Employee Satisfaction

A good friend of mine recently celebrated her 10th year of employment with her employer. As we reminisced about this career milestone, one significant question came up. Over the course of those 10 years has she really enjoyed the job or has she been stuck in one of those jobs that has just drained the life out of her?

One of the key measures of job satisfaction is the belief that the work an employee does is both meaningful and valued by the employer. When an employee doesn't have that sense of satisfaction, he/she reaches burnout. They loose the energy and drive to succeed. Why should an employee be stuck in a job that provides no contentment? Maybe there is a need for a greater sense of belonging, or teamwork? Perhaps greater work satisfaction? Maybe the skills that he/she has developed in their current job can lead to something better?

In spite of having those great salaries, perks and benefits, employees quit their jobs. Sometimes we have to initiate change to maintain forward momentum.

As an employer, it is vitally important to know which factors most affect employee satisfaction. Spend your time, money and energy on programs, processes and factors that will have a positive impact on employee satisfaction. A downward trend in job satisfaction raises concerns about the overall engagement of employees and ultimately employee productivity, retention, creativity, risk-taking, mentoring and in overall employee motivation and interest in work.

I just recently finished reading "Winning" by Jack Welch. In one of the final chapters of his book he addresses "The Right Job" and the 5 signals for identifying the job fit. Those signals, in no order, are People, Opportunity, Options, Ownership and Work Content. Interestingly enough, money isn't one of the signals.

In closing, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines has a very enticing position available right now. Based in Florida, the position is for "Cupcake Supervisor." Yes, seriously.

Ethics & Integrity

I started this blog a few days ago. I kept coming back to it. Reading it. Changing it. "Re-thinking" it.

Integrity and business ethics are important topics to me. Topics I feel that are overlooked in our need to be competitive and on the business side, profitable.

Back in January of this year I addressed Leadership Honesty & Integrity. More and more in the news, blogs and forums, the topic of integrity and ethics is addressed. But let's start at the very basics. What are Ethics? What is Integrity?

By definition, Ethics are an external system of rules and laws. Many organizations have developed a Code of Ethics (or conduct) that employees are expected to obey. Within your business, how do you manage these values? How do you communicate these values? Do you hold your employees to a high ethical standard? Oftentimes a company will rely on the ethics (values) of the employees themselves. That can be a problem. You're basing this on the assumption that all employees are ethical and honorable. Not everyone shares the same ethical values, are ethical or are ethically strong. Not every employee is ethically "intelligent" enough to see and resolve identical issues when they arise. You are at risk of saying "our employees are ethical, let's not worry about it."

Integrity is an internal system of principles that guides our behaviors. Integrity is a choice rather than an obligation. Even though our level of integrity is influenced by our upbringing and exposure, it can not be forced by outside sources. When we act with integrity, we do what is right. Even if no one is watching. People with integrity are guided by core principles that empower them to behave consistently to high standards. Compassion, dependability, generosity, honesty, kindness, loyalty, maturity, objectivity, respect, trust and wisdom. The "virtues" listed above are the valuable personal and professional assets that employees develop and bring to work each day.

One question that continues to be raised, "is personal integrity and business integrity the same?" I believe that integrity is an "all in one" system. It is hard to separate personal integrity from work integrity. In making a choice, one should always consult their personal value system and consider what is the best choice for the company that supports you. If you are forced to do things that are against your better judgement, it is time to find an organization whose values closely resemble yours! Having an ethical business is directly related to the conduct of the individual business people within the organization.

Integrity is based on a strict adherence to a set of values or principles. Integrity for me may be different from integrity for someone else with different values. But I can not switch or modify my value system based on a situation. So for me, I have one set of values to define integrity for me. Any compromise would suggest that I don't have real integrity.

What steps can we take to be an ethical organization? Define the corporate values and the ethical standard minimums. Require every level of the organization to know how these values will be lived. You educate, from the top - down, these values. Each manager, employee, supervisor or executive should model these values so that each and every person knows how to apply these ethics to real situations. Keep an open door policy to discuss and resolve those tough cases. Reward behavior that is consistent with the values. Renew the values frequently. Even in the best managed organization you need to roll the values out frequently. Don't let them weaken. This may take a bit more effort on your part. But the value, in the long-run, is immeasurable.

On the personal front, each day every person makes a choice (or choices) that distinguish them from others, both professionally as well as personally. We have to recognize that ethics is never a business issue, a social issue or a political issue. It is a personal issue. We want integrity. But, oftentimes people don't always act with the kind of integrity that they want from others. Ask yourself one simple question. "Is it right or wrong?" You can not have one set of values for your professional life and one for your personal life. If someone forces you to do something that is wrong, even if it means using "rank", then it's time to move on to another organization that will respect and reward you for who you are.

