The Art of Attracting Outstanding Employees

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We’ve all had those absolutely outstanding employees:  well-qualified, quick to learn company operations and culture, exhibit great attitudes. They do what they say they will do, on time and with high quality.

Sometimes it can feel like we just fall into this type of employee. But there are ways to make the “fall” more likely. And since a company is only as good as its employees, attracting outstanding prospective employees is worth the effort.

There are many ways to attract and find great employees. The following are some I have found effective.  Try them out to create an ideal applicant pool.

  1. Go where the best go. Use events – even online – to observe and identify qualified people. Join relevant associations, talk with your customers, look on LinkedIn or other social media sites. Approach potential candidates with appreciation and ideas.
  2. Align your hiring process with your company’s culture and vision. This may seem obvious, however, the saying goes “hire for attitude, train for skills” is important. If the person does not have the traits that align with your culture and the norms you expect of all employees, then no amount of skill can make up the difference.
  3. Hire a good recruiter or staffing agency. Recruiters often follow people through their careers and will know when people are thinking about changing companies – giving you early access to the best candidates.
  4. Participate in the community. Sponsor a nonprofit or charity event. Offer scholarships or internships to local students.
  5. Write a realistic and detailed job description. Include job title, salary range based on seniority, and responsibilities. Try to tell a story about the company so people will get an idea of the work environment and company goals.
  6. Establish relationships with trade schools, colleges, and universities. It’s a win/win for companies who want access to the best candidates entering the workforce and schools who want outstanding career services programs.
  7. Foster a positive, modern, environmentally-responsible, and attractive workspace – wherever it might be. During these days when many desk employees are working from home, that might mean investing in fresh collaboration software, encouraging a daily stretch break, or offering perks like a small home office stipend or shipping an oxygen-releasing houseplant to each employee. For employees going into the office, give some thought to amenities like access to healthy, free snacks and coffee, relaxation areas, and ergonomically correct furniture.
  8. Offer the best benefits you can afford. Many companies use their benefit offering to attract and retain their employees. This could include paid vacation and sick time, mental health days, flexible work times, job-sharing, work-from-home, 401k, profit sharing, casual days, health, life, disability, dental and vision insurance, and tax-free health spending accounts to name a few. Paid gym memberships, parental leave, and student loan and tuition assistance are also gaining popularity.
  9. Ask your highest-performing employees for referrals – because like attracts like. They have first-hand knowledge of your business, plus networks of similarly-talented friends and business contacts. Hiring employee referrals can help build morale and be an opportunity to offer a referral bonus.

This list may seem overwhelming, but there’s no need to tackle them all at once. Test one or two at a time to see which resonate with your business, industry, and the roles you hire. I expect you’ll discover happier, more effective employees – and outstanding candidates.

Updating Your Organization’s Employee Experience

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The nature of work has evolved dramatically over the years, from what we deliver to how we create it. It wasn’t long ago when scores of people sat in rows of desks performing the same repetitive activity. Today, we don’t even need to be in an office, and can still accomplish so much more.

Each generation has fresh expectations for how their work environment operates and feels – and for most companies, the COVID-19 pandemic monkey wrench forced abrupt new changes. While our work environments, wherever they are, may not be “Dunder Mifflin” fun, it’s important to continue evolving your work environment.

Here are 6 recommendations for encouraging your workforce:

  1. Create opportunities for employees to grow their relationships. It’s difficult to make a positive connection with someone you know only by name and title. Consider planning a casual activity at lunchtime, creating interest-based groups, or finding opportunities for people to work outside of their normal teams.
  2. Provide ongoing feedback.  The years of annual reviews have passed. Much of today’s workforce prefer frequent feedback. Discuss goals and expectations more frequently to allow employees to attack incremental goals and have a say in creating expectations that seem fair and challenging.
  3. Offer flexible work locations. No more cubicles, but also no more wide-open workspaces. Promote creativity and collaboration with quiet rooms and lounges filled with comfy seating. Consider flexible furniture, like desks that enable a person to work while sitting or standing. We all know it’s unhealthy for people to sit in a chair like a slug all day. And don’t forget small and large enclosed places for phone calls and meetings.  Even after the pandemic passes, options like remote working, working irregular hours, and job-sharing will be huge bonuses to employees trying to balance their work and personal lives.
  4. Offer benefit packages that include mental health coverage and financial and mental wellness checkups. Some employers encourage taking “mental health” days to recharge. Some are insisting that employees working from home take time for a walk or non-screen-time during their workday. At the office, some employers are even providing meditation rooms.  How can you support your employees’ mental health?
  5. Focus on purpose. Identifying one’s purpose is important to today’s work force.  Help employees understand how their work contributes to the success of the company as a whole. Inquire as to how and why they do their work, what they feel their strengths are, what energizes them and what impact they feel they are making.  This may encourage some employees to create their own purpose statement.
  6. Finally, ask for feedback. A suggestion box is still a good way to do this. Make it easy for employees to give praise and criticism. Ask for ideas. Some of the most positively impactful changes come from employees on the front line.

