Human Resource

HR for good times and bad

The fundamentals of managing your employees don’t change just because the economy is sour:

Burton Goldfield

Last year was one of the most challenging years to run a small business. Facing financial strain and economic malaise, many entrepreneurs found themselves tempted to cut corners when it came to managing their people.

Unfortunately, businesses that made those decisions will soon face another harsh reality: ignoring the best HR practices may result in a temporary bottom-line boost, but over the longterm it will cause irrefutable [irreversible?] damage to their businesses.

As small businesses pick themselves up from the lingering recession, savvy entrepreneurs will look back on 2009 and reaffirm these four fundamentals of smart HR.

Use midyear reviews to manage expectations

First up is feedback. Anxiety and assumptions fill a communications vacuum in down times. It’s human nature to avoid tough conversations when the news is bad, and many employers avoided midyear reviews altogether when they couldn’t deliver a raise.

That’s too bad. They missed the opportunity to reset goals and give themselves the greatest chance of a quicker recovery.

Midyear reviews were critical this year, and smart small-business owners used them to manage expectations and avoid surprises, especially if they realized a reduction in force was needed later.

Midyear reviews are also opportunities for candid assessments of underperforming employees. It’s a harsh reality, but while success in this environment might mean sacrificing some things, it shouldn’t mean sacrificing top performance.

Recognize and reward good performance

It’s a clich‚, but it’s a truth: People are the one asset a company absolutely and categorically can’t do without. Even when times got tough last year, smart businesses continued to invest in their employees even when other expenses and cost structures were being slashed.

Yes, it’s true that in the darker days of the downturn employees probably don’t have anywhere else to go. But captivity is a temporary approach to retention at best. As the recovery sets in, ignored employees will be among the first to move out. When a raise wasn’t an option, smart entrepreneurs used nonfinancial rewards, title promotions and new assignments to reward and motivate their people.

Watch workplace morale

Good morale is tough to define explicitly, but it usually emerges at the intersection of a strong sense of purpose, a culture of respect, opportunities for fun, collaboration with team members, spontaneous appreciation and valued perks.

In 2009, smart businesses didn’t let up on nurturing their employment brand.

They held on to the aspects of their company culture that made their employees happy to work there: free lunches, gym memberships, time off for volunteering, etc. But keep in mind that morale isn’t only a matter of pricey perks.

For example, savvy companies also looked for inexpensive team-building events. One of our clients shared with us that they hosted a movie night; they rented a DVD, and employees gathered in a conference room and enjoyed Ferris Bueller’s Day Off together. (Never underestimate the power of laughing together.)

Regardless of which perks were kept, cut or made up on the spot, smart entrepreneurs kept the lines of communication open.

Strong leaders know they can’t afford to go quiet during bleak periods because they’re afraid to communicate bad news or deal with the unknown.

This is not only bad for morale, but also can cause employees to think things are worse than they actually are.

Protect your benefits

During a time when every penny counts, smart businesses didn’t cut back on benefits with broad brush strokes.

Owners turned toward trusted advisors within their vendor partnerships to look for line items to reduce—all while ensuring that they were adhering to the latest rules and regulations and still offering a competitive plan.

The bottom line for every company is don’t let hints of a recovery—or the desire to avoid tough situations—weaken your resolve to make these four human resource cornerstones a part of your organization’s DNA.

These are not strategies you deploy when the going gets tough.

Like many fundamentals of success, employing these strategies is always good advice.

Burton M. Goldfield is president and chief executive officer of TriNet, an HR outsourcing company. Goldfield is responsible for setting TriNet’s overall corporate strategy and directing business operations.

He also provides strategic guidance regarding TriNet’s human capital offerings. entrepreneur.com

How to survive in an unhappy workplace

[Principles to remember]

Do:

* Differentiate between what you can change and what you can’t.
* Take responsibility for making a change.
* Focus on making the best of a bad situation.

Don’t:

* Assume nothing will ever change.
* Allow negative thoughts to rule you.
* Go it alone.

When you don’t like your job, going to work everyday can be a challenge. Your problem might be with a bad manager, that you constantly feel stretched to the breaking point, or that you are resentful about taking a pay cut. Or, the whole environment may just feel toxic.

You might need to stay in your job because it provides health benefits, or maybe you’re only staying while you look for another position. Whatever your reasons for being unhappy, you need to maintain your professionalism and prevent a bad attitude from sabotaging you.

