August 2006
"Employer of choice" - what is it?
What is team motivation?
Manage actively and get more
Virtual teams of the future
 
"Employer of choice" - what is it?
We’re seeing this term used a lot these days. “An Employer of Choice” say the recruitment
advertisements, but you’re right to wonder what it really means.
The term has as yet no universally-recognized legal or professional standing other than being
used by a variety of government and semi-official organizations in specific
activities. It was originally coined as a marketing phrase for the recruitment industry
and its use has quickly spread around the world as such things do in our communications-powered
business environment.
This doesn’t mean that the idea of being an Employer of Choice (EOC) isn’t worth pursuing.
In fact, becoming an EOC is a worthwhile goal for every enterprise, regardless of its size or
industry.
In their book ‘How to Become an Employer of Choice’, workplace trend analysts Roger E.
Herman and Joyce L. Gioia tell us: “The phrase is more than just a buzzword; it is
representative of a whole new design of corporate culture.”
They point out that the skills shortage currently in the news means that in the years to
come it will be increasingly difficult to attract and hold good people. They say that
enlightened employers will be able to differentiate themselves and become the
employers people choose to work for after they reject those who offer less attractive
employment propositions.
The authors tell us that the EOCs of the future will be successful because they motivate their
employees and create opportunities for them to grow. This concept is more common sense than
rocket science, yet most employers haven’t the slightest idea of how their people really feel
about their work or how to motivate them.
An Employer of Choice is willing to restructure itself to become and remain a better place to
work than other businesses. People feel good about working there, and because they can
achieve more the business itself will achieve more.
Dr. John Sullivan, HR expert and Professor of Business Management at San Francisco State
University, sees EOC as a “conscious corporate-wide employment strategy designed to
re-make a company image as ‘a great place to work’."
He says that a business will benefit greatly from becoming an EOC including having an easier
time recruiting and retraining talented people, as well as receiving favorable publicity and a
higher share price.
Importantly, Dr. Sullivan also notes that being an EOC makes it easy to maintain corporate
culture because the employees and the public ‘assist in maintaining it’. This in turn will
help attract customers and strategic partners.
How can you recognize an EOC? Dr. Sullivan has a long list of characteristics that are all
beneficial to the organization. Among these are that it is the first to be benchmarked against
when companies are looking for ‘best in the world’ best practices, that it is generally
among the most profitable in its industry, and that the firm's name, product, and brand are
among those most recognized by the public.
There is at least one business built around the concept of EOC and that’s Employer of Choice,
Inc., an affiliate of The Herman Group in Greensboro North Carolina. The firm awards an
‘Employer of Choice®’ designation to businesses that meet their criteria and pay an assessment
fee for the evaluation.
Employer of Choice, Inc. says on its website that “…companies that don't become ‘Employer of
Choice®’ will continue to do business. The quality of success will be different, as will
the vulnerability to failure.”
It adds that “Organizations that earn the right to be described as ‘Employers of Choice®’ will
enjoy a higher level of performance, greater workforce stability, and the level of continuity
that assures preservation of the knowledge base, customer loyalty, employee satisfaction, and
stronger profits.”
We’ll leave the last word on the subject on Employers of Choice to authors Roger E. Herman
and Joyce L. Gioia. In their book ‘How to Become an Employer of Choice’ they summarize the
reasons why any business should give serious thought about becoming an EOC:
“It means that people will choose to work for you. It means that people will choose to really
dedicate themselves to your success. It means that people will choose to stay with you, even
when they are being courted by recruiters from other employers – recruiters with exceptionally
attractive inducements.
“In the years ahead, workforce stability will be a company’s competitive edge...the most
successful employers will be those who legitimately inspire highly talented workers to
stay with them and join them.”
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What is team motivation?
Motivated team members enjoy coming into work and work hard, yet always have time for a laugh.
Team motivation is a combination of workplace culture, organizational strategy and management
style.
The benefits for employers are increased productivity, reduced absenteeism and turnover,
and higher profits.
So why don’t all employers do it? Because they don’t know how to do it, don’t make time for it,
or mistakenly think it gets in the way of real work.
It is essential to strike the right balance in motivating a workforce. In order to be
effective, motivational strategies must be incorporated into a company’s business goals and
its philosophy.
A motivated workforce is driven by strong leadership and a committed management. Creating
and sustaining motivation requires open communication, honesty and respect. This
approach includes developing a culture that encourages team members to participate in
organizational activities and share in workplace success.
Essentially, motivation is about bonding with the people who report to you. This includes
making an effort to know them, listening to them and valuing them for their particular
contributions and potential. If this is done, they are more likely to help you in meeting the
challenges faced by your business.
Benefits of motivating
your team
Much research has been undertaken to identify both the visible and invisible benefits of a
highly motivated team.