Questions You Should Ask Every Potential Hire

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by Michael Iverson

Interviewing job candidates can be a task dreaded by entrepreneurs.  Why?  Some have nagging doubts because of one disappointing hire.  Others don’t have patience for what they perceive to be a long, drawn-out process that may end in a compromise rather than a perfect fit.

Here are six interview questions that can help you improve your interview process.  These are the recommendations of a variety of Human Resource professionals from industry and recruitment agencies. The questions are intended to help you learn about the attitudes and thought processes of candidates, as well as the likelihood of a cultural fit with your business.  (Of course, they would have to be supplemented with questions specific to the functions of the position you seek to fill.)

  1. Why did you get into this industry/profession? This question is a good starting point in terms of understanding the candidate’s values and level of commitment to (and affinity for) your line of work.  Some very talented candidates want to plug in their skill sets to the best-paying opportunity available.  Typically, their responses to this question lack the conviction of someone who has always wanted to be in your line of work.  There should be genuine excitement about the prospect of working for you.  If it’s not evident, take a pass.
  2. Tell me about your experience dealing with unhappy customers. Whether the customer is external or internal, every member of an organization is responsible for meeting customer needs.   This question gives the prospective employee an opportunity to tell you how he or she turned lemons into lemonade.  Problem-solving skills and lessons learned should be your key takeaways from the interviewee’s response.
  3. Why are you leaving your current position? The answer to this question helps you understand the candidate’s mindset regarding career change.  You might get the sense a candidate is always looking for greener pastures.  That could be an employee unlikely to find contentment.  On the other hand, you may find an employee whose skills are under-utilized at present, or one who has been unable to progress at the current workplace through no fault of their own.
  4. Tell me about the ideal position for you. This request is open-ended for the purpose of giving the candidate a chance to express, in as much detail as he or she is willing to provide, what would make the candidate happy.  The response is likely to include a job title, expectations about daily or weekly duties, the extent of supervision deemed necessary or desirable, a salary and a description of company culture.  All this information can help you assess whether there is a likely fit.
  5. How much do you know about our company? Has the candidate given serious consideration about the prospect of working for your company?  This is a chance for the prospective employee to show you how well he or she prepared for the interview.  A lack of preparation would suggest either a low-level of interest or a lack of initiative.  In either case, there is probably a better candidate for the position.  In contrast, a candidate who knows a good deal about your company may be a keeper.
  6. Describe your best boss and explain why the relationship worked. Describe your worst boss and explain why the relationship didn’t work. The answer is likely to provide useful insights about the candidate’s personality, as well as the candidate’s maturity level and temperament.  You should get a strong sense about whether this is a person you like and how well they are likely to fit in with co-workers.

 

What’s Your Plan for Avoiding Burnout?

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by Michael Iverson

Working closely with entrepreneurs, I think I can say that most enjoy their work to a high degree.  As a group, they are upbeat and passionate about business.  Most control their workplace environments, their hours of operation, and the people who work with them.  All of those things make coming to work a lot more pleasant.

At the same time, many entrepreneurs have the capacity to be obsessive.  The very trait that drives so many of them to succeed can also lead them to work extremely long hours and experience bouts of anxiety.  The combination of long hours and anxiety is a recipe for burnout.

Caution: Burnout Ahead

Several years ago, I came across an Inc. magazine article entitled Ten Signs You’re Headed for Burnout.  Here are a few of the warning signs that are most common among business owners.

