In yesterday’s Advisor, consultant Jeff Cortes said, “Fire the slugs.” Today, more of his timely retention and engagement tips, plus an introduction to the all-in-one HR website, HR.BLR.com.
6. Keep Your Door Open 80% of the Time
[Go here for retention tips 1-5.]
Let your people know you are accessible to them, says Cortes, author of the book, No Nonsense Retention. Avoid telling people to make an appointment or come back later. Make sure the time you do spend with your people is quality time, he adds.
7. Actively Focus on Employee Assistance
Sit down with the other managers in your organization and identify the problems that are faced by people in your workforce. Develop innovative ideas and deploy specific new plans to provide employees with more flexibility in their work, support for their common needs, and help for dealing with personal issues that impact their life.
8. Treat Everyone with Respect Always
Every leader and manager and supervisor must set the standard that respectful behavior and sincere open appreciation are expected with no exceptions, Cortes says. Investigate and take immediate action of all non-respectful behavior incidents. And take an active step: Have the managers and supervisors bring food to be shared on a regular basis. “Break bread with your people regularly instead of forcing people to eat baloney,” Cortes says.
HR budget cuts? Let us help. HR.BLR.com is your one-stop solution for all your HR compliance and training needs. Take a no-cost, no-obligation trial and get a complimentary copy of our special report Critical HR Recordkeeping—From Hiring to Termination. It’s yours—no matter what you decide.
9. Ask Your People What They Want
Also remember to ask people what they want out of their work. Identify what they want to grow, to develop greater control, autonomy, and responsibility for the work they do for you. Help them achieve these goals specifically and incrementally. “Meaningful engagement in their own future drives commitment and loyalty,” Cortes says.
10. Tell Your People What You Want of Them
Be specific, clear, and make sure you explain what you expect of them. Give them the tools, support, and the time they need to get the work done. If they do not meet your expectations—assuming the expectations have been clearly communicated and they had the resources to accomplish the task—bring them in and talk with them and find out what it will take to get them on track.
Retention is certainly critical, but not your only challenge, right? In HR, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. Like FMLA intermittent leave, overtime hassles, ADA accommodation, and sexual harassment, and then on top of that whatever the agencies and courts throw in your way.
You need a go-to resource, and our editors recommend the “everything-HR-in-one website,” HR.BLR.com. As an example of what you will find, here are some policy recommendations concerning e-mail, excerpted from a sample policy on the website:
Privacy. The director of information services can override any individual password and thus has access to all e-mail messages in order to ensure compliance with company policy. This means that employees do not have an expectation of privacy in their company e-mail or any other information stored or accessed on company computers.
E-mail review. All e-mail is subject to review by management. Your use of the e-mail system grants consent to the review of any of the messages to or from you in the system in printed form or in any other medium.
Solicitation. In line with our general non-solicitation policy, e-mail must not be used to solicit for outside business ventures, personal parties, social meetings, charities, membership in any organization, political causes, religious causes, or other matters not connected to the company’s business.
We should point out that this is just one of hundreds of sample policies on the site. (You’ll also find analysis of laws and issues, job descriptions, and complete training materials for hundreds of HR topics.)
Find out what the buzz is all about. Take a no-cost look at HR.BLR.com, solve your top problem, and get a complimentary gift.
You can examine the entire HR.BLR.com program free of any cost or commitment. It’s quite remarkable—30 years of accumulated HR knowledge, tools, and skills gathered in one place and accessible at the click of a mouse.
What’s more, we’ll supply a free downloadable copy of our special report, Critical HR Recordkeeping—From Hiring to Termination, just for looking at HR.BLR.com. If you’d like to try it at absolutely no cost or obligation to continue (and get the special report, no matter what you decide), go here.
I like the idea of open-door 80% of the time (100% of the time, of course, would mean you’d have no time to get anything else done).