Many small and large business owners alike find themselves wondering why they’re struggling to keep talented employees on board. In some companies, it feels as though employees stay up to a certain point or a specific number of years and then there’s a sudden revolving door beyond which few employees hang around.

The first thought of many business owners is that it’s about salary or wages, but that’s rarely the reason employees are fleeing. These are some of the more commonly cited reasons for employees leaving businesses.

Lack of Engagement

Engagement is critical to the success of your business. You want employees to be excited about the work they do for you. This means you need to make sure your employees are doing the jobs they were hired to do rather than being relegated to mediocrity somewhere in the middle. Keep them challenged and allow them to pursue projects on the side like Google does by offering 20 percent of their work time to side projects. It leads to greater productivity and new innovations for the company.

Limited Opportunities for Advancement

No one wants to be stuck in the middle for the remainder of their career. If you want to build a loyal workforce then you need to offer advancement opportunities rather than bringing managers and supervisors in from the outside. It’s also a matter of demoralization for your employees to watch people from the outside come in consistently in supervisory roles.

Family/Personal Needs

Sometimes, there’s little you can do, as a business owner, to prevent an employee’s need to leave. Some of the most common personal needs for leaving a job include the following:

• Relocation of spouse
• Health reasons (personal health or that of a family member)
• Caring for aging parents
• Be at home with children

The reasons are all quite valid. However, savvy business owners and HR managers understand that solid employees are worth hanging on to and are willing to make concessions in order to keep them. Consider offering flexible scheduling or the ability to work remotely if it’s possible for your business. That way, you’re able to keep the benefit of a trained employee who works hard and delivers results and they get the flexibility they need in order to be home with family members, live in other cities, or recover from their illnesses.

No Feedback or Recognition from Management

Your employees really want to feel as though they’re doing a good job for you. They work hard and need to be recognized for the value they bring to the table. The only way they get that positive reinforcement in most businesses is if they’re recognized for their accomplishments and contributions by management. If they don’t get this recognition, they often feel unappreciated and ignored and this leaves them feeling completely disenfranchised, which is the last thing you want for your employees.

You don’t have to throw piles of money at employees to get them to stay. Most of the time, it only takes small changes to make a big difference for your employees and for your employee retention rate.

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Reward Employees Without Offering a Raise

How Can We Improve?

As a new manager, you may feel like you’ve got the cards stacked against you. Not only do you have a new job to learn, but team members are often apprehensive about working with you. What will you change? Who will you like and not like? Will that other guy’s brown-nosing get to you? It’s especially hard when you are replacing a favorite manager. On the other hand, you may have plans for making the changes the company needs and you don’t mind stepping on toes. What’s going to make this transition easier on everyone?

#1 – Introduce Yourself First

Don’t be the new mystery person in the office. Be the manager that walks out, offers a handshake and a smile, and introduces himself right away. It’s easy to get lost in the paperwork, organization and computer system, but it’s best to get out on the floor to introduce yourself first.

#2 – Meet People at Their Work Stations

A simple thing that can have a big impact is as simple as going to your employees and talking to them. Instead of waiting for them to approach you, go to them. You may even want to adjust your own work schedule to make it a point to see everyone and to get to know them on their turf. They’ll appreciate that you care enough to do that.

#3 – Learn from the Team

It’s also a good idea to take the time to learn the job from your team rather than coming in with a plan to make changes. You may have plenty of additional education and training than they do, but you should still learn how they do the job first. Learn each job on the floor with the senior member of the team that usually does the job well.

#4 – It’s a New Job

Remember that no matter what you did good or bad at your last job, this is a fresh start. Leave behind anything that gave you the one-up at your previous job. Your records don’t translate here. Don’t say, “This is what we did at my old job” because that’s not applicable here. Team members won’t like the comparison.

#5 – Be the Leader

You’ll also need to stand up and be the leader. Even though you are learning from the team, you still need to take a strong leadership stance from the beginning. That means being sure to take the heat, motivate others and coach your players to success.

Doing these things well will help you to build a strong team from the start. It takes time to get your feet wet at your new job. Give it the time it needs. Just remember that being a manager means you are leading with the skills you want your team to provide to you. If you are looking for a temporary staffing agency in Illinois, visit Davis today!

