Some of the Best Things are Free

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That statement is never more accurate than when talking about employee satisfaction.  Employers often create employee surveys to discover ways to boost employee satisfaction and retain employees.  They think of programs with hefty price tags including, incentive pay, additional benefits, and perquisites. When reviewing results of such surveys, many employers are concerned they won’t be able to respond to employee needs/asks that surface. However, they may be missing existing internal satisfiers that are already in place but are not being utilized. In some cases, attention to current programs and opportunities can reap great rewards and be real opportunities for employee satisfaction.

Career growth and even professional relationships are often motivators of satisfaction and engagement. One of the reasons employees leave a company is career growth opportunities.  Career growth does not have to be the typical upwardly mobile, vertical track, but can be horizontal growth as well.  Many employees would relish the opportunity to become more involved in a different part the business.  A reason employee stay is the relationships made in the workplace. One survey showed 25 percent of departing employees revealed that they would have stayed in their position with the company if they had a more respectful and connected relationship with their direct manager.  Employees are human beings who want to feel that others care about them and that includes their direct supervisor.

Employees want to learn and experience healthy professional relationships. Management must connect with workers both professionally and personally, and, depending on the work atmosphere and nature of the company, create a fun work environment.  Initiating conversations about things outside of work is one way managers can show an interest in their employees’ lives. Other things managers can do to build employee satisfaction are:

  • Allow employees to use and demonstrate their strengths. Everyone wants to be valued and make a difference. Know where to place each employee for the greatest results. Ask what an employee wants to do in the company and look for opportunities to create the experience.
  • Ensure employees understand the goals of the business and how the work they are doing impacts those goals.  Make sure they understand how they fit into the big picture. Individuals on a team create winning scenarios when everyone knows their role and the rules of the game.
  • Enhance communication. Really listen to your employees. Ask what is and is not working and take action to explore where the company can and cannot implement idea changers. Have managers meet with employees on a regular basis and report on performance, engagement, and employee feedback.
  • Consider stay interviews to understand engagement and exit interviews to understand turnover better. Especially for your HiPo’s, conducting regular stay interviews pays off with better engagement and less risk of them turning elsewhere.
  • Create a learning environment. Foster internal opportunities to learn from one another and expand upon existing skills. Implement programs like “a Day in the Life” where you employees get up to eight (8) hours a year to shadow someone in a job that they would like to know more about.  While this may cause a hiccup on that particular day, future projects led by a well-rounded work teams will create greater quality, be more productive and come up with winning solutions faster.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that it costs thousands of dollars to ensure that your employees rank high in satisfaction.  Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of thought and a lot of care.  

Workplace Giving

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There are a number of ways that employers can support employees in their desire to give back, especially during the holiday period.  Employers themselves, can, of course, contribute to a charity directly, but, in the spirit of engagement, it is more special to allow employees a say over how the dollars or donations are being distributed.  Some employees will want to give to a specific charity that supports a cause near and dear to them.  Others will want to give to a specific person who they know is in need over the holidays.  Below is a description of the many ways that employers can facilitate the spirit of giving.

Workplace Giving through Deductions

If you work for a company, organization or the federal government, chances are you’ve had the opportunity to participate in a workplace giving program. Workplace giving is an easy and efficient way to make tax-deductible donations to the charities you care about with donations taken directly out of your paycheck. 

This type of giving can be set up through payroll and can be a one-time gift or can be set up as per paycheck deductions of either a percentage or dollar amount.  Many organizations will choose to match, at least to some degree, the dollars that employees contribute.

Employer Provided Donations

Some employers give their employees each a certain amount that they may contribute to any charity or person of their choosing.  The employers only ask, in return, is that the employee share what they choose to use the dollars for.  This can yield especially heartwarming stories of how the employee “spent” the money and what the surprised recipient’s reaction was.  Sharing these throughout an organization can spur others to think about ways they can actively better the life of another.

Non-cash Donations

Certainly not all contributions need to be in cash.  Opportunities abound over the holiday period for employees to bring in food for food drives.  Numbers of organizations will welcome the extra set of hands if groups of employees are available to help sort, shelve and package food items for delivery.  Some services, such as Meals on Wheels will allow the delivery of the food baskets also.

