Tag Archives: Work Ethic

How Do You Find and Train Staff for Satellite Offices? Five Points

Situation: A company plans to grow from a single site to additional distant sites. The CEO has two concerns: how to bring in the new people, and how to preserve the culture that they have developed as they build new sites. How do you find and train staff for satellite offices?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • First, how does the company currently identify customer targets?
    • Typically the company targets specific personnel within a potential client who will be decision makers or influencers on the company’s projects. Market developers then build relationships with these individuals.
  • Points of focus in selecting employees in other geographic areas.
    • What will be the office configuration? Likely 3-4 individuals, including an engineer, office manager and project manager.
    • Promote the company as the preferred place to work in the new locations. Offer signing bonuses for employees who identify and bring in new people, as well as for the new employees.
  • Does the company anticipate that maintaining company culture will be a challenge as the company expands? Yes.
    • Train new employees in the home office for one month to help them understand the culture. Immerse them in a project so that they experience the work ethic.
    • Have current personnel serve short term stints in the new offices. This will help to build consistency of service and delivery between the offices.
  • What is the best way to recover from a service challenge?
    • Occasionally we all make mistakes. Don’t miss the opportunity that “service recovery” presents to strengthen relationships with clients.
    • A competent and timely response to a problem situation can create an indelible impression on the client.
  • What else can the company do to improve its marketing?
    • Assure that there is an existing cost calculator in each remote site. This speeds response without having to wait for decisions from the main office.
    • Install a traffic plug-in on the webpage for each remote site and feature this on the site webpage. This allows current and potential customers to schedule their visits to their convenience.

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What Can be Learned from Employee Departures? Five Observations

Situation: A company has recently seen the departure of several younger employees. Reasons given were better offers at other companies. These employees have been replaced by what appears to be better talent. The CEO took these departures personally and is concerned about the impact on the departments of those who departed. What can be learned from employee departures?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • In working with Millennial employees, it may be necessary to lower your expectations in terms of employee loyalty, work ethic and longevity. Millennials have a different perspective. Recognize this and build expectations around it.
  • Be frank with new employees up front. Plan their career progression out 36 to 48 months and let them know that this time will give them great training. If they are interested in the company and career progression beyond this, then the company be open to discussing options with them.
  • Use outside resources to do a 2–3-month post-op on those who left, as well as to help monitor employee attitudes on an ongoing basis.
    • The outside resource can conduct interviews by telephone, on a confidential basis. The objective will be to assess the reasons why the employees left once the emotions of the action have died down. Summary results of the interviews will not identify the past employee. This will prompt them to be frank with their feedback.
    • Similarly, use an outside resource to conduct confidential telephone interviews with random current employees on a periodic basis. Let the employees know that they will be contacted by an outside agency on a random basis, and that their responses will be confidential. The purpose is to gain information on how the company can better address employee needs in the work environment. Only aggregated and summary results will be presented to the company.
    • These actions will help to assess whether the departures were an extraordinary event or an early warning of more systemic challenges within the workforce.
  • The increased salary needs of those who left may be symptomatic of the current economic conditions.
    • Currently, the need of companies to attract talent has increased pressure to raise wages. Along with this and there is increased turnover among employees who believe that they can make more elsewhere. There is little that can be done to run a sensible business while trying to keep up with current salary demands.
    • Most companies who survive successive boom and bust cycles do not respond to wage pressure, knowing that each boom will be followed by a bust.
    • Once the next bust sets in, wage demands will go down until the next boom cycle starts.
  • Should anything to mitigate the impact of employee departure on their departments?
    • Keep ears open for any sign of an ongoing impact.
    • As above, consider an outside resource to check the temperature of the employees.
    • The best mitigation may be a strong integration of the new, energetic R&D employees into the team.

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How Do You Address Employee Departures? Four Points

Situation: A CEO is concerned that three members of the R&D Team recently left the company. All were in their late 20s and were close. All three cited receiving better offers from another company. They have been replaced by what the company considers better talent. The CEO is concerned about the impact of this turnover on company morale and performance. How do you address employee departures?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • In working with Gen Y through Millennial employees, it may be necessary to adjust expectations in terms of employee loyalty, work ethic and longevity. Younger generations have a different perspective. Learn from this and adjust expectations accordingly.
  • Be frank with new employees up front. Plan their career progression out 36 to 48 months, and during this time give them great training. If they are interested in the company and career progression beyond this, discuss options with them.
  • Use outside resources to do a 2–3-month post-op on the three who left, as well as to help monitor employee attitudes on an ongoing basis.
    • The outside resource can conduct interviews by telephone, on a confidential basis, to assess the reasons why the employees left once emotions have died down. This resource should only provide summaries of the interviews without identifying which past employee said what. This will prompt them to be frank about their feedback. This can yield valuable lessons.
    • Similarly, use an outside resource to conduct confidential telephone interviews with random current employees on a periodic basis. Let employees know that they will be contacted by an outside agency on a random basis, and that their responses will be confidential. The purpose is to better respond to employee needs in the work environment. This will help to assess whether the departures were an extraordinary event or whether they are an early warning of more systemic challenges within the workforce.
  • The increased salary requests of those who left may be symptomatic of a “boom and bust” economy.
    • When things are heating up, and through an employment peak, there is increased pressure to raise wages, accompanies by increased turnover among employees who believe that they can make more elsewhere.
    • Most companies who are able to survive successive boom and bust cycles do not respond to the wage pressure, knowing that each boom is followed by a bust. Those who inflate their wages to keep up often end up dying during the bust.

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