20 Practices That Distinguish the Best Places to Work

What does it take to be one of the best places to work for top talent? This is a common question that many employers ask ERC as they seek to develop workplaces that attract, retain, motivate and engage top performers. This past year, ERC identified 20 common practices among the best places to work in Northeast Ohio spanning the full cycle of employment from recruiting for a position to planning for the future talent needs in the organization. These practices include:

Staffing & Workforce Planning

• Aligning their workplace with the needs, interests, and preferences of top performers
• Branding the workplace by promoting aspects of their organization and highlighting aspects of Northeast Ohio using attractive messages, images, and materials
• Recruiting talent by selecting effective sourcing, advertising, and marketing strategies aligned with definitive policies for hiring only top performers and a definition of what characteristics, competencies, and behaviors those top performers exhibit
• Selecting top performers using a variety of effective selection processes and tactics including trained hiring personnel and a combination of valid selection tools, measuring the success of selection decisions, and amending processes as needed
• Developing an effective on-boarding program and engaging new-hires
• Planning for the future workforce by engaging in succession and workforce planning practices

Compensation & Rewards

• Compensating top performers competitively according to market rates and reviewing compensation structures in order to maintain competitive compensation
• Paying for performance by linking, differentiating pay according to performance,  offering opportunities to earn more pay based on performance
• Recognizing and rewarding employees in meaningful ways; showing appreciation using formal and informal programs to recognize top performance
• Providing a competitive array of health, welfare, work-life, and retirement benefits that support employee well being, work/life balance, and wellness

Development & Training

• Providing training opportunities and ensuring that these training solutions meet the needs of employees and contribute to improved job performance
• Developing and advancing careers by providing developmental services and programs that help employees attain their career objectives
• Building challenging, meaningful, autonomous, and empowering job experiences for employees’ by using their skills and abilities to their fullest potential

Organizational Culture

• Being socially responsible by providing ways for employees to engage in community efforts and initiating environmentally-friendly workplace practices
• Effectively supervising and managing performance by providing supervisors with a variety of tools to manage their employees and their performance, and having general philosophies/policies surrounding managing others in the organization
• Fostering coworker relations and teamwork by building a positive and collaborative work atmosphere, providing opportunities for teambuilding and peer recognition, and embracing a diverse workforce
• Leading with talent integrity by engaging employees through communication, support for programs, positive interaction, and accountability
• Celebrating success as an organization and recognizing employees’ personal events

Organizational Innovation, Success, & Performance

• Facilitating creativity and innovation by providing opportunities for ideas, suggestions, and feedback; developing both informal and formal ways to promote creativity and innovation; and initiating processes/initiatives for employees to enhance products or customer experiences
• Measuring and communicating organizational performance as well as customer, client, or product achievements

For a more detailed guide on specific best practices in implementing all of these practices as well as examples of how the best places to work in Northeast Ohio (our 2009 NorthCoast 99 winners) have incorporated these practices into their organizations, please download our guide to creating a great place to work.

If your organization strives to attract, retain, motivate, and engage top performers in any of the ways listed above, consider applying for the 2010 NorthCoast 99 Award. We encourage your organization to complete an application at www.northcoast99.com/application.  The deadline to submit an application for the 2010 NorthCoast 99 Award is April 30^th. For more information about the application process, please visit www.northcoast99.com.

The 2010 NorthCoast 99 Application is Now Available

ERC is pleased to announce that the 2010 NorthCoast 99 Application is now available.  The NorthCoast 99 is considered one of the most prestigious business recognitions in the region and recognizes the top Northeast Ohio workplaces.  There is no cost to completing the application.  Applications will be accepted from now until April 30, 2010. Applicants are encouraged to register at www.northcoast99.org/application to begin their organization’s application process.

Every organization that applies receives a complimentary benchmark report in September which summarizes applicant organizations’ scores relative to winners and other applicants. For more reasons to apply for NorthCoast 99 this year, please visit: http://www.northcoast99.com/.

The 2010 NorthCoast 99 Award program is sponsored by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, CareerBoard.com, CareerCurve, Cinecraft Productions, Inc., FirstMerit Bank, Inside Business Magazine, Oswald Companies, Staffing Solutions Enterprises, and WVIZ/PBS and 90.3 WCPN ideastream. In addition, NorthCoast 99 is endorsed by the Cleveland Society of Human Resource Management (CSHRM), the Northeast Ohio Human Resource Planning Society (NOHRPS), and JumpStart, Inc.

