Employee loyalty can
be fickle - and fleeting
Consultant says businesses need to adjust to new attitudes
By Mike Dempster - Business Edge
Published: 10/06/2005 - Vol. 5, No. 34
Chuck Bean flips through the career ads every day. Each time,
he shakes his head as employers ask applicants to send their
resumes - but say they won't accept phone calls.
"It kills me," Bean says. "What about saying, 'Call me any time,
we'd love to chat with you. You don't need a CV, we'll sit down
and talk.' " In an era when the labour pool is shrinking and
loyalty is non-existent in many companies, employers need an
attitude adjustment, says Bean, president of Calgary-based consulting
company Baxter Bean.
"Everywhere we go today the question business people are asking
us is, 'What's happened to loyalty?' " Bean says.
"Eight years ago it was a moderate scream. Now it's getting
louder. Everyone's heard about the Boomers and the shrinking
labour pool.
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Chuck Bean |
It's not just professionals that companies worry about keeping,
but it goes all the way down to blue-collar workers too."
Loyalty, of course, was thrown out the door years ago when organizations
began slashing workforces. Today, the tables are turning and
few companies can afford to have skilled employees walk across
the street to a competitor.
What can be done?
Many solutions are framed in four key areas that have been kicking
around for decades. But before addressing any solutions, employers
and employees must understand and agree on the definition of
loyalty in today's workplace.
Employee must understand and accept that their job is a vehicle
that supports their personal lives, takes them on vacations and
drives them into retirement. "I think that there's a sense of
loyalty in that itself," Bean says. "That makes it a lot easier
to get your head around doing a great job."
And the employer? Companies must recognize that people come
to work not for the company, but for themselves.
To create loyalty, Bean believes businesses need to examine
four critical areas, or pillars, to serve as building blocks:
* Recognize that there are now four generations of workers in
the workplace, and that it is management's responsibility to
understand and respect diversity inside the workplace.
* Understand the behaviours and values of people and be tuned
into how employees think, how they act and how they work. For
instance, the 20-something group is less materialistic and has
less corporate loyalty than any other age group, a message that
Bean says "we really want to get across."
* Empowerment. This is a big one. People want to be trained
in how to make smart decisions. And companies must even let staff
make decisions that potentially can end in failure, mistakes
a manager wouldn't normally make, to assist the learning process.
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Talent Maxtrix |
Staff are more likely to feel worthwhile and offer some loyalty
in return when businesses invest money, provide opportunities
and take risks with employees.
* Companies must manage talent. Bean isn't talking about annual
performance reviews. Leaders must ensure staff members are trained
and get effective coaching, feedback and discipline.
While each pillar merits plenty of discussion, talent management
is interesting.
Bean uses a form of matrix that allows managers to determine
where employees fit in the company. It measures their behaviour
and attitude (whether they're stars, strugglers or stragglers)
against their skill level (can't do the job/can do/can teach).
To illustrate, consider the employee who has an excellent attitude
and behaviour, can do the job, but can also teach.
This is a captain, he says. (In sporting terms think of the
Calgary Flames' Jarome Iginla or Jason Smith of the Edmonton
Oilers.)
"He or she is a mentor. That's the captain who you should be
lining up people beside," Bean says. "Let that skillset and that
great attitude rub off."
Conversely when managers assess a straggler, whose attitude
is weak, they have choices to make. If the straggler can teach,
or has shown he can do the job, he should probably be redeployed.
However, if this person can neither do the job nor teach, then
he should be let go.
Although companies with whom Bean consults feel it's a "pain" to
do talent management assessments, more than half agree it's necessary.
The downside is that proper assessments (both hiring and talent
management strategies) take time, a valuable commodity when most
businesses want things done yesterday.
But the reality is that good employees are becoming more difficult
to recruit and retain at all levels, and they appreciate employers
that take the time to ensure where they fit best in the operation.
It's one way of creating loyalty.
It's the same notion with those career ads that tell the applicant, "Don't
call us, we'll call you."
Strong organizations feel they should always be recruiting,
says Bean, always looking for people, always open and welcoming
to potential employees. Often another company's best employees
are far too busy working to be crafting resumes. If they can
pick up the phone, or drop in for a quick chat, sometimes the
employer will find a real gem.
"I think it sends a message to the potential employee that you
are an open company," he says. "It's a good first step in creating
loyalty, because you value what they have to say and will take
the time to listen."
Web Watch: www.baxterbean.com
(Mike Dempster can be reached at miked@businessedge.ca)
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