05: R & S and Job Performance

Time to Rethink the Layoff

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Many companies use the layoff as a tool to manage their human resources capital, but it may be time to rethink that practice. Taking into account the efficiency and labour costs of their businesses, many CEOs use layoffs as the primary way to reduce costs, thinking it the most efficient way to do so. The costs of layoffs, however, may be more than CEOs ever anticipated, and HR professionals have to be able to convince their senior leadership teams of the true price of layoffs.

Some interesting research from an article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR), regarding what happens to companies after layoffs, shows that a 1% downsizing can create a voluntary turnover rate of 31% a year later. The article continues on to state that companies that were able to keep on employees during an economic decline actually did very well in coming out of a recession and beating their competitors by 10% in sales and growth.

What can companies do instead of layoffs? Here are some potential strategies for success that companies could implement before or during an economic downturn:

  • Preparation for an economic crisis before it hits; in other words, having a contingency plan in place.
  • Decentralization; decentralized companies do better than centralized companies in times of economic crises.
  • Implementation of alternative options to layoffs, such as reduced work weeks for employees.
  • Investment in technology; for better preparation in the future.

During this pandemic, businesses have been placed under tremendous economic pressures and millions of workers have been laid off. Organizations that can weather the storm and keep on as many employees as possible will be better off in the future, according to the HBR article.

Discussion Questions:

1. Research an organization that has been successful in avoiding layoffs during economic downturns and summarize the main strategies they used. Use that research to assist your presentation development for question 2.

2. Develop a 5-minute presentation to review the top ways to avoid layoffs and still reduce labour costs for your VP of HR.

On To Onboarding

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The hiring decision has been made. References checked. Offer of employment made and accepted. Ready to move on to the next new hire process? Not so fast.

Just when you think the recruitment process is over, there is one more step to go – setting up the employee for a positive start to their new job. The last step of a successful recruitment campaign is also the first step for ensuring that all of the hard work put into hiring the right person transitions into a successful employment relationship for all involved. While we may think that the outcome of a recruitment process is the hiring of a new employee, the bigger outcome is the establishment of a long-term commitment by both the employer and the new employee to work together and achieve organizational goals.

This is where a successful on-boarding program comes into play. Think of the excitement that most people have on the first day of their new job. If there is nothing provided by the employer to meet that excitement, disappointment steps in. Very quickly, that new employee may decide to become an ex-employee, which means the recruitment process will have to be rolled out all over again.

A recent American based survey, indicates that up to 30% of new hires will leave their employer within the first 90 days of work, if they feel they have not been properly integrated into their new work environment. The reduction of that potential loss is explored in response to these survey results by providing simple but effective tips that connect ‘both the hearts and minds’ of new recruits.

Click here to read the need for on-boarding article.

As suggested in the article, the content of any first day on-boarding program sets the tone for the days that follow for new employees.

Let’s make sure those days are worth all of the effort it took to get them started.

Discussion Questions:

  1. At your most recent place of employment did you receive an orientation or an on-boarding session? How did the process work for you?
  2. After the first three months with your current employer, did you consider leaving? Why or why not?
  3. What advice would you give to an employer about the benefits of having an on-boarding program that is directly connected to a recruitment strategy?

How to Get Employees to Stay

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Employee retention keeps many HR professionals up at night. You can just hear the echoing murmurs throughout HR conference rooms across the country as turnover rates go up in this tight labour market. Many of them ponder these thoughts:

  • How do you keep employees from leaving?
  • What will make them stay?
  • Retention is the key, someone will always say

However, is retention really the key? Perhaps our language around employee turnover is wrong. Let us look at the definition of the word retention:

“The continued possession, use, or control of something.”

Now, let’s put that in the HR context and the perspective of building a relationship with the employee:

  • the continued possession of employees
  • the use of employees
  • the control of employees.

It makes one ponder how employees interpret the meaning of retention. Would you want to be retained by your employer, let alone be considered a controlled possession?

Is retention the key? Or perhaps it’s time to move our language forward.

MEC, an outdoor supply retailer, has always been an innovative company right from its foundational roots of being a cooperative.  MEC applies a forward thinking concept of employee retention. Here is a quote from Nahal Yousefian, chief people experience officer at MEC:

“The philosophy we’re taking here at MEC is that the approach to talent retention is already outdated.”

What does she mean talent retention is outdated?  What is MEC replacing it with? MEC is replacing the controlling concept of retention with the concept that the employees’ talent should be generated and that will create an environment where employees will want to stay.  This seems to make complete intuitive sense.