Staffing Tips in the New Economy

According to ERC’s most recent 2010 Economy & HR survey, the staffing landscape is expected to change this year, particularly in a positive light. Employers appear more inclined to hire or maintain their staffing levels in 2010.

A new study conducted by staffing.org suggests that new trends have emerged in terms of what are the most important staffing objectives this year. According to the poll, candidate quality has emerged as the most important priority for 2010. But what does quality of hire mean? How do organizations select for quality of hire and measure quality? While each organization must define what success means for a given job and measure quality of hire according to these standards, here are a few common ways organizations measure quality of hire:

• Surveying the hiring manager or supervisor (rating the hire on a scale)
• Consulting performance reviews or other documented records of performance (critical incidents, write-ups, formal recognition, etc.)
• Measuring worker productivity, error rates, and other objective measures of performance

Another important question is: how do organizations find quality hires, especially in the midst of the large number of job candidates available in the labor market? A robust staffing process can lead to better quality hires. Great workplaces that excel at hiring top talent tend to…

• Use effective sourcing. What is deemed as effective sourcing depends on the organization. Some organizations find the most quality hires using social networking tools, while others using job boards or online career centers. Track the quality of hire (measured using any of the methods outlined above) you receive from each source to determine what sourcing works best for your organization.
• Use a mix of selection tools. One of the most common ways workplaces select quality hires is by using a range of selection practices. Final selection decisions are most predominantly based on how well candidates’ do relative to an interview, resume/application, screening, validated assessment tools, and work samples/simulations. Typically, great workplaces use all of these selection tactics. The more selection tools used, the more comprehensive the entire picture of the applicant becomes and the more accurately you’ll be able to assess their true abilities and talents.
• Consider the “soft stuff.” Most great workplaces place a heavy emphasis on how well the hire’s personality and style fit within the organization and team in which they will work. If you’re unsure of how an applicant’s personality or style will fit into your organization, consider having a professional assess your candidate with a validated assessment tool.

Perhaps your organization is considering rehiring laid-off employees. Among organizations that re-hire laid off employees, three primary reasons for doing so are stated: familiarity with the job, understanding of the organization’s culture, and minimizing the likelihood of a bad hire, as cited in a survey conducted by Right Management (2009), a Manpower company specializing in talent management. These are certainly added benefits of hiring laid off employees. Nonetheless, re-hiring laid off employees presents unique challenges to be considered including considering performance level prior to layoff, new job expectations, and what was communicated prior to the layoff (severance agreements, job security, etc.).

Regardless of whether your organization is hiring new or old this year, quality of hire will likely be of utmost concern in 2010 and it will be important to align your staffing processes with that which staffs the best possible talent.

Resources for Members

• For sample policies and practices as well as expert guidance related to staffing, recruitment, selection, please contact hrhelp@ercnet.org.
• For information on selection assessment services provided by ERC, please contact bpohlman@ercnet.org.
• For online recruiting needs, please click here for more information on ERC’s partner, CareerBoard.com.
• For a variety of staffing needs including temporary and direct placement services, please click here for more information on ERC’s partner, Staffing Solutions Enterprises (SSE).

Executing Top Performance – Tips for Your Supervisors

By now, end-of-year performance reviews have been conducted and most of your employees have probably developed new performance objectives. From now until the next performance review process, it’s all about performance execution – and the critical parties in this process are your employees and their supervisors. Your supervisors will be the key to executing top performance and ensuring that those performance objectives are being met throughout the year.

We’ve compiled a few general tips/guidelines for your supervisors in executing top performance from your employees:

• Observe and document performance on a daily basis. Keep track of examples of both good and poor performance
• Update and revise initial objectives, standards, and accountabilities as the year progresses
• Provide regular feedback and coaching on progression towards goals on a regular basis throughout the year
• Solicit and work to understand the work/life, development, and resource needs of your employees, and work to meet those needs
• Provide employees with resources and opportunities to participate in development activities.
• Encourage and sponsor participation in training, classes, and special assignments that enhance the employees’ abilities to perform their job
• Let employees know that their outstanding performance is noticed by reinforcing effective behaviors and progress toward goals
• Provide constructive, targeted feedback regarding negative performance and directions on how to remedy any observed problems

It should be noted, however, that all of these behaviors require a solid foundation in management and interpersonal skills – including communication, managing conflict, leading and working with teams, and navigating the legal landscape of employment. The bigger question may be: are your supervisors equipped with the foundation for executing top performance this year? If not, it may be time for some training.