  • Unhealthy lifestyle choices – You can’t seem to find the time and energy to take care of yourself. You may eat too much or too little, choose unhealthy foods, stop exercising, or rely on alcohol to relieve stress.
  • Inability to stop thinking about work – Thinking about work during your free time is normal, unless your thoughts about work are accompanied by a feeling of dread.
  • Perpetual exhaustion – A feeling that you just can’t get enough sleep. In fact, you wake up feeling exhausted.  The exhaustion can be both physical and emotional.
  • Loss of enjoyment in daily activities – You once enjoyed going to work, but now you are apathetic or fearful of it.

Anyone experiencing one or more of these signs is either already suffering from burnout, or it’s just around the corner.

Strategies to Beat Burnout

To beat burnout, you need to eliminate the factors that contribute to it. Sounds simple enough, right?  But, it’s not.  The tendencies that brought you to the brink of burnout must be confronted, and that may cause you some discomfort in the near term.

Relinquish Some Measure of Control – This is a tough one for most business owners.  The need to be on top of all aspects of the business is part of your DNA.  Are you able to give up a little control for the sake of your well-being?

Short-term:  Make an honest assessment (perhaps with the help of an objective outsider) of how you can offload one significant responsibility to a member of your team.  As an example, one self-contained project that makes sense for some owners to offload is implementing a new technology to improve the business.  If you understand the benefits to be gained, is it necessary to be involved in the nuts and bolts of implementation?  Why not assign that responsibility to a capable staff member or business partner?

Long-term:  On the TV show Star Trek, the captain’s most reliable surrogate was referred to as Number Two. Owners who develop a reliable Number Two at work are able to achieve a better sense of work/life blend.

Make Your Health a Top Priority – If it’s not already a priority, commit to this important lifestyle change.  Daily exercise is the best way to relieve stress.  Ask your doctor about the right exercise for you and work it into your daily routine.  Meet with a dietician to address easy ways to avoid bad eating habits.  Eliminate electronic devices from your bedtime routine as a way to improve your sleep.

Take Time Away – It is absolutely essential to get away from work to sharpen your most important tools – your mind and body.  Steven Covey author of the book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” refers to it as sharpening the saw.  Refresh both by giving yourself some well-deserved rest.  Experience something new and out-of-the-ordinary as a way to renew your spirit of adventure.  Take vacation if that’s all you can manage at the moment.  If you are in position to take more time, consider a short leave of absence.

The Business Owner’s Pursuit of Happiness

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One of the pleasures of my work is being around business owners who are generally happy with their lives. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration when I say that, as a group, they are among the happiest people I know.  I often marvel at how this could be the case given the many challenges and responsibilities they face.

Owning a business has the potential for personal satisfaction on several levels. First, most entrepreneurs take satisfaction in setting their own work schedules and prioritizing what needs to be accomplished.  Another form of satisfaction comes from accepting the risks involved in running a business and using one’s own energy and effort to make the business successful. It’s gratifying to experience the fruits of your labor.

One of those fruits, of course, is financial. When a business is successful, the owner often enjoys financial rewards that exceed what he or she would likely achieve as someone else’s employee. That’s an important motivator for starting a business and making sure it continues to be successful.

It would be simplistic, however, to conclude that satisfaction and achievement add up to what is generally referred to as happiness.

What Is Happiness?

The idea of happiness is difficult to express in terms that are agreeable to everyone. Much has been written about the pursuit of happiness, yet its meaning is open to interpretation. For many people, eat, play and sleep would pretty well cover it. For others, the real pursuit is for wealth, pleasure and a good reputation.

The great philosophers put a good deal of thought into the notion of happiness and concluded there was more to it. Socrates believed that the key to happiness was to turn one’s focus away from the body and towards the soul. He also considered happiness to be the by-product of a moral life.

Aristotle personalized the concept. “Happiness depends on ourselves,” he wrote.  In Aristotle’s mind, true happiness required attainment of both physical and mental well-being within an environment that cultivated virtue.

How do the ideas of Socrates and Aristotle match up with your pursuit of happiness, especially as it pertains to your business?  My experience with entrepreneurs tells me that most yearn for more than eat, play and sleep – not only for themselves, but for their employees.

It usually starts with the business owner developing the work environment that allows him or her to do his/her best work.  The business owner pursues happiness by establishing an environment that supports personal business success, professional growth, personal freedom, friendship, family time, and spirituality.

A business owner who creates such an environment – where a person can thrive, both personally and professionally – would likely hire those who share his/her values. Once they are hired, the leader can show each of them how to make the most of the opportunity presented to them.

