Top Business Trend in 2012: Workforce Integration

16 Feb

Workforce integration – it sounds like annoying and monotonous business jargon corporations have used for years. I didn’t even enjoy typing out the phrase for this article!

However, if I told you that by understanding what it means could empower you with a proven formula for business success, would you perk up?

It would be a good idea, because we are talking about the #1 workplace trend in 2012.

Workforce integration means to combine workplace + work-style + life-style needs of your organization and its human capital which results in full engagement and maximized performance of each individual employee.

Quite simply 1 + 1 = 3.

To be more specific, the solutions I refer to can be anything from your IT systems, vendor technologies, employee documents, HR initiatives, training/development programs, wellness programs, and workplace design. Integrating these different areas of your company is actually considered the #1 workplace trend in 2012 according to a Sodexo Report from their 1,800 corporate clients.

What we see most commonly in the workplace are the inefficiencies that arise when a company tries to manage different solutions and vendors in silos. This approach, which has been the norm for decades, can be dramatically improved in today’s advanced world of technology. The companies that have identified this and changed the way they operate are quickly separating themselves from their competition. The silo approach can lead to ongoing problems with communicating information between each area, a disruption in workflow, and employees that are not well-connected to their workplace.

The value of integrating is beyond monetary. What companies see is a huge return on investment from their human capital – specifically employee performance, productivity, and efficiency. This is the result of systems within the workplace that “talk to each other”. If delivered and managed properly, a positive synergistic effect is created. What you begin to see is the elements and programs within your company that foster growth and productivity with your employees combine to meet the needs of the whole person. The leadership in your company can be funneled down effortlessly to all levels when these programs all relate.

Dr. Wendy Lynch, a researcher for Health as a Human Capital Foundation, writes, “The most efficient solution appears when we take information out of compartments to see how things interrelate. It’s my belief that this approach provides the best opportunity to uncover more than what’s merely apparent about the impact of a particular service, solution or measurement. This brings to life the value of integrated workplace solutions, the need to view the workplace experience holistically and the competitive advantage it can potentially bring to businesses.”

It helps to align your employees with your goals and visions.

So how do you achieve this?

Compact and consolidate your vendors and outsource your partnerships in areas where you are not the expert. What this does besides create that efficiency is offer different perspectives on how to strategically maximize your workforce. Through partnerships such as this, a new view can offer a unique opportunity for innovation.

This is what’s emerging in the small-mid business market. For those companies that can understand the impact integration has in creating a positive synergistic effect on the entire workforce are taking advantage of the dollars they spend around their most important asset, their human capital.

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3 Quick Steps to Boosting Your Top Line

20 Jan

Let’s pretend you’re in a casino; The Venetian in Las Vegas. (One of my personal favorites). You walk through the sliding glass doors and onto the main casino room floor of high limit luxury and mega jackpots. The slots catch your eye so you walk up to a row of 5 machines and you stare at each, seeking the one that’s going to give up all the cash. You sit down at the first machine and lose $20 bucks. The second, third, and forth share a similar story. Finally, after an hour of losing money, you try the 5th machine in a desperate attempt to break even. And then (you guessed it) the siren goes off and the lights flash- you just won big!

After investing money into every machine, only 1 of the 5 put money back in your pocket. Your employees are the same way- a certain group is critical to helping you hit the jackpot! While each employee plays a role, there are those that can suck time out of your day and money from your wallet. These are two different groups of people and you need to know who falls where in your company.

The process is called “segmentation” and here’s what you do: identify which employees have the greatest impact on your company’s top/bottom line and, most importantly, customize a talent management and rewards program to keep them engaged. These are the types of business practices that many employeers over-look, don’t have time for, or can’t get their arms around. It’s hard to measure the results, I know. But it’s imperative that it gets done. And if it’s something you already do, do more.

Like the slot machines, find out whom in your company makes you the most money.

Let’s take this one step further.

So you identified this group of high-potential and/or critical skill employees, you created a rewards program for them, and now you must do one more thing: communicate to them how they are viewed by your organization.

Laura Sejen, a member of Towers Watson & Co, a consultancy that surveyed employers that look at “segmentation” to drive top line, says “If the reason that you identify employees in that high-potential group is to invest more resources on them, more training dollars, or development opportunities and that group doesn’t know what’s going on, you won’t get the ROI you’re looking for.”

A little recognition can go a long way.

So there’s a 3-step process for you to get your top people a boost in performance, a boost in loyalty, and a boost to your top line. It’s like putting a dollar in the winning slot machine- let ‘er rip!

3 steps to boosting top-line growth:

  1. Identify your group of high-potential and critical skill employees
  2. Create a customized talent and rewards program for them
  3. Communicate to them that they’re in this group

A Survey to Test Your Employee’s Engagement

16 Dec

You’re a CEO – and I’m guessing you have a lot of things to worry about every day (insert ridiculously long list here). I’m also guessing you care about making money (“uh, ya Will, I do”). Somehow though, the things that will keep you up at night stand in the way of your company’s growth… otherwise you wouldn’t be worried about them! Here’s what I’m also willing to guess… employee engagement isn’t on that ridiculously long list.