ERC’s Supervisory Series I specifically focuses on execution and results. Over the program’s series, participants implement the skills, tools and templates that are required for success: their own and their team’s. To register your employees for this course, please click here.

What to Watch in Executive Pay During 2010

Executive compensation has shown some remarkable trends in the last year and many leading compensation experts (Mercer, Watson Wyatt, WorldatWork, Pearl Meyer & Partners) suggest that executive compensation will be a fundamental compensation and rewards issue in 2010 seeing as 2009 yielded greater governmental oversight and regulation, decreases or no changes to many executives’ base salaries and bonuses, lower rates of long-term incentive usage due to the difficulty of measuring performance, lower pay adjustments (if any) than prior years, increased focus on driving short term incentives focused on business results and sustainability, and reduction in perquisites. Organizations will need to balance these new trends with a continued need to attract and retain key executive talent in order to sustain and grow.

According to a recent study conducted by Pearl Meyer & Partners (Compensation Planning: Looking Ahead in 2010), most organizations seem to be sticking to a pay for performance philosophy for their top people, but relooking at their executive compensation practices – such as base pay, incentive plans, and perquisites/benefits this year.  As a result, we’ve compiled a list of critical executive compensation issues on “what to watch” and benchmark across other organizations in 2010:

Base pay:

• What executive positions are experiencing decreases, freezes, and/or increases in base salary?
• Are there any trends in the types of positions experiencing changes (or no changes) to pay?

Base pay increases:

• What adjustments, if any, are being made to executive base pay?
• What are the projected increases for executive base pay?

Incentives and bonuses:

• What types of incentive plans are being used (long-term, short-term)?
• Are the amounts and/or structures of executive bonus programs changing?
• Are there any changes in how pay for performance is being measured?

Perquisites and benefits:

• What perquisites are becoming less commonly offered to executives?
• Have perquisite and/or benefits practices changed in the last year?

Governmental oversight:

• What new or up and coming legislation could impact executive compensation practices?
• Are there any new restrictions or guidelines on pay practices for executives?

As most sources suggest, it will be crucial to stay abreast of the latest trends across the many areas of executive compensation, particularly in 2010.  For information on complimentary resources for ERC members to benchmark executives’ pay practices, please contact ERC at hrhelp@ercnet.org, or participate in our 2010 National Executive Compensation Survey and receive the results for no cost later this spring (contact surveys@ercnet.org for a username and password to complete the survey).

A New Year’s Resolution

It’s the beginning of the New Year and most of us are putting into place new goals for 2010 – organizationally, across teams, and even personally. As we create those goals, perhaps we are tackling the most perplexing question facing our business – what goals will lead us to the greatest organizational effectiveness and profitability? According to a recent study, the answer may surprise you.

A new study published this past month in the Harvard Business Review (Washburn, 2009) suggests that organizations that put stakeholders’ (customers and employees) interests before profits deliver better financial results than organizations focused solely on productivity.  In fact, organizations (and particularly leaders) who were less focused on the concerns of customers, employees, and their community (including environment) generated poorer financial results.

Why is that?

The study (Washburn, 2009) which gathered data from over 520 organizations across 17 countries, found that in large part, a focus solely on profitability led to decreased employee engagement which consequently resulted in less commitment by employees, more negative views about the organization, and less willingness to sacrifice on behalf of the company – resulting in poorer financial performance. The conclusion: engagement matters.

This year, consider making engaging your customers and employees the top goals of your organization and continue to show concern for your stakeholders, community, and environment.

Source:
Washburn, N.T. (Dec 2009). Harvard Business Review. Why Profit Shouldn’t Be Your Top Goal.

Beyond the Holiday Party: Gestures of Employee Appreciation This Holiday Season

The gesture of a holiday party is usually the primary way employers show appreciation and thanks to employees around this time of year, but recent studies, including one conducted by ERC (09 Holidays & Festivities Survey) show that some employers are scaling back on the traditional holiday party or simply not having one at all.  Needless to say, most are still trying to have some function for their employees.

