4Cs Blog: Happy Employees = Happy Customers

Ask the people who work there!

January 2016.A time for new ideas and new plans.

If you are looking to break with tradition and get a fresh start, why not start with morale. Your foundation is built on it after all. If it is strong you are probably going to have a blockbuster year. If it stinks then next year could be bumpy or worse.

There is only one way to find out how good morale is in your company- you have to ask the people who work there.

Companies are notoriously good at analyzing sales and other aspects of their business but many fail to see or realize the benefit of analyzing morale. Which, when you consider that every business relies on its people to succeed, measuring morale is serious ‘stuff’. Not measuring moral is akin to gambling when you are willing to take the chance that everything is okay. Instincts are good but the facts speak for themselves and they trump false impressions and misconceptions every time.

While you may think finding good employees is difficult, keeping them happy and fulfilled at you company is even harder. Employee perks are becoming more competitive industry wide, which means it's time for you to fine-tune your methods for motivating and retaining employees. Here are a few strategies to keep your employees around for the long haul.

1. Start a Mentor Program

The value of mentoring can easily get lost in our "me first" selfish culture, but its value should not be underestimated. Mentoring new employees can help them feel a greater sense of belonging, accountability and create an overall desire to succeed.

While you may want to pair employees in the same departments, don't. Instead pair new employees with a mentor in another department to help broaden their view of how the company works. Senior management and executives may seem too busy to take part, but they can be the most valuable mentors to new employees, especially those who are just starting out in their careers. Mentoring pairs do not need to meet very often, once every other week or monthly is sufficient. Just be sure these parameters are clear up front to get the most participation and value out of your mentor program.

Research Shows Tougher Job Interviews Can Reduce Turnover

When you are an employee engagement specialist, you tend to be drawn to and fascinated by employees. Wherever you go, you encounter employees and you can’t help but wonder, What are they thinking? How do they feel about their job? And when you see a bunch of employees working alongside each other, why do some looked excited and others look so obviously de-motivated? Which begs the question, how come some people can be engaged and others be disengaged doing the same job?

New research says it might have a lot to do with hiring. A new driver has been identified in research conducted by Glassdoor that tells us the hiring process influences how engaged an employee will be long term. The research shows that the more time is spent on the interview process itself, the greater the chance you will hire the best person for the job and the one most likely to be the best match. When people are hired to do the job that suits them best, there is statistically a much greater chance they will become highly engaged employees. They won’t quit after a month because they are in the right job, therefore they have the best chance of becoming one of your most loyal and committed employees.

In 2013, the Internal Revenue Service administered 6.8 million penalties for payroll reporting errors, costing businesses $4.5 billion, according to IRS data. About 45 percent of businesses incur an average of $845 per year in payroll penalties, according to statistics cited by the SBA. In addition to IRS penalties, payroll problems can hurt your cash flow, create friction with your employees and threaten the livelihood of your business. Here are some tips on how to avoid some of the most common payroll mistakes.  

How can we be expected to think outside the box if we work inside a box?

Cubicles stacked in rows fill office floors, crowding people alongside each other like bees in a hive. White collar workers don business attire and commute long distances to sit inside their box emailing and talking to other people sitting in similar boxes in office buildings like theirs and then repeat the morning commute in reverse. If you are motivated to improve levels of employee engagement in your office, you may want to consider how people work as part of your planning.

 Fifty-one percent of employees are not engaged with their work while 17.5 percent are actively disengaged, according to a poll by Gallup. But throwing money at the problem won’t automatically give your employees a boost. According to Dale Carnegie Training, 69 percent of disengaged employees would move to a new employer for as little as a 5 percent pay increase but it takes at least a 20 percent raise to attract an engaged employee. 

Fostering engagement is about identifying and fostering the right company culture for your business. It’s not something that happens overnight or can be forced with a game room and flexible time to work from home. A great company culture takes the right combination of intangibles like passion along with balance of work and play. Regularly keeping your employees involved in the process and letting culture unfold organically is a good start. 

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