Commission-only sales plans are risky in my opinion. I know they are the truest form of selling – you eat what you kill. I simply think that many salespeople view this structure as a lack of commitment from the company. I’m not saying that is accurate, but I have talked to many salespeople under these plans and this is their perception. Fortune Small Business discusses this topic in their article Why to be wary of commission-only sales staff: “If you hire someone and you’re not really willing to invest time and resources in them – and that’s really what a commission-only sales person suggests – then you’re missing an opportunity,”… Read More
Continue ReadingRetention Is The Toughest Challenge
Inc.com has a short article reporting the survey results of HR professionals that shows a shifting trend: In a survey of 413 HR professionals, more than half identified talent management as their top priority, and were planning to improve their rewards and benefits programs. Most employers cited employee retention among their five toughest challenges, ahead of health-care costs, the survey found. Last year, 80 percent identified health-care costs as their biggest challenge. I fully expect retention will move into the top spot and stay there for quite some time (i.e. years) as the Boomers retire.
Continue ReadingOwning The Job
The principle of owning vs. renting is powerful especially when it comes to an employee’s job. Ownership of a job is a fickle thing. Yet, I have worked for managers who assigned responsibility and provided enough autonomy to allow me to excel in my role. The younger generations seem to relish this approach even more than my Gen X group. ManageSmarter.com offers up an article with a clear title – Padlocking the Revolving Door on Turnover. There are 4 good points to support the article’s title, but one stands out clearly: • Foster a sense of ownership within employees. The old encouragement to “act like you own it” is good… Read More
Continue ReadingNo Way They Would Stay
From the Herman Trend Alert (sorry, no link): A global survey of 4,500 workers indicates that more people anticipate leaving their employers this year than last. In the 2006 BlessingWhite study, 65 percent said that they expected to “definitely” remain with their employers through the year. In the 2007 study, that number was down to 58 percent. Also of interest, more respondents in 2007 said that there is “no way” they would stay (eight percent up from six percent—a 33 percent increase). European employers face the greatest threat: eleven percent said there is “no way” they will stay. Moreover, employees in Europe and Asia appear less content with their current… Read More
Continue ReadingRetention In A Slow Economy
A statistic from the Career News newsletter (sorry, no link): One in four U.S. workers is resolving to get a new job this year. The survey found that 26 percent of employed Americans said they will look for a new job in 2008. I thought that number seemed somewhat low – I was expecting a number closer to 33%. Retention will always be a top priority for sales managers, but it may be that the slowing economy will cause more workers to stay in their current positions this year.
Continue ReadingSome People Play Checkers, Others Play Chess
BusinessWeek.com offers up the Best Corporate Practices 2008 which is a fascinating slide show if you have time to view it. This is from the opening of the article: In fact, much of the gap between the best and worst management practices can be described by that word: trust. At one point as a corporate human resources leader during the dot-com boom, our company switchboard was bombarded with calls from recruiters, seeking to pull away our sharpest technical talent. Our hardworking phone operators did their best to deter search consultants looking to make contact with talent by any means possible, but it wasn’t always easy. … We said to our… Read More
Continue ReadingRetention Starts With Recruiting
The Herman Trend Alert offers up an excellent analysis of the most pressing topic of today – retention. I thought this statement was spot on: The Hodes 2007 Workplace Study holds that two factors are critical to retaining valued employees. The first is choosing quality people, not settling for “warm bodies”. The second is choosing people who have long-term expectations of staying with the organization. We encounter companies that have a hire fast, fire fast mentality. Personally, I think this approach is high risk, low reward and we never condone this approach at Select Metrix. The second point is an important one also. If you are looking at a candidate… Read More
Continue ReadingHiring Is About Margins
This post from the Pondemonium blog at Inc.com explains the rationale behind hiring from a corporate and employee perspective. What is interesting is that the blogger is the decision maker who had to let people go last week. I thought these graphs cut right to the core of employment: I don’t know about other companies, but every time I’ve ever hired someone to work here, it was because I fully believed I’d be able to make more money with them than without them. In other words, if I pay someone $1 to do something, I expect to make $2 from their efforts or services. It’s really that simple! Unfortunately my… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Most Important Aspect Of Retention
Competent managers. That’s according to a Kenexa Research Institute survey quoted in CareerJournal.com (emphasis mine). Sixty-two percent of employees who said they have an effective manager also said they planned to stay with their job versus 17% of employees who said their manager is ineffective who plan to stay with their job, according to a survey of 10,000 U.S. workers, plus 1,000 workers each in India, China, Brazil, the U.K. and Germany. No surprise, really. When we first encounter a customer with a turnover problem, we start by looking at management. Typically there is misalignment between the manager and the team or there is misalignment between the position and the current hiring process. Either… Read More
Continue ReadingFinancing Via Job Change
I enjoy skewering the mainstream media for “talking down the economy” which is a practice they condemned back in 2000. But all signs point to a slowdown in this red-hot economy which has led the Federal Reserve to target a soft landing. I’m no economist, but I found this article by John Sumser quite interesting. His take on the economy is one I have not heard (emphasis mine): The veterans, burnt by the dot com bust and the post 911 recession will argue that business will contract and layoffs will ensue. That’s the prototypical recession profile. Everywhere you turn, this scenario is forecast or implied. … Or, there may be… Read More
Continue Reading