A Good Working Environment

All too often, companies hire large masses of people in order to fill high turnover slots on their personnel rosters with little regard to the employees that they hired or for the ultimate success of the company. Hiring and training costs eat into precious profits and, frequently, fail to deliver the desired outcome.

What steps can a company take to make certain that these two vital functions more successful and long lasting?

If you think that change is hard for clients to accept and implement, just think how difficult it is for new employees to become acclimated and productive in their new employment. This is especially true for employees just as they have completed their formal, instructional training.

Up to this point, training usually takes place in a controlled environment. Trainers present, in detail, all of the skill sets needed to succeed in the job. They explain how an employee’s job fits in with the larger business scheme of the company. During this learning process, employees are encouraged on by their trainers as they do well and there is little pressure or negative consequences for their mistakes or missteps.

‘Cause You’re on Your Own in the Real World

When transitioning to the real world, where employees are on the firing line, conditions are not always as forgiving. Training is all about learning, whereas in a live performance setting, delivering results is the objective.

Individuals often find themselves in uncomfortable and anxious situations, when things go live. Customers or managers may not be very patient or understanding in tense situations. In an attempt to alleviate the stress of a new situation, new employees may forget what they learned in training and fall back on their previously established habits, which are more in their comfort zone.

To overcome this problem, training programs should include a realistic preview of actual situations, giving employees information about the likely emotions that they will experience while transitioning from the safe to the less-safe, and more consequential, performance environment.

Training programs that offer role-playing to simulate the level of challenge that people will, ultimately, face on the job are very effective. Training people in actual situations, as a watcher/ shadower, while someone else performs the actual job; or as actual performers, themselves, with the trainer as the shadow, can also produce excellent results.

Training Only Goes so Far…

On the job, managers play a vital role in talent management. Good managers not only attract candidates, but they drive performance, foster employee engagement and retention, and play a key role in maximizing their employee contributions to a firm.

As much as a company is seeking to select and hire the best candidates, possible, to successfully help achieve their corporate goals, new recruits, from entry-level to executive, have just as high an ambition to succeed and to grow their personal career with their new employer. The opportunity for learning and growing within the company is by far their biggest concern. Since the great preponderance of learning and development takes place on the job, an employee’s prospective boss becomes the single most important individual in the firm.

The number one reason that employees quit their jobs is because of a poor quality relationship with their direct manager.

No one wants to work for a boss who lacks an interest in their development; misses the boat when it comes to helping them deepen their skills and learn new ones; and neglects to validate their contributions.   It then becomes paramount that expecting managers to facilitate employee learning and development should be non-negotiable.

Employee Development Must Be On-going

Employee development strategies need to be a part of daily management tasks. Companies where employees have access to someone in the company who cares about them as a person, talks to them about their career progress, encourages their development, and provides opportunities to learn and grow have lower turnover, higher sales growth, increased productivity, and stronger customer loyalty. Not to be overlooked, managers must also continue to expand their own focus to have their employees not only strive for excellent performance, but to help their employees grow in the process.

Engagement is Needed to Gain Full Value from Employees

Employee engagement is another factor in employee management that plays a huge role in company performance and is a challenge for companies, worldwide. Unless employees—from new hires to senior executives—believe and feel that they are an active party to a company, full effort or participation will never happen. Neither the company, nor the employee, receives the full value of the other with low engagement.

Typically, the level of engagement among different members of a company can be predictable and, therefore, can be addressed appropriately. For example, as tenure increases, engagement decreases leaving the most knowledgeable employees the least engaged. Engagement also slides downward from top management all the way down the corporate ladder, risking the likelihood of upper management to underestimate the discontent of those on the front lines. The employees who have the lowest engagement rates are in sales and service departments, the very employees with the greatest amount of contact with customers.

Companies that have managed to understand these trends and have taken preventative measures to assure maximum employee engagement are ones that are investing heavily in creating a culture of employee engagement.

This is best accomplished through the same direct managers who are responsible for employee development and training.

For employees to be truly engaged, they must like and trust their immediate bosses.

Great Managers Attract and Retain the Best Candidates!

In order to attract the best possible candidates for a company, there has to be an environment for these people to flourish. It must be one that nurtures, trains, and engages with employees at all levels of the organization. Open up the dialogue between employees and their supervisors. That’s what it takes to help your employees become so fired up that they approach their jobs with energy, enthusiasm, and creativity!