There exist people whose pursuit of happiness includes the pursuit of the happiness of others. I have seen this dynamic at work with a number of entrepreneurs. They know how this approach can build a successful company.  The lives of their employees are enriched in unique and profound ways. And, a successful company contributes to a vibrant local community.

That’s a wonderful legacy for any entrepreneur.

How Well Do You Know Your Strengths?

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Would it surprise you to learn that most people have only imperfect knowledge of their own strengths? Most of us have a rough idea about what we do well, because our obvious strengths are often the basis for earning our living.  However, that knowledge is limited.

As a group, entrepreneurs may have a better handle on their strengths than most people. Knowing that many of my readers are business owners, my educated guess is that you recognize some of the following entrepreneurial traits in yourself:

  • Self-confidence
  • Ability to learn from others
  • Self-motivation
  • Determination
  • Decisiveness
  • Willingness to take risks

Many business owners would say they possess all of the above characteristics. That’s good because they may be the most important strengths for an entrepreneur to possess. Of course, the list above is far from complete. Most entrepreneurs are keenly aware of some of their strengths – those that help them succeed day to day.

Here’s another list of skills that would come in handy for any business owner:

  • Being innovative/inventive
  • Analytical skills – capable of researching and analyzing various aspects of business like product development, production, marketing and sales
  • Focus on financial results, i.e., the bottom line
  • Ability to delegate authority effectively
  • Organizational skills – capable of identifying what needs to be accomplished in each aspect of business and matching employees’ skills to the tasks at hand

Is it as easy to recognize from this list the skills that you possess?  Typically, this list poses more uncertainty for people. For example, some people have the capacity to be analytical, but they would rather not have to use those skills at work if someone else can provide them. Others see themselves as innovative. However, in reality they may not rank high when tested for those skills.

Assessing Strengths

There are tools available to help determine your strengths. The Clifton StrengthsFinder® is a popular online assessment that draws on more than 50 years of Dr. Donald O. Clifton’s lifelong work. Clifton was recognized with an American Psychological Association Presidential Commendation as the father of strengths-based psychology. The assessment is designed to help individuals identify, understand, and maximize their strengths. As a manager, it can be used to help you understand the strengths of your employees.

The importance of knowing your strengths, or those of your employees, is to help people focus on the things they do best every workday. This notion directly contradicts what most of us are taught from childhood – that we should focus on minimizing our weaknesses. Research by Clifton, and others, suggests we accomplish far more by maximizing our strengths and developing them to their fullest.

StrengthsFinder provides numerous strategies for making the most a person’s unique strengths. Its in-depth approach to strength analysis explores the nuances of what makes a person unique. The program uses more than 5,000 personalized strengths insights.  Two people with similar strengths get very different plans to improve themselves. The program will likely change the way you look at yourself, or your employees.

If you find that financial analysis is not one of your strengths, let us help!  Contact Trillium Financial today for a CFO-level roadmap for your business.

Are Those Contractors Really Employees?

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by Ned Lenhart

Over the years I’ve worked with many companies who use “contractors” to perform a lot of the work they do. Given the control these companies have over these so-called “independent contractors,” I’ve always been concerned that they are really “employees.”

On February 23, 2013, the U.S. Tax Court issued Kurek vs. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 2013-64 and held that a general contractor who used laborers to complete his work had improperly classified them as “independent contractors” and that they were really “employees.”

Even though the workers provided their own tools and set their own schedule, the general contractor set deadlines for the work and monitored their work on a daily basis. Further, he paid them on a weekly basis and had the ability to approve the quality of their work. The Tax Court held that these factors made these workers “employees” and not “contractors.”

The implications of this decision are extensive and include workers’ compensation insurance, unemployment insurance, FICA, and now healthcare coverage.

Over the years we have seen situations that are similar to this fact pattern, especially in the construction industry. If your company uses “subcontractors” or other laborers to complete projects, please review this ruling carefully and evaluate the potential consequences. The ruling could also have implications on state and federal income tax withholding rules. The penalties associated with these violations can be significant.

Ned Lenhart is President of Interstate Tax Strategies, a multi-state sales and use tax advisory firm based in Atlanta. To learn more about ITS, visit http://www.salestaxstrategies.com.

Don’t Gamble on Employee Selection

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by Tim Fulton

Employee selection. No two words frighten small business owners more than these two.

