Shaping a new path for Tomorrow’s Workplace is essential to sustain and grow your business. With the many changes affecting businesses due to economic, social, globalization, and environmental challenges, plus the impending tight labour market and a diverse labour force, only a new journey forward will lead to continued success. 

The Surrey Board of Trade and SUCCESS have partnered to support small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in Surrey prepare for the future through the Tomorrow’s Workplace project.  Business, human resources, and diversity specialists are currently leading this initiative by working with selected businesses with a primary purpose to ‘help good businesses be great’ in the midst of the new realities. The vast majority of economic growth in our province is attributed to SMEs and the issues they face, with limited resources, require a clear focus for the future.

SMEs are most often started by one or two individuals with passion, knowledge, and an entrepreneurial spirit. As the business grows, complexities grow as well. Organizations must now take a holistic business perspective and prioritize the areas of knowledge, support, and tools to integrate that will support current and future success. In the Tomorrow’s Workplace project, one core focus is connecting businesses with community and employment resources in Surrey for maximum benefit by both parties. Shaping a workplace culture of resiliency, adaptability and change practices are also essential components to flourish in the future. Yesterday’s workplace, with set ideas, long standing routines and processes is truly a thing of the past.

Tip

Shape your business for continued success. Visit http://www.tomorrowsworkplace.net and benefit from our learnings. We’re producing a video story documentary of our work with businesses and will also be producing a toolkit with tools, resources, and learnings. The Surrey Board of Trade will host a launch event on May 20, 2010. Stay connected and sent us your views, ideas, and questions.

Gayle Hadfield
Tomorrow’s Workplace Project Manager

Green.  Did you just think of money. No, likely you thought planet sustainability. In a short few years, our awareness of climate change has grown and our values have shifted. Wikipedia confirms that yes, green is still a color, and has added new references to the “Green Movement” and “environmentally-friendly” products.

As a business, your bottom line is important and that’s the right focus. You’ve also needed to meet changing market demands to ensure your sustainability. That’s your business. With pressure from customers and competitors, multitudes of businesses are green-shifting products, services and delivery methods. Shades of green (not green washing!) will increase your ability to attract and retain employees.

Socially-conscious employees need to find meaning in their work, knowing their company is positively contributing to the world, and green practices is one way of putting values to action. In a previous tip “Green is the new value” I touched on the reasons for introducing green practices in your workplace. These are fundamental principles that are here to stay. Once we’re through this economic downturn, the war on talent will resume in full force, so these principle are critical to positioning your organization.

Start by reviewing your current workplace practices, vision what’s possible, and work with employees to prioritize changes. Some changes I’m seeing include: reusing office products; reducing energy use by turning off lights, printers, computers; transit passes or discounts; recycling; no plastic waterbottles, cutlery, plates, cups, or other kitchen/cafeteria items; having office cleaners use enviro-friendly cleaning products. A friend who works at ICBC said that the head office escalators are now turned off on Fridays as an energy saving measure–now that’s creative – and impactful. 

Tip: Be Bold

Explore going further, and shift people practices to include: telecommuting, flextime, carpooling, video conferencing to reduce air travel, provide transit passes rather than car allowances, or provide hybrids. Leaders that champion these initiatives and shift personal behaviors for green alignment will see returns from customers, and employees who truly are the greatest asset of any business.

Retention Strategies

Turnover is costly, both financially, and the time involved to source and integrate replacement staff.  Exiting employees may leave with: intellectual knowledge that is important to your business; client relationships that will need to quickly shift to other staff; and, depending on why they left and where they’re going, they may encourage others to leave. Risky business.

In this economic downturn phase when employee turnover is down, take time to explore retention, gain input from your staff, and implement strategies for future stability.

Before rushing to address turnover by integrating a new compensation plan or talent management strategy as potential solutions, following are some retention principles, drivers and ideas. Elements of rewards and talent management segments may still be required, but do your research to ensure the time, effort and cost in solutions will ‘hit the mark’. 

The strongest relationships between the intention of people to stay and other attributes include such items as pride in the employer overall, the employees’ affinity for the type of work, the leadership skills of management, trust, and teamwork. Creating a supportive environment, one with transparent communication from leadership, where everyone is pulling in the same direction and employee contributions are valued, are elements more important than compensation rewards when thinking retention.

