PLOTs may be found in unexpected places; here is one recent and true tale from the world of Memphis business:
Never discount the power of one great employee.
Within most organizations change flows from on high. The Commanding General/President/CEO/Chairman makes a decision, dictates that decision to those under him or her, and then expects their subordinates to enact changes according to the plan.
Those wanting to do business with such organizations (for products that would concern every member or employee) would naturally want to start at the top, in the C-Suite if possible, with someone who is empowered to make a decision. In other words, if you are selling maintenance supplies then see the Maintenance Manager, if you are a consultant, see the boss.
In the real world this does not always happen. C-level executives are perpetually busy and their time is exceedingly valuable, which means it is also very tightly managed. The consultant who is unable to deal directly with the decision maker has to depend on someone lower in the organization to not only understand their message and believe in it, and to be able to explain it, but also to carry it upward, and to continue pushing upward even if there is resistance from above.
That's asking a lot. If the boss says 'no', how many subordinates are willing to retort: "please reconsider, I think you are wrong?"
Yet one great employee might see and understand the vision of how a given product or initiative can help their organization, and is willing to risk negative feedback from above to help the organization, even if their superiors do not understand their position. One recent example from the field illustrates this perfectly.
A consultant began negotiations with a well-known name brand company that maintains franchises within regions all across the globe, including the Memphis area. The contact was the Human Resources Director, who provided the information that allowed the consultant to identify PLOTs within the company, in particular by increasing engagement and by attracting and retaining talent. The organization had recently lost a long-term employee that, by the HR Director's estimation, cost them at least 400% of their annual salary of approx. $60,000 (including benefits). The company had sent the lost employee to multiple trainings at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the employee's worth to the organization was easily $240,000, if not much more. Their loss left a void that was hard to fill.
The long-term effect was that the company had spent hundreds of thousands preparing this employee to work for someone else; that lost money was a PLOT. Had they retained the employee the money would have stayed in the company; to compensate they had to generate $240,000 in additional profit just to break even.
The consultant suggested a program deployment based on the most revolutionary and innovative benefit in the entire industry, one that study after study indicates employees want but which was brand new to the Memphis market. The HR Director immediately saw the innovative idea as a way to increase engagement, retain valuable human capital and recruit new talent. The HR Director then took the program to their superior and asked that it be given to each employee as a new benefit, at a cost so low that as a percentage of their loaded compensation plan it was what accountants call "a rounding error." The answer was 'no.'
The HR Director then asked if the employees could pay for it themselves. This time the answer was a reluctant 'yes', although the bosses did not think anyone would choose to enroll in the benefit. To the question of allowing payroll deduction the answer reverted to another 'no.' So a major meeting was scheduled for this consultant's innovative product, which would also include vendors of more traditional benefits. At the last moment the whole shebang was called off. Needless to say, everyone involved was disappointed.
In the months that followed the consultant and HR Director kept in touch. Without the consultant's knowing it, however, the HR Director kept plugging away. They knew how beneficial the meeting could be for employees and were hoping to see it eventually get re-scheduled. And that's what happened; 9 months later the meeting was back on.
This time nothing got in the way and the meeting went off without a hitch. The vendors all had great feedback, but the consultant's product had approximately a 50% enrollment rate, even without payroll deduction. This astounded everyone except the consultant; when multiple studies conclude that employees want your product more than any other, you expect high enrollment rates. The CEO was not in the meeting, but the feedback from the employees as they left the meeting was so overwhelmingly positive that the HR Director received several commendation emails.
Although early in its deployment with the company, this new product has already created tangible and obvious excitement in the ranks of the employees, and excitement at work translates to higher productivity and engagement, which translates into a profit that is no longer left on the table but instead goes into the bank. The consultant personally visited one of the company locations and two members who had signed up were so happy to be reminded of the program they broke into song! That's engagement!
One great employee almost single-handedly drove up engagement and productivity for a large work force, simply by helping a consultant understand their business, taking advice that was given and then putting those recommendations into action.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
If Business is War, Are Your Troops Ready? - Part Two
Employees are a company's greatest asset. The cost of an employee is the single greatest expenditure a company will face over time; between the cost of hiring and vetting a new employee, training them, losing productivity as they get up to speed on their job responsibilities, paying their wages, insurance subsidies (or payments to the government in lieu thereof), vacation times and other benefits, a business or non-profit has a lot to lose if that employee quits, becomes too ill to work or has to be replaced for one reason or another.
