It’s the summer of 2009. The recession is in full swing. Employees are working long hours, with few resources, minimal training and sometimes, reduced pay. A study is released by DDI, a talent management firm, saying more than half of US employees plan on looking for another job once the economy improves. Fast-forward 18 months; unemployment is down, GDP is up, the stock market is over 12,000, and companies are hiring.
Now, the boardroom chatter is “how do we keep our valuable talent?” Pre-recession tactics to retain employees won’t work in this post-recession environment. We’re in a new normal. The American worker is burned out, and is beginning to reassess their lives and their options.
To earn their loyalty, organizations need to shift from being transactional: “do these duties and we’ll pay you this amount”, to relational: “together we’re developing a culture that supports the entire human being.” As Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos says “if you take care of the culture, the rest will follow.” How do you develop a culture that attracts and keeps top talent? Make the experience of work meaningful.
Image the level of loyalty you’d have if your company could honestly boast the following:
“We’re united in a vision based on adding significant value to our employees, stakeholders and community. We know the “why” not just the “how” of where we are going.
We know to transform the lives of our customers and community we must first transform ourselves. ‘We do what we say and say what we do,’ and ‘there are no bad ideas’, are strongly held promises, not just words on a page. We know that a company lives and dies one conversation at a time so we encourage employees to communicate the unpopular, risky and controversial. These and other values statements is our company’s DNA.
Each year we publish stories from each employee about examples of the culture and we spend several hours with new hires on what it means to work here.
We know that the carrot and stick approach of rewards and punishments do more harm than good when problem solving and collaboration is required. Our employees are more engaged and loyal when autonomy, mastery and purpose are real elements to our culture. We grant them autonomy to make key decisions, to work remotely, so long as the work gets done, and to occasionally engage in projects away from their normal duties to inspire innovation. We want people to master their skills, so we invest in training and coaching, and show a clear path to leadership positions. We want their individual purpose to express the purpose of the company and when it doesn’t we reassign them to a new position.
We take fun seriously by ‘hanging out’ and socializing with our employees. We know building community, trust and loyalty often happen over a glass of wine or ay a company outing.”
The great recession changed us all. Now is the time to create a new experience of work. Although pay and benefits should be competitive, what creates loyalty can be heard in the questions employees are now asking, “Am I doing meaningful work? Do I have some control over how I work? Can I grow as an employee and as a person? Do I like who I work with? Is this place any fun?
Dean Newlund is president of Mission Facilitators International, Inc. He can be reached at dean@missionfacilitators.com
Now, the boardroom chatter is “how do we keep our valuable talent?” Pre-recession tactics to retain employees won’t work in this post-recession environment. We’re in a new normal. The American worker is burned out, and is beginning to reassess their lives and their options. To earn their loyalty, organizations need to shift from being transactional: “do these duties and we’ll pay you this amount”, to relational: “together we’re developing a culture that supports the entire human being.” As Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos says “if you take care of the culture, the rest will follow.” How do you develop a culture that attracts and keeps top talent? Make the experience of work meaningful.
Image the level of loyalty you’d have if your company could honestly boast the following:
“We’re united in a vision based on adding significant value to our employees, stakeholders and community. We know the “why” not just the “how” of where we are going.
We know to transform the lives of our customers and community we must first transform ourselves. ‘We do what we say and say what we do,’ and ‘there are no bad ideas’, are strongly held promises, not just words on a page. We know that a company lives and dies one conversation at a time so we encourage employees to communicate the unpopular, risky and controversial. These and other values statements is our company’s DNA.
Each year we publish stories from each employee about examples of the culture and we spend several hours with new hires on what it means to work here.
We know that the carrot and stick approach of rewards and punishments do more harm than good when problem solving and collaboration is required. Our employees are more engaged and loyal when autonomy, mastery and purpose are real elements to our culture. We grant them autonomy to make key decisions, to work remotely, so long as the work gets done, and to occasionally engage in projects away from their normal duties to inspire innovation. We want people to master their skills, so we invest in training and coaching, and show a clear path to leadership positions. We want their individual purpose to express the purpose of the company and when it doesn’t we reassign them to a new position.
We take fun seriously by ‘hanging out’ and socializing with our employees. We know building community, trust and loyalty often happen over a glass of wine or ay a company outing.”
The great recession changed us all. Now is the time to create a new experience of work. Although pay and benefits should be competitive, what creates loyalty can be heard in the questions employees are now asking, “Am I doing meaningful work? Do I have some control over how I work? Can I grow as an employee and as a person? Do I like who I work with? Is this place any fun?
Dean Newlund is president of Mission Facilitators International, Inc. He can be reached at dean@missionfacilitators.com
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