a daily basis. What is more important than that?!
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Jim Collins in his book “Good To Great” stated companies having the best culture and most engaged employees have the highest market value.  These two factors almost always result in higher profits and fewer headaches in running our businesses.

I have always believed the following when it comes to running companies:

If I want HIGHER SALES and PROFITS, what will differentiate my company from my competitors will be:

• UNFORGETTABLE CUSTOMER SERVICE: the type that customers talk about and benchmark their other vendors against!

o This type of service is delivered by…ENGAGED EMPLOYEES who deliver SUPERIOR JOB PERFORMANCE.   

o Remember that how you treat employees is how they will treat your customers. It is a simple rule that works.  

o Therefore, you need to make sure employees FIT THE JOB and the CULTURE of your company.  Most of us do not spend enough time in this area.   This should happen during the hiring cycle.

Next week, I’m going to talk to you about the hiring cycle and what is involved in human resource planning so………..stay tuned!

Reading the newspaper (yes, actually the paper version...) it became clear that all of the business stories were focused on financial metrics.  They seem to have forgotten that no matter what, you HAVE to know your people….

Fact: As your organization changes shape and direction, the selection and motivation and management of staff make all of the difference in building a high performance culture.  If you have to restructure, change shape or downsize, knowing your people is equally important.

The only question that remains is, how do you do it?  Assessments?  Talent Management?  Employee Engagement?

As an extrovert, I hate this point, but you have to get better at listening...and you have to pay attention for the smaller details.  Those details can come from watching, from listening, and from building metrics that matter into the management process.

I'm doing some significant research on current metrics - and how to apply them early in the hiring cycle so that job fit is more likely.  Any advice on what metrics you are using will be welcome in this forum...

Then, there was a magical moment about halfway through where everything stopped and the world suddenly became more complex .  Objective feedback appeared that we were not expecting.

It had begun simply enough, with a discussion of how assessment tools might be applied to measure job fit, leading to the secondary ability of measuring engagement.  Fine so far.  We had all agreed that leading edge indicators were superior to trailing edge indicators, and the challenge was figuring out leading edge indicators that made sense.  My point was that most people in the room were measuring turnover, a trailing indicator because the individuals that are a part of it had already left the organization when they were measured.  On the surface, employee engagement seemed to be a better metric because it was a measurement of people who were still a part of the organization, and therefore a leading edge metric. 

I asked for further input, and got it.  A woman leaning against the back corner quietly asked “Isn’t it true that high performing people would challenge the system more than mediocre people, and therefore high performing people would score worse on engagement metrics?”  Well.  Interesting.  Most people in the room leaned back from their note taking, thoughtfully started chewing on their pens, and nodded in agreement.  The discussion immediately took an unexpected turn, and several audience members have volunteered to give me more data on the subject.

To me, the most important point was not that high performers may score differently on engagement assessments.  The most important point is that we must always keep feedback loops in place, to make sure that what we think we’re measuring is actually reflected in real life. 

It is human nature to see the world through the filter of what we already know.  For our work in measuring human capital and applying modern assessment tools to human resources, we must always remember to keep objective the backboards in place to keep us on target. 

Simply put, I hope this blog can be a part of your personal feedback loop and keep you on target. I look forward to the challenge.