Balancing Employee Satisfaction With Maximum Output

Three top HR experts from Wallis Companies, PRR, and Levitonshare their insights on:

Balancing EmployeeSatisfaction withMaximum Output

Rachel W. AndreassonVice President, Organizational Services, Wallis Companies

Megan BlacksherDirector, Human Resources, PRR

Mark FogelVice President, HR and Administration, CHRO, Leviton

Driving employee engagement is one of HR’s most critical tasks.Engaged employees are happier, more productive, and morecreative, powering the company into growth and ongoing suc-

cess. Creating employee engagement is a long process, and beginswith increasing HR involvement and communication. Open the linesof communication between employees, HR, and management, andshow employees that the company is actively listening and respond-ing to their ideas and concerns. Ensure that HR is deeply involvedin hiring and onboarding, partnering with the business units to cre-ate a deep line of sight to overall business success. If the companycares about its employees, they will care about the company — butit is critical that HR talk to and listen to employees, to monitor theeffectiveness of its sending and its programs. This union of caringand rigor will help HR increase business productivity while controllingcosts, building employee engagement for the long term. ■

in partnership with Aspatore Books

™ExecBlueprints

www.execblueprints.com

Action Points

I. Key Supervisor SkillsAn employee’s job satisfaction isstrongly correlated to satisfaction with his or her manager.

II. The Bottom LineThe basic core competencies foremployees are remarkably stable.

III. Must-Haves for Smart RetentionEvolving strategies, two-waycommunication, and understanding the role of turnover are all essential.

IV. The Golden Rules in DrivingEmployee EngagementWhat you measure is what getsmanaged. Take an active interest in every employee you have. Prioritizecreating many avenues forcommunication.

V. Essential Take-AwaysRetaining, motivating, and focusingemployees on business results takes adedicated HR effort. Creating change inthe organization requires broad trust ofHR, which is something leaders mustwork to build.

Contents

About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.2

Rachel W. Andreasson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.3

Megan Blacksher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.6

Mark Fogel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.8

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points . . . p.11

Copyright 2008 Books24x7®. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without the prior written permission of the publisher. This ExecBlueprints™ document was published as part of a subscription based service. ExecBlueprints,a Referenceware® collection from Books24x7, provides concise, easy to absorb, practical information to help organizations address pressing strategic issues. For more information about ExecBlueprints, please visit www.execblueprints.com.

© Books24x7, 2008 About the Authors ExecBlueprints 2

About the Authors

Rachel W. Andreasson is the vicepresident of organizational ser-vices for Wallis Companies, which

employs over 600 employees throughoutthe state of Missouri. In her current posi-tion, she oversees human resources,training, and information technologyand is responsible for organizationaldevelopment.

Prior to joining Wallis Companies inNovember 1993, she was the training

coordinator at South Seas Plantation onCaptiva Island, outside of Ft. Myers, FL.

She is currently secretary of theCrawford County Foundation, a directorfor the Peoples Bank of Cuba, and aboard member of Missouri PetroleumMarketers Association Foundation. Shewas president of the Crawford CountyFoundation from its inception in October2001 until February 2007, has been an active member of the National

Association of Convenience Stores, andwas president and on the board of theSullivan Montessori School for manyyears.

Ms. Andreasson holds a bachelor ofmanagement degree from TulaneUniversity in New Orleans.


☛ Read Rachel’s insights on Page 3

Megan Blacksher has worked inhuman resources at small com-panies for her entire career. She

has been the HR director at PRR since2002. PRR, based in Seattle, is nationallyrecognized for its work in social marketing, public involvement, and community building.

Ms. Blacksher manages all aspects ofhuman resources at PRR, including

recruitment, employee relations and com-munication, compensation and benefitsadministration, and training. She has over11 years of human resources experience,and has worked in the industries of advertising, printing, and publishing.

Ms. Blacksher is an active member ofthe Society for Human ResourcesManagement and holds a Professional ofHuman Resources (PHR) certification.

