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ROI vs Return on Relationships syndrome

Written by: Michel Amour

Article Overview: So you own your own business or work for an organization that you think treat you fairly—think again! Many business owners today believe that small internal contests, yearly employee BBQ and the Christmas party are enough to build employee loyalty or keep their employee for over 12 months. As sad it might sound, this is a true statement for some; happily for the rest of the employees out there, there are some interesting companies that do score as Canada’s top employers because they got the big picture! They quickly understood that their best assets are their internal employees

ROI vs Return on Relationships syndrome

So how do these companies score with high flying colors in Canada’s latest top employers list? Simple - actually it IS simple—they went back to basics. Today’s Top employers are channeling all of their energies on employee recognition and development. They focus on the how, rather than the principle itself— let me explain:

One of our clients came to see us last month as he was curious about the services our firm offers. Following our original meeting, we noticed that he was putting a lot of energy on employee retention, and reaping minimal results than expected. His company was spending thousands of dollars on yearly parties, summer outings, off-site team building activities and internal contest that in his as well as the investors’ opinion were good practices. We agreed they are good practices, but in today’s world, good is not enough anymore, great is not enough either—you need to aim at “the best” in order to stay on top. He looked at us with his big eyes, as if he was saying that being the best is farfetched!

“Employees only need their paycheck, some fun activities at work and a good support structure and they should be fine, No?” We looked at him and said “NO! That is not enough!” Activities are fine and dandy, internal contest are also some good motivators, but yet again, these only bring short term motivation—similar to X-mass gifts = you are looking forward for the gift, open the package with excitement, jump of joy at the sight of your gift and then what? So we asked him:” you mentioned having a good support structure-tell us more about that”.

After careful analysis of his Management practices and many assessments on-site, we realized that the structured support he had mentioned originally was only some scattered coaching, team meetings and taps on the shoulder when need be. His team and him were under the impression that inconsistent coaching sessions and meetings were enough to bring the employees back on track. After all, what counted the most is the level of productivity his employees had to keep. Ouch! Don’t get me wrong, these are important, only when offered regularly, follow a specific structure and are consistent. Employees should not feel “voyeured” on the job and their performance should not be perceived as a mean to a purpose. Employees should feel engaged, participate in shaping the company’s vision, have an active say on their own performance and objectives, and become your best ambassadors. How...right?

Instead of managing X number of employees, involve them in your decision making process, ask for their opinion on the Operations aspect of the business (the aspect they have direct influence on), care about their opinion and truly demonstrate this by creating feedback sessions and Q&A to show them you are taking actions to enhance the Operations based on their feedback. Once you have done this, meet individually and ask the employees to set their own objectives. Ensure that the meeting is not set to flow one-way only; your employee should do most of the talking. Once the employee has set their own objectives, then it becomes easier to explain the granularity of their actions on your business. Minimize in layman terms, the impact of each action they take, into $$ amounts—keep it simple. Once you have done this, it is time to create a career development plan for them and E.N.S.U.R.E you follow up on it accordingly with the proper structure.

By the way, E.N.S.U.R.E stands for Establishing Nominal and Specific, user-friendly and realistic enhancements. The later means specific value-added small goals that will lead to the bigger one! Treating your employees like your shareholders means engaging them in your daily Operations and involving them in the business’ daily success or loss, encouraging their empowerment and business-owner-like thinking. Mix everything and you get genuinely motivated employees that show up to work daily because they care about the business’ well-being as it became their own!

Ok, now how do you measure this? Quarterly meetings, feedback sessions, employee satisfaction surveys, employee churn rate and employee referral rate—you heard right! A satisfied employee will encourage his friends and family to join his employer. I encourage you, today, to walk your floor and see how many friends and employee’s relatives you will find working in your company—you will be surprised! -

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Article Tags: big eyes, careful analysis, coaching team, companies score, employee recognition, employee retention, flying colors, fun activities, management practices, minimal results, motivators, paycheck, summer outings, support structure, team building activities, team meetings, term motivation, thousands of dollars, top employers, x mass



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