Stay or Leave?

Start by finding out why your employees stay, and what would cause them to leave. Gather through informal conversations, formal interviews, or employee satisfaction surveys. This input will provide you with guidance for your organization-wide retention strategy. Share your findings and actions with staff so they understand you’re listening and committed to this partnership. This openness, dialogue and partnership is fundamental to being a valued organization to work for.

Be a place people want to work

Enhance your people practices to shape an environment where people are proud of the organization they work for, doing work that aligns with their strengths. You’ll be rewarded with motivated employees who share your passion for the business and strive to meet objectives. They’re likely to stay.

Being an HR practitioner, I’m attentive to hearing what seems like daily stories of individuals losing their jobs due to this economic phase. Investigating this further, I’m finding that many employers are doing the right thing by keeping employees informed as to the state of their business and reducing operational and other costs to avoid layoffs. This makes sense, as individuals are the valued workers that power business success. However, not all employees are receiving support to help them transition to new employment.

Whether you’re the CEO, an Administrative Coordinator, or the Technology Engineer, in the span of our working lives, jobs provide us with core aspects for our wellbeing–as defined in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, including: self esteem, confidence, the respect of others, community/social belonging, challenge and personal growth, finances to provide for our homes, food and medicine. You get the picture – loss of employment, especially in a down market when other jobs aren’t readily available, can affect personal security, self-esteem, and wellbeing.

Individuals need a supportive transition to bridge new employment. With fewer jobs on the market, there are different techniques to secure a new position. Holding out for a full-time permanent position like they once had may have them unemployed for an extensive period. Small contracts lead to longer contracts; temporary employment can lead to permanent. This is the new reality of the workworld.

If a formal program is too costly, source one-on-one HR career consulting services to help them to: understand the new realities, plan, and implement their job search. For example, they’ll need a talent-based resume to stand out. The old style focusing on previous experiences and past skills don’t matter as much as current talents and fundamental strengths. Workplace routine is also out of style; people need to be change-ready with current talents, innovation, and clear thinking in order to meet business goals.

Because it’s the right thing to do

Be a responsible employer – show that you care about your valued employees, as individuals needing transition support to seek new employment. Remaining staff will see their employer “doing the right thing”, and you’ll benefit. People need to know they’re working for an organization that demonstrates they care when it matters most.

People often tell me “we’re too small to need HR”.  Let’s explore this further, keeping in mind organizations with under 20 employees. Human Resources practices and tools are not reserved for medium-large organizations. Whether HR practices are formal or informal, they’re critical to your business success. As a business owner of a small business, here are HR practices that will help you hire, motivate, and retain staff that are productive and engaged on your business’s success.

• Communicate the values, mission and value proposition of your organization’s service and/or products. People need to feel informed and included before they can commit. As a leader, you set the direction and need everyone on the same ship, staying the course. Hold regular meetings and provide business updates, and welcome employee ideas and input. Be a great person to work for.
• Put job duties in writing, with non-negotiable service and behavioural standards. Then, develop specific objectives so they can focus efforts to achieve and exceed those expectations. You’ve shared your value proposition; these standards and expectations put ideas to action. Only then can you manage their efforts and provide constructive feedback, and praise. 
• Hire the right people with strengths and skills aligned to each specific role. I often see smaller organizations hiring through friends and acquaintances and they forego a critical recruitment process. Employee referrals are great, as they’ve told others your organization is a good place to work. Just do your due diligence in aligning skillsets to your needs.
• Develop employees. They’re in the right role; they understand your business value proposition; they work on a team with shared values. Help them develop skills that will build their confidence, expand their abilities, all aligned to your business needs.  These could be customer service related; furthering technical skills; expanding professional abilities.  People want to grow and succeed.
• Recognize and praise a job well done. Whether an employee is developing your business, maintaining excellent administration support, or working directly with customers, they all have goals, objectives, and strengths. Praise and appreciation is motivating. And, motivation plus a focused effort equals productivity, satisfaction and retention.

Succeed through sound people practices

Human Resources practices are simply put the people practices that will sustain your business. People are the intellectual power that fuels your success. All your product, services, and internal processes only succeed through aligned people power. Show you value the power in your business.

