Last month’s article, “Record-Breaking EBITA Exceeded Mid-Twenties for Many Component Manufacturing for 2021,” mentioned a key factor in making best-in-class profits: the highest performers have very low employee turnover and vacancies. Creating a stable and proficient workforce is essential to best-in-class profits. Here are some, but certainly not all, key aspects to keep in mind.
Employees want to be a part of a meaningful communication process.
Todd Drummond Consulting
The image shows one of my training slides, which discusses the most overlooked aspects of employee motivation and engagement. The chart is a typical representation that any HR manager would agree with when surveying a large group of employees. What is significant is the order of importance from the employees’ perspective, shown in red, versus what the manager thinks employees consider most important, shown in blue. There is a severe disconnect in how most managers understand the communication process. The top area where most managers fail is properly communicating with employees in meaningful conversations. Meaningful conversations directly connect with positive employee engagement and job satisfaction. A word of advice on a good starting point is a daily walk around to all departments will help show you care about employee needs and what they have to say. They need you to Listen. Too many employees feel like they are being treated like mushrooms (kept in the dark and fed horse manure). The larger the company, the more difficult this vital employee engagement is to implement, but it remains critical for a high-performing company.
A healthy work-life balance is essential for proper long-term employee stability and beneficial gender employment.
It is a sad reality, but the truth is too many men deceive themselves believing that putting their job as their number one priority in their lives will benefit their families. Ask any man if he thought being willing to sacrifice his marriage and relationship with his children was worth it for the job, and there would be a resounding no from most men. Yet, sacrificing their family relationships is exactly what they are doing when they neglect their relations by spending ridiculous hours for the sake of the job and career. Do you think I am exaggerating? You should have some conversations with executives and inquire how many times they have been married and how many of their kid’s birthdays they missed to show loyalty to the company’s needs.
We men could learn a thing or two from women about a work-life balance.
One of the prime reasons for not attracting women into any workforce sector is the unhealthy demand for too many long hours. An example of this is the long-haul trucking industry, which requires many days away from the family. For the vast majority of women, family obligations are number one, and everything else comes a distant second. If your company requires long, unflexible hours for the needed positions, you can forget about having a stable workforce to reach best-in-class profitability.
It is perfectly acceptable and should be a standard practice to hire an outside specialist or group to help your company achieve higher performance.
Did you know that the vast majority of successful companies all hire temporary experts to assist them in achieving higher performance? An outside expert can help your company implement a new ERP system, recruiting services, improve employee relations and staffing, or any new process such as a best-in-class workable lean manufacturing process to achieve higher performance. From my conversations with so many company executives, the companies which need the most help are the same ones who will never ask for outside assistance and are unwilling to pay for the expert advisement. Too many believe they can gain expert assistance with their vendor’s “free, unbiased” advice, which is never really free, and the chance of biasedness is undoubtedly a high probability.
If you are like most people, good is never good enough, and you should always strive to do better. If your company has a high employee turnover and open positions within any area, it is a clear sign of trouble that will limit the company’s profit potential. Even in these uncertain times, having a highly engaged and stable workforce is attainable. Please keep in mind that knowing when to reach outside your company for assistance is not a sign of weakness but one of strength. Perhaps your group is ready to try something different?
