Lauren Milam
Regional Vice President – West Coast
Hire Up Staffing & Healthcare Services
March 23, 2021
One of the things we love most about our work at Hire Up Staffing & Healthcare Services is connecting the perfect candidates with the needs of the organizations we support. We serve as professional matchmakers, of sorts. The greatest connections are when the candidates are equally as excited as the organizations, and their collective expectations are in sync.
Our most successful clients understand the importance of their roles in creating a workplace with which their employees feel comfortable and thrive—and want to stay. For many organizations, this can come easy. For others, it is difficult to identify where there may be a need for additional reinforcement.
How does your company measure up?
Is your organization ready for a bit of self-reflection?
Keep reading!
From our team’s collective experience in staffing, the top three areas we have found most important when creating a Workplace of Choice—one in which employees want to stay—are:
- Culture
- Management
- Employee Development
Culture
Employee retention starts with culture. A new employee’s opinion about their first week on the job is often a reflection of how they interpret the company culture. This culture is seen in the actions and behaviors of an organization’s employees every day. Culture serves as the undercurrent, the way in which work gets done and how others interact with each other to do that work.
“Organizational culture can be referred to as the glue that keeps an organization together. It is the silent code of conduct; it is more about how things get done, rather than what gets done. When a new employee is learning the ropes, they are learning the culture,” Lizz Pellet, The Cultural Fit Factor: Creating an Employment Brand That Attracts, Retains, and Repels the Right Employees (SHRM, 2009).
A large part of creating a better company culture is caring about and listening to each of the members on your team. With millennials accounting for over 1/3 of the workforce in the US, understanding their point of view is a good place to start. When asked what is most important in the workplace, on a 1 to 10 scale, millennials have rated company culture at an 8.5. While workplace culture is important to people of all ages, given the growing number of millennials in the workforce, culture should be a top priority for companies when it comes to retention.
The benefits to creating a stronger and healthier company culture are endless. An article in Forbes magazine claims, “Happy employees are up to 20% more productive than unhappy employees,” and if happier employees are in sales, happiness can increase numbers by 37%. Happy employees don’t want to leave.
Another benefit to a positive workplace culture? It is marketing GOLD. Social media is a great outlet for leveraging a positive work environment. Celebrating your company’s personalized take on workplace anniversaries or birthdays are perfect opportunities to share with the virtual world! When the workplace is happy, there is always something to celebrate. Even candid shots that illustrate what a day at work is like for your happy office can be meaningful content. Not only do posts like this show big love for your team, but they also offer BIG potential to manifest positive sentiment from customers, future customers, and future employees alike.
I am thrilled that our positive culture comes across on social media. We are always celebrating someone or something! I constantly have people reaching out to me to say how fun our organization looks and how they want to work here. Our vibrant and thriving culture is celebrated in the workplace daily and being able to share it virtually with others makes it even better!
Are you following us on social media yet? Let’s connect!
Management
Have you ever asked your team why they love working with your company? If their answers include things like, “I love the people here,” or, “this is my second home,” they are clearly sharing that working for you is beyond collecting a paycheck. An employee’s reason to stay with a company is maintained within the workplace culture.
However, where does the culture begin? William Craig, Founder of Web Ex., shared in a 2018 Forbes article, “Every employee impacts an organization’s direction, but leadership has by far the largest and most direct effect on company culture, which revolves around employee engagement, environment, atmosphere, and the success of the company and its clients.”
Leaders have an opportunity to recognize that culture exists (good, bad, or ugly) and that it creates the experience for their employees, and ultimately their customers. Building upon and improving a current culture takes a cohesive commitment from the company’s management team. Leadership has a direct connection to employee confidence and empowerment. These two elements are directly connected to employee engagement and how well the team carries out the duties required to uphold a company’s mission and serve its customers.
Many may be familiar with the famous quote from Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see.” This quote very much applies to good leadership. If leaders are to lead change, they must lead the way they wish the change to be. They must serve as the example for what they want to see more of within their teams. This means their behaviors, communication styles, priorities, and service to others are in line with their expectations of those who report to them.
