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| Volume 8, Issue 1 |
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In This Issue:
 The many faces of employee engagement
Focus your team with stories
How to hire, train, and retain great employees
 Career killers
 Mentoring millennials
Customer service critical
 The office: The bad and the ugly
 Recruiting to ensure hiring employees successfully
Interview thank you letters
How to manage a deadbeat employee
 Best corporate practices 2008
The home equity crisis ahead
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The many faces of employee engagement
For Britons and Americans it is all about respect. For workers in France and India it is the type of work they are doing. For Germans it is who they work with.
And for the Japanese, it is pay. Employee engagement, it is clear, takes many different forms around the world.
Workers around the world are fired up by completely different things, according to new research, meaning that a global, one-size-fits-all approach to employee engagement will almost inevitably be doomed to failure. A study of workers in 22
countries by HR consultancy Mercer has found sharp differences around the world in what makes workers tick. Employees were asked which of 12 factors most influenced their engagement at work, with surprisingly varied results. Overall, respect was
identified as having the strongest impact on engagement globally, and was the top factor noted in the UK and U.S. But it was notable that in Japan – where respect is much more of a "given" in society and culture in general – it was considered a much
less significant driver of employee engagement. Similarly, workers in France and India cited...
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Focus your team with stories
"We sit through seminars, sermons, and speeches of all types, and what we remember most are the stories." If you're leading or building a team, Annette Simmons has a question for you: "What's your story?" Not your personal background or
what you've been doing in your team building efforts. Not fishing stories, hunting, or war stories.
She wants to know what story you're using to focus your team and draw it together into a cohesive unit. Simmons, whom I first met in 2003, is author of several books, including
Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins. She says we can study just about any inspiring leader and we'll find someone who can tell a story that drives home a point – all the way
down to a person's core. Think about it. We can sit through seminars, sermons, and speeches of all types, and what we remember most are the stories. Why do stories work?...
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How to hire, train, and retain great employees
Where I live (in Idaho), the cost of replacing an employee averages somewhere between $17,000 and $31,000. Employees making over $60,000 per year cost more than
$38,000 to replace. The problem for most employers? Many of these costs are hidden and spread out, so they don't glare at you as a single line item in the budget.
When I present these figures during a training session, some people scoff and say it can't be true. All I can say is don't shoot the messenger. These numbers come from the Department of Labor and the Society for Human Resource Management. What about
entry-level workers? Surely it doesn't cost $17,000 to replace them? Usually true, but it still costs more than people think. A few years back I conducted a workshop for a retail Mall Merchant's Association. In an exercise during the workshop, the
merchants discovered that among their own group, $2,000 was the least amount it cost replace an entry-level employee. If you're an employer, how much time does it take for you to earn $2,000? If you make $50,000 per year it's 80 hours. If you earn
$100,000 per year, it's about 40 hours. If you earn $200,000 per year, it's 20 hours of precious time. Therefore, if you could get something done in less than 20 hours that helped you retain just one entry-level employee, you'd be saving money. That's
an amazing claim, but do the math. Then calculate how much time it takes you to earn $17,000. Then calculate for $31,000. Those are realistic costs for replacing just one employee. From this, it's pretty obvious we need to do more than find great
employees; we need to keep them, too. To keep them around, we must examine the real reasons employees leave. Most say it's because they're seeking better pay. Wrong
answer, try again. The Harvard Business Review reports that the number one reason people leave is...
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Career killers
Kudos to the paltry 14% of us who keep New Year's resolutions. The vast majority--a full 86%--go right back to our counterproductive ways as it relates to personal health, careers, relationships, and otherwise. Forgo the ever popular New
Year's resolution to lose weight and, instead, commit to avoiding a simple list of career-killers that so often result in hearing the feared words, "You're fired," again and again in the course of a career.
Avoiding these seven deadly sins will also help individuals balance their "whole life" and assure they are ready to take on new workplace challenges as they are presented--and execute them well...
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Mentoring millennials
Generation Yers—also known as "Millennials," need their iPods, Xbox, and Avatars, but guess what? They also need mentoring.
Two summers ago, I was invited to speak to the board of directors of the National Association of Law Placement. Half-way through my presentation, one attendee, who happened to be the head of recruiting for a major New York City law firm, burst out
laughing. I recall thinking, "That's strange. That wasn't a designated laugh line," at which point the attendee apologized and said, "Oh Mary, I'm sorry. You just have to hear this." The recruiting professional then clicked on her BlackBerry and read
aloud a message she had just received from one of the firm's newest summer associates: "What's the firm's policy regarding wearing a bra to work?" It was time for a little mentoring. Employers across the country are bracing for the arrival of
the Millennials, a generation of new workers born in or around 1982. The Millennials represent the largest, healthiest, and most cared for generation to ever enter the workforce. This also is a generation with very little real work experience. Boomers
likely recall, with pleasure or disdain, after-school and summer jobs they landed throughout their youth. Many Millennials, by contrast, were encouraged by their parents to forego flipping burgers, or mowing lawns, and focus instead on building their résumés. While some Millennials boast they climbed the Himalayas, and helped excavate Machu Picchu, many have little idea about office life. To help Millennials quickly integrate into the workforce, organizations have instituted formal mentoring programs for them. The way it works is...
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Customer service critical
As new research hits the news feeds this week, there now seems little doubt that recession is on its way. Americans of all classes are cutting back on spending and consumers now demand top value for their hard earned dollar.
