4Cs Blog: Happy Employees = Happy Customers

Staff Resignations Hurt

Retention is a critical issue and a top priority for HR and their organizations because losing good talent hurts in so many ways. But how do you know what you are doing wrong or why they left, unless you ask? That is the sole purpose of an Exit Interview; to give you the insight you need to prevent good employees from leaving.

Why bother?

The cost of loss is enormous. It has been well documented that it costs 70 to 400% of an employee’s annual salary to replace them. Those hard costs include the cost to recruit a replacement, referral fees, candidate’s interview expenses, such as airlines, hotels, meals or cabs. Perhaps there will be a larger salary to pay, a sign-on bonus or a moving allowance. Then there are the soft costs, which reflect what it really cost you to lose that employee.

If your next project was to get your company added to one of the Best Place to Work lists one year from now, would you be able to do it? With employee engagement levels at an all-time low, that is a big mountain to climb for most organizations but it can be done! Employee engagement is our passion and something we want to help all our clients achieve, so we make it a habit to share good news! We know that when one company gets it right, their success could help others. Nick Otto from Employee Benefit News uncovered just such a story at the University of Washington earlier this year that had us clapping for their success. It seems the university was struggling with how to engage staff and faculty and now they are a Best Place to Work.

After recognizing they had a problem, deciding what to do about it was the next challenge. Their first step was the most important; they started with a survey and asked their employees to tell them what they really thought, so they would know what they were up against, and that made all the difference. Of course they did not sit on the results, they acted on them and came up with a holistic approach to allow staff to meet and begin building a sense of community, based on their personal goals. They created an employee engagement program called The Whole U, clever play on words don’t you think? The core of the program focuses on six pillars: staying healthy, being active, eating well, recognizing family life events, volunteering and engaging personal interest.

HR organizations worldwide are faced with navigating a mixed, multi-generational workplace. Today people are living and working longer than ever before and for the first time ever we now have 5 generations of people working alongside each other at the same time. In order by age we have:

1. Traditionalists (since 1930)
2. Baby Boomers (since 1943)
3. Gen X (since 1965)
4. Millennial (since 1977)
5. Gen Y (since 1981)

The largest group are the Millennials who, in four years from now, will represent over 50% or half of the employees in the world. They stand out as a key demographic target for HR because of their size, suggesting that now is the best time for HR to understand their characteristics, motivations and desires to be able to recruit them and also retain them.

When CEO’s get it right we can’t help ourselves, we have to shout out to them! This week our shout out goes to Sir Richard Branson at Virgin Group for his remarkable new job perk announcement.In a landmark move to show his support and commitment to his employees, he is offering new fathers, and mothers, who have been with the company at least 4 years, the opportunity to take one year off of work to go be dads and moms while Virgin pays their salary in full.

This latest move, described as ‘unimaginable’, positions Branson at the top of our most respected CEO’s because he clearly understands the employer employee relationship. He gets that when employees feel that their employer really cares about them, they respond by being the best employees any CEO could ask for. It is a 100% win-win situation.

Who doesn’t love a good perk!!

These days in an effort to recruit the best employees and keep the ones they have happy, many companies have found it vital to be able to offer the best perks as they strive to stay fresh and be seen as a desirable place to work. What we have learned is that unlimited free food, ping pong tables and other ‘neat’ perks do not guarantee employee engagement. They might make people happy but happiness and engagement are not one in the same. Perks can make employees happy and happy employees can be engaged but happiness itself is not the only measure of engagement, therefore perks may not necessarily make your employees more engaged.

What is the difference?

The difference between perks that make employees happy and those that increase engagement are determined by the value employees perceive in the perk. So it doesn’t have to big or costly, just perceived as valuable by the employees.
This is why we are so excited to share a perfect example of an organization that chose the right perk…Chieh Huana, owner of tech-company Boxed, has pledged to pay the college tuition fees for the children of his employees and plans to launch a not-for-profit foundation specifically for the project. His decision to invest in his employees stems from his goal is to build a long term business, which is built on a long term commitment from his employees.

Recent Study Shows People Lie More Often Than You Might Guess

Most people lie to get a job. Surprising? New research from the University of Guelph showed that out of 100 people surveyed 94% admitted to lying in a job interview. That’s more than the people in our office would have guessed…. It is such an honor to be the chosen one yet chances are this very same person could be filling out an Exit survey soon after they start because they really were never qualified to do the job in the first place. Or, just as bad, they become unhappy in the job in the long run because it was never really the job they were meant to have.

To avoid unnecessary turnover employers, who are often unable to detect deceit, can use key behavioural cues to help them determine if a job candidate is being truthful to help them choose the truly best candidate. Leann Schneider, a PhD student in psychology; Prof. Deborah Powell, Department of Psychology from the University of Guelph and Prof. Nicolas Roulin, Human Resource Management at the University of Manitoba recommend a few key cues to watch for in your next interview.

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