Great employers don’t lose sight of showing their thanks to employees during the holiday season, even in the smallest of ways.  Whether a holiday party is feasible this year or not, it’s important to try to make a concerted effort to bring employees together, show them appreciation, and boost morale.  We all know employees whom we owe appreciation and thanks to for their efforts this holiday season, particularly after many of the challenges our businesses have experienced throughout the year. If your organization can’t provide a holiday party this year for economical reasons, consider other ways that you can show appreciation to your employees.

This holiday season, appreciation doesn’t need to be expensive to be meaningful. It can be a note, a call, a small gift, a luncheon, potluck dinner, or other small event.  Whatever the form, saying thank you for the hard work and dedication of your employees, and particularly top performers, during the holidays is an important part of being a great workplace. In ERC’s research on what engages employees, top performers consistently cite that the efforts their workplaces take to ensure they having fun, enjoying one another, and being appreciated are reasons why they stay with their organizations (09 NorthCoast 99 Winners Report). Top performers recognize the efforts of their workplaces in creating an enjoyable and appreciative culture.

This year, ERC has learned of numerous ways through our research and NorthCoast 99 program, that workplaces are stepping up to the challenges of recognizing employees in low-cost, but meaningful ways. From CEOs funding the entire holiday function out of their own pockets to line-managers sacrificing either time or money to show some appreciation to their direct reports, many workplaces are finding creative, alternative ways to show their thanks. Here are some other suggestions:

• Encourage managers, or ideally your CEO, to write notes to employees or top performers thanking them for their contributions. Old-fashioned words of kindness never lose meaning.
• Leave all employees or top performers a personalized telephone call of thanks.
• Be as generous as you can. Employees recognize when their organizations are going out of their way to be generous, even when times are difficult.  
• Provide employees or top performers with small gifts of appreciation.
• Release staff early on Christmas Eve so they can spend it with their families.
• Organize a potluck luncheon or dinner for your staff. Some organizations even have their management teams make a meal for the staff.
• Conduct an inexpensive pre-holiday activity at work.

So while celebrating the holiday season in extravagant ways may not be in the cards for your organization this year, or appropriate given your unique circumstances, employee appreciation and an element of fun and enjoyment always holds a place in the workplace.

The Unexpected Lessons of H1N1 on Our Businesses

An article published by BusinessWeek (2009) this past week suggests that the recent H1N1 flu outbreak may teach us more than one thing about our businesses and may even improve our workplaces. It’s an intriguing concept – H1N1 can help organizations become a better workplace?

Gene Marks, the author of the article, suggests that this flu may (and should) prompt a more thorough “business check-up” for many businesses and “test our management skills and tell us a lot about our company and people” (Marks, 2009). This check-up includes asking questions such as…

• Have we defined key or important employees?
• Are our health benefits providing adequate coverage for employees?
• Is our workplace equipped with the appropriate infection control procedures?
• Can we fill the gaps if our employees are out of the office?
• Do we have appropriate remote working options?
• Are we providing a sufficient amount of paid time off that helps employees meet their work/life needs?

These are just a few of the many questions employers could ask themselves to better equip their organizations in handling the H1N1 virus. But these questions are not just relevant to workplaces dealing with the pandemic; rather they are enhancements that all workplaces should consider to retain and engage their current talent.

Marks (2009) also suggests that H1N1 will probably provide a number of insights regarding those employees that truly care about their work and those that don’t.  In other words, the pandemic may provide valuable information on how engaged your employees are at your organization.

The lessons of H1N1 can help many organizations achieve a healthier, safer, and more employee-friendly workplace if they are willing to conduct a “check up” Certainly, this pandemic has been a test for all of our organizations, but offers an opportunity to learn from the challenges it has posed to us and put practices into place to better our workplaces.

Source:
Marks, G. (2009). Guess What – Swine Flu Could Be Good For A Small Business. BusinessWeek.

Can’t Find the Right Fit? How Using Employee Testimonials May Help

A new study released by the American Psychological Association this fall shows that job applicants are more attracted to organizations when their websites include employee testimonials.  The study appears to suggest that employee testimonials may be an important method of attracting top talent (Walker, Field, Giles, Armenakis & Bernerth, 2009). Other research also seems to support the use of employee testimonials.  For instance, it has been found that others’ experiences in organizations influence job seekers due to their interpersonal nature (Van Hoye & Lievens, 2007) and that job incumbents are perceived as credible sources of information, as they are closer to the work situation (Fisher, Ilgen, & Hoyer, 1979).  In fact, more general forms of recruitment advertisements have been found to be perceived as less favorable, attractive, and credible.