All of these costs in time and money hold true for soldiers too, only the costs are magnified. This is why some personnel procedures that work in the military also apply to business.* Because just as employees are a company's greatest asset, trained soldiers are the greatest asset of a military. The best products or services in the world are squandered if the workforce supporting them is not properly trained and/or motivated, and the same is true in the military. Examples are legion of smaller armies besting larger ones that are better equipped because the smaller force was better trained and more motivated.
Morale is everything.
Protecting the company (or military's) assets is the boss's number one task, and no asset matters more than employees (or soldiers). Nothing costs more and nothing is harder to replace than a well-trained, highly motivated employee. And, like the military, when an employee is burned out and exhausted he or she is not good for much until they have had time to rest and replenish their energy, both physical and mental.
When a military unit is worn out and exhausted, what have smart commanders throughout history done? They have sent those soldiers somewhere to rest and relax. Time off in the military is seen as an integral part in keeping the soldier in fighting shape. Yet how many companies follow this pattern? How many companies quietly discourage their employees from taking time off to refresh themselves?
The smart ones don't, the Top 100 Places To Work share some commonalities, one of which is the requirement that their employees take vacations and forget about the workplace for a while. The savvy companies know this, and great generals throughout history would agree; if Business is War, are your troops ready for the battle?
*Obviously not all military regulations apply in the business world; 20 mile hikes in the rain, for example, would be problematic.
All of these costs in time and money hold true for soldiers too, only the costs are magnified. This is why some personnel procedures that work in the military also apply to business.* Because just as employees are a company's greatest asset, trained soldiers are the greatest asset of a military. The best products or services in the world are squandered if the workforce supporting them is not properly trained and/or motivated, and the same is true in the military. Examples are legion of smaller armies besting larger ones that are better equipped because the smaller force was better trained and more motivated.
Morale is everything.
Protecting the company (or military's) assets is the boss's number one task, and no asset matters more than employees (or soldiers). Nothing costs more and nothing is harder to replace than a well-trained, highly motivated employee. And, like the military, when an employee is burned out and exhausted he or she is not good for much until they have had time to rest and replenish their energy, both physical and mental.
When a military unit is worn out and exhausted, what have smart commanders throughout history done? They have sent those soldiers somewhere to rest and relax. Time off in the military is seen as an integral part in keeping the soldier in fighting shape. Yet how many companies follow this pattern? How many companies quietly discourage their employees from taking time off to refresh themselves?
The smart ones don't, the Top 100 Places To Work share some commonalities, one of which is the requirement that their employees take vacations and forget about the workplace for a while. The savvy companies know this, and great generals throughout history would agree; if Business is War, are your troops ready for the battle?
*Obviously not all military regulations apply in the business world; 20 mile hikes in the rain, for example, would be problematic.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
The top performing American companies are showing every other company
how it's done, but not all of them are listening. A company's culture is
the Undiscovered Country for many CEOs, who are invariably trying to
squeeze more productivity out of their work force but without doing
anything radically different than before.
This, of course, is a short cut to disaster, since the latest Gallup results show that more than 70% of American workers are disengaged from their work. Therefore, those CEOs who try the same old thing over and over again are depending on employees who largely don't care about their job and are looking for a new place to work to increase their productivity with no additional motivation. And those disengaged employees are often ruining the workplace environment for the employees who do care.
Retention problems, anyone?
Forbes Magazine last year published an article on the Four Ingredients for a Winning Company Culture, the four being 1- Put Core Values First ( I would add "and live them daily."), 2 - Empower your employees to manage their schedules, 3 - Give them free lunches, and 4 - Don’t hire employees — look for owners.
The first two points are discussed more frequently than the last two, but the last two offer an interesting chance to find a PLOT where innovative thinking takes the place of worn-out business practices. Let's start with Number Three.
Where is the Profit Left On the Table in a free lunch? Forbes says in their ensuing comments that
A lot of readers will probably see this and think, “I can’t afford to do this.” But let’s do the math:
20 days a month x $12/day= $240/month per employee.
Now, do the math on replacing an employee who is poached by another company. I know it costs me way more than $10,000 to replace, rehire, find and onboard alone — not to mention the lost hours of productivity when people leave and buy their own lunch.