What the experts say

Timothy Butler, Senior Fellow and Director of Career Development Programs at Harvard Business School and author of Getting Unstuck: How Dead Ends Become New Paths, believes there’s something elemental about the statement ‘I’m unhappy at work.’”

Butler, whose research focuses on personality structure and work satisfaction, says that to understand your unhappiness, you need to turn towards that feeling of unhappiness, experience it in a deep way, and not try to solve things too quickly. He suggests observing the feelings and not expecting anything. You may just find yourself at a frontier, considering what you’re going to do next.

“The existential nature of unhappiness is a wake-up call,” Butler says. “There’s some part of the self that is not being heard, that wants your attention, and that’s the issue.”

Similarly, Joe Mosca, an associate professor in the Leon Hess Business School at Monmouth University, who specializes in human resources management and organizational behaviour, agrees that looking within is the first step.

“That may be hard for some people to hear,” he suggests, because while it’s true that sometimes people just don’t match well with their jobs, employees tend to rationalize their job dissatisfaction rather than consider that they may be part of the problem.

But if you are part of the problem, you may be part of the solution, too.

Tammy Erickson, a workplace expert and author of Plugged In:The Generation Y Guide to Thriving at Work, advises that if you’re unhappy, see if you can upgrade your contribution to the company, or find a way to be more creative about your job.

She once performed very dull work in a book bindery but avoided becoming negative about the job by finding a way to make it less boring. Erickson was “interested in the process” and tried completing the tasks in a different order, which made the work quicker, easier, and less monotonous.

“No work is uninteresting if you can think how to do it differently,” she says. That’s not to say unhappy workers don’t have valid complaints. One thing you don’t want to do, however, is let your feelings boil over at work.

Signs that you need to take action

Perhaps you’ve heard of someone who was so unhappy he quit on the spot or blew up at a boss. Losing control at work helps no one and may have repercussions in both your current job and in the future - you never know when you’ll work with one of your current colleagues again.

Indications that you need to address your emotions may be physical or behavioral, explains Catherine McCarthy, a clinical psychologist and COO of The Energy Project, an organizational consulting firm.

The signs include feeling distracted, sluggish, angry or irritable, not sleeping well or sleeping excessively, relying on alcohol or food to comfort yourself, and withdrawing from friends and activities. All may indicate underlying depression or anxiety, which you shouldn’t ignore.

If you feel you have nowhere to turn, are about to burst, or are depressed, one option is to seek out your company’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) if it has one, adds McCarthy. Some EAPs will help you find a counsellor, and all are bound by healthcare and workplace laws to keep your request confidential.

There are also things you can try to change in your approach to your job. Consider these solutions for surviving and even thriving in a job that’s less than optimal:

1. Face the reality head-on. China Gorman, chief global member engagement officer of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reminds workers that during a recession or slow recovery, people at all levels experience the pain. Such an economic climate makes it more difficult to leave a job, but it doesn’t mean you should feel stuck. Erickson advises that you “Accept that this job is not where you want to be, even if you can’t make a change today.

But begin taking steps to change things.” McCarthy seconds this advice. “Practice radical acceptance,” she says. “Tell yourself, ‘This is where I am, this is where I’m going to be for a certain amount of time.’ You have more control over how you think than you realize.” Understand what you’re feeling, and that if you show up to work irritated, it affects your performance.

2. Develop a plan. Be proactive. Brainstorm with trusted friends and family members about your ideas. If there’s something you’d like to change, decide whether your boss is approachable and if so, the best tactics to use. If you have suggestions, discuss how they will improve your performance as well as others’.

The human resources department may also be able to help in some way, suggests Gorman, from helping you find a job within the company you’re better suited for, to assisting with work/life balance.

You could also try learning a new skill. At the very least, it may help you prepare for another job. It can also lift your spirits and lead to new possibilities at your current job. If your problem is with your boss, Gorman offers advice from personal experience.

She once had a boss who was smart and a strategic thinker, but terribly lacking in people skills. Gorman decided to be the boss she wished she’d had. “I made a list of what not to say, for example, and developed skills I still use today,” she says.

Finally, consider looking outside your job for fulfillment. Having an outside interest or two gives you another outlet and an activity to look forward to.

3. Find (or Accentuate) the positive. Make a list of the good points about your job, advises McCarthy. Gorman calls this a benefit log. You may be thankful to have healthcare and other benefits. You may like your co-workers, or the fact that you have a short commute.

