Is Employer Loyalty A Trait of the Past?  

Last week I asked if employee loyalty was a trait of the past and I received well over 160 responses.  So this week I decided to share with you a “few” excerpts from those response.
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“….Is corporate loyalty a thing of the past? Works both ways. If companies want loyalty, they need to 'care' about their human resources, not just the bottom line. It seems to me that companies don't care that they are losing their most precious resource. I guess everyone is replaceable. In today's environment companies are willing to get inferior help in the interest of not paying a fair wage for experience.”

“….loyalty is a two way street. I think loyalty can be gained, particularly in a small business, by simple gestures.”

“….companies are not invested in their workers and so the workers will search for the best job, with the best benefits and highest pay, it is what we have come to expect in America today.”

“….Employee loyalty is directly related to and proportional to Company loyalty to their employees.”

“….It goes hand in hand with employer loyalty. In the past, a good employee kept a job for years or life. Employees were assets. Now, CEOs drawing bloated paychecks with obscene benefits packages, view employees as a liability. When employees are "laid off" (fired, let's face it). Stock prices rise and CEOs get huge bonuses. No one today can count on their job this week, month, year or decade. To be hired, you must be under 40, have many degrees (even without real world experience), pass a background check, pass a credit check, and give up all your computer passwords so your every word and thought may be investigated. Employee loyalty?”

“….Sadly, most companies don't do much to earn their employees loyalty. No appreciation is shown and reviews seem to focus on the negative and not the positive. Companies that will remain nameless dump people for the bottom line, while the top executives announce a bonus year and their personal bonuses are in the millions.”

“….If employers recognize high performing employees with perks, awarded compensation and expectations then loyalty becomes the link between the two.”

“….The truth is, at least in my personal case, it's not that I am un-loyal or don't desire to have loyalty to a company...I think I just hold companies to a higher standard of earning that loyalty more than my parents might have. Same desire to be loyal, I am just much more cautious to give it away.”

“….Watching fellow coworkers and friends get laid off to save a percent of a percent at the end of the year has a negative impact on the remaining employees. Workloads are often increased by employers as they reduce staff and the employee has little recourse. So, yes I would say loyalty is at risk when the power is on the employer's side for now.”

FROM GMAN:  Many responses talked about friends and family working at the same company for years and then one day, they were unemployed.  These unemployed people then read about the executives getting a huge raise or bonus.  Just this last week the CEO of Bank of America got a 600% increase, as an example.

Regards,

George F. Mancuso, CPC

President
Client Growth Consultants

Is Employee Loyalty a Trait of the Past?

I have been a retained executive recruiter for over 26 years and have had the opportunity to interview thousands of possible candidates.  There is little doubt in my mind that employee loyalty is at an all time low.
Of late I have been seeing more and more people ready to jump ship and their employers don’t have a clue.  Secretly sending off resumes for immediate review and marking Emails containing resumes as CONFIDENTIAL and DO NOT FORWARD WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE written all over them.  A recent national survey claims that ONE in THREE professionals surveyed, hope to have a new position within the next 12 months.  This statistic if even 50% accurate,  is HUGE!
So why the downturn in loyalty you might ask?

A.      Stress levels are at an all time high

B.      Morale levels are at an all time low

C.      Insensitive and inept managers are in charge

D.      Inclusion of the team as a concept has been thrown by the wayside for penny pinching ideas

E.       Very poor communications

F.       Employees have learned how to give lip service to pacify supervisors/management

G.      Mission and Values that may or may not be stated and/or demonstrated by management

H.      Little utterance of the words, “Thank You”

I.        Lack of respect of one’s supervisor which happens to be an earned assessment

J.        No defined corporate business and social responsibility

What makes all this terrible for profitability, the morale of the company and the well being of the employee/employer health is that it doesn’t have to be this way.  So many times I’ve counseled executives who have an employee departing, I’ve asked, “did you try to save him/her?”  No is usually the answer, they’ve made up their mind so I just wished them well.  But don’t you have time and money invested in that employee I’d ask?  Well yes, but there is nothing I can do is typically the response.

The cost to replace one $9.00 per hour employee is somewhere between $5,000 and $7,500.  The cost to replace one $80,000 salaried employee is about $120,000.  THAT’S MONEY COMES RIGHT OFF THE BOTTOM LINE AND REDUCES YOUR PROFITS ACCORDINGLY.

The time to think about retention is the first day an employee starts.  You must have a plan in place.  Secondly, you must take control of the corporate destiny by treating people as people and realize that we are all individuals.  It matters not the number of employees in your organization, if you are not a good business citizen you will not be respected, rewarded and grow your organization.  If you need assistance, we CAN help!

Regards,
George F. Mancuso, CPC
President
Client Growth Consultants, Inc.

Q; What are the steps for Grooming Successful Mentors?

A:  First off, I’d like to acknowledge that managers need to play a role in driving employee engagement and performance. I would not recommend that you replace manager-employee coaching or try to make up for bad managers with a mentoring program.

Clarify your objectives. An effective mentoring program supplements coaching from managers, and it should be positioned as a way to make the business, not just individual employees, more successful. From there you can add a more specific goal, such as helping new employees get up to speed quickly.

Define your mentor selection criteria. Mentors need to be more than willing. They need to have a coaching attitude and ability. Describe these characteristics in writing—and other traits, such as particular business knowledge or specific skills.