Replacing a full-time employee can be a crippling and unnecessary loss of profit, as Forbes makes plain. So what if you could find another program that an employee could use that would cost substantially less than the free lunch? If we do the math on the PLOT that Forbes mentions, even if they do not call it that, it has an ROI over 300%. When the company is spending $240 per employee per month, this totals $2880 per year, but helps avoid spending $10,000 or more, hence an ROI of somewhere over 300%. So what would happen if you could achieve a similar results for a third of that $2880? Or a fourth, or fifth? This is the very essence of Profits Left on the Table. find new methods of attracting and retaining employees by monetizing programs that currently have NO ROI. As the Triangle of Recovered Revenues says, it begins with "Innovate."
As for Forbes' Point Number 4, Look For Owners, look for people who are personally invested in the company. In other words, look for people who "Engage." Following the 80/20 Rule, hiring somebody just because you need a body has an 80% or greater failure rate. Instead, have a culture that attracts the best, have a compensation package that is innovative and attractive. Finding the most talented people to fill your company inevitably leads to the third step in the Triangle: Produce. A talented, engaged work force leads to much higher productivity and, therefore, Profits that had previously been Left On the Table.
Forbes' Path to a Winning Company Culture
This, of course, is a short cut to disaster, since the latest Gallup results show that more than 70% of American workers are disengaged from their work. Therefore, those CEOs who try the same old thing over and over again are depending on employees who largely don't care about their job and are looking for a new place to work to increase their productivity with no additional motivation. And those disengaged employees are often ruining the workplace environment for the employees who do care.
Retention problems, anyone?
Forbes Magazine last year published an article on the Four Ingredients for a Winning Company Culture, the four being 1- Put Core Values First ( I would add "and live them daily."), 2 - Empower your employees to manage their schedules, 3 - Give them free lunches, and 4 - Don’t hire employees — look for owners.
The first two points are discussed more frequently than the last two, but the last two offer an interesting chance to find a PLOT where innovative thinking takes the place of worn-out business practices. Let's start with Number Three.
Where is the Profit Left On the Table in a free lunch? Forbes says in their ensuing comments that
A lot of readers will probably see this and think, “I can’t afford to do this.” But let’s do the math:
20 days a month x $12/day= $240/month per employee.
Now, do the math on replacing an employee who is poached by another company. I know it costs me way more than $10,000 to replace, rehire, find and onboard alone — not to mention the lost hours of productivity when people leave and buy their own lunch.
Replacing a full-time employee can be a crippling and unnecessary loss of profit, as Forbes makes plain. So what if you could find another program that an employee could use that would cost substantially less than the free lunch? If we do the math on the PLOT that Forbes mentions, even if they do not call it that, it has an ROI over 300%. When the company is spending $240 per employee per month, this totals $2880 per year, but helps avoid spending $10,000 or more, hence an ROI of somewhere over 300%. So what would happen if you could achieve a similar results for a third of that $2880? Or a fourth, or fifth? This is the very essence of Profits Left on the Table. find new methods of attracting and retaining employees by monetizing programs that currently have NO ROI. As the Triangle of Recovered Revenues says, it begins with "Innovate."
As for Forbes' Point Number 4, Look For Owners, look for people who are personally invested in the company. In other words, look for people who "Engage." Following the 80/20 Rule, hiring somebody just because you need a body has an 80% or greater failure rate. Instead, have a culture that attracts the best, have a compensation package that is innovative and attractive. Finding the most talented people to fill your company inevitably leads to the third step in the Triangle: Produce. A talented, engaged work force leads to much higher productivity and, therefore, Profits that had previously been Left On the Table.
Forbes' Path to a Winning Company Culture
Sunday, June 29, 2014
If business is war, are your troops ready? Part One
Carl von Clausewitz was a Prussian general of the 18th and 19th Centuries. Paraphrasing his now famous comment on the relationship between commerce and war has lead to the axiom 'business is war.' This dictum has been repeated and espoused by countless notable business leaders, among them Kevin O'Leary of 'Shark Tank' fame, the editors of Business Management Daily, Jack Tramiel (founder of Commodore), Akio Morita (Co-Founder of Sony) and was a featured message at the Inc. 5000 CEO's conference in 2012. Sun Tzu was the inspiration for this message in his revolutionary work The Art of War, written in the 6th Century B.C., which is must reading for entrepreneurs worldwide even to this day.
Business is war.
The potential lessons in that simple three word quote are manifest, but instead of discussing high-level strategies or day-to-day tactics, there is one area that the military knows well but the business world largely seems to have missed, namely, organizing your army and then keeping your troops ready for battle. The lessons of warfare as it relates to business are legion, so much so that limiting the discussion to one topic is necessary if we are to even begin understanding the lessons available to us.