Of all the major factors that affect a company’s bottom line, employee engagement is the hardest to recognize, to measure – and to achieve.

Most CEOs are aware of the importance of engaged employees but don’t have the support or TIME to focus on it. So here’s a cheat sheet on what to measure.

Based on more than 30 years of in-depth research involving more than 17 million employees, the Gallup Organization has developed and identified 12 core elements that drive business results.

Conduct this annual survey and distribute this questionnaire to your employees:

Employee Engagement Survey

  1. Do you know what is expected of you at work?
  2. Do you have the materials and equipment you need to do your work right?
  3. At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
  4. In the past seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?
  5. Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person?
  6. Is there someone at work who encourages your development?
  7. At work, do your opinions seem to count?
  8. Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important?
  9. Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work?
  10. Do you have a best friend at work?
  11. In the past 6 months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress?
  12. In the past year, have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
  13. (add any other questions that address your company’s unique culture here)

To reap the rewards of employee engagement, Kathryn Hayley, CEO of Aon Hewitt’s, says “It’s important to create a vision for the organizations future and its purpose. You want employees excited about the purpose of their work.”

 

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Leadership Coaching: A Secret Weapon to Business Success

22 Nov

Want a secret weapon to beat your competition and make more money?

Let me know if you can relate to this (then I’ll tell you what it means): Creating a culture at your company where employees would shed blood, sweat, and tears for you and your vision can be about as easy as building a card house in a wind tunnel- yet it’s critically important that they do because those employees make you money. The companies that are thriving in this post-recession economy usually share with me one specific business move that can be the game changer: an emphasized focus on leadership coaching.

Trish Kellett, Director of the Hogan Coaching Network, says “No matter how sound your business strategy, how catchy your marketing materials or how innovative your products and services, it’s still your people and leaders who ultimately determine the success of your organization. The continuing global talent shortage and the chronic shortage of quality leaders have magnified the importance of leadership development, especially given the fact that research shows that high-quality leaders make a huge difference in the delivery of business results.”

The challenge is this: with the downturn in the economy leaders shift their focus on snipping costs here and there, making payroll cuts, and scrambling for increased revenue. It’s time to re-invest in your core group of people. You need to do more with less… so here’s how you do it!

There are plenty of solutions out there that offer e-learning and performance support solutions for even small businesses. Skillsoft, as one example, (www.skillsoft.com) allows companies to create personalized coaching and development goals for their leaders to complete during the workday. There’s a focus on personality assessments that highlight strengths and weaknesses for an individual so they can better take feedback and are self-aware on what makes them most effective. What’s more is that it’s done in the context of the specific job. This builds self-awareness, competencies needed in the future, and skill sets to make your leaders engaged with maximized effectiveness. These qualities trickle down and, like ripples in a pond, affects everybody in a positive way.

Want proof?

Statistics show that organizations with the highest quality leaders were 13 times more likely to outperform their competition, three times more likely to retain employees, and five times more likely to have highly engaged leaders.

There’s your secret weapon. BOOM.

The bottom line is simple: You need to implement strategies that yield high returns on your human capital. There’s a magic number you should consider: The dollar amount that represents the operating costs for your company. Leadership development is a way to make that dollar sign work hard for you and most importantly make you more profitable and increase your competitive advantage. I’ll take those results all day.

 

foursquare: A Creative Way to Save Your Business Money

9 Nov

Those that are surviving out there these days are getting creative. You have to! Operating the same as you did 5 years ago doesn’t work anymore. Selling like you did 5 years ago doesn’t bring in deals. I mean let’s be honest, who the heck can predict where things are headed when no one can agree on how to steer our economy in the right direction? So forget all that and look at doing things a little differently. I’ll tell you about a man who has done just that…

(I thought this was a very clever business practice).

A fellow I have worked with here in the city was talking to me about how fast his company was about to expand- to the tune of several locations and a couple dozen employees in 6 months. He distributes mattresses (among other things) all throughout the metro. As he hires, his employees will be left unsupervised and scattered about. So here’s the dilemma… how does he track hours and locations to ensure they are productive and timely?

His solution was brilliant: foursquare

What’s foursquare? Well, you should know… but in-case you don’t it’s a smart phone app that started in 2009 and has grown to a community of 10 million world-wide. It allows you to check in to your current location and connects with Facebook and Twitter to alert your friends. Unlike checking in similarly through Facebook, foursquare has built-in incentives to check in often and to certain places. Coupons, deals, and apparently bragging rights to your friends that you’re worldly and well-traveled (I guess). Any who, Businesses use foursquare traditionally to market themselves. My friend Ed has unlocked an even greater potential…

foursquare as a time-clock.

Huh?