Enjoy a previous post on the topic of leadership in the workplace, from Davis Staffing!

4 Ways to Become a Better Leader

With employee performance reviews on the horizon and a new batch of new hires coming this year, many businesses are looking for alternative ways to increase compensation to employees besides giving raises. There are many factors that motivate employees outside of their basic salaries and benefits. By providing thoughtful incentives year-round, your company can increase productivity and employee retention.

Let’s look at some of the possible ways you can compensate your employees by thinking outside the norm.

Flexible scheduling. Being able to choose a work schedule around important family responsibilities is a perk that many working people appreciate. Give your salaried employees the ability to select a work schedule that gives them time to take care of doctor’s appointments, parenting duties, and community service and they are more likely to be happier and more productive when they at the job site.

Remote work arrangements. As we shift into a global business market, many companies are converting to cloud based systems that allow for work from other locations besides the office. Provide your employees the option to work from home at least one shift per week, and they will reward you with above average work.

Corporate discounts. By networking with local vendors, you can offer many perks to your employees in the form of discounts for entertainment, dining out, events, wellness services, and more. This is a nice way to say thanks to your employees at no extra cost to you.

Free snacks and meals. What employee doesn’t appreciate having a good meal or snacks at work? Make it a point to have a lunch catered at least once a month for your employees. Offer healthy choices to encourage overall wellness.

Casual dress code. Today’s workplaces are vastly different than days gone by when men and women arrived in business suits. Workers now enjoy dressing comfortably to focus on their jobs instead of a fashion show. Provide guidelines for a more casual work environment with a policy that allows for jeans, t-shirts, and sneakers.

Gift card bonuses. Instead of tacking on taxable income for employees, use a special employee incentive gift card program to reward employees. Grocery and retail gift cards can be purchased at discount and then presented to employees to mark special achievements.

Education and training. In order to further their careers, employees often need additional certifications and training. Provide on-site educational options and tuition reimbursement as part of an added compensation strategy.

To offset the costs of employee incentive plans, many companies turn to temporary staffing agencies that provide perks to their staffers at no additional cost to you. The staffing pros at Davis Staffing can support your goals to maintain affordable staffing costs, while creating a productive workforce. Find out more about our employer services online.

You know that delegating helps you to do a better job, but if you are like many others, you need a refresher in how to do it properly. There’s no doubt you do not want to be the type of person that is micro managing a company or staff. However, you need to know when and how to delegate effectively to accomplish goals.

What the Best Managers Do

The best managers provide a range of opportunities for their employees. They allow employees to think outside of the body. They encourage their staff to act quickly. They even throw out the rulebook and instead put in place a game plan with flexibility built in. Micromanagement is just not a part of this type of setup, and it should not be. As a business owner, you have to be willing to give up some control. How can you do this? Here are some tips.

Set Up Project Checkpoints

One way to do this is to set up checkpoints for your employees to use. People like to be in charge of something, and they are motivated when they are accountable for the outcome. As a business owner, you still want to make sure things are on task. To do so, set up a specific checkpoint. When the employee reaches that point, the employee reports their successes back to you.

Ask The Right Question

Instead of telling people what to do, ask questions instead. If you trust your employees, you should trust in their judgment of how to handle a situation. If you are questioning them about how they will handle the project, they feel empowered and ready to impress you. Establish this early on in the relationship with the employee, even as a new hire. That way, they are able to handle responsibilities seamlessly.

You Become the Resource

Rather than the boss with arms crossed staring down at the staff, you become the resource to go to when there is a need. It is always a good idea to encourage your staff to bounce ideas off of them or to come to you when there is a need, a question or any other scenario in which they feel they need to touch base. They need a strong support system and you are the perfect component as a business leader.

Fess Up What You Mess Up

A key thing to remember is that it is okay to let others know that you are not perfect (though you know you are!) If you are willing to state that you have made a mistake or two and that you learned as you went, your employees will be less worried about failing. If they do make a mistake, the consequences are not dire and that helps to keep them motivated.

Delegating is not always easy. It can hard work to step back and not jump in to solve the problem. However, it will reduce stress and empower your staff if you make it happen. Being a better delegator with your contract employees can help to make your company more efficient. Get support from Davis Staffing recruiters to help you assign critical tasks to your contract workforce, and get more accomplished this year.

