KeenHire Blog by Margaret Graziano

Creating A Multi-Generational Workforce That Thrives!

Age discrimination claims have hit record levels in the United States! According to msnnbc.com the figures have risen from 16,000 in 2006 to 23,000 in 2010. That staggering number has skyrocketed, one due to unemployment and two due to the generational gap in the work force today. Those 55 and over are unemployed for an average length of 52.4 weeks. The average is just 37.4 weeks for younger workers, according to AARP employment data. The harsh reality is their age is part of the reason

“There is no question that age bias is rampant throughout American society and in the workplace in particular,” said Howard Eglit, a professor of law at Chicago-Kent College of Law who focuses on law and aging.

The HR profession has identified the number 2 trend most likely to have a major strategic impact on the workplace as large numbers of baby boomers leaving the workplace around the same time.

There are different values that come with having a muti-generational workforce. Each generation brings valued qualities and their own shortcomings.

Lets meet the generations!

World War II: 1925-1945

Values Qualities:

Stable, detail-oriented, thorough, hard-working.

Liabilities:

Don’t like change, reluctant to buck system, uncomfortable with conflict

Messages that motivate:

“We respect your experience and wisdom.”

“Your perseverance is valued and will be rewarded.”

 

Baby Boomers: 1946- 1964

Valued Qualities: Service-oriented, driven, willing to go the extra mile, good at relationship-building, want to please, good team players

Liabilities: Not naturally budget minded, uncomfortable with conflict, reluctant to go against peers, overly sensitive to feedback, self-centered

Messages that motivate:

“You’re important to our success.”

“Your contribution is unique and important.”

 

Generation X: Latter 1960’s to early ‘80s

Valued Qualities: Adaptability, techno-Literacy, independence, not intimidated by authority, creativity

Liabilities: Impatient, poor people skills, inexperienced, cynical

Messages that motivate:

“It’s OK, do it your way.”

“We’ve got the newest hardware and software.”

Millennial: Late 1980’s to the 2000’s

Valued Qualities: Tech-Savvy, collective action (Team), heroic spirit, tenacity, multi-tasking

Liabilities: Need for supervision & structure, inexperienced, very short attention span, lack of patience for menial tasks

Messages that motivate:

“You’ll be working with bright, creative people.”

“You and your co-workers can help turn this company around.”

With the largest gap being WWII generation to the Millennial it can be difficult to create a workplace that sufficiently equips everyone. The WWII’s attitude about the Millennials could be, “Those young kids really know their technology stuff, but I sure wish they could concentrate better.” But if you turned the table the view could be, “Old fogies who should retire and leave the work to us!”

No matter how the cards are drawn, unemployment rates cannot be denied, BUT that doesn’t mean the weeding out is going to last. The rate of unemployment went from a high of 9.8 in 2010 down to 9.0 here in 2011.

Multi-generational workforces can work. Yes, we need to be developing management and using our youth to create new leadership development, but who is going to do the teaching? We all can learn different things from each other.  It is also important to remember outliers. People sometimes cross the borders and fit into different categories based on how they were raised, their personality or their work culture. No matter who the person, or their age they will fit into one category and optimize the workforce!

The key to having generational retention is to create an environment that constructively produces relationships with support and the ability to grow.

 

By: Emily Eastman

The Retention Issue: How To Assess Candidates, Perfect Selection and Retain Top Talent

According To Noah Webster, retention is the act or power of keeping or retaining, but Corporately, retention is the power to keep employees actively engaged and committed to being an integral part of the organization. So what is retention like in this day in age? Are employers on the same page as their employees when it comes to effective performance and talent management?

According to the SHRM Workplace Forecast of 2011, our workplace trends are directly related to talent acquisition, selection & retention. All of these being consecutive to one another and going hand in hand with creating a successful business.