Successful armies throughout history have all shared certain qualities and traits that made them formidable. Examples are numerous, from the Ancient Greece of Leonidas' famed 300 Spartans holding the pass at Thermopylae against hundreds of thousands of Persians, and Alexander the Great's relatively small army of Macedonians conquering most of the known world, to Herman Cortez conquering the Aztec Empire with 500 men or Sam Houston's badly outnumbered Texans thrashing the Mexican Army of General Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto, what has mattered on the battlefield is not the number of the armies involved but their quality. Well-trained and motivated troops win battles, not mobs of dis-spirited soldiers fighting only because they must, and the same lessons apply to business.
Talent, training and motivation are the key lessons, and we will look at each of them in turn.
TALENT: All successful armies have a core of Elite troops, the most talented soldiers around whom the whole army revolves. They might be the most physically fit, the best with their weapons, display courage and leadership during battle, or a combination of all of these; they are committed to training for battle and do so relentlessly. The Persians had The Immortals, Alexander the Great had his Companion Cavalry, Caesar had the Tenth Legion, the USA has the SEALS, the list goes on and on. And while these very special troops have always been relied upon in battle to be the foundation of the army, wise commanders have also always known they are virtually irreplaceable and would never squander them unnecessarily.
Related to business these are the high achievers within an organization, the people who do not need to be told what to do every minute of the day, who take the initiative and have mastered excellence, and who, when given a task, may be counted on to finish it regardless of obstacles. They are the heart and soul of the organization, and savvy management knows it.
They are seen in their organizations as the best of the best, and must be treated accordingly, because the deadly by-product of their higher level of achievement is a much higher level of stress. Chronic Stress is lethal. For soldiers this may become Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and in the business world it could be something even more deadly: heart attack or stroke.
But the better the employee, the more that management has to be careful not to burn them out. Armies know that Elite troops need special attention, their higher level of stress means they must be rested more and rested better; and just as Elite soldiers can burn out, Elite Employees can too, if their employer is not careful.
Rejuvenating Talent is essential for success. Employees are a company's biggest asset, and the better the employee, the bigger asset they are. Protecting those assets is an employers first and primary duty; without those assets the organization cannot function. Elite employees may sometimes not take enough downtime to release their stress, so the employer must step in with concrete steps to mandate that their best talent does not burn out, or worse, defect to the competition where conditions are better.
Business is war.
The potential lessons in that simple three word quote are manifest, but instead of discussing high-level strategies or day-to-day tactics, there is one area that the military knows well but the business world largely seems to have missed, namely, organizing your army and then keeping your troops ready for battle. The lessons of warfare as it relates to business are legion, so much so that limiting the discussion to one topic is necessary if we are to even begin understanding the lessons available to us.
Successful armies throughout history have all shared certain qualities and traits that made them formidable. Examples are numerous, from the Ancient Greece of Leonidas' famed 300 Spartans holding the pass at Thermopylae against hundreds of thousands of Persians, and Alexander the Great's relatively small army of Macedonians conquering most of the known world, to Herman Cortez conquering the Aztec Empire with 500 men or Sam Houston's badly outnumbered Texans thrashing the Mexican Army of General Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto, what has mattered on the battlefield is not the number of the armies involved but their quality. Well-trained and motivated troops win battles, not mobs of dis-spirited soldiers fighting only because they must, and the same lessons apply to business.
Talent, training and motivation are the key lessons, and we will look at each of them in turn.
TALENT: All successful armies have a core of Elite troops, the most talented soldiers around whom the whole army revolves. They might be the most physically fit, the best with their weapons, display courage and leadership during battle, or a combination of all of these; they are committed to training for battle and do so relentlessly. The Persians had The Immortals, Alexander the Great had his Companion Cavalry, Caesar had the Tenth Legion, the USA has the SEALS, the list goes on and on. And while these very special troops have always been relied upon in battle to be the foundation of the army, wise commanders have also always known they are virtually irreplaceable and would never squander them unnecessarily.
Related to business these are the high achievers within an organization, the people who do not need to be told what to do every minute of the day, who take the initiative and have mastered excellence, and who, when given a task, may be counted on to finish it regardless of obstacles. They are the heart and soul of the organization, and savvy management knows it.
They are seen in their organizations as the best of the best, and must be treated accordingly, because the deadly by-product of their higher level of achievement is a much higher level of stress. Chronic Stress is lethal. For soldiers this may become Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and in the business world it could be something even more deadly: heart attack or stroke.
