Workplace of Choice

Setting and cascading goals throughout the organization is vital to achieving company objectives.  When defining goals, you'll want to make sure they meet the SMART criteria:

Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal.

Measurable: Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.

Attainable:  It should be a stretch to reach the goal, but not so much so that it's out of reach. 

Realistic: What it takes to do to achieve the goal should be within the availability of resources, knowledge and time.

Timely: The goals should have a clearly defined time-frame including a target completion date.

Using the SMART criteria above, you should determine 3-5 goals that are tied to success measures of the company.  Oftentimes they are financial, business development, process development or customer satisfaction measures. 

Once the Company Goals are determined, they should be communicated throughout the Company and translated to departmental goals.  Those departmental goals then become the framework that shape each employee's individual goals.  Hence the goals are cascaded as Company Goals down to Departmental Goals down to Individual Goals.   These individual goals can play an important role in performance management, career development and employee rewards.

On a day to day basis, does everything seem to run relatively smoothly at your organization or do you feel like you're constantly putting out employee related fires?  Your answer to that question may vary based on your organization's Human Resources Strategy.  In short, your HR Strategy is your approach to how you treat your employees and will affect your strategic thinking for the business as a whole. There isn't a one-size-fits-all and your HR strategy may change as the business evolves. 

Although one organization's strategy may be vastly different from another's, in determining your HR Strategy, consider the following:

• Compensation - Where do your employee's salaries fall with respect to the marketplace?  Do you pay at the 50^th percentile, higher or lower and why? What is your philosophy on salary increases?  Does incentive pay play a significant role in compensation?  You should be able to effectively articulate to your employees your compensation philosophy, the salary guidelines and practice it on a regular basis.
• Employee Benefits - Do you offer premier benefits to your employees or just enough to stay competitive with other companies in your space?  Employee benefits may include time off, medical, dental, life insurance, disability, tuition reimbursement and other fringe benefits such as commuting reimbursement or concierge services.
• Communication - Developing a plan for employee communication is vital to employee morale and will also affect your corporate culture.  How do you want to disseminate information?  What is going to be most effective based on the company size, locations, and hours of operation?
• Training & Development - What is the value you place on training and development and at what expense?  Training can come in the form of tuition reimbursement, on-site training, on-the-job training, succession planning and many other formats.  How much money and time are you willing to spend?
• Recruiting - Developing a recruitment philosophy that supports your HR Strategy will help ensure that new employees are on the same page with your goals and objectives. The on-boarding process is another consideration you'll want to think about.
• Work Environment - What sort of workplace have you created? Highly-structured with limited flexibility?  More casual with greater freedom for employees to work as they like as long as the job gets done?  Planned time for fun to relieve stress and to show appreciation for a commitment to the business?

In short, does your HR Strategy enable your organization to hire and to keep the talent it needs to achieve the goals of the business?

Ultimately the value you place on your human resources (i.e. your employees) may dictate the success of your business, so understanding and living your strategy is essential. 

Are your compensation programs ready for when the pendulum swings from an "employers' market" to an "employees' market"?  How can you best retain key talent that has helped you weather the storm?  Below are some suggestions to help your company prepare for the shifting market. 

- Take inventory: Do you know who your key performers are? Do you know what skill sets you need to retain and/or recruit for? Conduct a "Skills Inventory" to be sure you retain those employees with critical skill sets and begin recruiting for those skill sets you need to staff for. If you need to provide training to employees in order to increase skills or for career development, identify which training programs they need and consider offering them as "brown bag lunch" sessions or ½ day sessions.

- Performance Management: Giving employee feedback is free and it sends a very strong message that you value their contributions during these difficult times and want them to stick around for the better times to come. If you haven't given your employees an annual performance review, you need to do it now! You want them to know where they stand, especially when the market starts to come back. Remember, Performance Management is a two-way process, so if your Manager hasn't given you your Performance Feedback, it's perfectly acceptable to ask for it!

- Spend your bankroll wisely: While the market is showing signs of strength, many companies may not have a "pot-of-gold" to spend on employee investments. You can still make the money go a long way by making sure you spend it wisely:

• Focus on your key performers: Who is critical to retain?
• Average performers: If they're meeting "average expectations" they may not necessarily need a salary increase if they're keeping pace with the market
• Needs improvement: Take the time to work with those employees that need to improve their work. Document a Performance Improvement Plan to help them get back on track.
• If you can afford to do merit increases for your "key performers", but can't do it all now, try 6-month increments. This will send them the message that while you can't make up for lost time, you can give them smaller merit increases more often.