There are also surveys that support this concept transition; here are some current statistics about retention according to a Hays study:

  • 43% of employees are actively looking for other career opportunities and
  • 71% of employees are willing to take a pay cut for their ideal role

In addition, LinkedIn has discovered that 93% of employees would opt to stay in their role if their employer invested in their careers.

Think about these numbers for a minute: Almost 100% of employees will stay if the employer will develop them, and almost 75% are willing to take a pay cut to leave their current employment.

It may be time for HR professionals to put the controlling language of employee retention to bed and truly be a workplace where employees want to stay. All it may take is a true relationship-building commitment of employee development.

Discussion Questions

  • Research several organization that have low turnover rates.  Once that list is generated, identify what are the factors that may influence their success.
  • Identify what are the most beneficial training and development activities employers can implement to create an environment where employees want to stay employed

How To Keep Your Star Employees

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Most supervisors are the worst enemy for employee retention – and it may not be their fault. The fault may lie with the well-intentioned Human Resources department and their overreaching policies and procedure manuals.

A now-departed business associate of mine, Ron McQuide, once told me something that has always stayed with me: “All HR policies are just the scar tissue left over from some employee’s mistake.”

Think about what scar tissue does to a body: it can be unpleasant looking on the surface, but below the surface, it can decrease function, flexibility, and potentially cause more damage. Think about many of the policies that HR departments make their supervisors enforce. Here are some of those policies:

  • punitive attendance management programs
  • ineffective and condescending annual performance reviews
  • fault finding safety programs.

Many HR policies and procedures are valuable and effective, but just as many are not. Many of our HR systems are focusing on the wrong things, which is not beneficial to retain your star employees.

A Fact Company article by author Stephanie Vozza outlines some ideas on how to keep star employees from exiting the building.

One big idea (which is not new) is to give people autonomy to do their job. Star employees know what to do to be successful, so make sure HR policies do not hold them back.  Another idea is to keep the lines of communication open by having formal stay interviews. Ask them where you can help them in their career path.  Also, be open to their suggestions and respond to changes your employees want to make.

“Strive to create a community where people can be themselves, have a good time, bring their A-game, and employee engagement will follow,” Vozza suggests.

If more employers took Vozza’s advice, it would certainly make the executive recruiter’s job much more difficult.

Discussion Questions

Think back to a job you have had. Did you see examples where HR policies and procedures were holding you or other employees from performing at their best?

Review the Fast Company article. Create a dynamic performance management program that could be presented to a VP of HR that incorporates some of the ideas in the article.

Recruitment as Investment

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Recruitment is often compartmentalized as a linear process. It begins with the specific goal of ensuring that an organizational vacancy is filled. The process ends with a selected candidate slotted into the vacancy and should, in accordance with good Human Resource practices, begin the next process of professional growth and development. If we follow the premise that good practices should set the path for all Human Resources activities, there is benefit in exchanging this compartmentalized approach (one process ends and another one begins) for one that views recruitment as the first step in a continuum of organizational and professional development.

When we look at recruitment as part of a continuum, we allow for the value creation of candidates as potential investments for long term organizational gain. This perspective is explored in a recent article that focuses on the emerging trend of employers recruiting new graduates from post-secondary programs that are linked directly to ‘work-integrated learning’.

Click here to read the article.

There is no doubt that the current labour market for recruiting candidates is competitive. In this type of environment, the temptation to make a quick hiring decision should not outweigh the benefits of recruiting individuals through thoughtful processes that support organizational investment for the long term.

As noted in the article, focusing recruitment efforts through post-secondary programs that provide co-ops, mentorships, or internships can help build organization strength based on an individual’s practical skills. More importantly, these opportunities allow for the critical development of qualitative skills such as resiliency, flexibility, and adaptability. All these characteristics impact job performance on both the individual employee level and the organizational performance level. Investing in the growth of personal and professional capacities for new employees, who are at the launching point of their own careers, just makes good business sense and provides mutual gains for the long term.

 

Discussion Questions:

  1. From a Human Resources perspective, how would you evaluate the qualities/skills of adaptability and resiliency through the candidate recruitment process?
  2. As a potential graduate, how would you assess the degree to which you possess the professional qualities/skills that are noted as requirements in the article?
  3. From a Human Resources perspective, what are the benefits of an organization hiring a new graduate? What are the challenges?
  4. How does the recruitment of new graduates influence job performance for both individual and organizational growth?