There are wonderful opportunities to make a child’s holiday bright be buying an extra gift or two as you are shopping for others on your list, to brighten a deserving child’s holiday.  Large organizations such as the Marines run annual campaigns like Toys for Tots, but smaller neighborhood organizations run gift drives as well.

Organizations may choose to set up an Angel Tree where an employee picks the name of a family or child and on the back is a description of the wants/needs of that family.  Companies can provide ornaments to replace each card that is chosen until the whole tree is filled with beautiful ornaments, a reflection of what has been given back.  

These are just a few ways that each and everyone one of us can feel what the true meaning of the holidays is all about- giving freely of our time and love to those around us.  

Pulse Surveys

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Pulse Surveys can be called many different name, employee satisfaction surveys, employee engagement surveys, employee experience surveys, etc.  One of the reasons I like PULSE, is because they are truly designed to measure the pulse of the employees and of the organization, as a whole, at a given point in time.  Not all employees who take them are satisfied or necessarily dissatisfied, nor are they engaged or disengaged.  However, all employees have an opinion, and when give a chance to air it, usually do not disappoint.

Pulse surveys take on three primary forms- Annual Surveys, which may measure a broad level of employee satisfaction, Weekly check ins that might tackle a topic or two and Reaction Surveys, which measure the employees reactions to a certain initiative.

 

Annual Employee Surveys

Annual Employee Surveys are common amongst employers pursuing an Employer of Choice philosophy.  They provide management with the knowledge and tools to build positive employee relations and a corresponding positive work environment. Employee attitudes, burnout tendencies, engagement, loyalty and workplace environment are key indicators for employee retention, satisfaction, and productivity.

Effective businesses focus on creating and reinforcing employee satisfaction to get the most out of their human capital. Properly constructed employee satisfaction surveys provide the insights that are foundational to creating and reinforcing productive work environments. These surveys can address topics such as compensation, workload, perceptions of management, flexibility of schedules, teamwork, appropriate resources, etc.

 

Weekly Check-ins

Weekly Check-ins provide management insight into a particular topic or issue that is important in the near term.  Frequently organization will adopt Guiding Principles or Corporate Values and choose to focus their efforts around one of these initiatives per quarter.  Guiding Principles are principles that guide an organization throughout its life in all circumstances, irrespective of changes in its goals, strategies, type of work, or the top management.  These can be quick questions, maybe just one or two, that give an organization directional guidance on that particular topic.  These can also be useful for a department when you don’t necessarily want to check in with the organization in its entirety.

 

Reaction Surveys

Reactions surveys are just that.  They test the reaction of employees to a specific initiative.  You may have rolled out copious communications on a a particular initiative and yes, when it goes live, you hear a rumbling through the grape vine that not everyone is happy, there are misunderstandings.  Reaction surveys give everyone an anonymous voice.  Both Survey Monkey and CustomInsight offer employers a free vehicle to use to create these surveys and analyze the data collected.

In all cases, once you have collected and analyzed the data, give the feedback and have a plan of action to present an implement.  Collecting data and not acting on it is worse than not collecting the data in the first place. Use this as an opportunity to show your employees that you really do care and you will be rewarded with their honest thoughts and opinions going forward, helping you, as an employer, to create a truly great place to work.

What do most start-ups have in common?

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There are as many types of start ups as there are investors to invest in them but most have a few things in common.  Knowing what these are, in advance, will help you to stay one step ahead of your investors, your market and your competition.

 

VC’s are an impatient bunch

Venture Capitalists, commonly referred to as VC’s,  are those that invest dollars in multiple start up business enterprises with the hopes of hitting it big in 1 out of 10, in my experience, although different VC’s may tell you otherwise. Various VC’s play in different niches established by the stage of the business.  For instance, idea generation, proto-type product, mature product, revenue, growth and profitability.  However, they share at least one thing in common which is impatience.  Impatience to get a product to market, to show profitability, to attract later stage investors at higher valuations and to make a very profitable exit.  

Fail fast is a fact worth remembering.  You are less likely to burn investor bridges with $1M in when you determine that your idea or product has little chance of success than after you have $10-20M in.

Don’t underestimate the marketing spin

No matter how good your product is, whether it be software, SaaS, or shoes, it needs to be marketed effectively.  What will you brand around and how will you differentiate in the marketplace should be the first questions you ask yourself and your team.  Keep your head in the sky and think about the ways you want people to “feel” when they hear about your product.  Stay away from long lists of functionality.  People buy, for the most part, on emotional reactions.  

