No doubt your business’ growth is important to you.
But you may be facing a challenge in obtaining the personnel you need to grow your company.
Or you may be having trouble just keeping up with your current sales volume because you are understaffed.
Either way, you are wondering what can be done to get fully staffed?
What are you doing now to find the employees you need?
Is it working?
In your quest for additional staff, how innovative have you become?
Have you thought about trying daily office pizza parties to entice new personnel?
What about bringing in food trucks to attract and retain staffing?
How about daily raffles of PlayStations, iPads, and other prizes to bring in new employees and keep your current ones happy?
Are these actions part of your current staff recruitment and retention program?
Most likely not.
But for some companies these activities are part of their recruitment and retention process.
For instance, the shortage of employees has become so acute in certain industries that companies like Radial, which operates fulfillment centers for various companies including, GYMSHARK, Aeropostale and the Children’s Place have turned to these aforementioned actions.
You May Be Looking For A Lifeline
Certain industries, like transportation, warehousing, health care, accommodation, and restaurants have been dealing with large employee shortages for a while – and these challenges have become dire needs.
Just like them, you may be looking for a lifeline.
Let’s look at possible solutions to this perversive personnel challenge.
Bear in mind there are two sides to this coin. Getting staff and then keeping them.
I will tackle these two related dilemmas separately.
Getting New People In The Door
Unfortunately, large, mid-size, and small businesses, as well as not-for-profit organizations are all going after the same pool of potential employees. But large companies have much greater resources to lure candidates. Let’s see what they are doing.
In one of the most challenged industries, Warehousing, many employers are using signing bonuses and cash.
Sleep Number is offering sign-on bonuses from $1,000 to $2,500 for various positions, as well as free mattresses for some new hires.
During the most recent holiday season Amazon was offering a $3,000 sign-on bonus and a starting hourly wage of up to $22. It also recently dropped its marijuana testing requirements.
Aldi has increased its average starting pay at warehouses to $19 an hour.
Walmart is providing extra pay for supply chain employees who just show up for their scheduled shifts.
The largest US retailers – Walmart, Target and Amazon announced they would begin offering free college tuition and textbooks to employees.
The Gap is providing a 50% discount on its clothing, as well as offering 24×7 telehealth appointments.
To address your staffing needs you can also use sign-on bonuses, higher pay, incentive payments, college education, employee discounts, and work-place perks for getting new staff.
How to Keep Your Staff Happy and Productive
Some of the above incentives/inducements can be used not only for acquiring new staff, but also for retaining and rewarding them for doing things in a certain way within your business.
These rewards can be used to encourage the carrying out of your company’s Execution Plan in a specific, structured way.
In the below diagram from my upcoming book, Work Less, Make More and Have Fun in Your Business, reading from the bottom up, you can see Incentives can be used to support your Execution Plan’s Systems, Personnel, Metrics, and Quality Loops.
Execution Area—Incentives
Incentives and rewards induce a person, team, group, division, or the entire business to do things a certain way. If there were no incentives, anyone and everyone in your company could do everything as they see fit!
What is The End Game?
The objective for using incentives is to motivate your staff to execute your strategy in a way that enables your enterprise to achieve its Vision.
The previously mentioned inducements all fall under the category of Financial Incentives for employees or independent contractors.
Studies show that in the long run, more than sign-on bonuses, higher pay, and incentive compensation must be provided to keep personnel.
In addition to reasonable compensation and fringe benefits, employees are looking for Non-Financial Incentives.
Do You Truly Value Me?
In general, Non-Financial rewards communicate how much you value a person.
Their use builds a sense of connection with your company and makes their relationship with you more than just a “job”.
From an overall standpoint the goal of these incentives is to increase the satisfaction and morale level of your employees.
There are two overarching categories of Non-Financial Incentives.
First, rewards that create a team environment and recognize your employee’s contribution to the company’s goals. This is done by regularly communicating your Vision to your team, focusing on that Vision, and then celebrating all their achievements.
Second, for employees to be satisfied and engaged they must feel competent in their positions. Being adequately trained and educated is a key. Just like seasonings enhance and bring out the best flavor in food, so does proper training bring out the best in your employees.
Keep in mind when you are creating your rewards that they need to tie directly to reinforcing the desirable behavior of the person, team, group, division, or the entire business.
Your Incentive Starting Lineup
Below please find a list of Non-Financial staff incentives/rewards:
- Recognition as employee of the month
- Present them an award in front of all your personnel
- Have their fellow-employees write a tribute to them
- Reward them with additional responsibility
- Provide a handwritten thank you note from the owner
- Prepare a short video that celebrates the employee’s accomplishments
- Start a company “Wall of Fame” and add them to it
- Give them time off from work
- Training in a specialized, highly desired area
- Being chosen as part of an elite, problem solving team
- Give them time to work on their own projects
- Provide time off to do volunteer work
- Honor them in front of their family
- Surprise them with an outdoor catered picnic
- Find out what they are passionate about and give them a gift that relates to it
- Let them suggest a way they would like to be recognized
A Company Hits a Home Run with Incentives
This plumbing manufacturer was started by four close friends who had never owned a business before. Two of the owners had worked in management positions for plumbing supply companies before, so they knew the industry, but for the others, their startup enterprise was a whole new adventure for them.
This lack of management experience required the creation of almost everything for their company. One of the key things that needed to be developed and implemented was the proper use of incentives for the manufacturing shop floor, both at an individual and team level.
As they started to develop individual and team incentives to get everyone fully working together, they realized they also needed incentives at the group and entire business level. Thereafter, they were able to implement both Financial and Non-Financial Incentives to induce their personnel to perform in certain ways and effectively reward them for their behavior.
Where To Start
In this hyper-competitive job market begin by assessing your employment package in terms of its compensation and fringe benefits.
Next, innovatively determine what inducements such as sign-on bonuses, incentive payments, college education, employee discounts, and work-place perks you need to use to bring in the personnel you desire.
Lastly, to keep these new personnel and the ones you have, utilize Non-Financial incentives and rewards to communicate how much you value a person.
These incentives can also be used to reward employees for their teamwork and contribution to the company’s goals.
Be sure that your incentives and rewards tie directly to reinforcing the desirable behavior of the person, team, group, division, or the entire company.
If you could use assistance with the most advantageous use of Incentives within your company, please contact us using the information below so we can be a resource to you in this vital area.
Fountainhead Consulting Group, Inc. is an Innovation and Business Planning firm. During the past 21, years we have shown over 1,200 companies how to achieve their goals by using our unique, comprehensive, and systematic FastTrak Innovation Program™, Innovation Academy™, and Structure of Success™ methodologies. Using the components in these methodologies, each month we examine an aspect of how to transform your business or organization into a true 21st Century enterprise.
Office: (770) 642-4220
George.Horrigan@FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
Tags: Business Planning, entrepreneur, front end of innovation, innovation, invention, small business consulting, small business planning, start a business