A recent survey on employee performance and retention conducted by Express Employment Professionals, one of the nation's largest privately held staffing companies, found that employers are more disconnected than ever from their workforce. Express' survey revealed that 77 percent of leaders say retention was not a problem or only a slight problem in 2011, while 91 percent of employees said they are willing to switch jobs. These extreme figures should be waking up the employers of our nation, and creating a call to action that something’s not right.

With Employee turn over in the US at 16.4 percent what is there to do? How do you shift your talent management, selection and retention in a way that that increases your profit, your employee satisfaction and turnover?

First of all strong leadership is imperative right now in order to enhance your management operating style, implementing accountability systems, while building and developing high-performance teams.

Talent acquisition can only be beat one way: putting the right people in the right roles. How do we do that? By perfecting selection. Selection can be managed with internally, with a 3^rd party recruiter or using both. Whichever your company decides to go with you must ensure that their skills, personality, and values align with the job and the company. Developing Interview strategies that include pre-established critical screening questions, an in-depth career history review and custom built behavioral interview models prevent the unhealthy corporate impact as well as the high cost of a mis-hire.

Over all the corporate response must be to link employee performance and its impact on the organization’s business goals. Doing this will keep employees goals align with the company’s, creating increasing accomplishment and happier on track employees.

So try something different, create a new hiring process, change the way you interview and beef up your leadership training and finally retain the talent you need. 

To learn more about retention, talent management and see how to create a conscious hiring process, visit us at keenhire.com. We equip companies with systems, processes and people to hire & retain with clarity and insight.

By: Emily Eastman

Workforce Strategy 3.0 - Position Your Company As a Leading Place To Work

With a rocky economy, emerging industries on the rise, four generations in the workforce, Sr. level leaders on the verge of retirement or redeployment and a sea of talent management issues knocking at your door, it is time to start thinking about how your company will maximize it’s return on your people investments.

KeenHire’s Workforce Strategy 3.0 Webinar empowers employers to take a new look at their human resource processes and their approach to Talent Management, Recruitment, Performance Management, Employee Engagement and Key Contributor Employee Retention.

Sign Up FREE

September 6, 2011

10:30-12:00 PST

Click HERE to Register

The number 1 trend that has a major impact on the workplace is workforce optimization, specifically is key contributor recruitment, utilization, succession planning and retention. 

We delve into your company's employment, recruitment and retention issues. We will dispel the myths and uncover critical issues that affect your company’s ability to attract and retain the right people in your key contributor and next level leadership roles.

  Walk Away With…

1. Hands on experience in uncovering the Real Cost of Employee Turnover and the impact that it has on your ability to achieve your corporate strategic objectives.

2. Knowledge about the organizational development methodology for assessing your company’s real human capital needs.

3. The competence and capability to improve your company's ability to attract, select, engage, manage and retain your mission critical, key contributor and next level leadership talent.

4. Power to develop a winning employer value proposition with several practical employee retention strategies and employee engagement initiatives.

5. The ability to forward your company’s revenue by incorporating the Talent Mindset into your everyday management and people practices. 

The Expert

Margaret Graziano is a torchbearer in the Staffing and Recruitment industry. Her visionary ability, astute knowledge of full life cycle Talent Management and her tenure in the field, positions her far ahead of the Human Capital innovation curve. In the early 2000's Graziano shifted her mindset from recruiter working to make a placements to consultant committed to building extraordinary workforces. She added a talent management division to her staffing operation, adopted a world-class Conscious Hiring and placement process and significantly invested in her own personal and professional development. She utilizes her certifications in Organizational Development, Behavioral Interviewing, Psychometric Assessment usage, Role Analysis and Employee Retention to create curriculum and programs that elevate KeenHire's customers' ability to hire and retain the right people.

The Society of Human Resource Management reports that 6 of the top 10 Workplace Trends are directly related to talent acquisition, selection & retention, don’t be a part of that number.

Sign up now!

Want to Bring a KeenHire Consultant In-house? Call Today! 1-888-533-6447

Does your Organization Work to Keep Its Top Performers?

