Employees: Finding-Training & Retaining!

Tom:

Finding, Training, and Retaining good people is one of, if not the single biggest challenge which small business owners face.  You acquired a franchise to help differentiate yourself in the marketplace.  You must now begin to differentiate yourself in the labor market, and become an “Employer of Choice”.

Like most worthwhile things in business, becoming an “Employer of Choice” does not happen by accident, it requires the successful execution of a well thought out game plan.  Your game plan and its implementation will require time, commitment, investment, and a change in fundamental philosophy.

Let’s start by looking at Philosophy (Attitude) and adopting the following thoughts and actions:

• Staffing challenges ARE NOT the result of low un-employment.
• We do not hire, we recruit.  We do it constantly, and it’s the responsibility of everyone.
• We always have openings for loyal, productive, hard working individuals.
• We CAN NOT make people come to work for us, or want to stay when they do.  We CAN create an environment in which people want to be employed and remain employed.
• Money is a short term motivator.
• We must build a team from within.
• I’m always willing to replace my bottom 30%.

Now let’s look at some of the knowledge we must have:

• How many employees do we currently have?
• How many employees do we need in 3-Months, 6-Months, 12-Months?
• What are my true costs in a new hire?
• What are my true costs in a termination/resignation?
• What is my turnover rate?
• What are my ratios of applications to new hire?  Interviews to new hire?

The upcoming issue of Furtune Magazine, which hits the stands next week, features the Fortune 100 best places to work.  This year Google is #1.  Just like you, and millions of other businesses in America, Google is faced with historically low un-employment rates.  However they receive approximately 3,000 applications a day or more than 1,000,000 per year all to fill approximately 4,000 positions.  Why do they receive so many?  Why do so many people desire to work at Google?  Quite simply they have established themselves as an ‘Employer of Choice’ a place where people want to work.

Google does not pay the highest wages in their industry or area.  They do however offer an incredible environment in which to work.  Googlers, as the employees of Google are known, have five (5) physicians on site providing free medical service, and 11 Gourmet Restaurants with free food!  While at the office Googlers can work out in their state of the art fitness center, swim in one of the lap pools, play volleyball, get a hair cut or massage, have their car washed, do their laundry, or play pool in one of the game rooms.  All for FREE!  Googlers can wear their pajamas to work and bring their pets with them.  Is it any wonder why Google has an abundance of employees with tremendous job loyalty and productivity?  Google offers these expensive perks all while enjoying record growth, revenue and profits.

Now I recognize that you can’t emulate Google in your franchised business, and that is not the point.  The point is you’ve got to constantly be thinking “what can I do to create an environment in which people want to work”.  How do I create an environment where people do more than they’re paid to do?  How do I create an environment where people will not go across the street and work for my competition for an extra 25 or 50 cents an hour? 

As the owner of your business you’ve got to run a strong, secure, profitable, growing business that allows you to offer a competitive salary and create this ‘Phenomenal Work Environment’.  When you create this environment, you’ll enjoy:

• An abundance of people who want to work with your organization.
• Team members who DO NOT leave.
• Less time wasted preparing help wanted ads, and interviewing potential employees.
• The elimination of lost productivity resulting from the learning curve of new employees.
• Less expenses and greater profits.
• And the list goes on.

So the process begins by:

• Adopting the right philosophies.
• Get the answers to the ‘Knowledge Questions’ above so that you know how many positions you need to fill and by when they need to be filled.  You want to be proactive not reactive.  You want to know how much your current environment is costing you so that you know how much you can invest into creating the new culture.
• Developing, documenting and implementing the new recruiting practices and corporate environment.
• Put perks in place that cause people to stay and do a great job so that they do not lose those perks.

I hope you find some value in this information.  There’s no single magic bullet that solves these issues but can be done, and to truly build a business which doesn’t just survive but that Thrives, Grows and Prospers IT MUST BE DONE!  If I can elaborate on any of these pieces or if you have specific questions please do not hesitate to ask Dear Franny, a Blue Maumau exclusive!

Franny