Being a leader today means more than just having a nice suit and a corner office; it takes a certain kind of person to be looked at by others as a leader. Oftentimes, leadership is about being responsible for the success of others.

By creating an environment that encourages and inspires others to be better, both on the job and off, you help to make your company better as a whole. Therefore, it’s up to you to continually set the stage for excellence by becoming a better leader.

But, how can you accomplish this? Let’s look at some of the traits of the best leaders in the world, and four ways you can be a better leader.

The 4 Leadership Traits to Develop

1. Communication – As a leader you need above average listening and communication skills. When it comes to leading others, how well you can communicate your ideas, dreams, and instructions to others does make a huge difference. Take the time to become a better communicator, in different formats to reach others more effectively. Learn the art of making great presentations, sending clear and concise emails and other written messages, and expanding into other forms of technology to enhance your communication ability.
2. Empathy – How well do you know the people who work for you, and do you care what they experience on the job? If the answer is “no” to either one of those questions, then this is something you need to work on. Leaders get to know their subordinates, they find out what they can do to support their goals, and they have a keen sense of empathy for others. It’s this genuine concern that demonstrates your ability to lead in a meaningful way.
3. Delegation – There is no way you can even humanly accomplish everything by yourself, despite reasoning with yourself that you can. Leaders who attempt this quickly burn out and lose their ability to lead well. Instead of trying to do it yourself, take the initiative to delegate tasks out to others on your team who have the right skills to do a good job. This is a team building activity that the best leaders have mastered.
4. Education –  To be the best leader means you need to be smart. You need to stay ahead of the game and of competitors by constantly educating your mind about advances in your industry. Take the time to attend educational seminars, training conferences, and online info sessions. Then share this knowledge with others who need this information to be successful. You will be viewed as a thought leader and an innovator by being a life-long learner.

In order to be the best leader you can be, work on these 4 skills as much as possible. But also remember you need great people working for you and those who you can foster leadership qualities in over time. Look to Davis Staffing for support with building your leadership team and your own abilities as a leader of tomorrow.

You are hiring new or temporary staffers. You need great people to step right in and get the work done. The first few days on the job are critical to successful new hire orientation and productivity. How can you ensure that your new employee, temporary or not, is getting the right start in your business?

Making It Work from the Start

When it comes to hiring that new employee, getting them in the door is one thing. Getting them on the floor and ready to make money for you is very different. These tips can help ensure that first day goes perfectly.

• Make sure the employee gets to know your company’s culture in a positive manner. He or she needs to know what’s expected of them. Be sure there has been a session that introduces the individual to the company, including an orientation. Even if this is a temporary employee, he or she should feel good about entering the position.

• Set up a time later in the day to chat with the individual. Even on the first day, by stepping in for five minutes to check in with the new hire, he or she feels good about the job. This short meeting, which could even happy over lunch, is not meant to be a review, but just a “how is it going?” type of setting.

• Be sure the person training the individual is mentor-quality. Is there someone who is going to mentor this individual for the first few days? Even once they get the hang of it, does that individual feel comfortable going to that mentor with questions? This creates a fantastic connection for the individual. As a temporary worker, he or she may feel alienated naturally, but with the aid of a mentor, that’s less of a concern.

• Set goals even for the temporary worker. Set some goals about what they will learn and what you would like to see in terms of productivity. Even when the individual is just there for a short time, this can help with motivation, productivity, and even creating a respectful workplace for all involved.

• Treat them fairly, too. It is a good idea to keep the lines of communication open with other employees. Introduce the new person. Be sure that the staff knows that this person is here to help not to take over their hours or position.

Making that first day a success means less need to rehire over and over again. It means that you will find a positive experience from this process. Keep in mind that not every temporary worker will come back for you. If you foster a positive first day, they will want to. Take the time to check out your current first day protocol. What does it provide to your new hires? What message does it send? Most importantly, it needs to foster the firm foothold that these individuals need.

Need new staff who are pre-screened, evaluated and ready to get to work for your company? Consider how Davis Staffing can support your need for quality new hires in a wide range of skill sets and industry backgrounds. Find candidates in the Chicago and surrounding areas from our expansive staffing support services.