Maybe there’s a great gym on-site, or you enjoy the opportunity for travel or the mentoring you do. Listing what you do like about your job will help shift your perception and keep you from feeling so trapped. If you don’t take responsibility, “it will hurt your performance, erode your satisfaction further, and make your time at the job worse,” she says.

Harvard Business Review

Train for gain

In a recession, how should organizations approach training? Do they cut the budget and wait it out? Or do they put training at the heart of a survival strategy to prepare for future success?

Training budgets have taken a hit in the recession. Industry surveys predict corporate training spends have been cut by at least 10 per cent on 2008 budgets. At the same time, a recent CBI report has revealed that just over half (51 per cent) of the more than 580 companies it surveyed are looking to get more out of staff training than they did before the recession, to help their businesses survive.

"They are recognizing that, if you spend on the right kind of training, for the key people, you're actually going to get a huge return on investment," says Richard Keown, director of BSI Training.

It's an important perspective: Keown points out that budget cutters may be creating problems for themselves down the line.

"What some are doing right now is shedding their workforce but not optimizing what they have," he says. "People are not adequately equipped to deal with a much leaner system and infrastructure to maximum efficiency.

Invest in these people and you would have a very robust organization, which will come out of the recession much fitter."

Value for money

What is the right kind of training for a downturn? BSI Training argues that its portfolio, which focuses on delivering business performance, business continuity and risk management, makes a lot of sense when times are challenging.

Work on performance is a strong cost saving investment. Moreover, BSI's training underpins the competence of staff to implement, embed and maximize the benefits of management systems certification. Now more than ever, corporates are looking for robust, standards-compliant suppliers and partners across the board.

How do organizations make the most of what they have and identify the training they need? A good start is to do a gap analysis, or to commission 'training needs' analysis.

Next, organizations need to invest in the most effective kinds of training. A recent trend is "blended learning" where courses are delivered using a mix of media, a formula recently adopted by BSI. E-learning is used to deliver pre-course preparation, ensuring that all delegates can start the course at a similar level.

It can also be useful for reinforcement. Instructor-led formats are then used to teach advanced techniques and processes, and importantly, to change the way people work.

Another factor is location. The value of on-site training is increasingly recognized because it encourages team building, and the course content will be tailored to your operation. There are also obvious savings in time, and travel and accommodation costs.

Endgame

Finally, Keown notes that organizations are not really looking for training per se, so much as they are looking for a solution. Training itself isn't the endgame, so much as actual, embedded, business improvement.

For this reason, BSI Training can go into organizations to evaluate what is needed to provide staged training agendas for delivery over a number of weeks or months.

"If you're looking for value," says Keown, "this approach can often deliver maximum return on investment. We will train a number of people, with an outcome that is tailored to your requirements as an organization."

Indeed some of these training projects can be very long-term. Bao Steel in China, for example, has had a contract with BSI Training for more than 10 years, wherein BSI regularly delivers modules in order to embed and perpetuate business performance improvement. This partnership has provided clear returns on investment.

Continuing to train through a downturn can make a lot of sense. It can maintain and improve both quality and productivity, reduce errors and delays, and help organizations keep pace with the competition.

Training also helps renew people's interest in their work or helps them get up to speed more quickly with new tasks. Undoubtedly it also improves loyalty, morale and confidence in the business.

Successful companies recognize the relationship between training and business performance in all financial climates, but now more than ever, training should be seen as an investment for surviving the downturn and planning for the future.

Case study: Six Sigma training in practice

Derek Robinson is the business process improvement manager at FMG Support, the UK's largest independent fleet performance improvement company. FMG supplies fleet incident management and roadside repair and recovery management and has a UK-wide network of customers including Royal Mail, Carlsberg and the Highways Agency.

Robinson chose to undergo a one-year, five-stage Lean Six Sigma training programme with BSI in order to give FMG a competitive edge and lift its client service delivery to a higher standard. He became a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and the training also equipped him to instil the Six Sigma methodology throughout FMG, ensuring that the maximum number of people benefit. By collecting data that measured return on investment, FMG was able to measure the benefits of the training in real terms.

Since completion, Robinson has been instrumental in streamlining a number of business processes that have improved customer service and increased overall efficiency.

For instance, the purchase and sales invoicing processes were improved by bringing in web-based solutions to speed things up. This yielded cost saving and cash flow improvements of Sterling Pounds 800,000.

Robinson adds: "In receiving Six Sigma certification from BSI, we also have something tangible to show our customers, which gives them added confidence in our ability to provide them with the best possible service." Business Standard.com Human Resource