Why is this? Maybe it’s because the selection process can be so time consuming. Maybe it’s because the process can be so costly. Maybe it’s because we are never quite sure we know how to select the right person for the position.

I believe that the main reason so many small business owners and managers dread the thought of hiring new personnel is that they have made bad decisions in the past and the thought of duplicating such decisions brings terror to their hearts.

Why is it that despite our good intentions, we still make bad decisions in selecting new employees?

The reason is simple. We usually base our decisions on the wrong set of information. This fact became very evident to me recently in talking to a small business owner. Bill had just about sworn off hiring any more new employees as a result of the horrible experiences he had experienced recently in trying to fill several vacant positions.

Predicting future performance

Bill had owned this small retail business for five years and had always struggled in hiring new employees. I asked Bill on what basis he made a hiring decision. His response included such common factors as appearance, communication skills, and past experience. He than shared with me that his most important factor in hiring a new employee was his ability to predict their future behavior and performance in that particular position.

I was glad to hear that Bill used such a criteria for hiring. Experts tell us predicting future performance is quite normal and a good practice in the selection process.

I than asked Bill on what basis he was able to predict such future performance. He responded that he would often times ask hypothetical questions such as, “If you were getting ready to close the store and a customer entered and demanded that you stay open for the next thirty minutes while she browsed for a future purchase, what would you do?”

Bill also suggested that he tried to determine applicant’s work attitudes and moral values during the interview. That information, he felt, was important in trying to predict future work habits.

Bill felt that despite getting great information asking such questions, for some reason many of his new hires did not perform the way he had imagined during the interview. In fact, several of his newly hired employees turned out just the opposite of what he had predicted during the selection process.

Hiring is Similar to College Football?

In talking to Bill, I also found out that he was a huge sports fan. He loved college football and confided to me that he was known to place a wager on one or two games a week. In fact, he bragged to me that he had earned enough money last year from betting on football games to pay for a recent week-long vacation to Florida for his family.

I asked Bill what he contributed his betting success to.

He responded that he had become very good at predicting the outcomes of games almost to the exact point spread. He was able to do this by studying each team’s past performance in close detail. He would watch replays of their last games. He would scrutinize their statistics. He would research how the teams had played under like circumstances in past years.

In simple terms, Bill had created a science of predicting football game outcomes by looking at past performance.

I asked Bill if it was possible to draw a parallel between predicting winning football teams and predicting the future behavior of a potential employee.

At first Bill had a confused look on his face. He was having a difficult time correlating the process of picking football game winners with the selection of productive employees. Slowly, a grin emerged on his face as he realized the connection between the two processes.

“Are you saying that I should pick my employees the same way that I pick my football games?” he asked.

“Absolutely.” I responded.

A New Approach to Hiring

All of a sudden Bill experienced a huge awakening. He considered that he would never bet on a football team just because the coach talked of winning such a game. He would never pick a team to win just because of their apparent work attitude or values. In picking his teams, he predicted future performance based on past behavior under similar circumstances. It had always worked. Why wouldn’t it work in selecting new employees?

Of course it would.

Not only will it work for Bill, but it will work for any business, large or small. Research has conclusively shown that the only way that we can accurately predict an employee’s future behavior is by looking at their past behavior under similar circumstances.

Why is this so? Because behavior can be measured, it can be evaluated, and it can be changed. To the contrary, attitude is difficult to measure, evaluate, or change. Which one would you want to use to predict future performance?

If an employee has a history of satisfying customers in similar situations as your workplace would require, you can bet that that same employee would continue at that same level of performance under your supervision. Likewise, if an applicant has had negative experiences in the past, you can rest assured that he or she will repeat that behavior in a future position.

So the formula is simple: we select employees on the basis of predicting their future performance as a result of their past behavior under similar circumstances. This formula has been tested many times in many different situations and has always provided the best means to acquiring great employees.

I received a call from Bill last week. He had hired his first new employee using this new philosophy and he was certain that this young lady was going to be a star employee. In fact, in just a week’s time she was setting a new standard for outstanding customer service for the other employees.

Bill was ecstatic. He couldn’t wait to hire his next employee. He is also enjoying football this fall. He is certain that this will be a profitable season.

Tim Fulton a business coach and CEO of Small Business Matters, a leader in small business coaching and development. Learn more at www.smallbusinessmattersonline.com.