employee turnover Archives - Dennis E. Gilbert

14
Dec 16
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5 Things Great Employees Want

Tags : employee engagement employee turnover leadership respect

Have you ever stopped to think about what great employees want? I’m not thinking of things like pay or vacation days, something a little deeper and perhaps more meaningful.

Almost every employee would tell you that they would like to earn more money. Many would like a little extra vacation time, and some would probably like a little more flexibility with their schedule.

Sure they want to be paid and to have paid time off, but a deeper connection with the organization (and personal achievement) is just as important, and in some cases perhaps more important.

Great Employees Want

Here are 5 things that truly great employees want:

Job Security. They care about the organization and because they are working for the future of the organization they want to know that they organization feels the same about them. Certainly any job today has its share of risks for longevity but your best employees are even more committed (and likely productive) when they feel secure.
Opportunities for Growth. Sure there will always be some people who don’t aspire to move up the ladder, and let’s face it organizations need both, but many of your stars are working hard waiting for that opportunity. The trick for most organizations is to be able to plan and prepare for organizational growth. They also should have employee development systems that align with that growth. That way both the goals of the organization and your best employees can be achieved.
Respect. All employees want respect, regardless of generation or position every employee expects to be respected. In most cases respect has strong connections with trust and like trust sometimes respect must be earned. The best employees will earn both trust and respect but at the same time the organization has a responsibility to reciprocate.
Continuous Learning. If your organization isn’t learning, it has stopped growing. The best employees know that education is part of becoming better. Organizations with opportunities for tuition reimbursement, participation and inclusion in conferences and other outside events, bringing in contracted outside talent for training and development, as well as in-house training programs, are highly valued by employees who want a career, not just a paycheck.
A Voice. Along with respect the best employees want to be both seen and heard. They want visibility and to know that they have a voice. Inclusion in strategy development and organizational change gives them a voice. No, they don’t all need to be at the board of directors meeting. They should be appropriately working within their teams at appropriate organizational levels to provide information and feedback will create a culture desired by the best.

How is your organization or employer doing? Do they measure up? Is the organization providing you with the things that you really want?

The greatest employees will give back much more in value when compared with the cost of what they receive.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

14
Nov 16
-

The Costs Of Low-Trust

Tags : cost employee turnover trust

Have you measured the cost of trust in your organization? Many people believe trust matters, but are they consciously aware of the costs associated with low-trust?

I’ve witnessed plenty of C-Suite executives and other workplace leaders ignore or misunderstand the value of organizational trust just long enough to discover that they must now find a new place to hang their hat. Often this is the result of failing to listen, or ignoring the critical warning signs of low-trust.

Trust might be considered to be an intangible asset and while not directly represented on the income statement low-trust certainly impacts the bottom line. Like the value of your brand, your reputation, or intellectual property trust might be hard to measure, but organizations that have significantly low levels of trust might want to think about how to improve.

I see it often in my profession. If you can’t see it, touch it, or pick it up and put it in a box, then it must not be real or it is certainly not something that we should be concerned about. This is often true with things like generational diversity issues, the human side of change management, and trust. I’ve met a few C-Suite folks who scoff at generational issues claiming that they aren’t real or that they’ve been the same for 100 years. This is absolutely not true because generational differences are not about age brackets or frameworks, they are about differing values and beliefs that are connected with people representing various frameworks that we categorize based on birth year.

Trust typically is not like a light switch where you either have it or you don’t, it exists more in stages ranging from low to high. Low-trust is not desirable and here are a few of the possible costs associated with low-trust:

tardiness
absenteeism
turnover
re-work
duplicate work
tarnished reputation
lost sales
lost clients
theft
fraud

Some of these may seem straight forward or others might seem to be a stretch, but denial of the existence of any of these can lead to higher costs in your organization. The warning signs of low-trust are typically easily spotted if you’re looking for them, but first you must believe that trust issues are real and that the failure to ensure a trusting environment will lead to much higher organizational costs.

High-Trust

We must also recognize a few things about high-trust. Just as low-trust may negatively impact the bottom-line, high-trust environments will do the opposite. In high-trust environments, teams communicate easily and effectively. They don’t have too much communication nor do they have too little. People aren’t afraid to communicate and they are not using communication for self-protection (C.Y.A.). Conversations with teams and delegation efforts are free-flowing and are automatic. Micromanagement is minimalized because managers and direct reports understand each other and the work that needs to be completed, most of all, they trust that the work will get finished on time, and with the highest quality.

If you don’t think trust matters ask a sky-diver about their parachute, a hospital patient about their anesthesiologist, or an ironworker on a skyscraper about their safety harness!