She earned a bachelor of science in business management from the Universityof Phoenix.


☛ Read Megan’s insights on Page 6

Mark Fogel is currently vice pres-ident of Human Resources andAdministration for Leviton

Manufacturing Co. Inc. As their seniorHR officer, he has oversight for both cor-porate and regional facilities supportinga population exceeding 10,000 employ-ees in North America, Asia, and theMiddle East.

The Society for Human ResourceManagement (SHRM) has named Fogelthe Human Capital Business Leader of theyear for 2007, an award that goes to asenior HR professional who serves as a leading force in executing organiza-tional strategy that directly impacts the organization’s performance andprominence. During his tenure at Leviton

he has earned a reputation as a “get itdone” executive who has reengineered theHR function from an administrative bodyto a strategic business partner.


☛ Read Mark’s insights on Page 8

The More Things Changethe More They Stay theSameMargins continue to get slimmerand technology is ever changing. Ascompanies try to find out how theycan be more productive and efficient, a lot of processes lendthemselves to technology.

Even though technology changesand improves, we have measuredour employees on the same five corecompetencies in our organizationfor more than 10 years. Everyonein our organization is rated on thesame things, from the CEO to ourfront line sales associates. Yes, wehave different behavioral indicatorsthat vary by position under each of the competencies but the corecompetencies are the same and are:

• Customer service

• Communication

• Developing talent

• Technical expertise

• Business results

These five seem to fit every posi-tion within our organization. I alsobelieve that there are some thingsthat should change and there areother things that if they stay con-sistent, then people believe in theirvalue and are more apt to followthrough with the process. In theexample of our core competencies,we have a great performance man-agement system but it is aligned toour strategic objectives, and we

have stayed with the five compe-tencies over the years so people trustthe words, understand the meaning,and know they can count on themto be there.

Recruitment and RetainingIssuesIn 2000, we had greater than 150percent turnover. In 2000, weimplemented our balanced score-card process. We set out to have anoverall turnover goal of 35 percent,and we ended at 47 percent lastyear, so we have more than cut it inhalf and I truly believe it is becausewhat you measure gets managed.Turnover is one example, but wehave many examples that illustratewhat can happen when you estab-lish the goals, communicate thegoals, hold people accountable, andalign the individual objectives and compensation to the results.Amazing things can happen!

We operate a diverse businesswhich includes retail locations thatare open 24x7, so finding andretaining talent can be a challenge.I think the key is that people wantto get satisfaction out of theirwork, feel their voice is heard, sharetheir ideas, and be knowledgeableabout the company’s goals and howthe company is performing. Ourbusiness has grown and been suc-cessful because we have alwaysfocused on our employees and hadgreat benefits. We have always had the philosophy of all for one, one for all, so whatever our

executive team gets as far as healthinsurance is the same thing ourfront line associates get and thatincludes our 401(k) plan and vacation.

Every company has to work hardto keep employees. For retention, wehave an overall goal of 75 percent,and we ended last year at 72 per-cent. We have made great strides inretaining the core group of our work-force, and we are constantly working to maintain our success.

Development StandardsWe take an active interest in everyemployee we have. Employee devel-opment is a core value andLeadership Development is one of

© Books24x7, 2008 Rachel W. Andreasson ExecBlueprints 3

Rachel W. AndreassonVice President, Organizational Services

Wallis Companies

“We prioritize creating many avenuesfor communication.”

• Oversees HR, training, IT, and organizational development

• Company employs over 600 throughout Missouri

• Joined company in 1993

Ms. Andreasson can be e-mailed [email protected]


HR has to create processes so employees feel thatthey can easily communicate and give feedback.

Rachel W. Andreasson

Vice President, Organizational ServicesWallis Companies

our three themes. We have a per-formance management system withforms A, B, and C. Form A is indi-vidual goals that are directly linkedto our scorecard. Form B is behav-iors. Form C is development for particular employees. Everyemployee can pick one to two devel-opment items to focus on that willhelp them execute their goals andimprove their technical expertiseand knowledge.