But the better the employee, the more that management has to be careful not to burn them out. Armies know that Elite troops need special attention, their higher level of stress means they must be rested more and rested better; and just as Elite soldiers can burn out, Elite Employees can too, if their employer is not careful.
Rejuvenating Talent is essential for success. Employees are a company's biggest asset, and the better the employee, the bigger asset they are. Protecting those assets is an employers first and primary duty; without those assets the organization cannot function. Elite employees may sometimes not take enough downtime to release their stress, so the employer must step in with concrete steps to mandate that their best talent does not burn out, or worse, defect to the competition where conditions are better.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
The High Cost of Disengaged Employees
Profits Left On the Table (PLOTS) are all around you; think Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Like that classic Science Fiction tale they silently invade your company and appear to be nothing more insidious than daily life in Workplace America; the same few people doing most of the work, the same majority of workers doing enough to get by and keep their jobs, and the same negative employees grumbling about anything and everything and generally making life miserable for everybody else. Meanwhile, something nefarious is slowly taking control and PLOTS are draining the company you own/manage/work for of vital revenue without anyone even noticing.
One of the most destructive PLOTs is disengagement, and Gallup's now-famous study on Employee Engagement provides objective and conclusive proof that the problem is far worse than most companies believe. Up to 80% of employees are disengaged from their company...80%! That means that roughly 4 out of 5 employees are either apathetic to the success of the company they work for, or are actively working to sabotage their employer! Competition is bad enough, but how can any company or organization prosper against such opposition in their own culture?
Some executives recognize the dangers of a culture that fosters such negativity and are pro-actively working to purge their company of such influences. A friend who owns a medium-sized firm selling intangible goods based on commission sales, wrote the other day that he was firing his most productive employee. The employee in question was his top income earner and top producer, but the chaos he created among his fellow employees was so great that if more than offset his personal production. His numbers were sky-high but the rest of the sales force's numbers were lagging, both because of Mr. Top Guy's negativity and the difficulty he generated in finding and keeping good sales people. He had been warned repeatedly that he was disrupting the workplace but ignored the warnings. In the end, his production could not offset he disengagement he created in everybody else.
Many employers are not quite so savvy. Yahoo! Finance recently published a list of the Worst Places to Work in America, based on reviews written at Glassdoor.com. (Link at the bottom) These companies are a Who's Who of Disengaged Employees, but one quote about Frontier Communications really stuck out: "“The reason you can't hire is that no one wants to work on a dinosaur.”
Yikes! This harkens back to the story in a previous entry about the man killing his employees with work whose answer to turnover and disengagement was to double-down on everything he was already doing wrong. If Frontier is so far behind the curve on their corporate culture that their employees see them as extinct, how likely are they to keep their best employees, much less attract the best new talent? They have to take whatever they can get, which is simply not going to be the best and brightest, who are most likely to be engaged with their success. Instead, they are probably settling for the worst and dimmest in many cases, because they need a body to fill a space. Productivity, engagement, and other measurements of a successful employee become secondary when you have to hire whoever you can, which is the very definition of PLOTs.
There is a broad answer, although details are specific to each company. Positive Innovation leads to Greater Engagement which leads to Higher Productivity: Innovate, Engage, Produce, the Triangle of Recovered Revenues.
Next time: Part Two of The High Cost of Disengaged Employees
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/america-worst-companies-152240176.html
One of the most destructive PLOTs is disengagement, and Gallup's now-famous study on Employee Engagement provides objective and conclusive proof that the problem is far worse than most companies believe. Up to 80% of employees are disengaged from their company...80%! That means that roughly 4 out of 5 employees are either apathetic to the success of the company they work for, or are actively working to sabotage their employer! Competition is bad enough, but how can any company or organization prosper against such opposition in their own culture?
Some executives recognize the dangers of a culture that fosters such negativity and are pro-actively working to purge their company of such influences. A friend who owns a medium-sized firm selling intangible goods based on commission sales, wrote the other day that he was firing his most productive employee. The employee in question was his top income earner and top producer, but the chaos he created among his fellow employees was so great that if more than offset his personal production. His numbers were sky-high but the rest of the sales force's numbers were lagging, both because of Mr. Top Guy's negativity and the difficulty he generated in finding and keeping good sales people. He had been warned repeatedly that he was disrupting the workplace but ignored the warnings. In the end, his production could not offset he disengagement he created in everybody else.