Keep communicating!

Education versus Experience

Recently a discussion rose on one of the HR forums regarding the value of experience over a degree. While it wasn't really a heated discussion, there were endless responses debating the issue. If you take the time to Google "Education versus Experience," you discover a wide variety of thoughts and opinions. Personally, yes, I value a formal education. But, I don't believe that potential candidates should be overlooked during the recruiting process because they lack one!

"College doesn't offer the hands-on experience, and certifications generally cost a bunch of money. Both prove nothing more than a person knows how to take a test, and probably has really good short-term memory. Obviously there's always the possibility that they have a firm understanding of the subject matter, but it seems too subjective to be sure."

"Some companies place a premium on having a lot of workers with graduate degrees - and someone without one may not fit in."

"Education is absolutely important in the sense that it should allow a person to fully extend his or her knowledge to their reasonably maximum potential, then turn that into a successful work experience."

"A lot of education happens outside of school. School is life, and life is school."

"My own experience in college was that people with no real world experience taught me a lot of theories about how things are supposed to work, but there was very little real experience shared. In my work life, I've gotten a far better MBA education from my years of experience solving the real business and marketing challenges that were thrown my way. Some think higher education makes people smarter, and some believe better, than those who didn't attend. But you can get a great education without a formal degree, and when it comes to business, you can usually get a better education by experiencing, firsthand, the challenges of the workplace." Excerpt from the book "Gut Feeling."

So, answer me this. Can experience make up for the lack of degree, or does a degree provide something that experience can't? Is one more valuable than the other? Responses on the forum included:

"Knowledge is lacking if you don't use it."

"It's what you can do with your education, not what your education can do for you that counts."

A degreed individual may have "a solid grasp of the fundamentals, but they have no hands on experience."

The issue is one that continually surfaces in organizations. Oftentimes the requirement of a degree for a position is based on cultural or personal preferences. I have seen where the justification of a degree is based on the "experience" the individual can provide. Huh?

I do disagree, however, with the assumption that an individual with a degree has more credible qualifications or that it's a greater proof of intelligence. I have had the extreme pleasure to work with numerous people over the years that lacked degrees. (One of which was the president of an $80M manufacturing organization that became part of a larger, international organization.) The knowledge, professionalism and motivation that they brought to their roles was extraordinary. I am pleased to say that more and more organizations, during the recruiting process, are beginning to recognize the value of "experience" that candidates can bring into an organization. Experience, not Education.

Granted, there are some roles which should always require a degree and/or an advanced degree. I don't debate that. "There is nothing wrong with requiring a four-year degree if that's what the job requires. But if that requirement is based on a . . personal bias, you are probably missing out on a large pool of job candidates."

In closing, I would like to task each and every employer with the following:

1. When recruiting for a position, take the time to properly identify the requirements of the position, the knowledge and skills that are required.

2. Can the requirements only be obtained through a degree?

3. Can the requirements be acquired through experience?

The Bus

During a company reorganization (at some time in my distant past), a statement was used to summarize the ongoing changes. "A company is like a bus. You have to get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats." These words have always stuck with me - specifically during the recruiting process.

Recently I was tasked with recruiting a payroll clerk/HR assistant. Having a handful of resumes for highly qualified candidates, most with 10+ years experience and certified payroll professionals, the department head chose to reject them. On no less than three occasions she presented the same candidate for consideration. This candidate, having no payroll or human resources experience, did not meet the criteria for the position.

I have seen managers fail during the recruiting process by hiring candidates that lack the very skills / strengths that are needed to be successful in the role. While we may have a "connection" with a specific candidate, we need to select candidates with the greatest potential for success. The performance of a department, the company itself, hinges on the quality of its personnel. As managers, we should always surround ourselves with people who are better and smarter than we are. We should target and hire people that bring strengths into an organization that we ourselves lack.

When recruiting please carefully and fully assess the needs of the position. Always focus on the quality of incoming employees. Find new "strengths" for your organization. Hire them. Use them. Remember, the success of any organization rests on the strengths of its employees. Always capitalize on the strengths of the people within your organization or team.

What Do You Want From Your HR Team?

What Do You Want From Your HR Team?

I read an article recently that asked the above question of a group of senior executives. One CEO had the response that “I want HR to read my mind." While this may appear to be a joke, there's a lot of truth to the statement. Reflected below is some additional feedback from that same group of executives.

