Strategies for retaining happy employees and increasing company profits

STRATEGIES FOR RETAINING HAPPY EMPLOYEES AND INCREASING COMPANY PROFITS

Tom Welch

Tom Welch is president of R. I . C. Corporation and Career Dimensions, Inc. based in Stuart, FL, and specializes in retained executive search, corporate outplacement, and training. He has been a frequent guest on hundreds of radio and TV programs and has been featured in dozens of newspapers including the New York Times. He is a sought-after speaker, consultant, columnist, and author of Work Happy Live Healthy . . . New Solutions for Career Satisfaction. He may be contacted via E-mail at twelch 8 workhappy. corn or through www. workhappy. com.

ew things are more important to our sense of identity and personal worth than our job. We derive purpose and self- F esteem from our work. Yet most of us are not experiencing

the fulfillment we deserve. Sue Shellenbarger, who is the workand family expert for the Wall Street Journal, attests to this fact. In the foreword to Work Happy Live Healthy . . . New Solutions for Career Satisfaction Including More Time &Money (Rhodes & Easton, 1977), she says, “I regularly encounter people who are profoundly de- moralized about the way they make a living.” Also, a recent U.S. News and World Report survey that asked people how happy they were with their lives identified three specific areas of discontent: jobs, finances, and leisure time.

In fact, on closer examination, the source of most people’s dissatisfaction is their job. Finances are intrinsically linked with a job, as is leisure time. Workers are being asked to do more with less and the results are longer workdays and less time for personal activities. Schellenbarger places blame on “global economic forces beyond a worker’s control, downward pressure on pay and prices, unrelenting layoffs and employer demands for longer hours and higher output.” She claims these negative influences have caused many workers to lose sight of the “intrinsic personal value of work.” The results? ”Stress and burnout and the health problems they cause are mounting. Workplace morale at many employers has hit the skids. To many, experiencing the real joy of work, not just as a means to a paycheck but as an expression of oneself in society, seems an elusive goal,” Schellenbarger says.

Negative work emotions will also carry over into the rest of one’s life. Self-esteem will suffer. Relationships (business and personal) will be affected. According to studies conducted by The Journal ofMarriage and the Family (1996) and Families and Work

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Employment Relations Today Summer 1999 15

Torn Welch

In essence, too many people are doing what they don’t like to do with little or no sense of accomplishment and for less money than they are worth.

Institute (1998), even children’s behavior is influenced by parents’ job happiness. When mom and dad don’t enjoy their jobs, the children are less stable emotionally and exhibit more behavior problems.

Businesses also suffer. Profits, productivity, morale, turnover, and customer loyalty can all be affected. According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the United States experienced over 120,000 incidents of workplace violence last year, which resulted in 800 deaths at a cost of $5 billion. Robbins Research International in San Diego reports that the United States has 5 percent of the world’s population, yet we consume 50 percent of the world’s cocaine. Prozac is distributed like candy. According to American Demographics four out of five workers are dissatisfied with some important aspects of their careers (1996 to 1998). In essence, too many people are doing what they don’t like to do with little or no sense of accomplishment and for less money than they are worth. The outcome is tremendous anxiety in the workforce.

As a professional who deals with those issues on a daily basis, that will come as no surprise. You are aware that these problems exist. But is there a solution? Yes, there is, and it need not be difficult.

As a human resources executive you have a tremendous opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives. What you do and say affects employees’ families, customers, vendors, your community and the success of your business. Your life’s work is a privilege, but it must be right for you. The concept of right begins with the realization that there is a career that represents your path in life. There is a job that will give you a sense of purpose, a renewed balance, and the prosperity you deserve. Working in the right job produces enormous satisfaction, which will be reflected in all areas of your life.

Why don’t more people have jobs like this? It is not for lack of talent or slulls or ambition. What most people lack is a sense of direction. They need a guide to assist them in their journey. They need a clear, simple, and effective plan of action to move toward greater fulfillment, happiness, health, and prosperity.

You can provide that sense of direction for your employees and your organization. You can be the developer and the guide. You can train your management team to help spread contagious enthusiasm and improved bottom-line results. Your management and your employees will have to be the ones who move your organization forward. You can’t do it for them, but you can provide the roadmap. As a suggestion, here’s a blueprint for a four-part People Asset Plan (PAP).

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Strategies for Retaining Happy Employees and Increasing Company Profits

Rarely do we swim to shore and ask whether the current is taking us in the direction we want to go: Am I doing what I want to be doing?