Many employers are not quite so savvy. Yahoo! Finance recently published a list of the Worst Places to Work in America, based on reviews written at Glassdoor.com. (Link at the bottom) These companies are a Who's Who of Disengaged Employees, but one quote about Frontier Communications really stuck out: "“The reason you can't hire is that no one wants to work on a dinosaur.”
Yikes! This harkens back to the story in a previous entry about the man killing his employees with work whose answer to turnover and disengagement was to double-down on everything he was already doing wrong. If Frontier is so far behind the curve on their corporate culture that their employees see them as extinct, how likely are they to keep their best employees, much less attract the best new talent? They have to take whatever they can get, which is simply not going to be the best and brightest, who are most likely to be engaged with their success. Instead, they are probably settling for the worst and dimmest in many cases, because they need a body to fill a space. Productivity, engagement, and other measurements of a successful employee become secondary when you have to hire whoever you can, which is the very definition of PLOTs.
There is a broad answer, although details are specific to each company. Positive Innovation leads to Greater Engagement which leads to Higher Productivity: Innovate, Engage, Produce, the Triangle of Recovered Revenues.
Next time: Part Two of The High Cost of Disengaged Employees
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/america-worst-companies-152240176.html
Friday, June 20, 2014
Engaging the Millennials - Part 3
If there is one truism in the business world it is that there are no truisms; change will happen whether you wish it to or not, the only question is how you and/or your company react to those changes. Trying to impose a value system on younger employees that once worked for older employees may or may not work, but if it does not, trying to force the issue will only create problems.
This is as true for Millennials as it has been since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Complaints about Millennials and their value in the work place of the 21st Century are common, you do not have to listen or look hard to find them.
"They're not ready for responsibility."
"They have a terrible work ethic."
"They only think of themselves."
Are these complaints fair? Are they accurate? The correct answer is: it should not matter. If it does, then you or your company are recruiting the wrong people.
Like every preceding generation the Millennials have their general collective traits, but even with those shared generalities there are tremendous variations in individual performance. In other words, like every generation before them, the 80/20 Rule also applies to the Millennials. If the complaints mentioned above are germane to your company, then your company is going after the 80% of the prospective employees who will do 20% of your company's work, ergo, the least talented and motivated. In all likelihood the company will spend more time and money training them, while receiving less productivity in return, than if they had simply put forth the extra effort to find more talent on the front end.
That Profit Left On the Table can be avoided, however, by recruiting only the 20% who will do 80% of the work. This will require new ways of thinking about employees and appealing directly to what studies tell us Millennials want; in other words, it will require Innovation, which is at the top of every list of concerns the top Millennials want from their employer. Innovation means 'change', and change is sometimes scary in the business world, but as I said in a previous article we are in the age of 'Adapt or Die', so for the company to be successful in the 21st Century business environment, innovation is essential.
That means more than merely designing a compensation package that adheres to an industry standard. If your company pays what other companies in its industry pay, then why should the top talent work for your company instead of the competition? The best answer is that your company should have an innovative culture that is designed to attract the best and brightest of the Millennials, a culture that is constantly being revised and upgraded to stay one step ahead of the competition.
And if this seems like a difficult task, once again innovation should come into play. Find someone who specializes in just such a field and learn from them; Millennials are capable of tremendous accomplishments, if they recognize the value in their company culture.
This is as true for Millennials as it has been since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Complaints about Millennials and their value in the work place of the 21st Century are common, you do not have to listen or look hard to find them.
"They're not ready for responsibility."
"They have a terrible work ethic."
"They only think of themselves."
Are these complaints fair? Are they accurate? The correct answer is: it should not matter. If it does, then you or your company are recruiting the wrong people.
Like every preceding generation the Millennials have their general collective traits, but even with those shared generalities there are tremendous variations in individual performance. In other words, like every generation before them, the 80/20 Rule also applies to the Millennials. If the complaints mentioned above are germane to your company, then your company is going after the 80% of the prospective employees who will do 20% of your company's work, ergo, the least talented and motivated. In all likelihood the company will spend more time and money training them, while receiving less productivity in return, than if they had simply put forth the extra effort to find more talent on the front end.
That Profit Left On the Table can be avoided, however, by recruiting only the 20% who will do 80% of the work. This will require new ways of thinking about employees and appealing directly to what studies tell us Millennials want; in other words, it will require Innovation, which is at the top of every list of concerns the top Millennials want from their employer. Innovation means 'change', and change is sometimes scary in the business world, but as I said in a previous article we are in the age of 'Adapt or Die', so for the company to be successful in the 21st Century business environment, innovation is essential.