The current issue of MacLeans headlines “the employment storm of 2009 is on its way”. The main losses will be in construction, mining, oil, gas, and auto manufacturing. Projected job losses will impact industries such as retail, marketing, and advertising. For more information read any newspaper.

Economists, if correct, project that the pain will be brief and we’ll return to prosperity later this year or early in 2010. Optimism and hope for a timely recovery will help all of us head to the light at the end of this tunnel. 

For employers, staff shortages may take a reprieve and turnover levels may go down.  Employees are more likely to stay in their current position and ride out the wave. If they are looking around, they know that even the larger organizations are being impacted by the market. The ego-building period of multiple job offers is also on hold as employers take cautious steps. And, individuals nearing retirement are now extending their exit date to continue earning while they wait for their retirement nest egg to return to health. 

Costs of staff replacement go down, and your intellectual capital is retained.  Teams benefit by having the business knowledge, relationships and expertise intact. Use this time as an opportunity to build internal capacity; develop skillsets for succession planning; and recognize achievements. Increase communication with staff to keep them well informed.  Ask what types of support they need to support them personally.

I heard Suze Orman speaking yesterday – she’s the money guru who just launched a new book on basic financial planning for 2009. She has sound ideas on paying off personal debt, saving, and stabilizing for uncertainty.  Employees could start a discussion group based on the book and share ideas.

Review my previous Two-Minute-Tip on “Market Turmoil” for ideas on maintaining and building healthy employee relations, and keeping productivity levels up.

Who knows, when the market turns around, employees who were thinking of leaving may decide they’re right where they want to be.

January 5 will see many employees returning to work after enjoying some well deserved time off with family and friends. They will have shed a lot of the stresses of the previous year and be well rested and ready to begin anew.  Some may quickly realize that the stresses of last year are still there, and like stepping into an old pair of shoes, things aren’t off to a good start. What wasn’t working last year? What caused those stresses? They may have forgotten over the winter vacation, but they’ll remember upon returning to work. There’s a window of opportunity in January, when many performance plans are set, to chart a course for improvement and changing work day habits.  

Personal resolutions don’t last without continued focus and support, but the workplace can be an excellent environment for change, through structure, feedback and check-ins. Scan the horizon to see what’s coming to mind as you read this. Yes, you’ll be setting new performance plans this month, but get your employees thinking along lines of what they’d like to improve and change.

Have them form one or two behavioural goals they’d like to focus on, then discuss what they envision as success. A solid performing employee who enjoys their work and is exceeding their objectives may be consistently working additional hours and they realize it’s affecting their home life. You have as much to gain by supporting them to make some adjustments to ensure their work/life balance is in check. This is only one example. Meet with employees in January and ask them what they’d like to improve to be more effective. You’ll get a variety of answers and that’s the beauty of understanding the individual needs of your staff. You need to ask and listen.  

Offer your support, guidance, and keep the communication channels open so they can raise this with you at anytime. 

Tip

Leaders that take an interest in the development and personal success of employees are on the right path; well, the only path when you think in terms of retention, employee satisfaction, increased productivity, and providing a healthy work environment where people can flourish. Who wins? Each individual, you, and your business.

December rings in the holiday season with socializing, upcoming vacations, purchasing gifts, entertaining, and a multitude of other activities.  In the workplace, year end triggers can include finishing off annual projects often within tight timelines; rushing to finalize actions on annual performance plans; and meeting customer expectations.

Given the multitude of activities bundled into one month, stresses add up as employees try to balance work, family, social gatherings, and importantly, finances.  There’s too much to do in 31 days. Your star employees may also be feeling the pressure, with high standards and an overflowing calendar. High stress can lead to illness, absences, edginess, and low productivity. 

Your support can take many forms; assess what will meet the needs of your employees and workplace. Find out what would benefit them and work in partnership for ideas and to prioritize solutions. Here are some ideas that speak to emotional, mental and physical wellbeing:

• Review year end employee expectations – are they realistic – does it all have to be done by year end? If the answer is yes, take the pressure off where you can. Prioritize and reschedule the ‘not important’ items. Reduce meetings unless they’re absolutely critical.  Have managers be attentive to signs of employee stress and put the topic on your management meeting agendas.
• Have a yoga instructor do a lunchtime session on ‘chair yoga’, stretches staff can do at their desk during the day.  Deep breathing, especially diaphragmatic breathing, is known to reduce anxiety. 
• Healthy eating – while a shortbread or two are yummy, have a dietitian or nutritionist speak about healthy eating choices during the season. Consider healthy food choices for employee gatherings and social events.
• Have a personal trainer speak and provide some motivation and ideas. Busy calendars can alter regular routines and some support may keep it as a priority.
• Bring in a psychologist for a lunchtime session on self-care, stress management, sleep, and managing emotions and relationships that may be challenging during the season.

