(Time to read this Blog is about 3 minutes)

Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking:

  1. My quote of the week:
    “Hiring someone after just one interview is like asking someone to marry you on the first date.  You don’t know them well enough yet.”
    …Donald Cooper
  1. Brilliant marketing from fast-fashion retailer H&M.  H&M  has just launched Rewear, a digital platform that allows Canadian users to buy and sell used garments directly between consumers, and it will allow listings from any brand, not just H&M.
     
    The platform provides an algorithm that advises sellers on a competitive price for their garment.  H&M will take a 15% commission on sales, but to offset that (and encourage further shopping at H&M stores), sellers have the option of receiving their payout in the form of an H&M Gift Card that has an additional 20% in value added, instead of cash.
     
    How could you use the internet, apps or special platform to deliver more value and a better customer experience to your target customers?  What are the possibilities?
  1. Lawless in San Francisco. Walgreen’s, America’s 2nd largest pharmacy chain, has permanently closed 22 locations in San Francisco over the past few years due to rampant shoplifting and looting that endangers staff and customers…and makes the stores unprofitable.
     
    Pharmacies aren’t the only victims.  High-end department stores like Nieman Marcus and designer handbag stores are now regularly raided by these gangs.  Last Friday evening, the Louis Vuitton store in San Francisco’s famous Union Square was totally looted by a mob of 30.  The next evening, 80 to 100 organized looters attacked the Nordstrom Department Store in Walnut Creek, a suburb or San Francisco.
     
    Most of these brazen thefts are conducted by individuals working for organized retail crime rings.  Store ‘security’ personnel are instructed by their employers to just stand by while the thefts take place.  Typically, no arrests are made, so there are no consequences.
     
    If retailers would take aggressive action against these looters, or police would actually protect private property and make arrests, they’d be called racists and fascists.   

 

Now, to this week’s important topic:

 

Some ‘straight talk’ about employee engagement and retention:

You’ve likely heard the latest buzz phrase, ‘The Great Resignation’ and we’re all experiencing the huge challenge of finding and keeping great employees.  

‘The Predictive Index’ a US-based talent optimization consultancy, reports that 50 million employees have quit their jobs in the US since last April…and that almost 50% of employees are currently considering a job change within the next 12 months! 

So, if you’re having problems filling vacancies in your business now, image how much bigger your problem becomes if 50% of your existing staff quit in the next 12 months.

It’s fascinating that the reasons why most business managers believe that employees leave and the real reasons that employees leave are entirely different.  According to a study by global consultancy firm, McKinsey & Co…

  1. According to business managers, the 3 top reasons for employees leaving were:
    a)  money
    b)  work-life balance.
    c)  those staff were in poor physical or psychological health.
  2. According to the employees themselves, the 3 top reasons for employees leaving are:
    a) not feeling valued by the company.
    b) not feeling valued by their manager.
    c) didn’t feel a sense of belonging at work.

Another important insight from McKinsey is that employees expect their jobs to bring a significant sense of purpose to their lives.

For more insight on this key insight, click on the McKinsey article here.

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/help-your-employees-find-purpose-or-watch-them-leave

Below are 8 tips to help you attract and retain talented and committed Team members in 2022: 

  1. Make ‘employee engagement & retention’ your #1 commitment for 2022.
  2. Your employees can’t possibly feel a significant ‘sense of purpose’ from their job if your company has no clear purpose to start with. All businesses sell stuff.  Great businesses are on a mission to improve the human condition in some significant way.  What’s your significant purpose?  To download my Biz Tool #B-2:  Create A Clear Statement of Purpose for Your Business’, Click Here.
  3. Help each employee understand the purpose and importance of their job to your customers, to the rest of the Team and to the values and growth of the business.
  4. Create a culture of appreciation, acknowledgement and celebration. Look for behaviour to praise and reward…and say, ‘Thank you’ every day.
  5. Create a ‘learning culture’ where those with the desire and capability to learn and grow have the opportunity to do so. Good people want to grow themselves and to help you grow the business.  Don’t let them get away.   
  6. Ask your Team members, individually, these 2 questions:
    –  What do you like most about working here?
      What could we do better?
     
    So that they don’t feel ambushed by these questions, send them a note or email saying, As part of our commitment to be a great place to work and to contribute and to grow for all Team members, I’d love to have your thoughts on these 2 questions, below, in the next 2 weeks.  When you’re ready to chat, just let me know.”   Then, list the 2 questions.
  1. Ask your Team members, individually, where they’d like their career and their life to be in 3 years and how you and the business can help them achieve that. Then, tell them where your business or department commits to be in 3 years and ask them how they can help you achieve that.  Inspirational speaker Zig Ziglar famously said, “You can get almost anything you want if you help enough other people get what they want.”  
  2. Get a handle on what it’s really like to work on your Team by asking each Team member to take a few minutes and fill out my Biz Tool #B-24: The Employment Experience Survey.’   To download this insightful Biz Tool, Click Here.

 

So, what will you do, starting right now, to attract top-performing Team members and avoid ‘The Great Resignation’ in your business or department? 

 

That’s it for this week…

Stay safe…live brilliantly!       

Donald Cooper 

 

Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability.  He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.

 

One Response to Some ‘straight talk’ about employee engagement and retention!
  1. […] Recruiting and Dating:  Hiring someone after just one interview is like asking someone to marry you on the first date, says consultant Donald Cooper. You don’t know them well enough yet. (Source: DonaldCooper.com). […]


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