The findings show that teams who love their work and their workplace typically:
- look forward to coming to work
- actively and consciously contribute to the business
- get more done and have more ideas
- focus their energy on the positives rather than the negatives
- reinforce the organizational culture
- treat clients, co-workers and vendors with more respect
- weather the "tough times" with you
- serve as positive ambassadors for your business.
It is easy to see how these can benefit your business. Apart from creating a harmonious
day-to-day working environment, a highly motivated workforce can deliver financial gains
through lower team turnover and recruitment costs, more satisfied clients and a more
productive workforce.
This is why many large companies constantly monitor team morale. A happy company is a
productive one – and more profitable!
How to motivate your team
While many businesses look to incentives or bonus plans to motivate their team, such plans
only provide short-term superficial incentives, which fail to provide true motivation.
Research has repeatedly found that the prime team motivators are achievement, recognition,
the work itself, responsibility, advancement, and growth.
In other words, although adequate salaries, incentive pay and bonus plans can avoid
dissatisfaction, they do not lead to either job satisfaction or high motivation. The best way to
motivate your team is to recognize that people are motivated by their own individual goals,
values and desires.
Get to know people and understand their needs, then give them project assignments in which they
can become motivated by satisfying their needs.
People are motivated more by feelings and sensitivities than they are by facts and logic.
It is common for people to quit high-paying jobs because they don't feel appreciated, don't feel
challenged, or don't like the work environment.
Tips for motivating team
members
There is no single set of activities that act as
a magic formula for creating a highly motivated
team. However certain concepts and practices
have proven to be winning combinations if used
properly and sincerely.
The seven best tips to improving team motivation
are:
1. Give your team something to cheer about
Create and communicate an honest vision and mission for your business. Studies show that
most people want to believe that there is some purpose and meaning to their work. If your team
understand the purpose and direction of your business, and their role in making the desired
outcomes happen, they might gain the sense of purpose and contribution that they seek.
2. Encourage team members to grow
Training, professional development, opportunities to try new skills or apply old
skills in new ways and cross-training are mutually beneficial business tools. The
organization deepens its "bank of knowledge and know-how" and the morale among the team soars.
3. Hear their voices
Welcome and provide venues for team feedback and participation and take appropriate action to
consider and respond to their comments. When people don’t feel heard, or they have the
perception that their ideas aren’t valued or at least acknowledged, morale will suffer.
4. Be consistent
Consistency breeds trust. Policies, roles, expectations, inspired leadership and effective
communication are many of the areas that require consistency in order to achieve a high level of
team motivation in your business.
5. Communicate
Keep team members informed and build their understanding of what is happening in the
business, and why.
6. Reward and recognize
Arguably one of the most powerful ways to increase team motivation is to recognize and
reward actions and behaviors that are outstanding or in line with the vision and
mission of your business.
7. Remember, it’s not all work
Because the majority of your team will spend most of their waking time each day at work it is
important to recognize the social aspect of employment. Morning teas, lunches, and
celebrating birthdays can be fitted into the regular routines. Out-of-hours social activities
are another way in which you can create a stronger sense of teamwork and a more motivated
team. And don’t forget to celebrate your successes! At some level every team member
performing a job enables the organization to achieve its wins. It is important to celebrate
those moments as a group.
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Manage actively and get more
There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to succeed in the demanding area of managing
people. Most managers have their own styles and some are more effective than others.
What is certain is that people management must be an active part of every business owner’s
daily role; it’s so important that it can’t be done on an occasional basis. Here are some
techniques of active management that can be applied in any organization.
Have regular performance
reviews
From the day a new team member is appointed you should have a date scheduled for their first
performance review. This gives both of you a target by which time specified levels of
performance must be reached. New hires should be reviewed after a short period – three months is often used, so they get
feedback on how satisfactorily they’re handling their responsibilities. After this initial
review a subsequent one can take place at their first anniversary, followed by one every twelve
months thereafter.
Performance reviews don’t necessarily have to be for the purpose of determining an increase in
the rate of pay someone receives, although this can and usually is incorporated. The main reason
is to let the person know where they’re doing well and where their performance is below where
it should be.
It also gives them a chance to raise any issues they’re concerned about, giving you an early
warning system so you can take corrective action before problems develop or get worse.
Base increases on merit
Annual increases were once a part of every job. Active management relates increases to improved
performance or greater effort rather than simply treating it as a ‘right’ just because someone
shows up for work every day. Where it can be applied, use a bonus system that rewards a person’s contribution to the
organization’s success. Establish milestones for every position that, if reached, can be used as
the basis for paying a bonus on top of the annual salaries.
Bonuses don’t have to be a financial matter; they can be based on other benefits such as
health plan payments, other forms of insurance, provision of a motor vehicle, flexible working
hours, a paid holiday or any other means of reward (subject to prevailing taxation
legislation).