PART I-CAREER ANALYSWSELF-MANAGEMENT We plan for so many events in life, vacations, meetings, holi-

days, birthdays, weddings and reunions. When it comes to our careers, an area that occupies over 55 percent of our waking hours, we often just let them happen to us. We do very little planning and even less executing. It is analogous to being thrown into a River of Jobs and simply floating helplessly in the current at its pace and direction. Rarely do we swim to shore and askwhether the current is taking us in the direction we want to go: Am I doing what I want to be doing? Am I growing as fast as I would like? Am I earning what I am worth?

A thorough self-analysis will provide answers to those ques- tions. Begin with yourself before attempting to help others. Bar- bara Waugh, worldwide personnel manager for Hewlett Packard Labs, a driver of the HP transformation, emphasizes two key lessons she learned in that process. The first is that small efforts fueled by the passion of HR leaders result in long-range transformation. Second, as an HR professional, you need to be the change you wish to see.

In order to judge your passion level and your value as an HR model for your organization, devote some time to contemplating the Work Happy Live Healthy career success formula. It states that in order to work with passion, you must: (1) Use the talents and skills you like, doing something of interest, (2 ) be around people you enjoy, (3) feel your career values are met, and (4) feel you are making a difference. If all four of those elements are in alignment, you will love your life’s work and be able to help others do the same. If one or more is out of balance in your job, you will be dissatisfied. Let’s examine each component of the formula.

Talents, Skills and Interests The first step in identifying your slulls and talents is to make a

list of work accomplishments. By accomplishments, we mean any action on a job that made you feel good. Be thorough when making your list. Don’t minimize a task because it came easily. In reality, an accomplishment doesn’t have to be a major event; anything that made you proud is worth listing. Be specific. The longer you make your list, the better.

Next, compile a list of personal accomplishments, again including achievements you can recall. Perhaps you completed a higher level of education, or raised your children well, or have been involved in community activities.

After you’ve identified your work and personal accomplishments, determine the talents and skills you used to perform each accomplishment. Write those next to each feat. List as many skills


Tom Welch

Once you know how to use your uniqueness, you can make a difference in this world by doing the things you do best.

as possible. If you can break a general skill into specific abilities, all the better. For example, instead of simply writing “people skills,” list such abilities as teaching, managing, coaching, assisting, per- suading, listening, motivating, or communicating with people.

Once you’ve done this for both lists, you will notice that several skills and talents are repeated again and again. The skills repeated most often are probably some of your strongest and the ones you enjoy using. These are skills you most often have used to achieve something and people usually succeed at something because they enjoy doing it.

Your final step in this self-discovery exercise is to combine your talents and skills and prioritize them so that the talent listed in the first spot is your strongest and the one you most enjoy using. When you’ve completed this prioritizing, you will realize what you are best at and what you most enjoy doing.

You will also begin to understand that you are much more than just a job title. You are a unique and intricate collection of talents, skills, and traits. Once you know how to use your uniqueness, you can make a difference in this world by doing the things you do best. When you use your natural talents on a regular basis, you will experience the satisfaction and self-worth necessary to live a happy and healthy life.

Work Values Knowing your career values will help you understand why

you do or do not enjoy your job. When you are clear about your values, you can make career choices that work. Discovering those values is not difficult. Simply ask yourself, ”What is the most important thing I need in my job or career to be happy?” Realize there are probably many things you would like a job to offer, determine what is the most important thing you want in a job and write it down. Once you have designated your highest priority, list the other things a job must offer to make you happy. Follow that pattern until you have listed 10 or 12 values.

Even though you already asked yourself what is most important and what is next most important, it is quite likely that, on reflection, the priority of your values will change. So, just as you did with your talents, compare each value to the others to assure your list is in the proper order. You will create a more accurate picture of who you are by reprioritizing your values.

Now, study the list you created. Your values affect the direction your life takes. You need to assure that at least your top four or five values are met on a continuous basis. You will never be satisfied and fulfilled if you don’t know, understand, and commu- nicate your values.



w h e n an employee uses strengths, he or she is much more apt to perform at a peak level.

Making a Difference Knowing that your individual role in the organization is

adding value and being appreciated is also a key component to deriving fulfillment. Different factors evoke a feeling of ”making a difference” for different people. It is very much an area of individual preference. Identify what brings you satisfaction. Re- view past experiences. When did you most feel that you were truly contributing? What were the circumstances? Past successes will help you mold your future experiences.