For seeking and developing ourown future leaders, we have a two-year leadership development pro-gram. We have mirrored theprogram off of the book Grow YourOwn Leaders. We have a nomina-tion process from our business unitleaders. We limit it to 1 or 2 per-cent of the population and we eval-uate an employee’s performance intheir current role, whether they setan example within their own divi-sion, and whether they have thepotential to take on more respon-sibility. Through the nominationprocess, we select the cream of thecrop for our leadership developmentprogram. The first year is focusedon problem solving and leadershipdevelopment and the second year

the team takes on a company problem and works to solve it.

We don’t know what kind ofgrowth or what positions we’regoing to have available in five years,so my philosophy is that we haveto grow our own leaders. If we candevelop leaders with the key char-acteristics for running a businessunit, it doesn’t matter if they’re running a car wash division or a

lube division; with the right leader-ship skills you can be adaptable torunning a future division.

Assessment TestingWe do a lot of assessment testing.For all of our front line associates,we have behavioral-based testingbecause I believe past behaviors predict future behaviors. Testing is


Rachel W. AndreassonVice President, Organizational Services, Wallis Companies (continued)

The WhatBalanced Scorecard

Objectives

The HowCore Competencies andBehavioral Indicators

Value AddedDevelopmental Action

Plans

FORM AIndividual

SMART GoalsLinked to the BSC

FORM BAligning BehaviorsWith Wallis’ Values& Driving Results

FORM CDeveloping SelfTo Add More

Business Value

Wallis Companies’ VALUESEveryday Tasks

Action Plans

BSC

Strategy

Mission

Vision

Individual GoalsTied to BSC

Behaviors Tied to Values

CompensationTied to Success

Company StrategyPeople Strategy

only a tool, but the tools have got-ten much better over time and Ibelieve the tools are more reliableand predictable. Testing gives usadditional insight that we might notget during an interview, and we canfollow up with behavioral-basedquestions based on the assessmentresults.

I believe a thorough interviewprocess impresses employees. Theyknow that we have invested the timeto find the right person. We do allof our due diligence and do team-based interviews. It is also impor-tant that the applicant does all oftheir own due diligence. Each appli-cant has a responsibility to ask a lotof questions and find out whetherthis is the right culture for them.Team-based interviews and a thor-ough process are a win/win combi-nation for the employee as well asthe company, which means less sur-prises and a better fit for the longterm.

Promoting EmployeeSatisfactionHR has to create processes soemployees feel that they can easily

communicate and give feedback. Wemust ensure the systems are in placeso their opinions do count. We havetown hall meetings once a yearwhere we go to different locationsand have an open forum.Employees can send in questions ifthey can’t come, and we produce allof the questions and answers.

We also have an online systemcalled voice card. Twenty-fourhours a day, seven days a week,employees can give us suggestionsor register a complaint. We have apride team with representativesfrom each business unit who meeton a quarterly basis to talk abouthow we can make Wallis a greatplace to work. They discuss whatwe are doing today and what weneed to do differently.

Our company has a culture thatsupports an open door policy. Ifsomeone calls HR and has an issuewith their supervisor, we immediatelyask when they last had a conversa-tion with that supervisor. We have toredirect employees to make surethey’ve talked to the people who canactually make a change. There hasto be integrity in the communicationprocesses. We have to allow the

person who can make the change totake responsibility, and HR can helpfacilitate the process.

ChallengesWhen seeking to improve employeesatisfaction, one challenge is tryingto maintain fairness based on dif-ferent perspectives. We had a “nojeans” policy in our company, andthen a team decided to have a prideday where they would donatemoney to a charity and wear jeans.It sounded great for that team, butother employees had an issue withthe element of fairness. It was amorale buster.