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

01
Nov 16
4

Becoming A Smart Investment

Tags : employee turnover investment job performance motivation ROI

Many employees hope for an annual raise, or dream of obtaining a job promotion, but sometimes you have to ask yourself, “Am I a smart investment?”

Recently I wrote about the concept of deserving a raise and one of the ideas I offered was related to being a smart investment for the organization. Later a reader asked me about how to become a smart investment and so from my experiences I’m offering a few additional thoughts on exactly how to do this.

Become the go to person. In many organizations your job often becomes what you make it. Of course in unionized environments this sometimes becomes more challenging but in many other scenarios you might have some flexibility within your job role. Extend your hand, offer to help, be the person to fill in for someone else. All of these actions will help you to learn more about the organization and become more valuable. Often after some period of time of effective execution, you become the go to person for nearly everything, which makes you, a smart investment.
Learn more first. There are at least two schools of thought. The first is that you don’t do anything until you’re paid for it, and while that might sound like a respected position to take it may be the beginning of the end for those who act on it. The other school of thought is to learn more and do more first, then once you’ve already demonstrated a higher value the only step that is needed to complete the process is to obtain the appropriate compensation for your knowledge, skills, and abilities. In today’s workplace the earlier mentioned pay first (don’t do anything until you’re paid for it) mentality often becomes a pay never reality and your opportunities for growth will significantly diminish. This will often leave you feeling angry and resentful. Learn more, do more, be more, and then you’ll be paid more, because you’re a smart investment.
Show commitment. Employers have easily figured out that employee turnover is expensive. Once they’ve made a commitment to having you on the payroll you can return the favor by demonstrating your commitment to the team. Employees, who volunteer for extra assignments, are willing to give an extra effort during a tight deadline, and perhaps most importantly demonstrate continued support to the organization will be the most valued. Socially people sometimes have to take a position, it may be a position in life or it may be a position about the organization you work for. Stick up for the organization by developing the attitude of, “I care about this organization and I know they care about me.” This makes you a smart investment.

One important point to make, you may have noticed there is not any reference to playing organization politics, nor is there any reference to being well liked. While both of these concepts may have some validity I would never suggest either as a strategy. My belief is that you must stay true to who you are and while being liked is not a bad thing, in order to have a solid organizational culture we sometimes have to trade being well-liked for being well-respected.

Considering that multiple schools of thought exist on this issue it will always be up to you to decide your best choice of action. Everyone will quickly recognize that being a smart investment becomes a two-way street that requires reciprocity from the organization. I always urge people to give the benefit of the doubt to the organization and to consider that organizations would be foolish to turn their back on you, after all, you are a smart investment.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and coach that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is the author of the newly released book, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

28
Oct 16
6

Does Appreciation Really Matter?

Tags : appreciation employee turnover leadership motivation

Ask ten people what motivates them to come to work every day and you might be surprised with the differences in their responses. Some will quickly state that it is money or that they need a paycheck. Of course nearly everyone active in the workforce probably needs or has some use for the money they earn, but why else are they coming to work every day? Does appreciation matter?

Many of the leadership seminars that I deliver have a component that addresses motivation. When we start to dig deep and really ask some tough questions about motivation we often end up talking about appreciation. Sure, we have the usual conversation about money, feeding the family, and simply earning a living but don’t you think that there is something more? I know I do, and after asking some very pointed questions during many different seminars and coaching sessions I’ve learned a few things about motivation.

Sometimes it is not so much about what you know or don’t know, but it is about how you illustrate, demonstrate, and execute your leadership role day-in and day-out. You can know everything in the world about motivation, but if you don’t execute properly none of that knowledge will matter.

Truth

It’s not uncommon for me to state in my opening comments at leadership seminars that some of what we will go through during the next few hours will probably not be totally new, and there will not be any rocket science. What happens next is sometimes amazing, because now they are seeking the answer to the question that is burning in their minds, “If I’m not going to learn anything new, why I am here?” The answer is easy. Certainly there will most likely be some new items that reach out and grab them, but what will really make a difference for them, what they will learn that is new, is not so much about the content as it is about the content being applied. It will be about their execution.

Many well-meaning supervisors or workplace leaders know the best methods. They just don’t practice them. Often the higher up the organization ladder they climb or the longer they’ve been in the role, the more they forget about or lose touch with the most basic drivers of motivation, appreciation, and respect. Certainly this is not everyone, there are plenty of really great role models at all levels, but it is not uncommon to find many who have lost touch with the execution and the magic that makes the difference between being an enforcer of the rules and being a leader.