Shelter your employees

Start ups are volatile and not everyone needs to know every brutal truth.  There will be times when you are putting payroll on the execs credit cards, but you don’t necessarily need to share that with everyone in the company.  Trust me, I have been one of those execs floating 1,000’s of dollars for a couple of weeks before funding closed.  Some who join your start up will be true entrepreneurial types and for those the uncertainty will not matter.  Others, however, will be employees looking for stability, with families to support.  You don’t want to shrink your candidate pool any further than is necessary.  Portray a positive, stable and growth oriented environment.  

Act bigger than you are

Allocate a few dollars into presenting a professional image.  Maybe that is the receptionist in the lobby who doubles as the AP specialist.  Maybe that’s a phone system where you can look like you have lines for a variety of different functions.  To some extent, it follows the old adage of “Fake it till you make it.”  If you have 20 employees and someone asks the response is still truthful if you say “we are still under 100” but send a very different signal to a potential customer.

Start ups are, by their very nature, challenging in many respects.  Knowing a few of the most common pitfalls can help to guarantee yours is that 1 in 10 that everyone is looking for to hit it big!

Performance Management Systems

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Ideally your performance management system should support an already robust relationship between your managers and their subordinates, not create or replace it. It should help to focus your efforts on actually improving performance and managing the development of your employees. Well chosen, a system will support what you are trying to build in your organization and will be viewed as a part of a seamless approach to creating a valued workforce, as well as allowing your organization to streamline the performance review process online.

Organizations today are very interested in measuring and improving their workforce and their performance and productivity, or their ability to create value at speed.

Customer Service

Do your research.  Call the customer service center at all times of the day. Night weekend.  Many companies today are using Call Centers in India and, need I have to say this, that can lead to a very frustrating experience for the user.  Do they understand HR or only their system?  What kind of training is done for the employees in the service center?

Administrator level of Difficulty

Unless you are fortunate enough to have a systems admin who is solely dedicated to bringing up your Performance Management System, you will want to fully understand what is involved in setting up the back end.  Some performance management systems do much of the work for you, others, Like Cornerstone, expect that you will architect and set up the entire back end.

UX

To borrow a term from the development world, UX, cannot and should not be underrated.   The user experience should be pleasant, not frustrating and the flow of the process should be intuitive.  If your managers have to hunt for buttons or try and figure it out, it’s not designed well.

On- the-Go

Is it accessible on the go.  Does it utilize responsive design, that allows the systems to perform the same on a mobile device as it would on a laptop?  Much of our world is mobile now and your workforce will expect that they should not have to be tied to a desk in order to work with your Performance Management system

Demo it

Allow your managers to demo the top 2-3 selections and choose the one that they feel best meets their needs.  You will have immediate buy in and advocates throughout the organization.  

In summary, spend the time up front to truly evaluate the systems that will best meet your organization’s needs.  You will likely live with the approach for quite some time, so make sure it is one that will actually create efficiencies and not additional work for you and your team.

Socializing Your Purpose Statement

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people-woman-coffee-meetingThere are many different versions of a Purpose Statement.  Some call it, the mission statement, the WHY or the Go-To statement, but they all drive toward answering the same question though, “Why are we in business?”  Now that you have defined your Purpose Statement, with the input and guidance from your cross functional teams, it is time to broadcast it.

By all means, allow the employees and teams that were involved in creating it help you to socialize it throughout the organization.  This serves two purposes.  One, your team is invested in this statement and will appreciate seeing it trumpeted to the rest of the organization and their work celebrated and two, the rest of your organization feels differently about edicts coming from top management than they do about edicts coming from their peers.  The likelihood of success is much greater when it comes from both.  You can’t be everywhere at once, especially in a large organization, so anoint your team as the ambassadors of the Purpose Statement.

So, let’s talk about way in which you can socialize this message.  Is there a Company newsletter?  Run the cover article covering the new Purpose Statement, explaining what it means to you and to the team that helped to design it.  Make sure you publish their names and, if possible, their pictures.  Everyone likes to see their name in print attached to a corporate initiative.  Perhaps there are company-wide business meetings that occur monthly or quarterly.  Have a banner printed up with your new Purpose Statement.  Let it scroll down behind you as you announce the new direction.  Allow each of the team members to come up and speak about what it means to them personally and how they think they will apply it to their daily lives at work. Giveaways, while a little corny, do work to keep the message in front of everyone.  Mousepads, sports bottles, key chains are all inexpensive reminders of what you stand for.