When you’re a business that’s actively recruiting job candidates, it’s more important than ever to have a high ranking in Google’s search results. Unfortunately, that, in and of itself can be a challenge. You’re not in the business of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). But, it can seem like you need to be an expert in that and countless other foreign sounding words in order to make your presence felt on the World Wide Web. Here are a few things you can do that will make a huge difference in your Google Ranking.

Use WordPress for Your Website

Not only does WordPress make the website design process simple for the non-technical person to do, but it’s also extremely SEO-friendly. If you aren’t going to hire someone to handle your website design, this is by far the best solution for businesses to use today. WordPress will take care of many of the off-page SEO things that are needed in order to help Google notice your site.

Understand Keyword and do Your Own Keyword Research

Keywords are the words and phrases people type into search engines to find what they’re looking for. The more frequently the keywords are used, the greater the competition will be for those words when it comes to ranking well on Google. But you want to find at least three well-searched phrases (keywords) that will help people to find your site and optimize your site around those keywords.

Provide Valuable Content

Your website is your virtual storefront on the Internet. It allows people to do a little window shopping to see if they want to come inside or cruise on over to the next website in the search results. Google sees your site the same way. They need to see content that is relevant to the topic of your site and the keywords you’ve chosen. This will help them determine how useful your site will be to the average user and rank you accordingly.

Content is king and always will be when it comes to getting good search engine ranking. Include content on your site about jobs your have available, recruiting efforts, the company culture, the research you’re doing, new products in the work, and the products (or services as the case may be) you have on the market today.

Finally, use social media to announce the presence of your site and solidify your corporate branding efforts. Not only does this help increase your brand recognition with consumers but also with job seekers. More importantly, it creates vitally important backlinks to your site that indicate to Google that you’re site is worthy of their attention too. The more good press you generate about your company and your site the better it will be for your Google ranking.

Enjoy a few related posts on using technology and web marketing to promote your business to attract better candidates:

Do’s and Don’ts of a Company’s Social Media Page

Online Brand Management: Protect Your Company’s Identity

Summertime is often the time when HR departments are actively searching for new candidates to fill temporary and permanent assignments. Additionally, as current employees are more frequently dreaming about taking vacations at the beach, supervisors are trying to maintain staffing numbers by boosting employee morale. Knowing what workers want from their employer this summer can help to retain greater numbers of employees, and help make the workplace more productive.

So, what are many employees looking for this summer? A recent employee poll revealed that 78 percent of working parents value flexible work arrangements to care for their families, while another 62 percent of all workers agreed having a flexible schedule is a major perk. In fact, many employees reported they would take a pay cut in order to have more flexibility in their work schedules.

Having the ability to work from home at least part of the week, or being able to leave early on Fridays is another factor that employees want to have more work-life balance. There are certain job tasks that are more friendly to telecommuting, and this is something that all employers should look at closely. In some cases, it can even save your company money by reducing office use.

It’s clear that in order to keep employee happier during the summer months, employers need to be thinking outside the box in terms of offering incentives. Here are some suggestions:

• Give all employees the option to work remotely during the summer, if their job duties allow.
• Provide a work environment that is casual and flexible so employees look forward to coming in.
• Have fun corporate events like catered lunches and after-work parties to let employees relax.
• Develop an incentive plan for employees who achieve their goals in the summer months.
• Offer employee development classes and training on-site to encourage skill and team building.
• Encourage employees to schedule their summer vacation times in advance.
• Design flexible work plans to allow remote employees to set their own schedules.

Your workplace can be a fun environment in which to encourage productivity and attract more talent to your team. Use the above tips to make your company a place where your employees will want to spend their summer.

Get help with your summertime staffing needs in the Southland Chicago area by working with the Davis Staffing team today!

If your organization is striving to attract one of the most technology-savvy groups of candidates in the job market, then making a plan to recruit Generation Y employees should be a part of your strategy. Generation Y, also known as the “Millennials” is the group of mid-20 to 30-something candidates who were born around the boom of the Internet and the gaming industry. These candidates are highly-skilled with many areas of science and technology, and generally possess above-average creative ability. These are the folks you want on your team to take your company into the future.

