Unlike machines, people will provide variable output. Some employees will go above and beyond, some will fall short. With the high cost of attrition, replacement, and micromanagement – especially in a call center environment – employers should be increasingly interested in how to find the right person for the job, get them up to speed as soon as possible, and keep them in the organization as long as it makes sense.
If you’re wondering if you’ve built a job that people value, consider asking yourself the following questions:
Do I pay the absolute minimum? If your pay scale for your position is the lowest in your marketplace, consider what that says to your employees. Even if you are able to get the requisite number of applicants and fill the open spots, employee output is still a dynamic variable, and you’ve created a subconscious message that sets low expectations. Can you really expect excited, engaged, and creative employees when you are the lowest number in the marketplace (or the legal minimum wage)?
Do I provide benefits? Managing employees’ lives outside of work is a questionable practice, but we can all agree that the fewer distractions workers have, the easier it is for them to be 100% while on the clock. It’s a requirement for many employers now but, even if it’s not, what are the benefits of providing health, dental, and other insurance? Maybe you can increase productivity and reduce cost by ensuring your employees don’t have to worry about their kid’s cavity or their prescriptions (it’s important to note that health issues are a significant cause of issues like absenteeism and attrition: here’s some more info).
Do my employees see their impact on the overall organization? Executives and managers often have a handle on the mission and vision of an organization and they often expect the same when they visit with front-line employees. However, it’s important to ask what you do that will keep these employees engaged when their job description is often more tedious than it is visionary. Do you have stock options that your employees benefit from as the organization grows? Do you have a promote from within policy that helps add career-pathing to your list of positive attributes? Do you share profits with the employees that are actually touching your customers?
Does your company do something exciting? Maybe, maybe not, right? I firmly believe that every company does something truly exciting, even in the most boring industries. If your company does not have something it does better than everyone else – if your company doesn’t have a single true differentiator, then why does it even exist. However, many companies do not do a good job of communicating what is so interesting about their company throughout the entire organization. Ask yourself, can every employee of mine answer the question: why do your clients/customers pick you?
Are your offices where they should be? Another way of phrasing this is to ask how much competition do you have for your workforce? If your goal is to create jobs that are valued, you need to figure out who else wants to hire your employees and what they would need to do to get your employees to leave. With modern technology, remote offices and work-from-home are real options that can be considered as a way to ensure that you’re not just another potential paycheck that your worker will give up for $X+1 down the street.
taylorworth 