That means more than merely designing a compensation package that adheres to an industry standard. If your company pays what other companies in its industry pay, then why should the top talent work for your company instead of the competition? The best answer is that your company should have an innovative culture that is designed to attract the best and brightest of the Millennials, a culture that is constantly being revised and upgraded to stay one step ahead of the competition.
And if this seems like a difficult task, once again innovation should come into play. Find someone who specializes in just such a field and learn from them; Millennials are capable of tremendous accomplishments, if they recognize the value in their company culture.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Engaging the Millennials - Part Two
By 2020 there will be 80 million of them and they will comprise 40% of the work force, and many companies have no idea who they are, what they want or how best to find them, hire them and motivate them to maximum production. Yet the maxim 'Adapt or Die' has never been more true; companies must adapt themselves to the realities of the workplace as it relates to the wants and needs of these new employees, the Millennials.
Engaging the Millennials, getting them to commit whole-heartedly to the culture, mission and vision of their employer, is absolutely crucial to the future success of any company, non-profit or association that pays people to work for them. But to engage the Millennials it is necessary first to understand what is important to them. Companies that try to impose restrictions that make no sense to the Millennial mind will find themselves constantly searching for new talent to replace that which just left to go work where the culture fit their priorities.
In other words, the better the talent of the employee, the more mobility they have in the job market. This is a prime example of PLOT, Profits Left On the Table, that can make a critical difference to a company's bottom line. Constantly spending money searching out, interviewing, hiring and training new talent is simply flushing profits down the drain, not to mention the negative effect such a never-ending process can have on the company culture.
Recently, a consultant called on a 40 year old company (let's call it Company X) that had once dominated its market, but which in recent years had been losing ground to competitors. The company was in a very specialized and competitive industry where expertise came at a premium, and the vast majority of Company X's newer employees were Millennials, who were naturally drawn to the industry (it concerned electronics). From his research the consultant already knew much about the company and its industry, then went about discovering details of Company X's operations.
The company CEO listened to the consultant, answered his questions, and was generally open about all aspects of his business. The most serious issue facing the CEO, who was also the owner and founder of Company X, was a turnover rate that exceeded 50% the previous year, and sub-contractors who gave Company X's competitors priority over him.
After ascertaining details of the serious problems facing the company, the consultant decided to recommend the hottest new employee initiative to hit the USA since the Wellness Program. Companies deploying the program have shown remarkable results for little cost, and the consultant recognized that for Company X the total cost of deployment came to something less than 1/2 of 1 per cent of his current loaded compensation plan for most of his employees. A no-brainer, right?
Not so fast.
The CEO's response was: "I'm 70 years old, haven't taken a day off in more than five years and my doctor says if I'm still alive in 6 months he will be shocked. My employees work 70-80 hours a week and if they had time for anything else, I would find them more work to do. We are losing so much money I'm not even sure I can keep the doors open, but I still spend most of every day trying to hire new people because everybody keeps quitting. I don't have time to try anything new, even if I could afford it! And if my employees don't like it they can work somewhere else!"
Once, this CEO had been an innovator, but he had become a dying dinosaur and he was taking his business with him to the grave. He was from a different generation and could not engage his younger employees because he could not understand them, and he refused to try. Millennials do not mind working hard, but their hard work looks different from traditional ideas of working hard. For them results matter, not appearances.The CEO of Company X was willing to let his company die rather than change an old value system that did not resonate with the available workforce; when it came down to 'Adapt or Die', this CEO chose 'Die.'
Engaging the Millennials, getting them to commit whole-heartedly to the culture, mission and vision of their employer, is absolutely crucial to the future success of any company, non-profit or association that pays people to work for them. But to engage the Millennials it is necessary first to understand what is important to them. Companies that try to impose restrictions that make no sense to the Millennial mind will find themselves constantly searching for new talent to replace that which just left to go work where the culture fit their priorities.
In other words, the better the talent of the employee, the more mobility they have in the job market. This is a prime example of PLOT, Profits Left On the Table, that can make a critical difference to a company's bottom line. Constantly spending money searching out, interviewing, hiring and training new talent is simply flushing profits down the drain, not to mention the negative effect such a never-ending process can have on the company culture.