• I want HR to speak my language. We’ve all heard over and over how we need to be business-savvy and speak the “language of business.” One CEO said it perfectly. He said “Sometimes, I feel like I’m speaking a different language to my HR person. I want to feel like what I’m saying is making sense and that they know what to do with it.” He then went on to acknowledge that sometimes it’s hard for his HR people because he isn’t always the best at articulating his thoughts. But, it helps when they learn how he thinks and what is on his mind so that he has less explaining to do.

• I need HR to think for me. The point this CEO was making was that his brain doesn’t necessarily think about the critical employee issues the same way that HR does. So, he needs HR to be thinking about things that aren’t part of his daily routine. He wants HR to take that leadership role and, in most cases, take care of these issues so he can focus on the business.

• I want HR to help me solve my problems. Many of the executives talked about current challenges in retaining staff and getting qualified staff on board. One gentleman in particular said that the thing that keeps him up at night is knowing that he’ll have enough of the specialized talent that he needs to support the incredible growth the company is experiencing. He wants to know that his HR people are doing everything they can to solve this problem with him.

• I want HR to keep me out of trouble. The CEO wants you to warn them before they make a move that could land them on the witness stand. There's always a right way and the wrong way to tell the CEO that they are headed for trouble. We agreed that “you can’t do that” is probably not the right approach. But, the group overwhelming agreed that a loud, stern warning would be appropriate. One CEO joked, “Sometimes you have to yell, but I’ll hear you.”

Any HR department can benefit from asking this same question of their executive team. You might be surprised by what you hear – and you may have an opportunity to view your own job in new light.

Keep communicating!

Performance Appraisals

Performance appraisals are stressful for both the manager and the employee. If you are properly prepared, you can reduce the stress of not only writing the appraisal, but delivering it as well. When you prepare your evaluation of an employee:

1. Keep a positive attitude towards the appraisal process and conduct each evaluation realistically with respect to the strengths or weaknesses of the employee.
2. Make certain that all criteria on which the employee is evaluated is clearly job related.
3. Rate employees solely in relation to the job responsibilities, not in terms of how similar they are to you.
4. Establish the standards of performance expected on the job before rating the employee and base your evaluation on those pre-determined requirements or standards.

In the future I will address the steps that both managers and employees can take to have an effective appraisal.

Performance evaluations are a tool for building trust, open communiation and better supervisor / employee relationships through all levels of the organization.

Is Your Business Lacking Direction?

Chasing your tail? Is your organization lacking direction? While organizations are expected to work together as a team, there are many potential sources of conflict within an organization that may hinder its progress. One is lack of direction.

Recent statistics indicate that the average employee, in the average workplace, has little or no confidence that his or her senior leadership team knows where they are going. Nor does the average employee have faith and confidence that the executive team is choosing the right strategic direction. Although there are exceptions, my belief is that the organization fails to adequately communicate with its employees. The most important part in communicating the direction is the why we are taking the steps we are taking.

Yes, leadership teams stand up at the company meeting and announce their strategic direction and plans. This is not communicating. You're just getting the word out. You're announcing. At least, it is not communicating at a level necessary for employees to integrate the strategic direction and plans into their job and activities at work.

When employees understand the purpose and how each member contributes toward the ultimate goal at hand, they are committed to taking the steps necessary to accomplish the tasks. However, when they are unclear of the goals, uncertain of his/her role in the organization, they begin to loose interest and are less committed.

I don't think that managers understand how critically important communicating the strategic direction at the level of an individuals job is to organization-wide understanding of strategic direction.

Communicating goals doesn't guarantee that your employees will be motivated and love what they do, but if you don't convey goals to your employees at all you can certainly guarantee that they won't be motivated because they won't know where they are going.

Employees need to understand the organization’s goals, how the employees connect to the organization, and how their success and the organization’s success intertwine.

As always, my advise is to COMMUNICATE!

Positive Employee Morale

Morale affects every aspect of an organization's culture from its mission to its competitive advantage. In today's environment, an organization's continued business success depends upon the employee's daily commitment to utilizing their full range of knowledge and skills.

Morale affects how motivated your employees are to work for you, suggests how much they will accomplish during the course of the day, and how long they will stay with your company. As a manager, much of the mood within the organization is in your hands. So, what can management do to boost morale or sustain it during turbulent times? COMMUNICATE!

Take steps to:
1. Respond to employee questions promptly.
2. Ask employees for input before making decisions that impact their roles or work.
3. Create and maintain an open door policy.
4. Recognize employee contributions.
5. Consult employees before implementing policies the affect them (allow staff to give input into creating their own environment).


Most of all:
1. Challenge your employees with new opportunities to use and develop their skills.
2. Ensure they clearly understand their role and how they bring value to the organization.
3. Acknowledge and appreciate staff.
4. Recognize small successes.