Start to use the words and phrases that are incorporated into your Purpose Statement in your verbal and written communication. People repeat what they hear and read.  Think about ways in which can act that will be physical manifestations.  If your Purpose Statement talks about giving back, think about ways you can show you are giving back.  Can you set up a charity for employees that run into financial trouble?  A Lend a Hand Fund so to speak.  Can you engage with a local charity and support back to school or Thanksgiving food drives?  You will find that the more ways you can think of to deliver your message, the easier it will become for employees to understand it and live it.

Raising Funds For Your Startup – Without Investors

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You’re an entrepreneurial spirit; you have an idea and you know it has potential, but you’re just not sure what to do next.

Well, one of the first things you’re going to have to do is get some money. That’s the hard and fast truth; it’s incredibly difficult to get a business off of the ground without at least a little bit of financial capital to work with. But for some, the idea of fundraising is appalling, and finding funds through an investor seems even more daunting.

The good news is that there are ways to build funds for your business in its first phase that don’t involve pitching to potential investors. So, if you’re an investor who wants to avoid the standard path to fundraising, explore some of these alternatives:

 

Back Yourself

This is probably the most difficult (and scary) option to wrap your head around, but honestly, if you really believe in your business, you should be ready and willing to invest yourself fully into your idea. Depending on how financially established you are, you may have a few options that you can tap into. Look at your savings, and determine how much you can reasonably put towards your business. If you have a mortgage you may be able to refinance / make use of your home equity.

Remember, no one is going to want to invest in a business if its founder isn’t willing to put a bit of their own money on the line.

 

Partner with the Correct People

This really comes down to networking and networking well. If you have people in your network that believe in both your business idea and you, you may very well have the co-founders or investors you’re looking for right there within arm’s reach.

As an entrepreneur, you should always be working your network, and your network’s network to build connections. You’ve probably already researched the various channels you’ll need to access when growing your business (distributions, supplies, clientele, etc.), and made connections with people in all of those realms. Don’t be afraid to look for investors within those channels.

One of the most important parts of your business will be the people that you build it with. If you can get an existing supplier to invest in your business, you’ll not only have an investor….you’ll have the supplies that you need.

There are a few other ways that you can get around the investor pitch. Check back soon for more ideas!

Spending Wisely in the Startup Phase

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Startup culture has been known for being a bit more extravagant than traditional business environments. The culture of fun, free breakfasts, and happy hours has as much pull for potential employees as the promise of making it big when the startup finds huge financial success.

But, there is a huge responsibility of the founders to make the proper spending decisions for the health of their business. Every business requires different upfront investments, but these are a few of the things that all startups should consider when budgeting out the money from their initial rounds of funding.

 

Investment in a solid business plan

If you’re at the stage where your business has already received funding, it’s likely that you have established a great idea for a business. But, before you move forward with growth, make sure that your business plan is fully flushed out. A good business plan will detail the specific lines of action and objectives that you are looking to carry out within your business. The research that goes into building your business plan will also provide insight on your market and what needs to be done internally to operate successfully within that realm.

Market Research

Spending some upfront cash on market research is hugely important to the viability of your business and is closely related to the building of your business plan. You may be deeply attached to a certain aspect of your business, but in-depth market research may prove that the industry isn’t interested in it. Research will help you to understand your industry and help you to fine tune your target audience.

Get An Accountant (& CFO)

Many startups are hesitant to make an early investment into hiring “the finance person”. But, getting someone analyzing your numbers sooner rather than later may very well save your business in the long run. In an environment where it may be tempting to go bigger or faster, your business will benefit from having an individual whose one and only job is to hold you accountable for spending. An experienced accountant and CFO will be able to provide insight on the return on investments and put your business’s financial health into perspective.

A Customer Support Team

No matter what industry you’re in, a customer service team should be hired and built out the moment that you sell your first product. Nothing is perfect, and it is inevitable that your customers will have questions and/or concerns. It is essential to have someone(s) equipped to answer any incoming inquiries from your clients or customers. In the early stages of any business, dissatisfied customers can be the end of your business before you even get your feet off of the ground.

