Come On Get Happy
Are your employees happy? Depends who you ask. According to the Society for Human Resource Management’s 2012 Job Satisfaction and Engagement Research Report, 81 percent of U.S. employees reported some level of satisfaction with their current job. That’s encouraging (though it’s been trending steadily downward from 86 percent satisfaction in 2009), but other 2012 surveys have reached less optimistic conclusions—a Right Management study referenced in the Forbes.com article “New Survey: Majority of Employees Dissatisfied,” for example, cited just 35 percent employee satisfaction.
Results vary survey to survey, but whether the number is 81 percent, 35 percent or somewhere in between, one thing is clear: There’s a good chance at least some of your employees aren’t happy. And when employees aren’t happy, they’re more likely to underperform, quit altogether or succumb to your competitors’ recruitment efforts.
So, what should you do to keep your employees happy? You could build a mini-golf course in the conference room, install a beer-vending machine in the cafeteria or libel your competitors with a vicious smear campaign, but those things may not be practical (or legal). Or, you could check out the following tips on how to retain your top talent (sales and otherwise) and keep potential poachers at bay.
1. START WITH THE HIRING PROCESS
An oft-overlooked part of retaining employees is making sure you have the right people to begin with, and that starts with the hiring process. Especially in regard to sales positions, make sure new hires know what to expect from the industry, and that their goals are in line with those of your company. “Years ago we would hire literally hundreds of people a year, a lot of salespeople inexperienced to our industry, or experienced salespeople who had some background experience from other industries, but not [our] industry experience,” said Chris Vernon, MAS, president of The Vernon Company, Newton, Iowa. “And like a lot of companies, about 10 to 15 years ago we went away from that because the turnover was huge, probably in the 80 [percent] to 85 percent range for a year or 18 months out.”
2. IT'S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT THE PAY
If your first instinct upon hearing about unhappy employees is to throw around pay raises like ping pong balls at a frat party, think again. For one thing, it’s not always feasible (most companies operate on slim budgets these days), and for another, even if you’re the Donald Trump of your industry, there’s always a chance someone will simply outbid you on salary. “If people are only chasing the biggest paycheck, then they probably aren’t the ideal candidate for us in the long term, since we feel they will be always looking again to make a change once they feel they can ‘jump ship’ to the next opportunity,” Vernon advised. “Of course, compensation (and benefits as well) must be market competitive and attractive to garner the interest of the very best sales or internal candidates. It is, however, just one component of a much broader employee-friendly culture.”
3. NIX THE NON-COMPETE CLAUSE
Non-compete agreements seem like a good way to retain employees, and on their most basic level, they are. But don’t confuse “unable to leave” with “wants to stay,” or you could find yourself with disgruntled employees. “My philosophy is we want people to be here because they want to be here, and because they’re excited to be a part of our team, not because we’re holding them to a contract,” Vernon explained.
“Believe me, we’ve talked to hundreds of people who are held to contracts who hate where they are, but they can’t leave because they basically have to leave the industry for a year and walk away from their accounts—economically, it’s just almost impossible, even though they’re miserable,” he continued. “Years ago we decided we didn’t want that, and you know, we’ve been lucky. We’ve never had bad problems with people leaving, and I think it’s because they know they can leave tomorrow.”
4. BE A PARTNER, NOT A BOSS
Yes, most sales positions operate on commission-based incentives, but don’t just say, “OK, go sell stuff!” and expect that to be enough motivation. Work with your salespeople and provide support. “I think the big thing is you need to be a business partner with your top salespeople in terms of helping them grow their business, both with existing accounts and developing programs that could get [them] additional new customers,” noted Jim Habzda, MAS, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Lewiston, Maine-based Geiger.
5. STAY UP-TO-DATE WITH TECHNOLOGY
So what kind of support can you actually provide? Beyond basic sales and market research and ideas, Habzda stressed the importance of giving your salespeople access to the best available technology. “It’s real important for them to communicate with their customer and help expand their business,” he said. “Technology would be [having] e-commerce capabilities for their customers to do business. Secondly, you’d be able to handle order-entry and speed the process of placing orders.”
6. SHOW APPRECIATION
Vernon suggested sending personal, handwritten notes to recognize employees for notable accomplishments, no matter how small. “The biggest mistake people make is probably indifference, or taking people for granted and not expressing or giving support and recognition for achievement,” he said. “And those are daily things, it’s the little things. It’s not the obvious things—that the guy had the big sale and everyone cheers for it—it’s the little things that people to do to make a difference.”
7. BE TRANSPARENT
Closed doors and secrecy are essential if you’re, say, the CIA. But if your headquarters is anywhere other than the Pentagon, consider keeping open the lines of internal communication where possible. “You just need to be very up-front and honest about things,” Habzda noted. “If you run into issues, you solve them and move on. Communication is very important, it’s a partnership in terms of what you’re trying to do. I think when you do that you end up retaining a lot more people.”
Vernon agreed. “I’ve had more employees come up to me and say, ‘You know what, thank you, you’re being very open with us, you’re telling us why you’re doing this, I agree with your decision.’ Or they don’t [agree], but at least we’re open about it,” he explained. “We try to do that consistently here in everything we do, we’re trying to be very transparent. People might not always like the news, but at least we’re being forthright about it—we’re not trying to hide it.”
8. GET CREATIVE WITH INCENTIVE PROGRAMS
Bonuses and sales-based cash incentives are always good morale boosters (hey, we said pay wasn’t the only important thing, not that it doesn’t matter at all), but trip incentives are also popular. Not only do they offer a chance for employees to escape the office grind, but they also provide excellent team-building opportunities. Vernon described trips that included whitewater rafting in Montana, a sailing regatta where employees broke into teams and manned their own boats, and most recently, a tour of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
If your budget doesn’t allow for trip incentives, there are other, smaller-scale options that are equally effective. The Vernon Company runs a program where employees can log in to the company intranet and nominate peers for noteworthy achievements. At the end of each month, the top nominations are placed in a hat, where several are selected at random to receive a gift card or similar prize. “Then we award those people and announce it and have a little celebration, and it’s been pretty cool,” Vernon said. “It hasn’t cost the company a lot of money. It takes a little time, but the recognition is huge. It’s been a big deal here at the home office.”