Equip your mentors. Provide tools and training to help mentors fulfill their role. This process goes beyond basic coaching skills to include an emphasis on:

·         Individualized partnerships. “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you” may serve people well most of the time, but it can actually get in the way of successful mentoring. Effective mentors understand their individual mentees’ needs and work with everyone differently. What works great for one person can derail another.

·         Career coaching. Although employees may look to their mentors for career “navigation” advice, our research indicates that few are clear on what’s important to them. Mentors need to help people get behind the core values that create job satisfaction for them. What do they like to do and why? What would enrich their work each day? Only then can mentors help employees create a plan for professional development, career progression or job enrichment.

Reinforce mentoring. To reap the benefits that mentors provide, you need to make mentoring a way of life. Senior leaders must be role models and discuss with employees the impact that mentoring has on business and personal success.

Leaders experience success as mentors through practice. The more they mentor, the more successful their mentoring becomes. A virtuous cycle will then take hold: They believe in mentoring, they’ve seen how it works, and they’re motivated to build their own competence.

And don’t forget to build in accountability, metrics and recognition systems. Without these, mentoring can fall by the wayside as a “nice to do that we don’t have time to do,” instead of remaining a core strategy for building an engaged workforce and thriving business.  Of course if you need help in setting up a mentoring program and/or would like to send your managers to a 2 day seminar that teaches mentoring, leadership and building relationships to improve your company culture, please call or write and I will respond immediately!

Regards,

George F. Mancuso

George F. Mancuso, CPC 

As A Manager Are You A Leader or As A Leader Are You A Manager….Or Both?

Leadership is paramount to the success of any employee retention event or program.  I can’t say enough about the void that is caused when you have managers that are not leaders.  And managers who escalate their self serving status to that of a “micro-manager” is even worse.

We know leaders have influence because people choose to follow them.  A leader does not have to hold a manager or supervisor title to be chosen by followers.  In a successful organization, leaders can be found at every level – from the boardroom to the mailroom, from the executive office to the customer service desk.  This may be particularly true in organizations that favor a flatter, more team-oriented environment.

A.   Managers influence by the authority of their position and title.  They are appointed to their position, and are given certain responsibilities, based on that position.

B.   Leaders are influential because people choose to follow them.  Leadership is not an appointed position.  Without followers, leaders would not have any influence at all!

C.   Leadership is not a set of traits or skills; rather it is best described as a relationship between leaders and followers.

We know that leaders emerge in the natural course of business.  We all have leadership qualities and abilities that enable us to make important contributions.

i.              Leadership is a dynamic relationship between leaders and followers

ii.            Effective leaders focus on different things in response to changing needs, and

iii.           Leaders and followers may exchange roles as the needs of the situation change.

Think about a flock of geese soaring through the air.  When they fly in formation, the leader does not remain the same.  In the course of a flight, several of the flock takes turns moving to the front of the “V”.  As a leader tires, it falls back and takes it place with other geese, while a new leader emerges to continue the journey.

Let your natural leadership shine within your organization.  Be a great team player which in my opinion is one that can lead and follow.  If you need help, we are available to assist you….call or write and we will respond immediately!

Regards,

George F. Mancuso, CPC

President

Client Growth Consultants, Inc.

Grinnell, Iowa 50112

Retained Search Consultant

What is the real goal here?

I recently received a call from a former client and she was jus t beside herself.  “…I don’t know what is going on but I’ve recently lost two key employees, morale seems to be in the tank, the team is filled with silly errors, customers are upset and I just can’t figure out why.”

Two days later I was sitting in her office and we were about to have a very painful discussion.  I asked this one question; “What is the real goal here at your company?”  And her answer didn’t surprise me but she said, “….to grow my company and make money and have fun while doing it.”

Then I asked, “….why did you lose two key people?” 

Answer, “I don’t know because they both got a raise within the last few months.”

“Why do you still have two openings,” I asked.  “…because I can’t find anybody to replace them.”

Then after a few days of meeting with her current employees and going to the homes of the two key people who resigned to do post mortem on their employment and why they really left, I came back with the following information and suggestions;

From the two former and current employees I got these tidbits and I’m giving you only the short version here:

A.      Start hiring good employees and not just those that breathe in and out all day.  Because the problem is the current “good” employees are the ones that are asked to do more and because complacency is the norm with the not so good employees and they are allowed to do less.

B.      Demonstrate to each of us that you are a good leader.  There was no coaching, no individual encouragement to grow and do better.  Nobody listening to our ideas and this wreaked havoc with team morale.

C.      Clean house of those employees who just don’t get, don’t want to get or have disrespect for the other members of team by not carrying their weight.  The negativity just destroyed our hard working teams.  We got tired of carrying the load. (so it wasn’t about money)

This is the primary goal(s) we agreed upon and agreed that ALL employees would now become aware of the primary goal(s) and she must get a buy in from each individual:

1.       Provide our employees with the tools both tangible and intangible to be successful in our cultural environment

2.       Provide outstanding service and products to our clients

3.       Make a profit.

For those of you who have followed the Desk of Gman for the last several years will know that I’ve used the following statements time and time again and here they are again BECAUSE THEY ARE PARAMOUNT TO SUCCESS OF A BUSINESS!!!

1.       Good companies fix bad managers

2.       Bad Companies condone bad managers

3.       90% of the time, employees quit their bosses and not their companies

4.       Having employees resign is not good but having employees resign and not leave is even worse

5.       Employee retention, employee morale and employee growth is a management issue and not an H.R. issue.

If your company is in distress, we can help!

Regards,
George F. Mancuso, CPC
Client Growth Consultants