- Career Pathing: Be sure that employees know their next level in their career ladder. For key employees, put together a career development plan to help them get the training, skills and support they need to keep moving. An employee who is challenged may be less likely to start "shopping around."

- Set Goals: Use a cascading goal setting process to communicate the company's goals. Be sure to use a company-wide venue (all company meeting, webcast, e-mail, etc.) to share the goals.

- Open Door Policy: As the market shifts, encourage Managers and Employees to check in with each other...a simple question along the lines of "How are things going" can facilitate an honest and open conversation between an Employee and their Manager.

- Get Creative: Maybe now is the time to implement some of those programs you've been thinking about doing. New programs can send a message to employees that the Company is will to try new employee programs to retain employees.

- Communicate, communicate, communicate: Now, more than ever, is the time to communicate honestly and openly about current company business conditions. Employees only know what you share with them...prevent the company "grapevine" from growing by communicating honestly and openly with employees. This will also help build trust which is a must in creating a positive working environment.

- Say Thank You: The last 12 months have been trying times at work and home for employees and their families. A simple "Thank You" can go a long way to recognize the stress and difficult conditions all employees have endured. Consider hosting a company luncheon or ice cream sundae party whereby the Executives "serve" the employees; a personal "thank you note" to each employee from the CEO; or a small token gift (Dunkin Donuts gift card, Cafeteria gift card). Employee incentives can go a long way towards employee motivation!

How is your company preparing for the changing markets?

Now is the time of year that employees begin to look at their vacation and PTO balances and realize that they have three weeks of vacation to take before the end of the year, or they'll loose it.  Do you allow them to take it all in one block?  Do you require them to break it up into shorter amounts (i.e. a week at a time) or do you make an exception and allow them to carry time over?  On the flip side, maybe you have an employee that already has a planned vacation but has already taken too much time this year and has no additional time to take...

Time Off is one of those HR policies and employee benefits that is very close to an employee's heart and therefore issues around time off can often be contentious between the employer and employee. Whether you have a vacation or PTO policy, having a well-defined and market competitive time off policy can help promote employee retention and employee motivation.   Your employee handbook should outline the policy and all the specifics around taking time, balances and the logistics.  When writing your policy consider the following:

• Eligibility - When are new hire eligible to begin taking time?
• Pro-rated time - What is the threshold for part-time employees to take time and how is it pro-rated?
• Accrual amounts - How does time accrue?  Does it increase based on length of service, position or some other measure?
• Approval process - What is the process for requesting time off?  Who keeps track of this?
• Taking time - Are there requirements around how much time an employee can take in a row?  Do you limit employees to only a week at a time, or maybe 2?
• Use it or lose it - What happens to unused time at the end of the year? 
• Carryover - How much time can an employee carryover at the end of the year?  Are they required to take this carried over time during the first 3 or 6 months of the year?
• Payout - Do you have a policy to payout employees for unused time?
• Negative balances - What will you do if an employee wants to take time they have not yet accrued?
• Termination - Keep in mind that any unused accrued time must be paid out to the employee upon termination.  You'll want to write your policy in a way that will not result in excessively high balances that require payout upon termination.

Once you've written and published your policy, the most important thing you can do is, STICK TO IT!  An employee policy that is constantly having exceptions made is not an effective policy and only breeds dissatisfaction among the employee and employer!

 

Good news...the numbers are out and companies are planning for 2010 merit increases!  So what does this mean for your Company?  Regardless of the budget you set forth, you want to be sure you spend your money wisely.  Here are a few tips to help you with your 2010 Merit Planning:

• Consider changing the language and/or process, even a simple play-on-words can change the meaning of the "merit" process. Migrating to a "Salary Review Process", whereby the company reviews each employee's salary relative to the external marketplace will ensure that multiple factors go into determining what the salary action is: market value, individual performance and what the company can afford to spend.          

• Spend your money wisely:

o Focus on your key performers: Who is critical to retain?

o New hires and recent college grads: Is their compensation keeping up with the market?

o Average performers: If they're meeting "average expectations" they may not necessarily need a salary increase if they're keeping pace with the market

o Needs improvement: Take the time to work with those employees that need to improve their work. Document a Performance Improvement Plan to help them get back on track.

• What if you can't afford to do merit? Be honest with employees, tell them about current business conditions and don't forget to educate them on their "total compensation". Even if the Company can't afford merit, the value of their compensation and benefits is still meaningful. Consider doing a Total Compensation Statement to educate them on what you do offer (employee benefits, technology, training and development, etc.)

What is your Company planning to do for 2010 Merit Planning?