Staff retention is not any easier during recession
July 27, 2009
Due to the uncertainty surrounding the economy, and therefore job security and the labour market, it is likely that employees are not as mobile as usual in most organisations. Some employers may be thinking that they don’t have to worry about staff retention at the moment because there aren’t as many opportunities out in the wider world to entice their employees away, and the relative security they can offer their employees versus another job they may move on to will help to keep people at the company whilst the uncertainty over the economic stability of the country continues.
However, whilst the flow of employees into and out of the company may be slower than usual just now, employers need to be warned that if they do not keep their eye on employee retention issues, the outward flow may suddenly turn into a torrent once the economy improves and the labour market frees up again. When this will happen, nobody knows for sure, but what is certain that it will eventually take place and the last thing companies need when they are emerging from economic instability and getting ready to take advantage of improved market conditions, is a mass exodus of their most talented staff. This is certain to happen if employers become too complacent with their approach to staff retention. On top of this, despite the labour market being slow at the moment, there are still jobs available, and if your employees really want to move on now, the really talented ones; the ones you really want to retain; will be able to find a new position even in the recession.
Recent CIPD research, carried out on 3,000 employees found that 34% of respondents would ideally like to change jobs, although most were planning to stay put for the near future due to difficulties in the labour market. Many people involved in the survey, which was carried out by YouGov, were actually planning to change sector or career altogether once the economic crisis ends. An advisor from the CIPD said:
“the poor state of the labour market is acting like a dam holding back the normal flow of talent”
Employers that wish to keep their staff during and after the recession must continue to listen to the needs, ideas and concerns of their workforce through formal and informal consultation methods, and line management has a massive role in maintaining the loyalty, commitment and enthusiasm of their teams through assisting them in working towards career goals and development needs. Loyalty is a two-way street and employees need to know that they have a bright future with the company, otherwise they will pursue other avenues to achieve their aspirations and find job satisfaction.
Employee engagment - crucial for recession survival
July 20, 2009
A government report has highlighted the vital role of employee engagement in helping UK businesses to survive the recession and prosper afterwards. The MacLeod Review, by David MacLeod, states that employee engagement could be more important than ‘almost anything else’ in improving business success through the difficult economic times. The review is based on research carried out with hundreds of employers, and found that whilst some organisations are displaying signs of good engagement activity, a lot of improvements could still be made. The report did not recommend legislative involvement in the action plan, but did recommend a national awareness campaign and a group of industry leaders to increase awareness and understanding of engagement.
Employee engagement will have a direct effect on business success at any time, but at the moment this is more critical than ever because businesses are having to work a lot harder and perform better than ever to maintain their position in the turbulent markets. This is also a time where employees are feeling insecure, less trusting of their company, or may even have ill feeling towards their employer following difficult restructures or redundancy programmes. Employees that are harbouring these feelings are less inclined or in some cases less capable to go the extra mile and perform at a high level for their employer, because their personal motivation and engagement levels have dropped so significantly.
Engagement can simply be described as making sure employees feel involved in and excited by their work. There are many different facets of employment that lead to job satisfaction and engagement, and individual engagement will be brought on by a combination of all of them. Some aspects that will affect this are:
- feeling fairly paid for what you do
- having a benefits package that suits your needs and lifestyle
- having a job that you enjoy and understand exactly where it fits into the organisational objectives
- being treated with respect by your colleagues and managers
- being given clear and constructive feedback
- having a manageable workload
- having a sense of shared values with the organisation
I could go on forever, which shows that one simple action from HR or the management team will not lead to fantastic engagement for the whole workforce. Keeping employees engaged can be hard work and it is often a very individual matter. This is why it is my opinion that line managers have a really big job in maintaining employee engagement within their teams. Staff surveys and consultation exercises can be a good way to measure overall engagement and give the organisation some ideas about projects that can be carried out, but it is on an individual level that engagement will be built successfully. A really good exercise for HR teams at the moment is therefore developing management capability to enable them to manage engagement themselves and see the benefit they can add by getting it right.
Hiring office cleaners for your company
July 13, 2009
As an HR professional, you may at some point be called upon to hire office cleaners for the building in which you work. While cleaners are unlikely to be direct employees of the business, it still pays to treat this as you would the recruitment of any other individuals.
So how would you go about this, considering the fact that you are unlikely to wield as much influence over the specific individuals who will be carrying out the work? All you can do is ensure that you make use of a professional and reliable cleaning company and from that point you’ll have to leave it in their hands.
It may be tempting to employ someone directly or give the work to a friend of a friend, but the advantage of using a cleaning company is that you won’t need to recruit again if a cleaner leaves. The agency should have a roster of cleaners on their books, all of whom should meet qualification criteria. Pick the right cleaning agency and you won’t have to worry about a thing.
A good cleaning company will ensure that their employees have the expertise to do their job. For example, professionals will have received carpet cleaning training, as different carpets require different cleaning approaches and the wrong one could lead to damage.
