Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue I, 2012 | Page 76
People
By Mel Kleiman
Take This Job and Love It!
The 5 things your employees want most
W
hen great front-line
hourly employees quit,
most managers take it
personally—and with
good reason. For more than 20 years,
employee exit interview research has
been telling us that the #1 reason the best
people leave is because they feel they are
being poorly managed. In other words,
these folks joined the company and then
quit the manager.
Just imagine how frustrated you would
have to be with your job to decide to go
elsewhere. That’s how dissatisfied all the
outstanding people who have left your
organization have felt. If your people
truly are your greatest assets, then the
way your managers and supervisors manage those assets is the crucial key to your
organization’s success.
Whether you’re recruiting field and
area managers or hourly employees, there
are five specific things everyone wants
from their job, no matter what their position. If you can provide most or all of
them, you’ll be able to attract and retain
the employees you deserve—the best!
For a quick evaluation of how well you
deliver what your employees want most
from their jobs, rank yourself on a scale of
0 to 5 on each of the items below (where
0 = Poor, 1 = Below Average, 2 = Average,
3 = Average, 4 = Above Average, and 5 =
Excellent). Be honest. Before assigning a
value, ask yourself how your employees
would respond. If you can’t give yourself
at least a four for each category, what can
you do to improve?
1. A great boss and co-workers.
Who wouldn’t prefer to work on a cohesive team where everyone pulls their
weight and gets along? This is easier said
than done. Sometimes the applicant who
wowed in the interview turns out to be a
dud on the job. When a hiring mistake is
made, great managers know to cut their
losses fast because their A-players won’t
stick around long if they have to carry or
cover for slackers.
2. Interesting work. Great managers know how to make even routine tasks
engaging. They create contests and re-
74
Multi-Unit Franchisee I s s ue I , 2012
ward things like increased productivity
and safety. They find ways to make work
fun. In a recent survey of employees,
60 percent of the respondents reported
their employers were not making use of
all of their capabilities. Is that cashier a
social media whiz-bang who could help
you build a customer following? Could
If your people
are your greatest
assets, then
the way your
managers and
supervisors
manage those
assets is the
crucial key to your
organization’
s
success.
the purchasing agent/people-person be
put in charge of organizing celebrations?
Regularly survey employees to find out
what other talents they have that would
benefit the organization and keep them
on board and engaged to boot.
3. Growth and opportunity. Not
everyone wants ever-increasing responsibilities, but for those who do, great managers publicize opportunities and make
the requirements and expectations clear.
More than that, great companies and their
managers do everything they can to help
aspiring employees achieve their goals
through tuition assistance, flexible hours
to accommodate higher education, crosstraining, seminars, special assignments, etc.
4. Family-friendly policies. Employers
flexible enough to accommodate familyrelated special needs will have a competitive edge when it comes to recruiting and
retaining top talent.
5. Recognition, validation, appreciatio n. These are the most powerful,
cost-effective management tools avail-
able, yet they’re distressingly underutilized. Research verifies that recognition
programs enhance employee engagement,
performance, and retention. More effective than formalized programs, however,
is a manager’s sincere appreciation of a
job well done, presented in the way that
a particular employee will most appreciate. Some people love the spotlight and
want to be acknowledged in front of their
peers, while others would prefer a private
acknowledgment. Some would love movie
tickets and others would love a day off
with pay. What you say is also important.
“Thanks for taking the initiative and making sure that customer left happy” is far
better than, “Thanks for the great job.”
One caveat: Scrap that “Employee
of the Month” program. If a manager is
choosing “winners,” the results will be
seen either as acts of preferential treatment or as meaningless honors (“It’s your
turn this month.”). For a formalized recognition program to work:
1) publicize which specific achievements or goals will be recognized;
2) make all employees eligible for the
recognition; and
3) make sure the recognition occurs
as close to the accomplishment as possible so it reinforces the positive behavior.
In your recruitment ads, spell out what
you offer that your competitors don’t. If
that includes great teammates, interesting
work, opportunity, family-friendly policies,
and recognition, the ad’s headline could
be: “Take This Job and Love It!”
Mel Kleiman is a consultant, author of five books,
and a Certified Speaking
Professional on strategies for
hiring and retaining the
best employees. He is president of Humetrics, a developer of systems,
training processes, and tools for recruiting,
selecting, and retaining the best. His books
include The 5 Firsts: A Simple System to
Onboard and Engage Top Talent, and he
publishes a regular blog (http://humetrics.
com/blog/). You can reach him at 713-7714401 or [email protected].