There's more than money
People naturally work to earn an income, but this is just one way of keeping good people with
your business. They’re motivated by a number of factors, most of which relate to satisfaction
with the work they do. The members of your team want to feel that they make a real contribution to your business and
that it’s appreciated by management. They want to grow and develop in their jobs and not just
perform their tasks repetitiously.
If you work to develop the people in your business rather than just letting them get on
with their jobs you’ll keep good people longer; this means taking the time to understand
something about them.
If they’re not performing exceptionally well they might be motivated by training that gives
them greater skills. If they are already performing at a high level they might respond to
a promotion that involves handling greater responsibilities.
Everyone’s different but if you listen to them carefully they’ll tell you what will keep them
happy and keep them with your business, and it’s not going to be just about money.
Apply correction, not
punishment
When one of your team makes a serious mistake or causes a problem, work to correct the situation
and not simply punish the person at fault. Work out exactly what happened and what is needed to
ensure that the situation isn’t repeated. New people often make mistakes while they’re learning the details of their jobs and the
problem could be caused by inexperience. Additional training might be needed or there
could be other factors involved, such as poor relationships with other team members.
The important thing to remember is that it’s up to you to find the solution and implement it.
Take charge of the situation and do whatever’s necessary to fix it; don’t depend on
disciplinary action to solve anything.
Good people management requires constant attention and action. If you fail to do this
you’ll also fail to make the most of the people in your business. Manage your team actively and
everyone will come out ahead.
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Virtual teams of the future
It’s likely that you’ll soon be working with virtual team members – if you aren’t already.
The looming skills shortage and heavy competition for graduates means that
many firms have had to become more flexible in their team members’ working arrangements, and a
growing number of staff are working from locations outside the firm’s bricks-and-mortar
premises.
Karen Lojeski, formerly a senior consultant for Mercer Consulting Group, is now the head of
Virtual Distance International (VDI), a Wall Street advisory and software company
specializing in global virtual teams and outsourcing relationship management.
In an interview with Richard Digeorgio of HR.com, Karen Lojeski outlined the rapid growth of
virtual teams in modern business: “If you look at the statistics, today, 12 percent of the US
work force qualifies as virtual, according to recent information in Business Week. In the
urban areas like New York City, it is estimated that 15% work virtually.
“It is predicted that 40% of the US work force will be virtual by 2012. In some major
corporations like IBM and Intel those numbers are much higher today. At IBM, for example, 40%
of the workforce is virtual, and at Intel 70%.”
She says the number one factor driving the increase in virtual teams is cost savings,
estimated to be in the billions. On an individual level she notes that virtual teams
have allowed employees to better meet their lifestyle requirements.
The management challenge
Managing virtual team members requires a new set of management skills to lead and direct them.
The distance factor impacts on a manager’s ability to coordinate their team of people and
retain control of the overall thrust of what the team is doing. The culture of the firm is also
hard to transmit over distances.
A virtual team is usually made up of people who communicate electronically and who seldom, if
ever see each other in person. Customized software – called ‘groupware’ has already been
developed to link these disparate human elements and the cost of facilitating communication
between virtual team members is coming down all the time.
David Gould of seanet.com, an expert who has conducted an extensive study of virtual teams,
says that few virtual teams are 100% percent virtual: “In the study, face-to-face contact was
fairly unimportant in teams with relatively independent team members engaged in individual
work projects. However, it was important in teams with interdependent members.”
Gould found that the teams he studied showed the same dynamics that researchers have discovered
in “real” teams. “The early stages are characterized by a certain amount of randomness,
chaos, and ad hoc decision-making. As the team matures, processes are put into place and the
team becomes more efficient.”
The study found that some of the behaviors conventionally considered good management
practices were changed or even eliminated when working with virtual teams because the team
members were physically separated:
- Individual recognition was infrequent and delivered via e-mail or a telephone call.
- Celebrations of team accomplishments usually didn’t happen.
- Team leaders often needed to offer support and coaching to team members.
- The biggest area of complaints by team members involved communications problems.
- Team members knew what they were doing on an individual basis, but they weren’t always sure
how their work fit into the entire project.
How to manage a team of
virtual members successfully
Although the ‘science’ of virtual team management is very much still in its infancy,
some elements are beginning to emerge that will greatly influence the success or otherwise of a
virtual project:
- Include some face-to-face time for the team members if at all possible, at the beginning and
throughout the life of the project.
- Use regular updates to give team members a sense of how the overall project is going.
- Establish a code of conduct by which all team members must abide; set a time by which requests
for information must be met.
- Keep track of all team members and make their movements accessible to the rest of the team.
- Use an Intranet facility for communications to and from the team.
- Have a means of assessing the contributions of each team member.
Develop trust
Author and management consultant Charles Handy
raises perhaps the most important factor of
virtual team management: “If we are to enjoy the
efficiencies and other benefits of the virtual
organization, we will have to rediscover how to
run organizations based more on trust than on
control. Virtuality requires trust to make it
work; Technology on its own is not enough.”
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