Appreciation

Nearly every workplace has its share of people challenges. Those who are in supervisory or leadership roles of any capacity have some responsibility to help manage motivation, improve employee engagement, and develop a well-respected and admired organization culture. Often people throw money at problems, and often some of those problems can be fixed with money. Not necessarily true when it comes to motivation. Sure a raise will temporarily make a difference and so will scaring them with firings or layoffs, but neither of those will build the kind of relationships or culture your team needs to be competitive today. Often, the single biggest thing that you can do is increase appreciation.

Execution

Congratulate employees for completed work, thank them personally for being committed to the team and for their efforts, demonstrate how proud you are of the work that they do and how they make a difference. Help them to understand their purpose with the organization and how important their individual contribution is to fulfilling the organizations mission. Many things are blamed as the root cause for employee dissatisfaction or turnover, but the one least discussed by the management team is the amount of respect and appreciation that each employee needs or feels.

Sometimes appreciation really does matter.

– DEG

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

20
Oct 16
6

Hiring Millennials and Gen Z: Will They Stay?

Tags : employee turnover generation z generational differences hiring leadership

Many organizations are searching for employees who represent the millennial or generation Z population, but if they hire them, will they stay?

Questions like this are good. They help us to focus and be better prepared to make good decisions. Many organizations desire to on-board employees representing both generations but often they report difficulties in finding suitable candidates or challenges in having them stay once they are hired. Generalizing on this subject is tricky because each industrial sector, geographic location, and organization size has an impact on the data.

Let’s consider just two points:

Millennials are staying longer with their early career employer (Whitehouse Report 2014).
Enrollment in 2 and 4 year colleges has been volatile (up and down) since 2010.

These points are important because many informal reports suggest that many who get hired stick around only from a few minutes to a few months and then take off for a different job; and that many are college educated and as such only accept the highest paying, no manual labor white collar job opportunities. This data set might support a different hypothesis.

Research data behind the millennial and generation Z population is complex. Millennial behavior has been studied and trends exist, but much of the trending has numerous other factors involved which only add to the confusion. Some of these factors include rural vs. urban living, home ownership, and marriage and family, and this is just naming a few.

It is worth mentioning that there appears to be a trend with the most recent generations preferring to relocate to more urban settings leaving businesses in smaller rural communities feeling like they have a lack of choices. The emerging generations might choose to start their own families and become homeowners later in life, and as such they might not share the same style of community commitment as those generations who have come before them. This is not about right or wrong, it is an indication of differences.

Will They Stay?

Complex issues sometimes have to be broken down into simple terms. Organizations need to make the best choices possible for their workforce. There will always be trade-offs with skills, compensation, and other employee value based factors. So how can organizations improve their millennial and generation Z turnover ratio?

Hire Smart. Use interviewing skills and techniques to make the best choices for your organizational needs and location. Having a strategy that includes competency models and employee demographic data that illustrates the characteristics of the ideal candidate are best.
Cultural Values. Value the most recent generations, emphasize this with actions and a well-illustrated culture. Many are eager to earn an honest living, but they’ll seek to be respected and not feel as though they are being inappropriately used.
Mentor. Build and encourage mentor opportunities with role model employees of a similar generation. Often organizations will attempt to form connections for mentor opportunities by pairing mentees with role models of a different generation, while this might be somewhat situational, this is often not as effective as someone within the same generation.

My experiences working with many different organizations in both rural and urban settings indicate that organizations that lack a specific strategy for on-boarding the most recent generations are the same organizations that struggle the most to have them stay. In contrast, organizations that have a strategy and follow it are most likely the same organizations with a culture that is acceptable across the entire generational framework.

Hiring decisions are certainly complex and not every person (employee or employer) will actually deliver exactly as they present throughout the interview process. You’ll never get a guarantee that every employee is going to stay, and perhaps not every employee you’ll want to keep.

Generational Denial

One last thing worth mentioning, occasionally I encounter organization leaders who believe that generational differences are not real and that the generational problem has been going on since the industrial revolution. If the leadership team cannot agree on the problem, it is unlikely that a solution will be found.

Create a strategy that builds a culture that achieves your desired results.

– DEG

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

Tag Archives: employee turnover

Dec 16

-

5 Things Great Employees Want

Great Employees Want

Nov 16

-

The Costs Of Low-Trust

Nov 16

4

Becoming A Smart Investment

Oct 16

6

Does Appreciation Really Matter?

Oct 16

6

Hiring Millennials and Gen Z: Will They Stay?

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