Posts Tagged ‘Employees’

The Best Hire for Your Empire

Monday, May 6th, 2013

More than 30 percent of hiring managers second guess their new hires. Up to 25 percent of new hires second guess their choice of employer. The results can devastate the profits of a business, reports The Recruiting Roundtable. Just consider that 68 percent of customers and clients stop doing business with a company because an employee shows an attitude of indifference towards them, and the lifetime value of a customer is 300 to 700 times more than an hourly employee’s pay, according to a survey by author Michael LeBoeuf

When it comes to employees, choosing wisely will help you reap the most rewards.

Cultivating a Small Business Culture

Although opportunities for advancement are generally less frequent with small businesses, there are ways to make devoted employees feel like part of a growing business. Even large companies such as Costco can adopt a small business culture that boosts the morale of current employees.

An interview with Jim Sinegal, former CEO of Costco, showed that big companies often work to promote from within because it provides better incentives for longtime employees. Individuals who come from other retail venues are trained for a set time period before obtaining a promotion to a preferred position at Costco. Basically, Costco has enjoyed much of its success because they use a specific formula to cultivate the enthusiasm of their employees while rewarding long-term effort and loyalty.

photo Victor1558

The Benefits of Promoting From Within

Having a plan to rate and review each employee’s strengths, areas of growth, and leadership potential can make the decision a little easier for professionals looking to hire new employees.

Clay Wyatt of BusinessFinanceStore.com, says that a major benefit of hiring internally is cost reduction. Hiring from within saves the expense of using a recruiting service and advertising the position. The cost of hiring externally is usually much higher, due to the necessary steps a company must take to interest potential employees.

Another benefit of internal hiring is increased employee morale. Employees who feel that they are able to grow with a company are more likely to work efficiently and retain a positive mindset. This increases the productivity of employees as they work on building a career.

Benefits of External Hiring

Although hiring from within is an excellent practice for many reasons, hiring outside the company is a great way to bring in fresh thinking. New ideas brought in by external hires can motivate a stagnant staff, according to Education Week’s Emily Douglas. A new employee is likely to bring creative thoughts to the table, which can lead to more innovation. Streamlining the process with resources like job-applications.com for new hires to apply can also be a big, time-saving help.

Hiring externally may also be necessary when specific qualifications, experience or educational standards are desired. Current employees might not have the experience or education needed for a promotion. Hiring a specifically educated new manager can also help current employees expand their repertoire and business sense.

Earning Employees’ Loyalty

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Earning Employees’ Loyalty

Why are employees referred to by companies as being the greatest asset? The answer is simple, machines, equipment, tools etc no matter how automated they are still need human beings to operate them. A seasoned human resources manager understands that the success of the company is dependent more on the loyalty of the workforce to the vision of the company. One of my colleagues who will fondly call Bossman, gave me a write-up he photocopied from a Nigerian daily. After reading it, I was prompted to write this article, Earning Employees’ Loyalty.

A business survival is dependent on getting customers who will patronize her goods or services. Growth is dependent on how loyal the customers become to the product or service of the company. Getting the right customer is a critical step in building a loyalty based business system, but it is only the first critical step. Once a company has loyal customers and it begins to enjoy steady supply of revenue, it is time to put a strategy in place to re-invest a good portion of the surplus to getting and retaining loyal employees.

Just as it takes quite some effort to build personal relationship with customers, so also it takes effort to build relationship with employees. Loyal employees have greater potential to learn and increase job performance.

Why Earn Employees’ Loyalty

Loyal employee will save you money. They save you money by reducing recruiting and induction costs. That money can then be use for some other productive ventures.

Seasoned Human Resource Managers do not like high rate of employee turnover because it is counter productive. It is not just about the financial cost of induction and training, but the distruption that constant changing in the workforce can have on the growth of the organization.

Even though some organizations claim that people are their greates asset, few actually act it. It is important not just to know the cost of your employee, overhead cost, but also the worth of your employee, their potential, the value they add to the organization.

As an entrepreneur going places, your business must learn to attract the best possible employees, hold the employees, recognize them, motivate and reward them.

Earning Employees’ Loyalty Requires Planning

You can’t earn employee loyalty just by sitting back and wishing it will happen. You must have the right mindset about the value of employee. You must define in definite terms what you consider as loyalty. Then you need to put in place strategies, tactics, practices and policies that will enhance measurement of employee performance and degree of loyalty to the organization. All these require effort and determination. If you don’t have a good Human Resource Manager, you may need to outsource to a competent Human Resource consultant.

The right place to start is during recruitment. Ensure that you recruit peole who share the organizations philosophy. Employees who personal goals and visions are in agreement with the vision of your business. Never recruit base on cost or professional competence alone. A happy employee will always be more committed and loyal than one that hates the job he/she is doing.

Treating people fairly should be the hallmark of your corporate loyalty system. If you follow the Golden Rule: Treat Your Employee The Way You Would Like To Be Treated. Let your fairness extends to employee compensation. Never feel that extra compensation to employee is undue overhead burden on the business. Look at your workforce as your partners in progress. Align Employees interest with that of the business and strike a balance that will be win-win for both the business and the employee. If you consciously work on strategies to ensure that employees earn more compensation, they will get committed to the business.

Finally, ensure that your compensation system is not lopsided in favor of the executives only. Your compensation plan should be fair ensuring that non-executive employee get adequate compensation. Nothing wanes employees’ loyalty like the feeling that your business is operating like the Animal Farm. A situation where some employee are considered and treated as being more important than the others. Let the process of career growth be plain for all to see and understand. Promotion should be based on merit and performance not personal sentiments.

Just as customers’ loyalty will keep your business revenue flowing, so also employees’ loyalty will keep the engine room of your business working smoothly and at lower maintenance cost. Even if you forget all that have been said in this article, Earning Employees’ Loyalty, don’t forget the Golden Rule – Treat your employees the way you will like to be treated.