A ferocious three-headed monster is using deception and distraction to damage you, your organization, and your people. Your organization’s attempts to create an environment where people make good money, enjoy their work, and are happy working for you are continuously thwarted by this ravenous monster. Its three heads feed on a diet of high employee turnover, inability to recruit the people you need, and a widening skills gap.
Back when I was tasked with solving the talent management problems for our industrial supply company, I knew nothing about the three-headed monster I was battling. Eventually I learned there were multiple issues feeding the monster.
For each of the monster’s heads, I waged my attack as follows.
1. Eliminating high employee turnover
My quest began by determining the root causes. Using information available from our payroll system, I was able to find answers regarding what, when, and who. Then, reviewing exit interview and developing confidential communication channels to ex-employees, we found reasons pointing to why. This gave us a good look at how the monster had been hurting us and how we could measure improvement.
A major symptom we uncovered was holding on to bad employees. Our need for “warm bodies” meant we kept unproductive employees around. This led to a culture where bad employees stuck around while good employees left.
To combat this, we found the reverse was also true: If you discipline bad employees and reward good ones, you end up with fewer bad employees and more good ones. What’s more, some of the bad employees will become good employees because they see the rewards.
My next challenge now confronted me.
2. Tackling recruitment for chronically open positions
Have you ever thought, “I can’t find great employees, or even good employees.” Every time I hear this, the employer’s finger is pointed at the candidate. But the real problem is that employers are obligated to know what they’re looking for, who they are as an employer, and why candidates should choose them.
Employers also have the obligation to provide that information to the candidates. When they do, the quality and quantity of their candidates goes up. But first it means taking the time to define in detail what the target candidates look like, and what five reasons a candidate would want to work for them.
Build an employer brand and marketing scheme that will resonate with the best people in the industry. To start, we reviewed the marketing material used to sell to our customers and retooled it for recruiting employees.
Another recruitment strategy was thinking beyond simply posting openings online. I had luck posting in a bar in a large metro area that catered to the blue-collar side of our industry, along with on a laundromat bulletin board
Now on to the final head of the monster.
3. Battling to retain skilled talent
Keep in mind that the employees who have desirable skills have lots of options. Getting into a bidding war for a person with a desired set of skills is only feeding the monster. People hired for money will turn around and leave for more money.
The better candidates are looking at how they’ll fit in, grow, and be challenged in the future. They’re looking for a clearly defined path — including the training, experience, and accomplishment standards for success — and they expect the organization to provide it. When an organization has this as a recruiting tool, they’re able to recruit, hire, and retain the type of employees they want and need.
Toward this end, I created Value PathingTM for positions requiring an extended training period. It involved value-based compensation that matched the rising value of our employees. They were allowed to set their own rate of advancement within the requirements of the path.
Ultimately, Value Pathing reduced our training period and enabled us to reap multiple benefits — a reduction in the cost of training, the ability to increase revenues more quickly, putting money in employees’ pockets as soon as possible, and providing trained workers for our customers. What’s more, it made our company a destination for the best people.
Your people are your greatest asset and you must invest in them to get the results you want.
By using the tactics above, the monster eventually lost his grip on our organization and our people. And once we slayed the monster, people recognized the absence of the symptoms it had created. Our people were bragging about us to family, friends, and people they ran into.
We were pleasantly surprised the day an entire crew that worked at another industrial plant decided to come and work for us. They didn’t want more money. They wanted a solution to their problem. After they came to work for us, we ended up taking over the whole plant in one day. The result was millions of dollars of revenue and immediate profits.
That’s how it works. You reduce your turnover, learn how to recruit, stabilize your workforce, and your organization can move into new opportunities and grow the business.
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