Think about it: Your company's only truly sustainable competitive advantage, which cannot be copied by competitors, is your corporate culture and the strength of your leadership. Does your company reward innovation, reinforce positive results and cultivate relationships with its top performers? Or do you find yourselves consistently losing top talent?

If so, ask yourself another question: How actively does your organization identify, invest in and motivate leaders? If you ignore this important component of talent development, top performers might leave because of lack of opportunity, and your organization will never achieve its true potential.

5 Steps to Building Trust Between Team Members

Talk of trust-building and teamwork in the office may sound a bit touchy-feely to some. These terms connote awkward exercises and ridiculous activities right out of a Dilbert cartoon. Instead, let's think about trust in a professional sense.

Professional trust is not about catching a teammate as he falls back or boosting a colleague at a rope-climbing contest. Professional trust is about sending the message to your team members that you believe in their competence, honesty, and good intentions.  It's about competence, communication, and commitment. How can you encourage professional trust among your teammates?

Confident Employees are Successful Employees

Why worry about your employees' confidence? Because employees who are confident in themselves and in their abilities are successful employees, and successful employees make a successful company.

If you haven't thought about your employees' confidence before, consider this:

Confident employees want to come to work, they are less likely to quit, and they project a positive image of your company in the wider community. The more confidence an individual possesses, the more efficient and productive they are in meeting their goals. Confidence builds commitment and creates trust among colleagues. A confident work force uses initiative and makes decisions that support organizational goals. Extra benefits—such as an aligned, focused and supportive corporate culture as well as a better and stronger workforce morale—are icing on the cake.

Recruitment: Why Change is Good

Global employment is changing rapidly. Within the last 20 years, we've witnessed highs and lows that have redefined the way talent is acquired, assessed, and implemented into the various business environments of the modern world. This change has been a result of global events, government regulations, and a changing economic climate that has demanded efficiency. Not only is this change revolutionizing the recruitment and hiring process, but is benefiting both recruiters and growing companies alike.

If the Job Could Talk...

By Bill J. Bonnstetter

 

JOB TALK

If a job could talk, it would explain precisely what was necessary to achieve superior performance. We could ask it to tell us about the:

• Knowledge a person needs,
• Personal attributes required to drive success,
• Rewards for superior performance,
• Hard skills vital for the job,
• Behaviors necessary to perform at peak levels, and
• Intrinsic motivators.

But we all know that jobs can't talk. If they did, we would certainly hear the real story.

Lets Talk Retention

According to Noah Webster, "Retention is the act or power of keeping or retaining. Corporately, retention is the power to keep employees actively engaged and committed to being an integral part of the organization."

Webster separates employee retention from standard retention. However, I have read about, seen and experienced a direct correlation of employee retention with stock price and EBITA. When a company does a great job of hiring the right people and then they do a great job of retaining them, they maximize their ability to secure and retain market-share. The businesses that have cracked the code on recruitment and talent management hold on to customers longer, are in a position to proactively solve their customers’ problems, and have the ability to be on the leading edge in offering new and innovative solutions to their customers because of a steady stream of new knowledge and solid relationships. The correlation between employee retention and profitability makes perfect sense.

Impacting your company’s ability to retain your key contributors, mission-critical players and next-level leaders begins with you understanding where people are at from a  of view.

It is important to note that today’s workplace psychological state is at an all-time low—peopleare too discouraged to go the extra mile; they are waiting for the other shoe to drop. The workforce of 2010 is mistrustful and skeptical. The top issues affecting workplace psychology and employee engagement are “warm chair attrition,” when the body shows up but the mind and heart have been left at home, and “corporate cocooning,” when the mature, highly experienced worker is hoarding information, afraid to share with or train others for fear of being replaced. Yet another is young working parents choosing their families first. Many in this group opt for working at home or only going to the office part-time. A great many people in this demographic are looking for “life/work navigation,” as they have seen firsthand how putting the job first and family second is crippling, un-fulfilling and littered with false rewards. One thing for sure is that in most situations and for most of your workforce: Corporate Loyalty Is Dead.

