THE HIRE SOLUTION • Oakbrook Terrace, IL • 630.953.7370 • info@thehiresolution.net

Home

What Scares You the Most?

Let's agree that hairy spiders, venomous snakes, small spaces, really high places and clown faces are a given. Okay, maybe my given.

What about business scares you? For years, employers told me their biggest fear was hiring the wrong person. That wrong hire could lead to headaches and pettiness at best and damaged customer relations and lost revenues at worst. After that the process to develop a paper trail to get rid of them without repercussions. And finally, the painful decision to begin a new search. That's what employers used to say.

Now, according to an online survey by Diversi Corp called The Business Sounding Board, fears about a wrong hire moved into the number 4 spot.

What is the number one fear of small business owners today?

17% of respondents named lack of revenue or sales.

11% named lack of adequate financing.

6% named healthcare costs and employee benefits.

4% named lack of qualified employees/candidates.

2% named lack of equity capital.

Small business owners have always kept a watchful eye on the bottom line. And small businesses always worried about slow cash flow and difficult collections. Those worries centered on getting paid and getting paid in a timely manner.

These last few years have moved us from collecting the cash to creating the revenues. So we hunker down and hold our cash close...we keep pursuing sales...we spend thriftily...we look for value...we look within ourselves and to trusted colleagues for the answers.

If your resource pool isn't as deep as you need for this economy, if you need advice, direction or solid referrals for any area of your company, from marketing to equity partners, or if you're short on colleagues because it's just you, consider contacting SCORE.

SCORE is a nationwide, non-profit organization dedicated to helping the owners of existing and start-up businesses assure that their businesses grown and prosper. They offer one-on-one mentoring at no cost and provide a variety of Workshops and Webinars on topics of timely interest. This is mentoring your money can't buy! www.scorefoxvalley.org

For employers concerned about finding good employees there is a wonderful resource available. It is the National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC). This is a portable, evidence-based credential that measures essential workplace skills and is a reliable predictor of workplace success.

Visit (http://www.act.org/certificate/) to get more information or you can contact Barb Tartaglione (Dupage Workforce Board) at 630-955-2082.

Think Inside The Box

Wait.... think "outside" the box, right?

So, what's wrong with the inside of the box?

If the box doesn't come with social media; if your box doesn't have a fan page, a LinkedIn profile or if the box cannot Tweet, well, you have to get outside of it and...

And what, exactly?

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke commented that the economy is still sluggish. Is it sluggish inside the box? Would moving your efforts outside the box improve the economy or at least your business?

What's outside the box? Can you bring things from inside the box with you? Things like customer visits (the in-person kind) or handwritten notes or phone calls or printed collateral (we used to call them handouts or leave-behinds).

If you're a small business owner, the hype and stampede to leave that box behind appears daily in the forms of emails promoting seminars, webinars and skypeinars (I made that up).

There is no end to the advice from coaches, marketing coaches, business coaches, sales coaches, personal coaches, career coaches, transition coaches, and balance coaches (life balance not aerobics).

Anyone under forty years old tells me I need all the Social Media I can generate, that I need it all, but who or what comes first? Do I learn to tweet before I friend someone? Whom do I ask to link to my professional network?

We know we must keep moving, keep evolving or we'll get left behind in the dust of archaic practices and equipment. While packing up to move my office two months ago I found a Dictaphone machine still in the original box, an IBM Selectric typewriter with several font balls and a check writer (manual crank) next to the typewriter.Even the local thrift store doesn't want them!

We've learned to embrace technology. Our now-obsolete cell phones have morphed into "androids" (though they sure don't look like R2D2 or C3PO). Most every job on the planet involves computers in one way or another. E-book sales have surpassed those of printed books. So now, we have a fan page (please go there and like us) and we have a profile on LinkedIn. We have not ventured into the world of Utube--too scary!

Just about the time I became moderately adept at email marketing through Constant Contact, my coach (you guess which kind) told me Tweeting and communicating via FB is replacing emails as the preferred method of communication.

So small business owners, managers and supervisors: are we all the way out of the box? One leg over or maybe just peaking out?

While I am embracing Social (living in an organized community, not solitary) Media (method by which information is conveyed to the general public), I'm going to call you from my land line, maybe invite you for a coffee or stop by and drop off a brochure. Just for old times.

Any one out there remember this land line?

Retention After Recovery

What encourages loyalty, promotes enthusiasm, reaffirms commitment and results in employee engagement?

Pay raise

Promotion

Perks

Recognition

Work-Life balance

Benefits

You can't give raises? You can't offer more benefits? You can't approve promotions?

You're not alone.

Most companies now are not in the position to do any of the above but loyal, hard-working employees are hard to find. It is in every company's best interest to retain and motivate their current employees.

How then can you position yourself to hang on to the top notch employees - your stars? As the economy recovers, business owners will turn to their employees to meet the much needed and longed for growth. As they position their businesses to recover the last thing business owners want is to discover that their work force has been rifled and poached, lured away by a promise of more.

Conversational wisdom, concurs that most often, the best employee is the one who is employed. Are your employees vulnerable?

Employers can take several steps to keep employees from leaving; even when a competitor offers a higher salary.

Do you:

Communicate appreciation

Acknowledge accomplishment

Recognize effort

Convey gratitude

Recognition drives performance and retains employees. Several surveys complied between 2007 and 2009 revealed that 70% of employees who work at companies that have recognition programs said they still planned to be there in a year whereas only 24.7% employees who work at companies that didn't have recognition programs said they thought they'd still be there in a year.

People need to feel appreciated, valued and recognized for their contributions to the success of the organization. On a daily basis people need meaning to their lives and where do they spend most of their lives? The issue is to let employees know that the work they do is valued and appreciated. Let them know that they are important to the company's growth and success.