Millennials value teamwork more than competition; they would rather work with a co-worker than against them. They are very socially conscious and want to leave the world a better place than they found it. Flexible work time is something they understand more than rigid schedules; they see no difference between working 8-12 PM and 8-12 AM, as long as the work gets done. Entrepreneurship is high on their priority list, but perhaps most important is 'work-life integration', they want to live life to its fullest, live out their dreams while also pursuing their career.
Recently, a consultant called on a 40 year old company (let's call it Company X) that had once dominated its market, but which in recent years had been losing ground to competitors. The company was in a very specialized and competitive industry where expertise came at a premium, and the vast majority of Company X's newer employees were Millennials, who were naturally drawn to the industry (it concerned electronics). From his research the consultant already knew much about the company and its industry, then went about discovering details of Company X's operations.
The company CEO listened to the consultant, answered his questions, and was generally open about all aspects of his business. The most serious issue facing the CEO, who was also the owner and founder of Company X, was a turnover rate that exceeded 50% the previous year, and sub-contractors who gave Company X's competitors priority over him.
After ascertaining details of the serious problems facing the company, the consultant decided to recommend the hottest new employee initiative to hit the USA since the Wellness Program. Companies deploying the program have shown remarkable results for little cost, and the consultant recognized that for Company X the total cost of deployment came to something less than 1/2 of 1 per cent of his current loaded compensation plan for most of his employees. A no-brainer, right?
Not so fast.
The CEO's response was: "I'm 70 years old, haven't taken a day off in more than five years and my doctor says if I'm still alive in 6 months he will be shocked. My employees work 70-80 hours a week and if they had time for anything else, I would find them more work to do. We are losing so much money I'm not even sure I can keep the doors open, but I still spend most of every day trying to hire new people because everybody keeps quitting. I don't have time to try anything new, even if I could afford it! And if my employees don't like it they can work somewhere else!"
Once, this CEO had been an innovator, but he had become a dying dinosaur and he was taking his business with him to the grave. He was from a different generation and could not engage his younger employees because he could not understand them, and he refused to try. Millennials do not mind working hard, but their hard work looks different from traditional ideas of working hard. For them results matter, not appearances.The CEO of Company X was willing to let his company die rather than change an old value system that did not resonate with the available workforce; when it came down to 'Adapt or Die', this CEO chose 'Die.'
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Engaging the Millennials
If you're a Baby Boomer and retirement is on the horizon, join the crowd. For the next two decades roughly 10,000 Baby Boomers will turn 65 every day and many of them will choose to retire. The ethic that generation learned was to go to school and get good grades, then work 40 hours a week for 40 years, retire, and then pursue whatever makes you happy, usually traveling the world.
The generation replacing them are the Millennials, who have very different ideas about work and life. Tailoring the work environment to their priorities and maximizing their talent is a very different proposition; their outlook on work-life integration is vastly different from their parents and grand-parents, as this article from Forbes points out.
In future posts we will look at the coming wave of new employees, born from the early 1980's through the turn of the century, what they look for in an employer and how best to attract and retain the best talent available from this new generation.
Engaging the Millennials
The generation replacing them are the Millennials, who have very different ideas about work and life. Tailoring the work environment to their priorities and maximizing their talent is a very different proposition; their outlook on work-life integration is vastly different from their parents and grand-parents, as this article from Forbes points out.
In future posts we will look at the coming wave of new employees, born from the early 1980's through the turn of the century, what they look for in an employer and how best to attract and retain the best talent available from this new generation.
Engaging the Millennials
Friday, June 13, 2014
Be the magnet
Innovate.
Great companies have great employees. How do they find them? How do they keep them? Top Places to Work have their pick of the best employees, they are a magnet for talent.
Any list of Top Places to Work begins with Innovation and staying ahead of the competition by attracting and retaining top talent. Outdoor Magazine's list of Top 100 Places to Work for 2013 shows what innovation looks like at these companies, and why the best employees want to work there.
Innovation as recognized by Outdoor Magazine
- make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products."the company's failure to diversify and innovate competitively"
- introduce (something new, especially a product)."innovating new products, developing existing ones"
Great companies have great employees. How do they find them? How do they keep them? Top Places to Work have their pick of the best employees, they are a magnet for talent.
Any list of Top Places to Work begins with Innovation and staying ahead of the competition by attracting and retaining top talent. Outdoor Magazine's list of Top 100 Places to Work for 2013 shows what innovation looks like at these companies, and why the best employees want to work there.
Innovation as recognized by Outdoor Magazine
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