“What People Want,” written by Terry Bacon, outlines a list of leadership characteristics that matter most to US employees. The top five traits selected from this survey include:
- 90%: Honesty and Integrity
- 89%: Fairness
- 86%: Trust
- 84% Respect
- 81% Dependability
Employees want to trust their leaders. They want to feel that what they do matters and that they have a voice. Engaged employees can trust that their voices are heard and, more importantly, respected and VALUED. Employee engagement means your team feels that they are a part of something bigger and that their contributions and suggestions make a difference to their work and the organization. Engaged employees feel seen and heard. Engaged employees don’t want to leave.
One of the best ways for your team to feel seen, heard, and valued is to get to know THEM. Treat them as you would an important customer. Get to know what is important to them, what they value, what they need, why they are doing what they are doing. When you can connect with them on a human level and understand what motivates them, you are better able to lead them.
Employee Development
By identifying what is most important to your team members, you can lead them in ways that connect their personal desires with the growing needs of the organization. It may take some creativity; however, your interest in their goals and aspirations shows you care and that they matter, which ultimately makes them happier and more engaged while working with you. This is a win, win, win—a win for them, a win for you, and a win for your customers.
To best ensure this winning experience, once you have collaborated with your team members to get to know what makes them tick, you must not waste this valuable insight. Take some time to reflect on how YOU can make a change to provide more of what they want. Then, work with them to create a growth road map outlining how you will support their interests through additional training and development.
These road maps may include:
- Mentoring
- Job shadowing
- Training-both internal and external
- Webinars
- Research free training options through local business organizations
- Partner with your vendors for possible cross-training efforts
- Create a small resource library of professional books from leaders you admire and encourage the team to check them out and/or share their own suggestions for the collection
The development investment in your team is invaluable. If you are thinking this will not work for your team because of any financial or budgetary constraints–think again. Take a look at your turnover numbers in the last 3-5 years. Consider the amount of financial strain turnover has had on the bottom line, not to mention the impact it may have placed on the morale of the team working with less and struggling to sustain a similar output. The costs are often already there. It is possible you cannot afford NOT to try this approach. Consider shifting your perspective to focus instead on investing and developing the talents of the people you have with you now.
The idea of employee development is such a big piece of the employee retention puzzle. Some leaders may worry about the expense to support it. Any business investment involves some risk. However, when investing in human capital…the skills and knowledge of a living and breathing member of your team who has expressed an interest in learning something new? It is a no-brainer. By investing in them, you are showing they matter. This type of support is what breeds engagement. Engagement is what makes companies thrive and creates invested team members. Invested employees don’t want to leave.
This topic reminds me of the management folktale with the CFO & CEO discussing employee development. Have you heard this one?
“The CFO asks the CEO, ‘What happens if we invest in developing these people and they leave?’
to which the CEO replies, ‘What happens if we don’t, and they stay?’”
Investing in your team is a risk worth taking.
Need some help with your retention strategy? Call us.
Let us work together to create a plan that fits.
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There is no doubt that 2021 will bring forth opportunities to leverage new and emerging employment trends. Follow the Hire Up Staffing & Healthcare Services Blog to stay connected with a variety of topics aimed to help support you! Whether you are an active job seeker looking for tips and tricks to land your perfect job or an employer looking to fill a challenging position, we are here to help you HIRE UP!
Sources:
Defining Organizational Culture (shrm.org)
Promoting Employee Happiness Benefits Everyone (forbes.com)
5 Ways for Leaders to Influence Organizational Culture | Bill Hogg
The Role Leadership Has in Company Culture (forbes.com)
Creating a Truly Caring Work Environment | SHRM Executive Network Blog
(https://sescomgt.com/resources/articles/nine-things-employees-want-from-their-managers/138).
The Best Managers – Always – Develop Their Employees (forbes.com)
Lauren Milam, Regional Vice President – West Coast | March 23, 2021
As the Regional Vice President of the West Coast operations, Lauren focuses on developing each Hire Up team member and office to ensure they have the tools and ability to meet the needs of all the clients and candidates. Lauren’s vast experience in the staffing industry and her passion for people, results, and success is what drives her daily. This experience includes leadership, management, employee development, sales, marketing, recruitment, client retention, and candidate retention. Her goal is to ensure every client and candidate receives excellent service through every aspect of the process. Lauren would love to speak with you so she can help your business reach new heights