Speed training
July 12, 2009
I’ve recently been discussing a particular type of training delivery with a colleague, which he is going to try out with a series of sessions over the coming weeks.
The concept is based around a short, sharp presentation of ideas on a specific topic within a limited time frame. There are a number of different names for the method, the original being ‘Pecha Kucha’ (pronounced ‘pe-chak’cha) which was created for young designers in the world of architecture to have the opportunity to meet and present their work in an informal setting. The short time limit on each session allowed for a lot of designers to present in one night. The name Pecha Kucha is a Japanese term for the sound of chit-chat, and in this particular form of speed-presentation, each presenter gets to present 20 slides, with 20 seconds for each slide, amounting to 6 minutes and 40 seconds in total.
Pecha Kucha is mainly for creative subjects such as architecture, design or photography, but other versions of the speed technique exist for a range of subjects. Ignite is another method that has 20 slides but only 15 seconds per slide, giving a five minute maximum length. One of the advantages of this method is that because of the length of the presentation, it is not possible to go into too much technical detail, and so it is good for simple but important messages or small sections of one subject that has been broken down.
Another benefit of this method is clearly that it can be used as a way of getting across a point with minimum time and maximum impact. My colleague was keen on this aspect as there are fundamental training needs within the team which need to be addressed but it can be difficult to arrange and deliver long training sessions due to organisational pressures such as the need to maintain service delivery throughout the day, whereas with this method those training needs can be broken down to small chunks and delivered over a period of a few weeks, in a logical order so that development takes a progression, and can be slotted easily into the working day. We are running the short presentation at the beginning of the week, with a small piece of ‘homework’ for participants to complete by the end of the week, which will reinforce and test the learning they have had, then another short session at the end of the week in which one of the participants (chosen at random so that everyone completes their homework!) gives feedback and presents the results of their homework. I’ll report back on how it goes!
Short term sick note measures to help control swine flu
July 9, 2009
Daily news reports have been keeping us updated on the dramatic spread of swine flu over the last few months. Each day thousands more people are being diagnosed, and increasing fatalities are also occurring where people with existing medical problems are contracting the virus. Because of the threat of the virus and its highly contagious nature, the government is considering ways to attempt to control the spread of swine flu.
One possibility that has been suggested by the Department of Health is to temporarily increase the number of weeks an employee can self-certify for sickness absence from one week to two, meaning they would not need to get a medical certificate (doctor’s note) from their GP until they had been off work for a fortnight. This measure would only be put in place for a period of six months, and the change would probably be introduced without any consultation period due to the emergency nature of the situation. The aim of the measure is to reduce the amount of time spent in GP surgeries, both from a resourcing point of view and to reduce the spread of the virus by concentrating a high number of people carrying it in one place whilst trying to get certification.
Of course, there are claims that this type of measure could encourage staff members to abuse the new rules and take more time off sick as they would not need to be certified, however organisations’ existing sickness absence management processes should be used to combat this issue in the same way they do for the current self-certification period. It has been well documented about the possible damages to business a full scale outbreak of swine flu could cause, and so any measure to reduce this risk is probably a positive step. Even so, organisations should be mindful of the risks swine flu could cause to their business and put in steps to react should an outbreak leave them with a reduced workforce, such as facilities for home working.
How hot?!?!?!
July 2, 2009
It can’t be escaping many people’s attention that there’s a heatwave throughout the UK this week, especially if, like me, you work in an office with no air conditioning and the sun shining directly through the windows all day like some sort of greenhouse!
Excessive heat at work is an important issue that employers need to consider at this time of year. Whilst many sick days during the summer may be sceptically attributed to the opportunity to sunbathe and enjoy the hot weather, there are real potential health risks that could impact on the effectiveness of the business if employers do not take care of their staff.
Excessive heat can lead to illness such as headaches, dizziness and nausea, and in worst cases fainting. It is more difficult to concentrate when it is so hot and this could lead to mistakes or loss of productivity. The main causes of these problems are dehydration and overheating, so measures should be in place which in the ideal situation would be air conditioning, but if not then good ventilation and plenty of fans for everyone to use. Employees should have a supply of cool drinking water and another measure may be to relax the dress code slightly, for example allow male workers to remove ties and open top buttons. Most people will be finding it difficult to sleep at night due to the heat, which the organisation cannot do anything about, but if workers are turning up already tired then the workplace needs to be as comfortable as possible to avoid further detriments to the way employees are feeling.
In terms of the law, there is currently no upper temperature limit or proper guidelines to inform employers how hot it can get before employees cannot work. There is a lower limit, but no upper limit has ever been imposed. Earlier in the year the TUC called for an upper temperature of 24C to be put in place for workplaces but this did not happen. So at the moment employees have no way of making a claim that their workplace is too hot, but this doesn’t mean that employers shouldn’t take the issue seriously, because, as stated earlier, organisational problems can occur if employees struggle to work or feel ill due to the heat.