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. 

We're just coming off "the most wonderful time of the year"...but Rewards don't always have to come just during the holidays and new year!  Rewards can come in many different forms and serve many different purposes:

• Something given in return: something desirable given in return for what someone has done
• Money offered in return: money offered as a reward
• Benefit received: a benefit obtained as a result of an action taken or a job done
• Something reinforcing desired behavior:  something positive that follows a desired response and acts to encourage desired behavior

Rewards can come in many different forms.  Before you give a reward, it's helpful to know the following:

1. What is being rewarded? Specifically state the behavior or result that is being rewarded.

2. Why is it important? How does it help the business achieve its goals, financial metrics or other key performance indicators?

3. What result(s) did the behavior produce? Cost savings, customer satisfaction, process improvement, etc. You want to quantify it so the positive behavior can be replicated!

There are lots of different ways to reward positive behavior:

• Cash awards: Money is obviously the most readily used. Also consider gift cards, cafeteria "free lunch" certificates or giving a charitable donation in an employee's name.
• Non-cash awards: A handwritten thank you note, recognition at a company meeting, peer recognition or a company "wall of fame" are ways to recognize employees.

Regardless of the reward vehicle you use, but sure to:

• Be timely: Recognize the positive behavior when it happens, not 3 weeks later!
• Reward consistently: Be sure to recognize big and little accomplishments...but do so proportionately. A major cost savings may justify a cash reward, but solving a minor problem on the fly, may just require a "thank you"
• Be sensitive: If the employee you want to recognize is shy or quiet, reward them quietly, not in the company meeting! Respect the employee's style and preferences by recognizing them in a way they will feel comfortable. You certainly don't want to minimize their positive behavior by making them uncomfortable.

What is your Company doing to reward employees?