Workers
If employers have any delusion who is in charge these days in the employer/employee relationship, Shawnee Love, lead consultant of LoveHR, will quickly provide a reality check. The supply and demand pendulum of employees has shifted decidedly to those seeking employment rather than those offering it.
Hire well and retain staff, Love stresses, given the “average cost to replace is 33 per cent for any employee and up to 150 per cent for management.” Noting that new hires are flight risks, she cites the top reasons people leave in the first year is lack of connection with the people and the purpose, bad managers and unmet expectations.
Each slice of the pie chart of what employees want including career development, work life balance, solid leadership and management, rewards and recognition, wellbeing, job characteristics and work environment needs to be considered. Delegation can be a powerful tool to keep your staff engaged, Love suggests. “Proper delegation increases company productivity and boosts employee morale.” On the other hand, without a proper framework to delegate with teaching, milestones, recognition and rewards considered that strategy of etention will fail.
It’s important for employers and managers to recognize common pitfalls of parachuting in, micromanaging, or dumping tasks and deserting employees during their process of learning what’s expected of them. “Not all tasks are appropriate to delegate and employers need to carefully consider which are appropriate to pass along.”
Love shared her advice in the Human Resources concurrent sessions at Fortify Conference 2019. Also, providing counsel in the Human Resources path were Terri Eriksen, Navy and Sage Benefit, and Jennifer Sencar, BC Employment Standards.Eriksen and Sencar emphasize the importance of establishing guidelines upfront for acceptable behaviour such as a Code of Conduct or Mutual Respect Policy. Set clear expectations on everything such as chronic lateness, absenteeism, misconduct, harassment or bullying, pay structure, and medical or intoxication situations. Plus, clarify how unacceptable behaviour will be addressed.
Using the acronym ‘STATE’, they outline five skills for saying risky things in a way that minimizes defensiveness:
- Share your facts
- Tell your story
- Ask for others’ paths
- Talk tentatively
- Encourage testing
“Focus on the future; ask for input from the employee looking at the issues and behaviours not the person” they recommend. Use a constructive feedback model, refined listening skills and documenting the discussion. Given the pendulum of employees being in charge, hopefully these pointers offer some helpful advice in attracting and maintaining an engaged work force.