The picture is always biggerthan one perspective. There arealways two ways of looking ateverything. It’s a challenge to bal-ance perspectives. Once you have allthe information, you ultimatelyhave to make a judgment call. Thekey thing about making a judgmentcall is being consistent after you’vemade it. It may not be right in every-body’s eyes, but as long as you’reconsistent and you can explain thestandards, fairness will prevail. ■


Rachel W. AndreassonVice President, Organizational Services, Wallis Companies (continued)

The hiring supervisor is responsible for reviewing applications. We don’thave a recruiting segment within our organization. We have always felt likethe person who is going to best understand whether a candidate is going tofit into the mini-culture of a location is the supervisor of that location. Wedo the training and give the supervisors the resources and the tools, butevery supervisor reviews his own applications and résumés. We do a lot ofteam-based interviewing, but the hiring supervisors are responsible forcoordinating and organizing everything, and they always make the final jobdecision.

Rachel W. Andreasson

Vice President, Organizational ServicesWallis Companies

Needed Skill SetsOur company needs strong com-municators. We’re essentially acommunications consulting firm.We need people who aren’t afraidto take risks to figure out if some-thing’s going to work. If you’reafraid to fail, you’re not going totake risks. Risks ultimately lead youto the greatest successes. The ability to take risks in the face ofproblem solving is important to us.

Our searches now focus on anunderstanding of using new tech-nology. We do a lot of marketingand public relations projects. Socialnetworking tools and certain com-munications resources weren’tmainstream a couple of years ago.The ability to grasp that technologyand understand how to use it to fur-ther serve our clients’ needs isimportant in new hires.

Recruitment and RetentionIt is always a challenge to recruitand retain great staff. Needs areever-changing, so recruiting is nota static process. Retention is grow-ing more challenging. I’ve been inHR for 11 years across a few dif-ferent industries, and I feel thatretention is more difficult nowthan ever. People have access tomore opportunities and they have

a different level of expectation.We’re not in the era of the goldwatch after 20 years of service any-more. People don’t come out of col-lege and expect to stay with a jobfor a lifetime.

Retention has to be smart. Weabsolutely want to retain and con-tinue to challenge our top per-formers. We also have to realizewhen it makes sense for an indi-vidual to move on. Turnover isn’talways a bad thing. It’s about mak-ing sure you continue to have amutually beneficial relationshipwith your staff. It’s something thatcompanies have to work for.

Getting InputWe gather input from the staffabout employee satisfaction.Supervisors ask staff for informalfeedback. I do regular check-inswith people, especially new employ-ees. I have a regular set of employeeand HR check-in meetings with

people after a month, 90 days, and six months on the job. I lookat trends in terms of meeting andmanaging expectations for newstaff during the orientation andonboarding process.

We have an employee satisfactionsurvey that people can fill out con-fidentially online. We have bench-marks that we measure from yearto year. We’re in the process of wip-ing the slate clean and starting overwith the survey to put a greateremphasis on employee engagement.

Assessing PotentialLeadersOur leaders naturally float to thetop. The people who are more

© Books24x7, 2008 Megan Blacksher ExecBlueprints 6

Megan BlacksherDirector, Human Resources

PRR

“I believe in being involved with eachand every new hire.”

• Company recognized nationally forsocial marketing, public involvement,and community building

• Over 11 years of HR experience inadvertising, printing, and publishing

• Active member of SHRM; holdsProfessional of Human Resourcescertification

Ms. Blacksher can be e-mailed [email protected]


We are always asking for input from staff. Why are they here? What keepsthem here? We want to know what’s important to people, not pullsomething out of a hat. There are more fundamental things than free sodain the lunch room that keep people here. Their overall needs have to be met.Compensation and benefits have to be fair and competitive, and the workhas to allow them to use their skills and interests each and every day.

Megan Blacksher

Director, Human ResourcesPRR

One of our topchallenges when seekingto improve employeesatisfaction is time.

Megan Blacksher

Director, Human ResourcesPRR

evident leaders in our organizationare very strong performers. They areable to impact business develop-ment and develop other peoplewithin the organization. They canhelp grow others’ careers and playa mentorship role. The ability todevelop strong internal and clientrelationships is critical, as is an over-all understanding of the businessabove and beyond day-to-day rolesand responsibilities.