Yep. So here’s what Ed plans to do: have his employees utilize the foursquare app to check-in to locations as they deliver mattresses. foursquare will be used to do many things at once for Ed. Such as:

  • Keep track of hours worked for payroll (foursquare time-stamps each check in)
  • Self-market his company to those who are connected via twitter/Facebook
  • Allow Ed to insure timely delivery to his customers
  • Supervise his staff remotely
  • …and probably many other things he hasn’t shared with me. Ed’s a smart man you see…

So cheers to an example of being creative to save money and run your business. The app is free and gives Ed control over his employees. The kids he hires to deliver mattresses don’t think twice when it comes to using smart phone apps, so it fits perfectly with his workforce demographic. What a great idea!

What are some creative things you have done in your company or seen that work out there? Because sharing is caring :)

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Fixing the Problem With Low Employee Engagement

20 Oct


My first job was terrible but Mom and Dad said that if I wanted a car when I turned 16 I would have to earn it. So I made minimum wage bagging groceries. My feet and back would ache after the first hour, I cherished being asked to go get the carts outside just to step away from the conveyor belt that dumped to-be-bagged food in front of me for hours on end. A shift felt like a lifetime.

Think about the jobs you have held in the past. Do some make you cringe? Nothing is worse than waking up each weekday morning dreading the 8 or 9 hours that lie ahead. Then, once at work, counting minutes and hours until you are finally free. This is likely happening within your company. It might be bad too, real bad…

Want another familiar example?

From the movie Office Space:


Bob Slydell (Outside Consulting Firm): You see, what we’re actually trying to do here is, we’re trying to get a feel for  how people spend their day at work… so, if you would, would you walk us through a typical day, for you?
Peter Gibbons (Employee): Yeah.
Bob Slydell: Great.
Peter Gibbons: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door – that way Lumbergh can’t see me, heh heh – and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour.
Bob Porter: Da-uh? Space out?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah, I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I’m working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I’d say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.

The Problem: My employees aren’t engaged

The unfortunate truth is that every organization has these types of employees. They create negativity, talk down on your company, and are there just to collect a paycheck from you. Some businesses may have more disengaged employees than others though… and between Company A who only has a few, and Company B who has a lot, there lies a very big difference that you might care a lot about: profitability.

A recent Gallup Poll study reveals that in the year 2010, the top 100 companies in the S&P 500 index had a lower demand for their product or service, a smaller workforce, yet achieved on average 12% higher profits than their industry peers (see study here).

How is this possible?

The Solution

Employees need (and desire) for you to communicate to them the reward and benefit programs that you offer. They need to be linked into the culture of your company and even understand the direction you’re headed. Ultimately you need them to stay on the ride… through the ups and downs.

Examples of ways to achieve higher engagement include quarterly benefit reviews, a recognition program, providing total compensation statements, access to an employee portal with messages from execs and managers that aim to motivate and encourage, etc. If there is a difference in culture between your execs and your workforce then you know there’s a problem. Get everyone on the same page working towards an over-all goal! Each example mentioned should be executed with care and purpose that relates to the demographics within your business. Everyone is motivated differently.

Look at these crazy stats! Did You Know about this impact?

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Top 5 Strategies to Maintain a Competitive Advantage

2 Oct

In the world of business, especially today, there are many (too many) “strategic” options out there that claim they are the best way to stay competitive in a volatile market.

Business owners are forced to evolve with ever-changing compliance, regulations, and needs from both their employees and clients. So what are the most important things to consider to stay competitive? Let’s take a look…

1. Keep Overhead Low

Overhead is money out the door but is required to keep the lights on and the doors open. Overhead is typically reconciled into 2 groups: fixed costs and variable costs. The key here is to focus on ways to stabilize the variable costs. Put measures in place to prevent unemployment claims, worker’s comp. incidences, law suits, turn-over, etc. These are the areas that spike unexpectedly and can start to sink the ship at any time. Invest in ways to stabilize these costs.

2. Focus on Employee Productivity

Employee engagement and productivity directly correlate with one another. When one is high, so is the other; and vise-versa. What are you doing for your employees to increase their productivity? Invest in things such as: training and development programs, employee self-service tools, wellness programs, and good benefits. Companies that reach high employee productivity see on average 12% higher profits.

3. Hire Top Talent

This is critical for many reasons. Top talent decreases turn-over, boosts productivity and profits, and allows you to focus on developing an over-all common vision among members of your workforce. Your ability to locate top talent must take center stage.

4. Manage Vendor Terms and Discounts

Do your due-diligence and spend the extra hours negotiating terms. This will keep overhead low.

5. Invest in Technology

This can mean different things for every organization. Here’s what to consider: is the technology behind your business (in any area) slowing growth or stimulating it? Don’t be too proud to admit it’s time to upgrade or consider different vendors. One big key to profitability is efficiently in your operations. Make sure your technology creates optimal efficiency. 

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