Many businesses are reaping the benefits of flexible work schedules for purposes of employee retainment. Small businesses are beginning to realize that by offering flexible work options, they can decrease turnover of employees with special skill sets. Replacing employees with experience specific to their industry or their company can be difficult, not to mention extremely costly. While offering flexible work schedules to retain employees is a step in the right direction, many small businesses are far from offering flexible work options as a recruiting tool.

True, when Jane has done an excellent job working for ABC Company for the past 10 years, and now is faced with a significant life change (birth of baby, aging parent, divorce, pursuing higher education) her employer is more likely now than ever to offer her a flextime work option for purposes of retainment. (Flextime being anything full or part time that is not a typical Monday through Friday, 8 to 5 schedule.)

However, most small businesses are not yet to the point of considering the benefits of offering a flextime position for purposes of recruitment. Molly is a highly skilled employee with an exceptional resume. Year after year she has excelled in her position with her previous employer. Now that she is seeking a new job and desires a flextime schedule, she hears the same thing interview after interview: “We work with our employees who have been here awhile and have earned it, but not with new employees just coming in. After you’ve been here awhile, we can consider a flextime work schedule.” Sounds reasonable, but Molly’s current situation requires a flextime position now, not later. Not to mention that the promise of consideration doesn’t mean a flextime work arrangement will actually come to fruition.

Consider that during an interview with XYZ Company, Molly offers to work 28 hours a week. Many employers only offer benefits to full time employees. When you consider that (according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) benefits are 25-30% of the total compensation an employer pays out for each employee, XYZ Company can realize a significant savings on the cost of benefits by considering Molly’s offer of a part time position. In addition, the employer will recognize savings of a payroll reduction from 40 hours a week to 28 hours a week. With the average 40 hour a week employee producing approximately 32 hours of work per week, the employer may find 28 highly productive hours per week to be sufficient, especially if they hire an individual who is driven to be productive.

Employees are more likely to be engaged, productive, have high morale and low turnover when they are working to maintain a position that provides them with their ideal work/life balance. And small businesses win when they can save on the costs of payroll and benefits while at the same time, hiring exceptional talent.

TALENT TRACK  -  ELICITING IT RIGHT ART OF GAUGING STAFF SENTIMENTS CAN BE TOUGH
HR MANAGERS often fail to see the pitfalls of conducting 360-degree employee satisfaction (E-SAT) surveys. Sometimes, they do see the shortcomings of their methodology, but fail to see a way out. Many HR managers tend to conduct the survey through an online portal or an external agency. However, many of them fail to realize that if the program is poorly designed, it is not going to help the organization in any way. Here are the top 5 mistakes that HR managers of most companies make:

    E-SAT surveys are done by the HR department. E-SAT surveys should be done by a separate task force. I know this sounds contra-intuitive, but it is the truth. HR departments tend to treat E-SAT more as an activity which has to be completed mandatory. The HR should work towards getting the co-operation of business managers and leaders to conduct the survey as a team, regardless of whether you do it internally or through an external agency.

Do not have well-defined objectives for the survey: You cannot conduct the survey without any objectives. Work as a team to finalize the key objectives for the survey. For all you know, your exit interview results can help as one of the sources to understand major pain areas. For example, if employee-manager relationship is a key issue, your survey results will help you quantify the problem and give you the direction to plan appropriate HR initiatives. You may not want to add an evident problem as an objective, like, for example, salary satisfaction.

Selection of questions is misguided: This is like going to a chemist and asking him for medicine to cure your cold. What does the chemist know about your medical record to recommend the right medication? Nothing. He just wants to make money and so suggests the most expensive medication. You need a doctor who understands the cause and treats. You cannot do an internet search for questions and create a survey questionnaire. Involve business managers in the questionnaire design. Business managers are the ones who work very closely with people and their involvement in the area of questionnaire design and target output are vital for the success of the program. Do not have too many redundant questions; limit it to 20 to 25, with 5 choice answers.

Not adequate employee participation: I’ve often observed low participation for such surveys. Even accounting for those on leave and those who may have missed the communication on the survey, you should have more than 60% of the organization responding to the survey. Any less and you are undertaking a useless exercise. Different companies find different ways to increase employee participation — find one that works best for you.

Implementation task force too high-profile: A task force comprising only of senior managers to implement the action items as a result of the survey will not help. The end result may not be as desired. Instead, a few people who have responded to the survey need to be made part of the team in addition to the HR & business managers. This helps in smooth implementation and a wider reach. Otherwise, the same problems will crop up in the next survey. A team, well-defined objectives, appropriate questionnaire, good participation and a right task force will make this program a success. Do not forget to tell people in a periodic manner on what you are doing with the survey results.

Rajkumar D, senior manager , (HR), Microland

rajdraj@yahoo.co.in    http://www.linkedin.com/in/rajdraj