While your organization hires all age groups and backgrounds in terms of recruiting, it is beneficial to consider how Generation Y can add long-term value to your company. It’s always a good thing to mix young and mature employees, with Generation Y being a vital part of succession planning. However, Generation Y’ers can be difficult to attract and retain because they are looking for entirely different things than other candidates. Many are seeking exciting projects to work on, fun work environments, rapid career advancement, and recognition for their efforts.

Read on for some helpful advice on attracting and retaining the best Generation Y employees.

Develop a casual and fun work environment.  One major component of being able to attract and retain a young workforce is a fun and casual work environment. Set up a modern work place with areas to work and play. Include recreational spaces, gaming and television areas, and casual break areas so that employees can feel at home. Allow a looser dress code to encourage employees to focus on work not fashion. Hold frequent company events and activities that include music, food, and entertainment.

Offer on-the-job learning opportunities. Many Generation Y employees are either fresh out of colleges or internships, looking for additional ways to enhance their knowledge. Create mentoring, training and educational programs using the latest education technology – like video classes and virtual workshops. This can provide many additional benefits to employees who lack work experience, and can be very appealing to youthful candidates.

Encourage and respect the individual.  Generation Y is perhaps one of the most concerned groups in terms of wanting to be valued and respected for individuality. Make it a priority to respect all employees regardless of experience or background. Work with your other employees to make sure Generation Y’ers have equal say on projects and company goals.

Develop a wide-range of incentives. While you may think your company benefit and compensation program is the best out there, for Generation Y employees it may not be enough. For younger workers, having access to such perks as free meals, community event tickets, and rent subsidies can be significant. Take the time to offer many different choices in benefit plans to work well for all employees.

Make teamwork a priority. Instead of stuffy offices with meetings behind closed doors and employees stuffed into cubicles, create a collaborative and open work environment. Generation Y workers like to feel as if they are an important part of the bigger picture, so make sure they know this. Develop effective teams and encourage all to share ideas.

To attract Generation Y employees, hold job fairs at local colleges, post jobs on social media sites, place advertisements in college and community entertainment classifieds, and encourage employee referrals from your current staff. Or work directly through a quality staffing agency, like Davis Staffing, for temporary and contract workers in Chicago Southland and Northwest Indiana.

The days of wondering if social media is going to become an issue in the work place are far behind you. If you don’t take swift action now to establish a social media policy that’s fair to all, your company could face some serious social media blowback. This isn’t a problem that’s limited to big business. Any business that has employees needs to adopt a strong social media policy.

The bottom line is that your employees represent your company—even when they’re off duty. Having an effective social media policy not only insulates the company, to some degree, from blow-back, it also gives them grounds for dismissing employees who cause the company problems (including bad publicity) due to their own social media contributions.

Walking the Tightrope

Unfortunately, there’s an up and a down side to creating an explicit social media policy. When used wisely, employee’s social media contributions can actually do a lot of good for businesses. However, the situations we hear about in the media almost exclusively focus on social media gone wrong rather than all the wonderful ways it can be used for the greater good. In other words, the policy is needed, but you should make an effort to not make your social media policies stifling. Social networks, after all, are places where the average person turns to let his or her hair down and unwind.

Get Employee Input When Creating the Policy

Your employees are the perfect source for information about the specifics you should put into place in your company’s social media policy. Find the employees that have the most active social media lifestyles and bring them in to serve as consultants for the policy. This also helps all staff members understand that they aren’t being singled out by management with the social media policy.

Focus on Positive Language

Any policy is easier to take when it’s phrased in a positive way. Focus on what they can do and what you encourage them to do in their social media activities. Request that employees include disclaimers and provide full disclosure that they are, in fact, employed by your company, when they post. Also ask them to let their circle of friends know that they are stating their own opinions and that those opinions do not represent the thoughts or opinions of the company.

Social media policies are, first and foremost, about protecting the image of the company. While it takes all kinds of brilliant minds attached to varying opinions to make your company tick, these diverse thoughts and opinions can cause public relations nightmares for the company without a social media policy in place to harness them. Be fair. Be appropriate. And, be consistent in your enforcement of these social media policies.

Learn more about HR policies and management concepts by talking with the experts at Davis Staffing today!