Once you have completed your own career analysis, you will better understand the value of the process. You will also be prepared to train management in the process. In turn, each employee in your organization should have the opportunity to complete this exercise. The results will produce employees who are capable of self-managing their careers and an organization that is much more balanced and finely tuned.

PART II-MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES TO DO THE RIGHT THING

Career analysis is the core component of success in this part of the plan. Once management understands the skills, talents, and values of each employee, it becomes easier to focus on individual strengths. When an employee uses strengths, he or she is much more apt to perform at a peak level. As part of the PAP create a culture that respects, rewards, and encourages the individual.

Several firms are beginning to realize the value of this individualized approach. For example, D.A. Stuart, a chemical company in Warrenville, Illinois, spends considerable effort in retaining qualified employees. Since 1996, the company cut its turnover by one-half from 15 percent to 7percent. One of the strategies calls for additional one-on-one communication. Managers are asked to spend at least 15 minutes each week in individual discussion with each employee. The goal is continuous evaluation and feedback as well as communicating value and making the employee feel needed and wanted.

As another example, pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., has recently completed a major work redesign. Company managers discovered problems stemming from overwork, inferior training, bad hiring, and poor communication. Teams of employees were formed to brainstorm solutions. Their ideas centered on giving workers more flexibility, which led to feelings of greater control over their work. Telecommuting was the answer in some cases. Compressed workweeks helped others and new technology was put in place for still others. In addition, managers were judged on utilization and development of their people. These individualized


Tom Welch

T h e career analysis process is mutually beneficial. By helping employees better understand themselves, you are providing them with the know-how to manage their work lives.

approaches resulted in a decline in both overtime costs and absenteeism. Turnover here was reduced by 13 percent.

Following the career analysis, the employee, with the help of his or her manager or an HR professional, will reach one of five conclusions.

1. The job is perfect. 2. The current job needs some tweaking, but with a few minor

changes, everything will balance. 3. The job does not use the employee's strengths, or it does not

meet his or her values. However, the company is great. The solution in this case is to move the employee into an area that better matches his or her unique abilities and interests.

4. The employee is in the right career but the wrong job. There is probably a clash either with a manager, fellow employees, values, or company culture. This type of employee may need to go do a similar job with a different company.

5. The employee discovers that he or she is in the wrong career. The employee needs to get reeducated or transfer current skills and talents to a career more closely matching his or her uniqueness.

The career analysis process is mutually beneficial. By helping employees better understand themselves, you are providing them with the know-how to manage their work lives. When employees feel more connected to their work, the organization improves. There is no better way to reenergize a company than to have the right people in the right jobs.

PART Ill-HIRE RIGHT Parts I and I1 of the PAP help to balance the existing workforce.

Part I11 keeps the organization on track for the future. The old adage "Do it right the first time" holds here. The strategy for "hiring right" can be rather simple. What is needed is a systematic, reliable approach that can be duplicated. Here, to keep it simple, the prehire process has only two steps:

1. Know what you need and want: 0 Identify the talents, skills, traits, and knowledge needed to

0 Identify necessary behaviors and values. 0 Understand the culture of the group or organization.

excel at the job.

2. Conduct interviews that get more and better information from the candidate:



0 Use a behavioral approach to collect the most accurate

0 Begin inquiries with what, tell me, review, explain, or describe. 0 Let the candidates do the talking, and listen for clues from

descriptions of work experience, education, activities and interests, and self-assessment to determine:

information possible.

Success breeds a

success. It is that simple.

a

a

strengths areas for improvement values perceptions of what are the perfect jobs achievements things liked best things liked least challenges encountered solutions to challenges

When you know what is needed for success in a job and you understand how to elicit information to identify the uniqueness of each candidate, the selection decision becomes easier and more accurate.

FedEx is one company that understands how individuals’ unique talents and slulls can enhance not only individuals’ jobs but the workplace as a whole. The company identified nine personal attributes that were shared by its best leaders and how they translated to the work performed:

charisma-communicates with enthusiasm individual consideration-listens, advises problem-solving ability-stimulates ideas courage-stands up for ideas and people dependability-works independently, takes responsibility flexibility-makes change work integri ty-model for others judgment-logical solutions based on experience respect for others-honors the individual regardless of position

All aspiring FedEx leaders are rated on those attributes. Success breeds success. It is that simple.

