This is the theme of discussions and conferences

Earlier this week, Human Resource Professionals of Minnesota held their spring conference. The focus/title was Post Recession Strategies: Regroup – Retain – Recruit. On April 16th, the University of Minnesota is hosting its 31st Annual HR Tomorrow Conference. The title is The Changing Face of HR: Navigating in the ‘New Normal’.

What are employees REALLY saying about their employers?

The tech-savvy candidate (and you need people to have this ability) is checking out his/her options – and more and more options are coming to the forefront. Check the following websites and see if your employer is listed:

• JobVent.com
• PingMyCompany.com
• Criticat.com
• JobBite.com

Did 2009 Really Change Anything?

On April 8th, staffing.org came out with an article by this very title. According to the article, there were three insights that came from their research:

• The critical importance of talent at all job levels for all companies
• The difficulty of competing for talent in an increasingly fragmented job market
• The growing efficiency gap between technology ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’

The article stated that 2009 represented a reprieve in the War for Talent as employees hunkered down, but the reprieve is looking to be short-term.

Hewitt on Communications

Hewitt Associates, well known for their global HR consulting, came out with an article called Ten Principles for Leadership Communication. Some of their themes and principles included:

• Everything communicates – policies, incentives, treatment of people going in or out.
• One size does not fit all – vary the communications for your diverse audiences.
• There is a difference between information AND communication.

The conclusion from all of the above – make sure you start working today on getting employees to re-engage in your company.

U.S. Job Satisfaction Hits 22-Year Low

(Conference Board’s survey – as reported on CNNMoney.com – 1/5/2010)

More Executives Seek New Jobs

(Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal – 1/8/2010)

Last week was a tough news week for people concerned about employee retention and engagement. Tuesday’s news (1/5/2010) started with the Conference Board’s survey of 5,000 households which stated that only 45% of employees were satisfied with their jobs. Our own Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal carried an article with the title More Executives Seek New Jobs. There were countless other related and equally dismal articles from a multitude of sources.

It IS the time to be proactive

This isn’t about ‘them’ . . . . . it is about you and your company. There are studies being done all the time about employee engagement – in individual companies (or areas within companies) or on a more global scale. The themes that result are reasonably common, but not always perfectly consistent.

Employees want to be heard

I was asked after e-mailing out a presentation called Employment of Choice why companies bother conducting engagement surveys if they already knew the answers. My simple response was that employees want to have a voice in what is being done. They want to be heard and they want their comments acknowledged AND acted upon where possible.

The articles referenced above predict extreme turnover as the economy slowly improves. Neither article gave any suggestions for dealing with the situation. So . . . . . what can be done?

A brief literature search suggests the following ideas:

• daily or weekly communications update from the C-suite
• implementation of a company blog relating to business issues and updates
• on-line tracking (and displaying) of company progress toward 2010 goals
• special celebrations – relating to incremental AND monumental progress toward goals
• training – and having employees who go to outside training (or receive internal training) share the knowledge through conducting sessions

The possibilities are endless

. . . . . as are the suggestions available. The key seems to be to determine what YOUR employees want and need and then to develop a situation-specific solution. Communication is always a theme – and one that doesn’t have to cost anything. Visibility by the senior team is also important. This is NOT an HR program, but a series of activities that should truly emanate from the top.

One final (AND somewhat controversial) thought for this blog entry . . . . . zero turnover is not necessarily a goal you want to achieve. Retention of the people you want and need to achieve the 2010 goals and objectives of your organization while living up to your mission/vision will be key.

Happy New Year!

I think there are many of us who simply want to welcome in 2010 (AND send off 2009). It has been a tough year for most people on some level. Let’s resolve to look ahead rather than behind.

BUT . . . . .

. . . . . that said, 2009 was a year of low turnover. I recently attended a panel presentation of key talent acquisition leaders from varying large twin cities-based companies. There was little worry (in 2009) about retention stated. They were, of course, looking ahead and thinking about what may happen as the economy improves.

What can we do as we begin 2010?

In looking at as many published studies and articles as possible, there are multiple themes that emerge. In summary, however, the 2009 ExecuNet Executive Job Market Intelligence Report put it well:

“If you want your key team to be in place at the end of this year, you need to be sure you are placing at least as much time and energy into retention as you are into focusing on the company performance goals.”

A resolution for 2010!

Start the year with communication! Honesty is the best policy – and repeating messages often and in new, creative ways keeps employees informed AND away from speculating about what is happening.

One final thought for our last entry of 2009. It comes from hearing Brad Anderson, the former CEO and Vice Chair of Best Buy, speak at a recent HR Executive Forum meeting. Among his many pearls of wisdom, he stated that “employee engagement is predictive of their (Best Buy’s) sales numbers.”

This statement alone is reason enough to focus on engagement!

Wishing you all a fantastic and successful 2010!

(We’ll come back to Ethics again soon!)

Talent Management: A Priority

Can we avoid a repeat of 2003? As the last recession was coming to an end, the statistics on the number of disgruntled workers started to grow quarter by quarter. By the spring of 2003, one study showed that only 26% of the working population was loyal. That same study reported some other, rather staggering, findings:

• 55% of the working population was miserable and just putting in their time
• 28% of the working population was actively looking for a new job

The number one login time for many job sites was Monday morning at 9:00 a.m.

2009 was a Rough Year for Most Employers

I am sure most of us did NOT need this as a reminder! Salary increases were non-existent; many companies instituted across-the-board freezes or cuts. Bonus plans were flat.

An ExecuNet 2009 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report found that a good cultural fit is second only to doing work that is enjoyable as “most important factor in keeping them engaged in their current role.” Another report, the 2009 BlueSteps Executive Mobility Survey found that 75% of employed executives would likely consider a new job opportunity.

So what can be done?

There have been multiple studies published during the second half of this year that talk about what employers can be doing to engage their workforce. A few of the items that the studies seem to share in common are:

• Communicate to employees – the good AND the bad
• Connect employees to the company through public displays of values
• Emphasize the intangibles and low-cost programs
• Institute an Incentive Recovery Plan

Over the next few weeks, we will talk further about these ideas.