Social Media

There is a bit of a divide in the industry as to whether or not startups should be spending money on social media advertising campaigns. Some thought leaders feel like social media activity should remain free and organic. But the truth is that social media marketing is the future of marketing. Your competitors are spending money on social media, and you should be as well. In the early stages, your social media spend does not have to be huge. Budget a few hundred dollars a month towards promoting facebook posts and tweets; make sure the spend is highly targeted to get the most out of your money. (That’s where the previously mentioned market research comes in handy.)

For sources and more information, check the following articles: Inc. , TechCrunch, Entrepreneurs, Forbes

Stereotypical Startup Culture Can Be Detrimental – Part 2

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Last month, I started to explore the ways that the stereotypical culture may be detrimental to a business’s overall health. This is not to say that there aren’t benefits to the fun, laid back atmosphere that everyone associates with startups.

However, I do believe it is important for entrepreneurs that are looking to grow their companies to consider these points when developing the plans for their company culture. We already touched on how many startups spend too much money and face the issue of unclear boundaries between superiors and subordinates. This month we’ll touch on a few more company culture decisions that may not reap the positive results that they are expected to reap.

 

The “Hands Off” Approach is Not Always Helpful

Many companies live and breath the low-key “laissez-faire” approach to management and culture. When hiring “cultural fits” is the focus of the recruitment process, the mindset is often that the new hires will fall into place. Many startups feel that it’s easier to just let the new hires adjust and discover things on their own, rather than forcing them into endless meetings and orientations when they start the job.

The problem with this approach is that the lack of engagement leaves the new employees’ development up to chance. If employees aren’t explicitly informed about the work quality and cultural expectations, they are never given the chance to develop according to the company’s intended standards. Company culture, standards of work, and the overall environment may begin to suffer over time as the lack of direction starts to take its toll.

 

Charisma Isn’t Everything

This is probably the most controversial point in this series. The reality is that many startups will hire based on culture fits, and the expected culture for startups is “fun, charismatic, people-persons”. This will undoubtedly make for a very pleasant place, full of employees who can easily make friends and create beautifully intune work.

But, it’s extremely important for startups to look beyond the perfect culture-fit and to also hire employees that have the skillsets and work ethics to build the startup into profitability and greatness. A business cannot be successful if everyone is fun and personable, but no one really has the skills that are necessary to build and innovate.

 

For more ideas on startup culture, check out the Entrepreneur articles that inspired me: here & here

 

Stereotypical Startup Culture Can Be Detrimental – Part 1

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This is the era of the startup. Between the simultaneous unemployment crisis America has been experiencing in for the past few years, and the technological boom that is seemingly unstoppable, startups (primarily in the tech sector) have been popping up left and right. With this influx of startups came an entirely new culture: one of relaxed schedules, no dress codes, huge personal freedoms, and a never ending supply of snacks. The stereotypical startup is full of young, charismatic go-getters who thrive in a “fun” and “casual” workplace.

While this new culture and mindset have been hugely beneficial for some companies (see: Google and Facebook), it may not be the right move for all startups. There are a few ways that “startup culture” can actually do more harm than good for certain startup businesses.

 

Too Much Money is Being Spent

This is actually one of the biggest problems that many startups are facing. Everyone wants to emulate the Google culture, with the free food,  the games, and the chic & fun office space. But, the reality is that most startups cannot afford those overhead costs. Many companies will use a lot of the money from their investors to foster this fun space. While this will absolutely make a great impression on both employees and clients alike, it’s important to make sure that your company is saving money and focusing funds on creating a viable product/service.

 

The Lines Between Boss & Subordinate May Be Blurred

The beautiful part of startup culture is that it’s generally an environment of openness and personal connections. For a lot of companies, “culture fit” is important and people are hired based on how well they will get along with the existing employees. This creates a comfortable place of work and creativity, which is fantastic for productivity.

However, this wholly democratic environment may may lead to issues when hard decisions or conversations need to take place. If the bosses aren’t seen as leaders, and are instead seen as friends & peers, it makes it difficult to reign in a rowdy team, or to provide disciplinary action when an employee is out of line.

 

Be sure to check out the blog next month to learn more about the potential downfalls of the stereotypical startup culture.