PART IV - RETAIN YOUR TEAM Make retaining talent the most talked about topic in your

organization. Understand what employees want, and, if necessary, recreate your company culture to give it to them.

Employment Relations Today Summer I999 27

._______ Tom Welch

The company’s retention program is based on the belief employees are motivated by a need to succeed rather than by more money or more perks.

Aon Consulting, an Illinois research firm that links people strategies with business strategies, compiles an annual report called the Workforce Commitment Index. The most recent study indicated that employee commitment to employers dropped sig- nificantly over the past year. Part of the decreased commitment is attributed to a low unemployment rate, but much of it is due to management’s lack of understanding regarding employee needs. For instance, according to Aon, pay and benefits are the top two reasons why candidates accept jobs, but those reasons are not retention motivators. Yet, in many instances, management at- tempts to reward employees solely with pay and benefits.

Surveys from as early as the 1940s and from recent years as well have indicated that what managers perceive as important to employees was not what employees indicated was important. The key is to give employees what they want, rather than what management thinks they need.

Some companies understand the difference. Tennalum, for example, a division of Kaiser Aluminum in Tennessee, boasts a turnover rate of less than 3 percent. Why? The company’s retention program is based on the belief employees are motivated by a need to succeed rather than by more money or more perks. A11 employees are encouraged to innovate, and they are empowered to implement change. Individual communication, skill enhance- ment, financial incentives, self-directed teams, and a culture built on relationships and honesty are all part of the formula.

An in-depth 1998 study by the Gallup Organization provides further detail for those seeking a new approach. Data were gathered based on a multiyear study of more than 100,000 employees from multiple industries. Twelve employee beliefs that are the most critical to a profitable, productive workplace were identified:

1. I know what is expected of me. 2. I have the materials I need to do the job. 3. I get to do what I do best everyday. 4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise

for good work. 5. Someone at work cares about me as a person. 6. Someone at work encourages my development. 7. In the last six months, someone talked to me about my

progress. 8. My opinions seem to count. 9. I feel that my job is important. 10. My fellow employees are committed to quality work. 11. I have a best friend at work.



A n interesting point is that the cost for these organizational improvements is no more than a training investment of time.

12. Over the last year, I’ve had opportunities to learn and grow.

When these employee beliefs are in place, the odds for profits; productivity; retention; satisfied, happy employees; and customer loyalty are greatly enhanced. An interesting point is that the cost for these organizational improvements is no more than a training investment of time. All of these results can be achieved with good management techniques.

The following checklist of retention, business transformation, and work/life balance strategies is an additional guide for managers.

0 Individualize your efforts through: Increased one-on-one communication. A maintenance schedule for each employee that encom- passes on-going career analysis, training, recognition / praise, growth, evaluation, and customized motivators.

letting employees know what you want, clearly stating objectives, brainstorming ways to achieve the vision.

0 Share the power to act by: setting the direction. freeing employees to solve problems and innovate. rewarding success and allowing employees to redesign their own jobs.

benefits to individuals, not just to the company, alignment of business goals with employees’ goals, compensation, bonuses, special recognition, and the rewards that employees value.

0 Be involved with the chores by: leading by example, and showing what’s important to get done.

0 Maximize opportunities for praise by: focusing on what is going well, encouraging positive feedback from others, and teaching peers to praise peers.

all to speak their minds without fear of retaliation and self-directed teams.

coaching-not bossing; being flexible in meeting their needs;

0 Create the vision by:

0 Discuss incentives, including:

0 Foster a cooperative spirit’of growth by encouraging:

0 Motivate employees by:


Tom Welch

I n my opinion, there are no great organizations in and of themselves. There are, however, great leaders within organizations.

asking opinions; addressing concerns, and showing that you care.

0 Evaluate and make improvements continuously by: reviewing employee accomplishments weekly, studying results, and providing direction

0 See the big picture and maximize productivity by: getting rid of busy work, getting rid of activities that don’t directly contribute to the mission, doing things that solve problems and add value, and maximizing personal productivity.

In my opinion, there are no great organizations in and of themselves. There are, however, great leaders within organizations. The better HR professionals understand themselves, the more capable they will become in training others in the organization to be leaders in selecting, developing, and retaining employees. The results are more motivated employees and a more profitable organization. +


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Strategies for retaining happy employees and increasing company profits