Finding Good People

[Evan]

From my own experiences and from interviewing some of Canada's fastest growing companies, one of the biggest challenges always seems to be finding good people to hire.

What have you guys done to find good people and keep them in your organization?

[Shimmy]

My organization is made up of mostly volunteers. The turnover is higher with volunteers but I found that once I created a "family" environment for the team, increased the get togethers, bonding sessions, and off-time interaction, I was really able to create a very unique loyalty that I didn't have before. Turnover has decreased and now there are people waiting to become volunteers. Most of the volunteers in my organization are young, single and out to meet people and socialize so giving them that environment to do so has helped them and, in return, has helped my business. Maybe it is a matter of tapping in to what motivates your employees (other than the financial rewards) and providing it. This creates a good reputation for you as an employer.

[MM571]

Here are three interesting ways from career coach Marty Nemko on how to keep employees happy:

1. Instead of hiring consultants to train employees, cater lunch once a month and rotate employees teaching co-workers what they know best.

2. Do the employees hate tough customers? Shunt them all to one volunteer employee who gets special recognition or combat pay. Matt Weinstein, CEO of PlayFair, tells of a bank manager who awards a magnum of wine to the teller who, that week, served the most difficult customer. As a result, instead of trying to avoid difficult customers, most tellers actually look forward to them.

3. Give employees a frequent chance to earn small rewards combined with public recognition: sports tickets, free meals, or on-the-spot cash. But Lynn Halpin, CEO of Detroit Edison, warns that this better be part of a comprehensive plan. "If you work for Attila the Hun, someone handing you $50 is like rubbing salt in a wound."

[mphcoach]

The back end of this is reducing how often you have to look for people anyway! Many people will stay if you look after them.

Once you have your good employees, make sure that you spend time with them, building realtionships, often informally, every day, if you can.

Larger organizations lose this skill and hence they tend to have more disaffected employees and attrition.

If you have recruited well, hang onto the people you have by ensuring the core basics are right (pay is acceptable and on time, it's warm enough etc.), and then lock them in because they like you!

They like you, because you show an interest in them as real, human being and you show them you value their presence.

Then finding good people becomes much less of a challenge because you need to look far less often!

[Evan]

Thanks everyone.

From the PROFIT companies the success formula seems to be:

- Give employees responsibilities that make them stretch themselves
- Provide them with a good work environment and happy co-workers
- Invest in them by giving them training
- Build projects with them to give them some ownership of the idea
- Make sure they fit your company culture

And almost all of them say: Hire slow, fire fast.

[mphcoach]

Ensure they clearly (i.e. they understand, not just you understand), what is expected of them.

Regards

[jvprosperity]

I've mostly kept people on contract but if I find someone I enjoy working with I give them a stake (upto 20%) in my net profits instead of a set figure per contract. I've done this with people I've hired from elance.com.

This ties into "building ownership" that was mentioned earlier.

Also during holidays and special events in their lives that they've told me about I make sure to thank them with a mailed card or online Gift Certificate.

I've noticed that at my full time job even though people are paid sufficiently for what they do one of the biggest reasons they leave for perceived greener pastures is because of the "lack of appreciation"

[JWDesignCenter]

when i first started my company, my biggest problem was that i'd rush into something. I'd like someone or get a good feeling about them, hire them on the spot and a few months later wonder why I wasn't having success with my new employees. Now I take my time, I have them come job shadow, I train extensively... I make absolute sure that they'll be a good fit from the start. Then treat them right, listen to them, give them a little freedom and watch them bloom.

[Evan]

Hi Andy - any suggestions for people who hire from elance in terms of keeping them motivated and rewarding their work?

Are there any success stories / pitfalls you can share?

[litekepr]

I have an interesting story along the lines of finding and keeping good employees

I was a manager for a Domino's Pizza franchise several years ago. I'd been an assistant manager for a couple of years and was familiar with the business. The franchisees sent me to a store which served a major college and I knew that we would be swamped with business, once we got our initial promotion in place.

The first problem was that I had to move to a new town and I had 1 employee. School was going to start in about 10 days and I needed to move and to hire and train my entire staff (around 15-20 people).

I knew that the wrong staff would kill my chances to turn the store around, so I took a hard line with everyone who applied. I personally interviewed everyone and made it very clear what I expected from them. Everyone was on probabtion for the first 30 days and would meet with me for a brief performance review and if I kept them and they wanted to stay, they would get a raise.

Almost every one I hired were college students and I was told that was crazy by many people, but I had confidence in my crew. The first couple of weeks were a little tough and we all went through the growing pains together. I learned who could do which job and they all learned that I worked by their side and I worked harder than anyone. The respect we developed for each other was wonderful and we broke all business records in less than 3 months. The young and inexperienced crew worked together very well.

I left after six months and I found out that the crew didn't work like that for the next manager. One big thing the crew members came to discuss with me was the new manager's unwillingness to work hard with them. His approach was to make sure they knew they worked "for" him and not "with" them.

Over the years in a wide variety of businesses, I've learned that once you find the good people, make them feel like part of the team and most will give their all That's in addition to the wonderful suggestions posted above

Shri

[Evan]

Great story Shri!

Was there anything else besides getting in the trenches with the employees that you did to keep them motivated and working together as a team?

[litekepr]

I found that mutual respect was a great benefit for us. I showed them respect - which can be rare with college students and I earned their respect. I learned years ago that you cannot demand respect I also made sure they knew I appreciated the efforts they made and was vocal with my praise in front of the franchise owners. We worked the store as a team and I felt they deserved praise from the owners too

We set up some rewards for the people who worked extra shifts and were on call when I needed their help. Going the extra mile when they needed something paid off when I was in a bind with the schedule Would you believe that I had 1 or 2 college students on call each Friday and Saturday night and they couldn't drink until they called and got the "all clear" from me. It made for interesting weekends around the store

Shri

[NewmanWrites]

I agree!!

Working with your employees is a huge thing, and if you show them that you're willing to put the same work, the hours, and the raw effort into what you're doing as what they're doing, they'll soon respect you more.

Evan -- I found that keeping someone on Elance.com more motivated to work is being motivated yourself. Stay upbeat about the project, and make an effort (Again I pull back to this) to be involved in the project. I know that for at least small companies, those who are working with you appreciate being involved and helping them, instead of just giving them details and dropping the project from your thought base.

And with large projects, or projects on a strict time frame, try using a rewards system -- an extra $20-$50 if they get it in by such-and-such a time, or if they go over so many words, etc. Although it sounds almost degrading, if you're worried about time frames, it's really the best way to work, and motive who ever you hired to get it done.

Hope this helps!
Marie

[ChrisH]

I've seen a lot of employees working for others and loosing their motivation because of a owner/supervisor/manager that didn't do their share or pull their weight. Its horrible to see a motivated employee lose that spark because of the way they are treated.

Chris

[Garth]

1. Instead of hiring consultants to train employees, cater lunch once a month and rotate employees teaching co-workers what they know best.

This has been very effective for me. The guys who work with me are all consultant/contractors by choice, but I'll frequently pay for day of consulting time to have them cross-train each other.

It's been a win-win for everyone involved so far.
- For me, it makes the business stronger from the added depth on the bench and brought the added bonus of loyalty from these guys.
- For them, their skill sets have gotten broader and they are picking up more opportunities (not just from me).