Recruiting and Retention

Normally, I try to provide more lighthearted posts on Fridays to help ease us into the weekend.  But, since we played tag yesterday, I thought I’d get back to business . . but still rather lightheartedly.

So, I stumbled across an old (2006) post from a student at Florida A&M about how tattoos can tarnish your chances of getting a job.  And, then I re-read a post from The HR Capitalist about tattoos cutting earning potential.

I don’t get it.  According to a January 2008 Harris Interactive poll, 14% of all adults have at least one tattoo.  To put that number into perspective, that’s about a third more than the total population of metropolitan New York City.  Now, if that many people have tattoos, shouldn’t we (i.e. Corporate America) get a little more mainstream about them?

Tattoos have been around since before Ancient Egypt and tattooing is practiced globally.  In some cultures, they are used not only as body art but as rites of passage, religious symbols, and decorations of bravery.  There are lists of famous people who are well respected and revered for their talents . . . and they also happen to have tattoos.  Here are a few (note: I have not personally seen any of these, just taking the word of Tattoo Johnny):

• Thomas Edison
• Winston Churchill
• Prince Charles (who knew?!)
• JFK Jr.
• Kurt Cobain
• Julia Roberts

Our world stands to be robbed of great talent if we can’t get past a little ink (or a body piercing for that matter).  It’s not about what people look like - it’s about their hearts and their minds.

And, if that doesn’t convince you, think of the branding potential.  Harley Davidson gets a lot of free marketing with all those biker tattoos. And I know at least one person who has a tattoo of the Starbucks logo (the original one).  What do you have?

I just finished reading a Marshall Goldsmith/Patricia Wheeler newsletter for successful leaders.  I was particularly interested in Patricia Wheeler’s article on Millennials.  I’d share it with you…but after 10 minutes of searching I couldn’t find it on the web.  (Note to self:  if I ever start an electronic newsletter, post it on my website to increase web traffic.)

Anywho, Wheeler talks about meeting with a group of Millennials about what they look for in an employer.  Here’s the (paraphrased) list:

1. Help develop talents and skills
2. Provide challenging work
3. Create career paths and opportunities for growth
4. Offer work/life balance

Now call me crazy…but isn’t that what we’re all looking for?!

Don’t we all want a company that will provide training and development, offer meaningful assignments and future opportunities for success?  Don’t we want to work for companies who recognize our individual talents and will help us become better at what we do?  And, while they’re at it, not work us to death so we still have some energy when we get home to enjoy dinner with the family and watch a little TV?

I’m struggling to understand.  Do Millennials want something different?  Or do they want the same things presented in a different way?  Take work/life balance for example.  Are there really people who don’t want work/life balance?  I’m thinking everyone wants it, but the definition might change depending on who you talk to.  For example, my parents thought work/life balance meant leaving at 5 p.m. and not taking work home.  For me, it means working when I need to work and playing when I want to play regardless of the particular day or hour.

With new times, new inventions, and new generations comes new ways of doing things.  The challenge for companies is to build flexibility and adaptability into their corporate culture so they can attract and retain a diverse workforce.

We all know it’s important to have good customer service.  Regardless of our country’s economic condition, people want to purchase products or services from companies that provide value.   Good customer service brings value.

And how often do we forget about good customer service with our employees?  Yes, employees are customers.  They choose to work for you and make a conscious decision every day to represent your company well or fling your reputation into the toilet.

A recent post by HR Minion on how HR needs to provide good customer service was spot on.  It mentioned a point that I want to emphasize…if you want your employees to leave their personal problems at the door and focus on doing their job, you need to give them the resources to do that.  Here are 4 things you can do to help your employees focus on your business.

1. Have a solid orientation program. Tell employees about the mission of your company and show them how what they do contributes to the success of the organization.  Employees will perform well when they have pride in what they do.  Pride comes from understanding how everyone’s role translates into company success.
2. Conduct department training. Teach employees how to do their jobs.  Whether it’s a formalized program or on-the-job training, have a process for letting your team know what is expected of them.  Oh and, make sure they can actually perform the job to company standard before you turn them loose.
3. Offer benefits and market them. Yes, market them!  Employee benefits give people an opportunity to focus on themselves - whether it’s their health, time off, education, or whatever.  It gives people resources they need outside of work so they can come back to the office and focus on their work.  And since everyone’s needs are different, be sure to promote all of your company benefits so your employees will utilize all the good things they have coming to them.
4. Communicate and follow-up with employees. When questions and concerns occur (and they will), listen to your employees and follow-up with answers.  I’m not saying that you have to always give people the answer they want to hear…but give them an answer.  After all, they deserve it.

As managers, if we follow the simple mantra of telling people what it takes to be successful, then showing them how to be successful, and removing any detractors…our employees will be well positioned to make good things happen for us.  And that’s what you want, isn’t it?