Consider This

Employee health and wellbeing builds productivity, collaborative teamwork, employee satisfaction, health, and retention.  Ensure your people practices have a core philosophy of attending to employee wellbeing.

We’re in the midst of far-reaching economic uncertainty and that brings forth concern and raises fear for many employees. If it’s not the daily discussions are about which jobs are considered “safe” and which jobs and industries will be impacted, your valued employees are looking at their RRSP statement or the TSX numbers, and that’s not comforting.

To be productive and focus on the work at hand, employees need a feeling of stability and direction. Meet regularly and keep employees involved as to your organization’s objectives and where you foresee changes to current objectives. To be impactful, employees must know where to focus their work efforts.  Shifting some duties and tasks may be necessary to ensure close alignment with any changing objectives. Once employees have this core information, they will understand the need for the changes, and they will have ideas that can support the organization; keep them involved and engaged.

To mitigate fear, communicate openly with staff. From an employee perspective “no news is bad news”. Withholding information may also hamper your ability to retain high performers who make their own conclusions and considering moving to an organization that looks more stable.

Should job losses be a consequence of the downturn, provide supportive outplacement services to bridge employees to new employment. This can take the form of individual and/or group sessions to support exiting employees with tools to plan and implement their job search.  It’s a win-win to provide exiting employees with support. Remaining staff will see their employer “doing the right thing”; and, you may look to rehiring exiting employees in the future once we’re through this downturn. 

Try This

Focus energy and efforts on these core elements:

1. Employee Retention: Recognize solid performance; be transparent about your organization’s objectives and concerns; show flexibility in responding to employee requests; continue career development; listen to staff input.
2. Productivity: take stock of employee performance and develop clear timelined goals; manage poor performance – this is not the time for less than ideal performance; tighten up what is not working. Employees, as partners, have a vested interest in maintaining a high level of productivity.
3. Customer Satisfaction: Do all staff understand the heightened need to differentiate your services from your competitors? Revisit customer needs and refresh service delivery processes and competencies.

Source key talent by differentiating your organization

To attract your future skilled and productive employees, make your first impression count. No matter who you hire, you’ll be investing resources, training, time, and money, so sourcing skilled candidates is the first step to getting a solid employee ROI.

Solid candidates looking for a progressive organization, and meaningful work experiences, will overlook opportunities if you’ve failed to provide them with important information-qualitative information about who you are as an organization, your culture, values, offerings, and how you treat employees.  People are looking for more than ‘just a job’.

Generic ads do suffer. A basic old style ad that just describes the position, responsibilities and education requirements may give a potential applicant the impression that ‘things haven’t changed in your organization’.  There’s  no evidence you’re a reputable employer and there’s room for assumptions that your organization is not yet on board with the best people practices that value contributions, support employee development, and ensure a progressive healthy working environment.  Time to refresh how you are selling your organization to potential employees

Welcome to the new “basics” of a vacancy ad:

• Employer branding is the new norm.  You may not have the resources for a full branding initiative, but you already have enough information to share.  That includes: your vision; your goals; what you value; your attitudes toward employees; and what you have to offer.  People need to have a sense of the employee experience and what’s great about working in your organization.  And, culture fit is often more important than skill fit. 
• The position and reporting structure, primary focus and key responsibilities.  Articulate the highlights so people will know if their strengths align with the position.
• The experience, credentials and education requirements for your ‘ideal candidate’.  Many skills are transferable across positions, so be clear, but keep an open view to where candidates have gained experiences.
• Make it easy for candidates to submit resumes.  People may be deterred by a cumbersome process.  If your process is complex, your competitors may benefit.

Try this:

Checkout the national and provincial lists of ‘top employers’, then look to their career sites.  Or, review through any career listing and you’ll see how the new ad basics do impress.  Then proudly share what you offer.