"As business owners, we now need to create a business that is attractive to both customers and employees."

When I speak with business owners about their “Limiting Factors to Growth,” finding and retaining good people is always in the top three.

Last week I was invited to a presentation titled “Managing a Multi-Generational Workforce,” by Rhonda Thorburn, the regional Director for Kelly Services, Australia.

As a rough guide, below are the year brackets that determine the generations.

• Silent Generation: Born between 1922 - 1945
• Baby Boomers: Born between 1946 - 1960.
• Generation X: Born between 1961 - 1980.
• Generation Y: Born between 1981 - 2000.

How to attract and keep good people is a growing problem for all businesses, across all industries, especially so when we talk about Gen X and Y.

So how do we specifically attract and retain these younger employees?

The below *Five Strategies from Rhonda’s presentation will help set you on the right path.

(*Edited from the Kelly Services white paper titled Five Ways to Connect with Generation X and Y Workers.)

1. Think “High-Tech”
Make sure your company invests in the latest technology. Gen X & Y want the latest and greatest. Provide it and benefit from high productivity and dedicated employees.

2. Create Fun Environments
Add entertaining elements to work environments, eg… chair massages and spaces with lounges for social networking. Celebrate birthdays and recognize achievements.  Offer work contests with high-tech rewards such as MP3 players, Mobile Phones and Laptops.

Investing in your company socially will help create a fun work environment that not only attracts Gen X & Y, but also enhances productivity, quality, customer service and job satisfaction.

3. Leverage Relationships / Get Personal
Gen X & Y value friends and work mates of their own generations. They are the perfect resource for word-of-mouth recruitment for new employees. Educate them about the kinds of workers your business is seeking. Offer incentives for their part in the process.

Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. Build relationships with these generations by talking with them, showing you care, and making yourself available to hear their concerns. And never forget to thank an employee for doing a good job.

4. Embrace Workplace Flexibility
Develop an accommodating environment. Provide employees with opportunities for job changes, internal mobility and flexible schedules. Don’t micro manage. Give them room to grow and make decisions.

Studies show that three out of four Generation X workers pick the place they want to live before they find a job. This means your company may need to follow talent.

5. Expand & Enhance Training Opportunities
Gen X & Y thrive on developing their work skills and knowledge. Most opportunities are seen as stepping-stones to something better in terms of their career. Provide learning opportunities by expanding e-based learning modules.

Create work “teams” or pair older workers with younger workers to prepare them to take over when necessary.

Does some of that sound too much?
It may have in the past, but things have changed.

As business owners, we now need to create a business that is attractive to both customers and employees. Creating a work environment that nails these five strategies will appeal to all generations and all genders, not just  X & Y's.

As my business partner Michele Miller says, "Everything is Marketing."

Marketing to employee's is a new arrow you must place in your marketing quiver.

Let us know if you need help.

Read About Craig Arthur

All 70 of their engineering eyes bored into me.  My skin felt the burning of their anger, waiting for an explanation, wondering how I could excuse my actions. 

“It was my fault,” I told them.  “You can blame me.  I should have changed the settings for the different wafers, but I ran them all at the same setting.” 

“So you intentionally violated spec?”  His beady eyes seemed hungry to devour my flesh.

I had just destroyed $200,000 worth of computer chips in our attempt to rescue a batch that the fab had attempted to fix. 

“So you alone were the one responsible for this disaster?”  He continued.

“Yes, I’m the one,” I said out loud.  

“Management that is destructively critical when mistakes are made kills initiative,” said William L. McKnight, former CEO of 3M. 

Mistakes test the character of employee and supervisor.  They’re an opportunity to build trust or destroy it.

Thankfully the guy hungry for my blood wasn’t my boss.  He pushed hard with my boss and the boss above him to get me fired.  They stood behind me.  They let me know that although I had made a mistake, they believed in me for both my past performance and the way I behaved in the midst of failure.

Soon after I implemented new improvements to our process that saved the company $4 million/year.  I have no idea what happened to Mr. Revenge. 

Are you willing to let your employees fail?  Are you willing to give them room to step out on a bridge of risk and do things they’ve never done before?  Will you stand by them when they fall?  Or do you take control and keep them from learning the lessons that can lead to explosive growth?