When employees perceive they are not appreciated they either look elsewhere for their "just desserts" or they continue at your company without energy or enthusiasm.

Recognition is inexpensive and extremely effective. Recognizing staff doesn't always need to involve money. Sincere and genuine thanks in the form of awards, products & services discounts, length of service awards, awards for excellence, birthday & anniversary celebrations and notices don't require a large outlay of cash.

Whatever you choose to do, make it known throughout the company. A personal "thanks, we couldn't have done it without you" is wonderful but a public recognition energizes the recipient and motivates everyone else to get some of that recognition for themselves!

Sit down for 30 minutes and brain storm all the low cost ways you can recognize your staff; pizza day when a department hits their numbers, traveling trophies awarded each week to the CSR who handled the most calls, the telemarketer who set the most appointments, a cook off (complete with gag medals) between sales and accounting, end of the quarter cookies for the accounting department, quarterly raffle for special parking place for the quarter, a spa massage or a housecleaning coupon.

Remember that most service providers could be willing to discount their services to you or even offer a no cost sample of their work for the opportunity to promote their business to your employees.

'Way to Go' if your company already has programs in place. If you don't now might be a good time to put recognition in the budget and in your mindset. This is the little bit of prevention that is worth the pound of cure.

Moderate Hiring in Q4

Last month's newsletter focused on the new norm. Before the website poll self-destructed we gathered some interesting results.

The questions were basic:

Will you be likely to hire in the 4^th Qtr of 2010?

Will you be likely to layoff in the 4^th Qtr of 2010?

Will you be likely to hire in the 1^st Qtr of 2011?

Will you be likely to layoff in the 1^st Qtr of 2011?

Only 26% of the 700 recipients took the poll. Within that framework 9% of responders plan on hiring while 3% plan on laying off in the 4^th Qtr of 2010.

14% of responders plan on hiring in 1^st Qtr of 2011 while again 3% plan on laying off in the same quarter.

An employment agency is usually a harbinger of recovery from recession. Many people think agencies must be successful because so many people are in the applicant pools. As my old boss used to say "The best candidate does no good without a company that's hiring."

People think companies have a simple job posting an ad and waiting for the resumes. Those people don't realize a glut of hundreds of unqualified resumes result in a critical time drain to an already under staffed company.

What's the hold up?

Uncertainty about real recovery, loss of confidence, lack of available credit, Mid-term election results, unsustainably of sales, slow growth,

or any number of reasons offered by everyone from Ben Bernanke to Joe the Plumber.

What's the solution?

A study, on stress in the workplace-from the perspective of business owners, done by a group of psychologists working through Duke University suggested many methods to de-stress and re-focus the efforts of front line business owners.

I've included the one I like and will attempt to follow through the end of the year.

The solution begins by answering this one question.

What one thing would you do with your company if you knew you could not fail?

Every business owner has a dream for their business. Give yourself the time and give yourself permission to fantasize about how your business would look if you did this one thing that couldn't fail.

Once you have your answer the study recommends you turn your focus and resources on changing your belief about the possibility of your choice by adjusting your behavior on how you implement the answer.

It doesn't matter how small a step you take; even writing down your plan is a step. It doesn't matter what timeframe you use as long as you stick to the schedule you set. It doesn't matter how others perceive your dream. It is your heart only that matters and that can make a change.

The New Norm

We don't mean a replacement for Norm Peterson from Cheers!

86% of adult workers feel the economy is still in a recession. The new norm is that companies are not giving back what they took away. They might give back some of the benefits but not at the same richness. The new norm is an increased cost to employees for in some cases less benefit.

The current survey, completed by the Society of Human Resource Management's, Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE), indicates that hiring during the end of the third quarter of 2010 will follow the current trend of modest job additions to the private sector job force.

34% of employers deal with low morale. Supervisors and managers are talking to each other and discussing ideas to engage employees and retain their talent.

How is morale in your company? Do you "know everyone's name"?

Simple common sense ways to build morale and re-engage your employees' mind set and focus.

Build TRUST. Respond to questions about the company's intent to cut personnel, hire personnel or hold steady. Discuss changes to existing work schedules and benefits. Explain what cuts must be taken and how the decisions were reached.

Encourage TRANSPARENCY. Discuss challenges on the table for management/ownership. Help employees understand what is expected from them and show them they are valued and respected. Security based on trust is needed to build an engaged work force and an innovative, exciting environment.

Manage TALENT. According to careerbuilder.com 32% of employers are concerned about losing top performers in their company.

What will keep your high-performing workers happily tethered to your company?

Career advancement opportunities

· Will your gen x people ever take over the corner office from your "not ready to retire" baby boomer?

Work culture

· Is the environment at your company one of trust and appreciation?

Financial Stability & Growth Potential

· Does your company have sustainable & renewable growth and revenue streams for the long term?

Training & Learning

· Does your company offer continuing education opportunities and position specific certifications?

Less stressful environment

· Do you outsource projects or bring in outside labor to ease work overload?

· Are there family friendly policies in place?

Flexible with work arrangements

· Are there programs for flex-time and job sharing?

· Can employees do a 'remote day' and work from home?

A sense of ownership in position

· Do employees fee they can make a difference?

· Are there opportunities for suggestions and input?

Camaraderie

· Does your company profess a family-like work environment?

· Are there gatherings outside of work to initiate employee socialization with families?

Employers who have or can develop a management model that fosters trust and confidence will retain a talented, engaged workforce. That workforce will engender company growth and reinvestment--the ultimate bottom line win-win.

More Articles...

<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>

Page 1 of 2

Polls

What is the number one fear of small business owners today?

	Lack of revenue or sales
	Lack of adequate financing
	Healthcare costs and employee benefits
	Lack of qualified employees/candidates
	Lack of equity capital