In addition, the study also revealed that the type of media used to display employee testimonials also influences applicant reactions.  In the study, employee testimonials delivered via audio or video were perceived as more attractive and credible than those delivered via picture or text (Walker, et al., 2009).  The results suggest that richer media (audio, video, and multimedia) may be worthwhile when using employee testimonials to attract applicants into the organization.  Richer media tends to be more interesting and engaging to job applicants because it has the ability to better communicate affect and provides more information through tone, facial expression, and other nonverbal cues (Walker, et al., 2009).

Ideally, employee testimonials can serve as one way that organizations can convey the culture and types of individuals within their organization. One of the most common problems organizations face in their recruitment efforts is finding individuals that fit within their organization, yet job seekers readily use testimonial information to see how they fit with the culture and coworkers in an organization (Cober, Brown, Blumental, Doverspike, & Levy, 2004).  In doing so, organizations may find that using testimonials diminishes extra and possibly more expensive efforts, to assess cultural fit.

So whether your organization is swarmed with resumes of all sorts of job seekers or preparing to boost recruitment efforts in the coming months, it’s clear that employee testimonials may be a worthwhile part of any organization’s recruitment efforts as they positively affect job applicant reactions and are also relatively inexpensive to employ at the most basic level. Here are a few tips to help your organization get started:

• Pick employees that are representative of the organizational culture, are exceptional communicators, and have honest and positive things to say about the organization.  Possible aspects of the workplace they could discuss or testify to include:
  • “Day in the life” summary of job duties
  • Reasons they chose to work at the organization
  • How they would describe the work environment or culture
  • On-the-job challenges and development opportunities
  • Performance and/or job expectations
  • Perks and benefits
• At the very least, use text testimonials.  If you can, however, invest in some relatively inexpensive technology to help deliver testimonials via audio or video. Keep in mind that this technology can be used for many other purposes – on-boarding, training, communication, and other employee activities. 
• Evaluate how they are working…are the testimonials contributing to fewer applicants that are not the right fit? Are they helping to yield applicants that fit with the culture?

Sources:

Walker, H. J., Feild, H. S., Giles, W. F., Armenakis, A. A., and Bernerth, J. B. (2009). Displaying employee testimonials on recruitment web sites: effects of communication media, employee race, and job seeker race on organizational attraction and information credibility. The Journal of Applied Psychology. 94, 1354–1364.

Cober, R. T., Brown, D. J., Keeping, L. M., & Levy, P. E. (2004). Recruitment on the net: How do organizational Web site characteristics influence applicant attraction? Journal of Management, 30, 623–646.

Fisher, C. D., Ilgen, D. R., & Hoyer, W. D. (1979). Source credibility, information favorability, and job offer acceptance. Academy of Management Journal, 22, 94–103.

Van Hoye, G., & Lievens, F. (2007). Investigating Web-based recruitment sources: Employee testimonials vs. word-of-mouse. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 15, 372–382.

5 Energy Boosters for the Holiday Season

1. Don’t cheat on sleep. If you routinely deprive yourself of sleep, you’ll pay for it with fatigue. Adults need 7 to 9 hours a day; even an extra hour of sleep can dramatically improve energy.
   Tip: The best way to improve sleep is to maintain a firm time for going to bed and awakening.
2. Get physical. Research indicates exercise is one of the best ways to increase energy. Avoid strenuous workouts that might overly tire you. Moderate activities such as a daily walk or swim are ideal.
3. Fuel up. Several servings of fruits and vegetables a day should provide a noticeable increase in energy. Plus these foods have far fewer calories than heavy, high calorie snacks and most fast food.
4. Drink to your health. Dehydration is another energy thief – it reduces blood flow to your organs, including your brain. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty. When you exercise or perspire heavily, drink plenty of water.
   Tip: Alcohol also contributes to dehydration and reduces your mental and physical response.
5. Reduce stress. Rushing to cross everything off your list can be exhausting. Slow down and set priorities so you only do essential things. Set aside time each day to relax. On-the-go techniques such as deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation can revive you.
   Tip: Remember to have fun rather than waste energy trying to make everything perfect.

Source: Smart Health November 2009