Whether you partake in their success is entirely up to you.

Read About Peter Nevland

 A couple of partners in an energy recruiting firm here in Houston told me yesterday at lunch that in their line of work of high level recruitment, “advertising is a no-no” (it’s too bad I didn’t get them to define exactly what they meant by ‘advertising’). Candidates are searched out and found, and then brought along by recruiters.

Read About Joshua A. Stevens

How do your employees represent you?

  Top Ten Qualities Guests Expect

 
I live by Kentucky Lake in Marshall County Kentucky. Tourism is the #1 industry here. The visitors that come here leave behind over 100 million dollars each year in the cash registers of the area businesses. The 41 lodging facilities including resorts, bed and breakfast places, motels, cabins and hotels get a good part of that 100 million.

 
The Marshall County Tourism Department sent out an article in their monthly newsletter stating the top ten qualities guests expect when choosing a lodging facility for a vacation. These top ten are according to the Cornell Report. Since I own a tourist attraction, I was very interested in the article. It stated that these ten would determine whether or not you would have repeat business. These are not listed by order of importance because each one is important to the guest.

  Top Ten Qualities Guests Expect

1. Friendliness
2. Quality of Service
3. Attentiveness
4. Consistency
5. Efficiency
6. Professionalism
7. Neat appearance
8. Distinctive Personality
9. Personal Recognition
10. Genuineness

I say, not only lodging, but restaurants, tourist attractions, and all businesses should offer up these Top Ten to their customers if they want repeat business. In fact when a visitor feels they do not get these ten, their vacation next year will be somewhere else.  

  My wife and I are typical of most people. We have a tendency to go back to the same places for vacation over and over if we are treated right. We go back to the same restaurants and the same motels and visit a lot of the same attractions if we are treated right.

  There are a mirade of choices available for the consumer today. It is so easy for the visitor/customer to go somewhere else. If we want repeat business, we should adopt the Top Ten Qualities Guests Expect and make them an integral part of our daily routine.

  Please vote thumbs up if you agree.

Read About Clay Campbell

I just sat through another excruciating meeting. Do people never learn?

A while ago I wrote about a meeting I had attended where a boss had belittled a staff member during a meeting and in front of everyone else in attendance. I was embarrassed for him and felt badly for his staff member and even talked to him about it.

Fast forward eight months and we are meeting again. It’s obvious that this business manager believes in order to demonstrate his power as a boss, he must rail on one of his staff members in public meetings. As I wrote last time, even though this was a different person, not only was the staff member clearly upset by the reprimand (earned or not), but he was also incredibly embarrassed at the public flailing. He had no where to hide with no opportunity to save face and his discomfort derailed the productivity of the rest of the meeting. Plus it undermined his position of authority in the eyes of the rest of the meeting participants.

I should have terminated my association with that client after the last incident but didn’t. I have now.

Once again...

If you find yourself in the position of handing out reprimands, show some sensitivity, do it privately. Not only will your staff member appreciate it, but you will earn their respect and your business associates won't think you're such a pompous ass and might keep doing business with you.

Cheers

Steve

Read About Steve Rae

• 42% want retirement that cycles between periods of work and leisure
• 16% want part-time work
• 13% want to start a new business
• 6% want to work full-time
• 17% hope to never work again

Read About Michele Miller

From Service Starters here are some ways to manage your time to get the most out of your personal performance.

* Use the principle of triage to separate problems into three categories: those that can't be resolved, those that will probably resolve themselves, and those that can be resolved if and only if you intervene.

You should be devoting most of your attention to the third group, where you can have the greatest impact in the shortest time.

* Within this third group, address the highest priority items first, don't spend time on minor issues just to "get them out of the way."

* Delegate tasks that can de done by other people. Spend your time on tasks that only you can do.

* Make sure that anyone who comes to you with a problem has first come up with two or three options for dealing with it, and is ready to recommend a preferred option.

* Teach your staff how to manage their time. Encourage them to clear their desks at the end of each day, make to-do lists, prioritize their tasks, and think in terms of solutions.

Read About Steve Rae