100 Best Places To Work

I was reviewing the most recent publication from World at Work over the weekend and was impressed by the fact that the magazine contained numerous articles dealing with the impact of employee engagement - involvement - commitment - satisfaction on the overall performance of the organization. 

The articles state the advantages of an engaged workforce and provide many concrete profit improvements that can be shown to be accruing to the organization that fosters high levels of employee involvement and commitment.  Significantly higher ROIs and stock market valuations are just two of the more outstanding, but there are many other advantages.  Reduced turnover, fewer illness claims, reduced absenteeism, less individual and group dissention or concern, and fewer questions about management decisions are a few of the less numerical but equally as important gains that accrue to those companies who have been identified as "one of the best places to work."

An extensive survey conducted by the Capital H Group compared the average sales per employee at the highly engaged companies to those participating companies with the lowest engagement scores.  The results were shocking, but not unexpected.  Sales per employee at the highly engaged organizations were over two-and-one-half times that of the least engaged employees ($1,544,725 vs. $582,796).  Similarly, turnover among highly engaged employees was less than one-third that of the least engaged employees (12% vs. 37%).  What would that kind of improvement do to your bottom line?

How do you become one of the "best places to work?"  First, by deciding that the reward will be worth the effort.  As I think I have mentioned in past issues, I have met with potential clients who allowed as how "they were making enough money" from the company to fund their needs and desires and were unwilling to exert any additional effort "just to pay more taxes."  Without a desire or need to improve it does not make sense to begin this type of journey.

Assuming that you have decided that improvement is desirable, the next step will be to develop and deliver a clear message from you (Mr. or Ms. CEO) sharing the vision, mission and strategy to build confidence and create buy-in among the employees.  Buy-in can also be increased by involving employees in the change process and planning.

Communicate, communicate, communicate and personalize those communications so that everyone believes and trusts the information you are delivering.  Remember, rumors rush in to fill any gaps that may exist in the information you provide and rarely have I heard a rumor that was either completely accurate or a positive reinforcer of the corporate vision and mission.  Rather, when there is a lack of credible information coming from management, the negative rumors fly.

As part of the communication process, you will need to track and communicate results as they occur, be it positive or negative.  Communicating openly and honestly will help zap negativity and ensure that the employees see the organization as the primary source of news.  Likewise, involve managers and supervisors in the communications process - they should be front line reinforcements for the message. 

Now that you are communicating your vision, mission, strategy, and performance it is time to start working on building up the employees by demonstrating your investment in them.  How much are you spending on benefits, training, education, perquisites?  How is pay determined?  If they don´t understand how you have arrived at their pay level, they may well assume favoritism which will only lead to dissatisfaction and lower engagement levels and lower profits.  Pay, if administered fairly, should not be a secret - but if you appear to be trying to hide something the employees will assume the worse.

Reinforce the linkage between performance and rewards.  Do you have a rewards and recognition program?  If so, communicate it and use it openly by presenting rewards in a highly public manner.  Use non-monetary rewards too.  Do you have a newsletter?  If so publicize success stories.  I was recently at a company where the CEO used his weekly voice mail message to praise a mailroom employee for performing CPR on a fellow worker he found having a seizure thereby saving his life.  The pride and satisfaction that that employee exuded when others would "congratulate" him as they passed in the halls was immeasurable.  I doubt he will soon forget the CEO that recognized him or think about leaving the company.  What do you think?

When I joined The Hay Group, one of my initial educational assignments was to conduct some research on a certain topic.  In the process of conducting that research, I stumbled across what appeared to be a pattern of who was ascending to the presidency and the corner office.  I believed that I uncovered a clear record of CEO´s coming from the ranks of line or production management because they knew how to make the product and make it better.  Henry Ford was a stellar example of a production manager who significantly improved the process.

Once the manufacturing process was perfected, the second group of managers who began to ascend to the presidency was the finance heads who could take that incoming nickel and squeeze it a little tighter or longer and thereby improve profits.

As that financial expertise, like the manufacturing expertise, became more widely disseminated and available to all, the marketing people began to make their mark by enticing more and more people to seek out the product.  Obviously, greater sales usually mean greater profits which led this group to be the next class of CEOs. 

This led me to my quantum leap of logic and led me to ask "Will your next CEO come from the Human Resources Department?"  Well, as you might imagine, the chances of getting people to listen to that logic were slim and none, and slim was already on his way out of town.  But, if you believe the current press, we may be approaching a time when everyone realizes and appreciates the importance and contribution of each and every employee to bottom line profits.

I think all of this leads to a question for both the CEOs who receive this Series and the human resource professionals too.  Is your top HR person ready to be CEO?  Not that we are planning a palace coup, but is the HR head on the short list of candidates as your replacement?  Is he or she on any succession planning list?  Should they be considered?  If not, what skills or abilities do they need to acquire to be a part of this elite group?

Mr. or Ms. HR professional the question to you is "Are you ready to be CEO or move to a more responsible operational position?"  Are you part and party to key strategic planning agendas and decisions?  Do you know the operations inside and out from an operating and financial perspective?  Do you know enough to ask insightful and probing questions of line managers?  Should you?  I suggest that you should if you ever want a shot at making a meaningful contribution and enhancing employee engagement.

And finally, what do either of you plan to do to enhance employee engagement - to make your company one of the "best places to work" - to improve operations and profits?

ã Copyright 2005 J.E. Mittler & Company.  All rights reserved.