Competitive, astute employees are adopting a free-agent mentality and building their own relationships outside the company with vendors, customers and ex-employees so they are always ahead of the networking curve. Additionally these mission critical players, key contributors, and highly sought after next-level leaders are constantly improving their skill set so when the ax falls, they have opportunities lined up and waiting.

Recently HR Executive magazine conducted an engagement survey with hundreds of high-performing high potentials from all over the nation, and what they published was somewhat surprising, to say the least. Their study reported that 45% of all internal “candidates” within anorganization’s promotion pipeline are currently looking to leave the organization.

In another survey, conducted by Harris Poll and CareerBuilder, the results were just as compelling:

• 41% of employees are not satisfied with their jobs
• 46% say their workload has increased
• 33% feel they’re at a dead end at their current job
• 78% believe they are coping with “burnout”
• 56% are not glad they chose to work for their current employer
• 63% believe their top management does not display integrity and morality.

Any company that values the power of their human capital, believes that their people are their competitive advantage, is aware of the cost of replacing a great employee, and does not have a progressive talent strategy in place should be nervous. If you are not, take a look at this chart. It makes a great visual. Think about if your company lost their best salesperson to the competition. These days even your ironclad non-compete would most likely only slow them down. They might not call on your customers, but they can take their brain and everything they learned while in your operation and use it against you.

The problem is a big one and a strategic, systemic one at that. Not having enough knowledge-workers leads to longer development times, lower sales coming into the organization, fragmented customer service, a reduction in innovation and, eventually, lost customers. Hiring the wrong people because you are in a “rush” leads to more unwanted turnover, and that turnover comes at a high cost. Not knowing what makes your people tick leads to an incubation of the “free agent mentality.” The bottom line: the demographic and psycho-graphic challenges facing our companies cannot be avoided or ignored. Furthermore, the cost of doing nothing far outweighs the cost of being proactive and creating high-impact solutions that affect your bottom-line profitability and stakeholder equity.

Your company must decide if people are your competitive advantage, and if they are, you must strategically cause a corporate transformation, adopt a talent mindset and lead the way. Once you adopt and engage the rest of the leadership and management team in the talent mindset,you need to develop a people, or better said, talent strategy that lives and breathes throughout the organization.

Applying the Win/Win principle to the “War” for Talent

As the business-news media competes for our attention by flashing information on the impending talent shortage, some of us listen with a keen ear while others turn to more urgent, pressing issues. After 22+ years in the human resources business, I don’t need the media to tell me there is going to be a problem; I already feel it in my bones, similar to how my grandfather used to know it was going to rain by his knees aching. When your business is the business of finding talent you are the first to feel ANY inkling of change in the marketplace. Although I may feel like I run a best-in-class business, and I may have evidence that I know how to skin the cat better than the competitor, KeenHire is all the more faced with the challenge of locating new talent for myself and my clients in a diminishing talent pool marketplace.

The looming & ‘impending’ talent shortage seems to be creeping up right from under us. KeenHire has more specified search requests than we have had in 5 years. As companies proactively deal with succession planning and building bench strength, we are seeing salaries going up, qualifications becoming more stringent, and expected outcomes for the candidates showing up as more measurable as well as difference making. All this with less people to chose from makes for a very competitive market place for employers and candidates alike.

So how does a company who has ambitious goals compete for talent in the midst of a WAR for it?

You could outsource. You could offshore. You could take on employing the at-home passive work force, like Jet Blue and Southwest. You could take on hiring the flexible work force, students, retirees and parents. You could home grow your talent, become a farm club of sorts, which many of my clients are doing very successfully. You could pay large retainers and then wait while the search firm does the searching. You could develop your company as an employer of choice where 'win/win' is the norm; where people feel they are not just serving your corporation's needs, but their needs are getting fulfilled as well.