by thepeopleplan | May 25, 2013 | performance
Meet your newest employee pool: Generation Y (or the millennial generation, born 1981-2000). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they are already about 24% of the working population this year.
This month about 1.7 million students will graduate college (most born about 1990). These potential candidates have vastly different impressions of work and reward than their older co-workers (Generation X, Baby Boomers).
According to a study by Sam Houston State University— our youngest team members want “fun, feedback, recognition, open mindedness, and advanced technology” from an employer culture.
Total Rewards expert Towers Watson “2011 Talent Management and Rewards Survey” found that Gen Y-ers looked first for career advancement opportunities, as well as being interested in competitive pay and learning and development (closely related to advancement). These are not a surprising list for anyone beginning their career—they want to learn how to apply the theories learned and develop their knowledge and earning potential.
Unfortunately for you, smaller employer, these are not the rewards that you are known for. Smaller enterprises often pay a bit less than the large companies in their area, lack “formal” career paths, and also tend to be extremely informal about training and development (just in time training might be a flattering description).
The good news is that since this is the worst job market for college graduates in 20 years, you can develop a convincing Employer Brand to position your small firm as a terrific option for this bumper crop of candidates.
Here is a list of questions you can use to differential what you offer, to attract these candidates:
- What is fun about this job? What is challenging about the work?
- How do you describe the People side of your firm—the co-workers, the supervisor, the clients
- What can someone learn in this job? How will this make them more marketable?
- What technology do you have that makes the job easier, cooler, or just less hassles than other similar jobs?
- What autonomy or independence do you give your employees? How about a flexible schedule?
- What does your firm do to help people or do something worthwhile or beneficial to the community?
- Find out what similar employers pay for a similar job, and then offer pay about the same (and communicate why this is competitive)
- Bonus—Gen Y’ers are looking for a position on the web and via social media—what can you do to promote your position and also make it easy for candidates to apply?
Image courtesy of ddpavumba at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
by Diana Southall | Apr 23, 2013 | coaching, rewards
Our recent blog post showed that employees desire more appreciation and recognition, so here is a quick template for you to develop your own semi-formal recognition program.
(If you involve your team members in the development process, we will give you bonus points).
•List 3 ABC’s (ABC- attitudes, behaviors and contributions) that would improve your internal team work
•List 3 ABC’s that would improve your customer care
•List 3 ABC’s that support your organization’s core values
•Communicate list of 9 ABC’s to your employees (team meeting? poster on the wall?) and what you plan to do with it
•Make a list of when you can recognize at least one employee publicly for demonstrating one of these ABC’s
•Invite team members to recognize each other when they witness an ABC
•Take one minute to recognize an employee privately if you witness a great ABC
•Schedule and recognize based on your plan
Image courtesy of Maggie Smith at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
by thepeopleplan | Apr 16, 2013 | culture, job fit, performance
In a study by the Labor Relations Institute of NY, managers selected what they thought employees valued most, and then asked employees what they valued:
Manager /Employee rank- Job Reward
- 1/ 5- Good wages
- 2/ 4- Job security
- 3/ 8- Promotion and growth
- 4/ 9- Good working conditions
- 5/ 6- Interesting work
- 6/ 7- Personal loyalty to workers
- 7/10- Tactful discipline
- 8/ 1- Appreciation for work done
- 9/ 3- Sympathetic help with personal problems
- 10/2- Feeling “in” on things
You can see that the TOP 3 for employees were listed as the BOTTOM 3 in the eyes of managers. Hmm.. I wonder how much time and effort these managers put into these “bottom” rewards if they consider such each a low priority?
As a specialist in compensation, we regularly visit prospective clients who are convinced that their organization needs to pay more to attract, retain and motivate their team members. (And some of them do indeed have issues with pay below the market or internally inequitable.)
However, if your pay is fair for the work you expect and compared to others in your organization, one of the best investments you can make in building a terrific team is with recognition.
Recognition is practically free and creates an immediate impact such as:
- reinforcing company values
- aligning employee efforts to achieve organizational results
- appreciating specific employee efforts (then they continue to do these)
- modeling what ABC- attitudes, behaviors and contributions are valued (others start doing these)
- creating a positive work environment and culture (as more employees demonstrate the desired ABC’s and are recognized for them)
(Manager Survey Source: Foreman Facts, Labor Relations Institute of NY, 2004)
For a Quick recognition template view our 4/23 blog post
Image courtesy of watcharakun at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
by thepeopleplan | Mar 30, 2013 | job fit, performance
The Corporate Executive Board Company (CEB) analyzed performance based on information from more than 20,000 managers and their employees (40 organizations across the globe).
They found 10 competencies differentiated and identified “high performers” able to succeed in our volatile, changing “new work environment.”
These competencies can be categorized into three key areas – adapting to change, working collaboratively, and applying judgment:
Adapt to Change
• Organizational awareness
•Self-awareness
•Proactivity
•Learning agility
Work Collaboratively
•Teamwork
•Influence
•Technical expertise
Apply Judgment
• Prioritization
•Problem solving
•Decision making
According to their research, these competencies are found in about 5% of the working population. They also suggest that “The competencies essential to strong performance in the new work environment are best developed through on-the-job experience with a single company over time.”
What can your small or mid-sized organization due to develop at least part of your staff into high performers by focusing on these skill sets?
Read the full report at:
Identifying and Enabling the New High Performer
Image courtesy of chanpipat at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
by thepeopleplan | Aug 7, 2012 | action plans, culture, performance
You have rewarded your best supervisor with a promotion to manager.
She is the one person you could rely on to put out the fire, lead the charge on an install, and to get stuff done. Now you granted her the authority to lead the team and changed her role so now she has the time to “be a manager.”
But for some reason, she is not transforming the department as you expected.
You ask yourself, why does she:
- Continue to react to problems instead of implementing process improvement
- Work at the level of tactics and today’s work instead of thinking more strategically
- Struggle with holding team members accountable
- Spend more time than you expect in the field/ warehouse/ or “wandering around”
- Fail to implement those projects that have been on your wish list for months or years
Your star supervisor may have the competencies to be a manager, or may need business systems and coaching to develop these skill sets.
Here is a short list of common competencies that both supervisors and managers should have:
- Decisive Judgment
- Planning and Organizing
- Driving for Results
- Managing Others
- Coaching and Developing Others
Supervisors and managers also approach their work at different levels knowledge, methods, time horizon and involvement with process:
| Area |
Supervisor
|
Manager
|
| Change |
Adapting to Change
|
Championing Change
|
| Methods |
Motivating Others
|
Relationship Management
|
| Knowledge |
Functional or Technical Acumen
|
Business Acumen
|
| Time Frame |
3-12 months
|
1-2 years (general managers 2-5 years)
|
| Systems/ process |
Follow and support systems
|
Create, monitor, improve systems
|
If this situation sounds familiar, take a moment and rate your manager on the level of competence for each of these skills to answer the question “is she a supervisor or a manager?” Her development plan would then be designed to improve in these key areas.
Image courtesy of Master isolated images at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