What's that mean? Customer service is becoming even more critical to your organization's success. Keeping this emerging trend, and the knowledge that most customer service is now performed over the phone, in mind, The Ascent Group
conducted the Call Center Strategies 2007 survey at the end of last year to find out what works—and what doesn't—for company call centers in a variety of industries. Call centers were analyzed in three main categories: cost per call, productivity and
service. The study also looked at service stats in several sub-categories, including abandoned calls, calls resolved on first contact, agent availability and average speed of answer. "By examining call center performance on several dimensions,
companies can understand if service is being compromised by cutting costs, or conversely, if a company is spending too much to attain a high service level," the study says. The Findings...
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The office: The bad and the ugly
Seven signs that your employees detest you. (By you, of course, we mean some other boss.) There's a reason Dilbert, The Office, and their ilk are so popular.
Satire gets old fast, but the appeal of realism endures. And the real world, sadly, is full of lousy bosses.
Someone ought to do a study on where these louts come from. Were they abused by their own bosses? Did they toss overboard the ballast of human kindness to hasten the ascent of their career balloons? Or is this an example of absolute power
corrupting absolutely? Such research might also demonstrate how ubiquitous miserable managers are. The proliferation of boss-bashing screeds with titles like When You Work for a Bully, Nasty Bosses, and How To Work for an Idiot suggests a plague. A
few months ago I enumerated five ways in which bosses could be great. A bookend column about bad bosses would never fit in this space, because while goodness tends to be monochromatic, badness comes in every color of the rainbow. But bad bosses of
all stripes evoke similar responses in employees; consequently, you can often tell that people hate you, even if you're not sure why.Inc. readers, of course, are all purebreds among top dogs. But on the off chance that a misfit manager stumbles
across this page, here are seven signs that you are a bad boss...
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Recruiting to ensure hiring employees successfully
If you've read this site for any time at all, you know that I am a big fan of identifying the characteristics, traits, skills, and experience necessary to perform the job before the hiring process begins.
With this information identified, you can do a much better job of:
- posting the opening with the most important requirements;
- reviewing resumes for the appropriate skills, traits, and experience;
- developing the appropriate interview questions; and
- selecting your best candidate.
With the short list of characteristics, traits, and experience, and a behavioral interview, you can zero right in on what you believe you most need from the employee you hire for your open job...
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Interview thank you letters
In the day-to-day busy, it's easy to quickly glance at an interview thank you letter from a candidate, smile, and move on to your next task.
When you do this, however, you are by-passing a little goldmine of information in the interview thank you letter about the candidate. What's important about an interview thank you letter or email from each candidate you interview? Lots.
Especially if you use each interaction with the candidate to assess his or her cultural fit within your organization, these interview thank you letters add one more piece to the puzzle...
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How to manage a deadbeat employee
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What do you do to manage deadbeat employees?
Awhile ago (actually last February, bad me), a reader wrote to me that, while he liked my positive, upbeat outlook about employees and workplaces, it was not always possible to create a positive outcome with every employee. I did take his words to
heart, but dealing with deadbeat, unproductive employees, who skate on the edge of your success-driven work systems, is not my favorite topic. However, I promised him I'd share my best ideas for turning a deadbeat employee around or showing him the
door. This article is the result of that conversation: How to Manage a Deadbeat Employee. A deadbeat employee is an employer's nightmare. You know the occasional employee I am talking about. He doesn't show up for work, calls
in sick, and milks the time off policy, always walking on the edge, but never falling off. He walks the edge of the work policies and processes, too. He does just enough to stay employed but doesn't grow professionally nor contribute at the level
of your other employees. He sometimes reaches his agreed upon goals but exhibits a general lack of enthusiasm. The hallmark of the deadbeat employee is that he is always walking on the edge between succeeding and failing. I have interlinked this
new article with earlier pieces I've provided about employee performance coaching, performance management and improvement strategies, and the process to follow to
either help an employee improve or move on. I trust you'll find these helpful. Enjoy the new article...
Read the article. Back to top
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Best corporate practices 2008
Last year, we showcased some of our favorite corporate management practices (BusinessWeek.com, 3/28/07) in this space, and BusinessWeek.com readers responded in droves.
Easy as it is to focus on the stupidest, most annoying corporate practices we encounter—from no-moonlighting policies to "stitch-level" dress code policies—it
makes sense to highlight the smart moves that employers make in managing their teams, at least once a year...
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The home equity crisis ahead
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Even banks that dodged the subprime bullet face losses from loans based on homes now at risk.
Subprime mortgages have taken a lot of blame for banks' big losses. But there's another problem lurking behind the mess: home-equity lending. Buoyed by rising prices, borrowers increasingly tapped into the equity on their properties to finance
a new car, renovations, or even a down payment, making equity a key source of consumers' strength. But with the housing market in disarray and prices plunging, the business of home-equity lending is souring. At least $14.7 billion in loans and
lines of credit were already delinquent through the end of September—the highest level in a decade. "After subprime, home-equity lending is the biggest problem the industry has right now," says analyst Frederick Cannon of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.
What's more, there's little that can be done to prevent the pain from the deterioration of this $850 billion market. A lender on a mortgage has the first claim on the underlying property. In the case of foreclosure, it can sell the
property and recoup some money. The bank with the home-equity piece has no such collateral and is usually out the money. "The home-equity lender is going to get
hosed," says Amy Crews Cutts, deputy chief economist at mortgage giant Freddie Mac...
Read the article. Back to top
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