Human Resources professionals could glean a lot about the workplace from reading marketing-related content.  For example, this recent article on Marketing VOX about attitudes of the various generations.

For years, I’ve claimed that HR is really an internal marketing machine.  As much as we overuse the corporate buzzwords ‘employment branding’ and ‘internal customers’…there is an ounce of truth in them.  As human resources professionals, we are responsible for maintaining a culture and selling that culture to candidates.  Candidates are, in fact, customers.  And just as we say it’s cheaper to keep customers than constantly search for new ones, it’s cheaper to keep employees (with training and coaching) than get new ones (via turnover).

In addition, we need to know who our customers/employees are and what motivates them to stay with us.  HR and Marketing do this exactly the same way - focus groups, surveys, and exit interviews.

But this is where I give our colleagues in Marketing their props…the Marketing folks actually do something with the results of these efforts.  For example, somewhere in our great nation a focus group told Cheetos corporate executives that doing random acts of weirdness with a cheese puff was going to sky-rocket sales through the roof.  Hence, The Orange Underground was born.

If someone would have told this to the average HR Exec, oh my…let’s just say it wouldn’t have gotten very far.

Whether or not this ad campaign was a success is a big question mark.  The point is don’t be afraid to (1) ask people what motivates them, (2) accept that it might be different than what motivates you, and (3) take action to align your culture with your customers.

What’s the worst that could happen (besides having a Cheeto in your bonsai)?

Over the years, I’ve had a lot of offices.  Some of them nice and others, not so much.  The biggest office I had was my first and the smallest was when I was a VP.  Go figure.

But the nicest office I’ve ever had was when I first started my consulting business.  My home office was the perfect size and had great equipment - like two computer monitors.  (If you don’t have two monitors, try it sometime…you’ll never use a single monitor again.)  Anywho, I digress.

The reason I bring up home offices is because more companies/employees are considering telecommuting as an option.  It can help create greater work/life balance, increase productivity, and save employees on gas money.

That being said, telecommuting is a very serious decision.  It’s not a ‘wake up one morning and tell everyone they can work from home’ kind of thing.  Some elements you need to think about include:

• What will your customers/vendors hear when they call your telecommuting employee?  Will 6-year old little Sally pick up the phone or will they hear Sparky the Labradoodle barking in the background?
• What equipment is necessary to set up a home office?  Who will purchase and maintain it?
• Can your home-based employee provide a safe place for sensitive information like medical data or credit card information?  Is their computer hooked up to an unsecured network?
• What happens if a home-based employee is injured on the job?  What are the company’s OSHA requirements and their liability?

This is just a sampling of the questions you should ask when agreeing to a home-working arrangement.

And, don’t forget that your management team needs some guidance on how to supervise these employees and manage the work of people they won’t see all the time.  It’s easy to spot a slacker when they’re in the office.  But when they’re miles away at home, how will you know they’re working for you and not just watching Oprah?  Or, worse yet, working for someone else while on your payroll.

Home offices can be the best…once you work out the details.

I’ve noticed a lot of articles lately talking about what you should do when you’re looking for a new job.  Of course, they focus on the typical stuff - resume writing, interview questions, etc.  But I would add a few things to consider when looking for a job that recruiters don’t always talk about:

1. Your email address says a lot about you.  It’s one thing to be sugarmama86 or hunkoflove777 to your close personal friends.  But a recruiter doesn’t really want to know that about you.  Think of creating a professional email to send out your resume.
2. Your voicemail says even more about you.  I once listened to a candidate’s “Halloween Horror” voicemail - complete with some comment about dismembering bodies.  I realize it was a joke but really…does that scream “I’m a team player” or “conflict just rolls off my back”??? (No pun intended.)
3. Your Facebook and MySpace pages tell your life story.  Recruiters are checking out these sites.  It’s almost like a ‘background check’.  What company would hire a person who has a bunch of photos of them partying half-naked with comments on their wall about being the reigning belching king/queen?
4. Applicants should follow directions.  It’s fine if you want to apply to ads…but do what the ad says.  There’s nothing more frustrating that saying ‘no phone calls’ and getting phone calls.  Or ‘include salary requirements’ and nothing is submitted.
5. Finally, understand that your resume is really a summary of your qualifications.  Key word here:  summary.  Don’t list everything you’ve ever done…just enough to make yourself interesting.  And, don’t send every award certificate you’ve ever received.  While I’m sure people are proud they had perfect attendance in grammar school…recruiters don’t want to sift through all that paper.  It’s the surest way to end up on the bottom of the pile.

So take my advice . . . (1) you might want to conform to the establishment just a bit - at least until you get hired somewhere and then you can express your individuality as you see fit.  Or at least as much as company policy will allow.  (2) Be as interesting at the end of your resume as you are at the beginning.  I always read a resume from the bottom up.

Hey -speaking of bottom’s up!  What are we drinking today…?