Finders Keepers
How do you find the best people to take on key roles in your business, and, more importantly, what will make them stay? Patricia Moore goes in search of the answers.
‘Good staff are hard to find – they’re even harder to replace’. The reality is, if you’re in business today, that IS the reality! “Available candidates are in short supply. Perfect candidates are impossible to find,” says Margaret Morgan, director of Triangle Recruitment. “Employers are having to compromise many of their earlier requirements in selecting a new staff member.” But what are today’s job seekers seeking? Do dollars win out over health insurance and a company car? Do a company’s values and culture influence a decision? Is it about employer flexibility and achieving a work/life balance, or are opportunities to upskill and improve their career prospects, the drivers? “The top motivators for New Zealand employees are career potential, a flexible workplace and a good boss – in that order,” says Gay Barton, general manager of Drake International. (Barton is quoting research discussed at a recent Knowledge Gym conference where it was also revealed that the highest staff turnover is in companies with one to five and ten to 19 employees.) Morgan sees ‘the whole package’ as important. “But therein lies the difficulty. Everyone wants different things but they still all want what the other person has got. Money is important, but it’s not the only requirement. Brand is a lure. Everyone wants to work for an exciting company.” Employees need to enjoy their workplace so the culture of a company needs to fit their personality, she says. But how many small enterprise operators would describe their workplace as exciting? And, more to the point, how many workplaces are actually perceived as exciting by potential employees? Penny Burke, of Essence Communications in Melbourne, says today’s employees are looking for an experience, not a job. She’s author of ‘Forced Focus – The Essence of Attracting and Retaining the Best People’. Her theory is that success or failure could well depend on the employer’s brand. Generation Y appears to be less engaged with their employment brand than they are with other goods and services, she says, and asks why they are not as emotionally attached to their work place, as they are to their Nikes. “If a good brand makes consumers feel good about themselves, why is a workplace any different?” “Brand plays an important role,” says Katheren Leitner, of Training Plus. “Our attraction is based on perception, much of which is fed by the image the business portrays. If prospective employees don’t ask about culture and values outright, they are most likely scanning the environment to see if the culture is one they want to be part of.” She says they’ll also be looking for a congruence between what the company says is important and what actually is. “Many people are attracted by a sense of ‘it feels right’. This includes a sense that they will fit in, and their skills and knowledge will be respected and valued, and that overall they will enjoy the people they work with.” And, says Leitner, while there are a handful of people for whom money has very little bearing, for most it does. “However, whilst it may attract, it seldom retains.” So why do employees leave? “Surveys, locally and internationally, consistently come up with the same result; most people leave their job because of poor working relationships with the boss or their peers,” says Leitner. “And what keeps them there? Good working relationships with the people around them, a sense that what they are doing is making a difference, recognition of skill and good performance and confidence in the direction the company is heading. “When we consider motivation is primarily emotionally driven, it is astonishing some managers remain emotionally ignorant and neglect to build relationships.” Dealing with Gen Y A lot of attention is given to Generation Y and the differences between them and the baby boomers who marched ahead of them into the workforce. But are they so different? Gay Barton thinks they’re not as problematic as made out. “They’re a major part of our workforce who need recognition. As a generation they’re motivated differently to boomers and Gen-Xers. Millennials, the upcoming cohort, will also engage differently in the years to come.” “Gen Y are certainly a different breed,” says Margaret Morgan. “However, their confidence in their abilities can be channelled. You need to give them responsibility early on and keep adding to it.” They’re not going to stay with you forever, she says, so enjoy them while they’re there and make the stay a productive one. Indeed, organisational mobility has become a fact of business life, says Kathryn Jackson of Career Balance. “In the so called ‘war for talent’, the phenomenon of competing for and moving between jobs, it would seem the talent is winning by choosing to move on, to employers and roles that better meet their career needs. Employers in some industries are now finding that they need to put their employees first or risk losing them to competitors.” The exodus of Kiwis leaving these shores to work across the Tasman continues but New Zealand employers are fighting back. The Global Workplace Survey (July 08) from recruitment specialist Robert Half, indicates 26 percent of New Zealand employers are actively recruiting overseas. More than half (54 percent) of those are looking to Australia to fill vacancies. And it appears the Internet is the most popular means of recruitment overseas. 44 percent of companies recruiting offshore use online job boards; 38 percent use their own websites. Job searching online is growing in popularity. (A recent SEEK survey showed that 86 percent of job seekers expect to find their next job online) And, says Simon Oldham, of Tauranga based QJumpers, there’s a growing trend for companies to do their own recruiting in-house – using the Internet. “At QJumpers we’ve taken the traditional recruitment model, segmented it and put it online for employers to use.” They’re not a job board, he says. “We don’t pretend to know who’s right for a particular company. You know your company better than anyone.” QJumpers gives employers candidate details (skills and qualifications) saving them time and money. “We will background them, tell you how they like to work and what kind of environment they work best in. Employers decide how much of the process they want us to do.” Dealing with the laws A concern for many small business operators is keeping up with legislation around employment issues. It just keeps flowing. Whether it’s all necessary is debatable says Max Whitehead, managing director of Whitehead Employment Solutions. He believes most small business owners and managers have sufficient knowledge of the legal requirements to be fair and reasonable and to have worked through issues like breast-feeding and flexible work arrangements with their staff without the necessity of pedantic legislation. Whitehead highlights four areas where changes have been, or are about to be made. Flexible work arrangements, meal and rest breaks, breast-feeding in the workplace and the transfer of public holidays for shift workers. “With such a mountain of legislation affecting most employers on a daily basis, the temptation is to turn their backs on it and go with their gut feeling.” Not always the wisest move, says Whitehead. “Small business operators are cautious about how they spend their money. They do it on a re-active basis and come to us when they’re in trouble.” The big area of concern right now is redundancies, he says. “It’s another pedantic law that requires the correct procedures to be followed. Most employers who don’t get advice are in trouble.” Work/life balance, or life/work balance, is another major issue in today’s workplace. Kathryn Jackson says it’s a debate requiring action and compromise by both employers and employees. “Generally speaking, the majority of businesses are sympathetic to the lives of their employees outside of work – but the economic demands of business can sometimes result in workplace practices that aren’t conducive to encouraging good balance.” A balance between our working lives and our lives outside work can bring real benefits to both employers and employees, says Gay Barton. “For the employer benefits include retention, getting the best from staff, future proofing your business, differentiating yourself against your competitors as an employer of choice and increased productivity.” For the employee, Barton says benefits include being able to effectively manage multiple responsibilities at home, at work and in the community, without guilt or regret. “Being able to work in flexible ways so that earning an income and managing family and other commitments become easier in a supportive workplace that values and trusts staff.” More people are looking for flexibility when it comes to work conditions says QJumpers’ Oldham. “This can range from flexible working hours through to working from home arrangements and on-site child care. An employee whose need for work/life balance is being met is less likely to seek employment elsewhere.” But it seems employers are feeling more comfortable about dealing with those work/life issues. “Professionally I’ve seen the focus on work/life balance subside,” says Katheren Leitner. “A few years ago we were delivering work/life balance workshops at great frequency. Today we’re delivering attracting and retaining staff.” Patricia Moore is an Auckland-based freelance writer. Email [email protected] Relevant websites: www.careerbalance.co.nz www.whiteheadgroup.co.nz www.drakeintl.com/nz www.roberthalf.co.nz www.Qjumpers.co.nz www.trainingplus.co.nz www.trianglerecruitment.co.nz