Top ChallengesOne of our top challenges whenseeking to improve employee satis-faction is time. We work in a client-driven company. Our managersand staff have a lot of expectationsin terms of project work and clientdeliverables. Taking the time to keepemployee satisfaction on the radaris always challenging.

Communication is a big part ofemployee satisfaction, especiallycommunication with one’s supervi-sor. I firmly believe that anemployee’s satisfaction with thecompany is directly related to the relationship he or she has withhis or her supervisor.

The critical pieces of being agreat supervisor are setting goals,communicating those goals, build-ing a trusting relationship with staff,and holding staff accountable.Taking the time for this is a key element of employee satisfaction.

Generational differences are a big challenge. The baby boomers

supervising Gen Y employees havedifferent expectations in terms ofwhat will keep them satisfied.Taking some time to understandthose differences and to deal withpeople on an individual basisinstead of taking a one-size-fits-allmanagement approach is critical. ■

© Books24x7, 2008 Megan Blacksher ExecBlueprints 7

Megan BlacksherDirector, Human Resources, PRR (continued)

Regular check-ins with new employees

Assessment of new-employee expectations

Regular, informal feedback from employees to supervisors

Confidential online satisfaction surveys

Annual benchmarks and metrics

Understanding of company employee satisfaction

Gathering Employee Insight

Challenges and NeedsWe are facing similar challenges toour competitors in the marketplace.We are a vertical manufacturer, andthe technology of our product isstarting to change in the market-place. We have gone from electro-mechanical to digital technology.Our engineering skill sets are some-what different, because some of thenewer technologies in CAD andmanufacturing have changed in thepast few years. We are seeing a needto change the skill sets of our coremanagement and manufacturingteam. In many cases, our staff hasgone back to school. They are veryproactive. Our company has a 100percent tuition reimbursement pol-icy that we have instituted in thepast year.

We send a lot of our executivesand management and staff out toseminars to keep them abreast ofchanging technology. We bring ourvendors that we work with in tomake sure that we are well awareof how to work with the technol-ogy that they are implementing. Ithink there has been significantchange, and I think that is somethingthat is going to continue.

I think one of the interestingdynamics is that we are movingfrom an organization where themajority of our employees up tonow have been either traditionalistsor baby boomers. About 60 percentof our current population falls into

one of those two categories. Theother forty percent fall into gener-ation X and Y, which is increasingand will continue to increase in thenext five years. They are cominginto the workplace with those skillsets. Our real challenge is not somuch with our new and emerging,but with our tenured employees. Wehave a lot of management and staffthat have 25 years plus tenure withthe company, and if they weretrained on what we refer to aslegacy products and services ortechnology, they have to change. Weare very fortunate. I would tell youthat the vast majority of them areable to make that jump.

Spotting Future LeadersWe have developed a model of lead-ership profiles as a corporation. Itmeasures 10 areas, and we haveactually put together a very sophis-ticated program that is led by myemployment training and develop-ment group here in New York. Welook at a matrix both from wherea staff member stands, whether asupervisor, a manger, a director, ora VP, and then we look at the profiles.

Some of those profiles include:

• Exhibiting leadership drivingstature

• Maintaining effective teamsand work groups

• Cultivating key relationshipsand communication effectively

• Developing self and others

• Navigating the organizationwith a strategic vision

• Resolving problems

• Making decisions

• Taking risks and leadingchange

• Responding to customer needs

• Budget and financial acumen

We get both the perspective ofthe employee and how they self rateand of the supervisor, and how theyare on a bunch of competencies thatfall within these profiles. We build

© Books24x7, 2008 Mark Fogel ExecBlueprints 8

Mark FogelVice President,

HR and Administration, CHROLeviton

“Earning respect is a big step for theHR group.”

• Oversees both corporate andregional facilities

• Supports over 10,000 employees inNorth America, Asia, and the MiddleEast

• SHRM Human Capital BusinessLeader of the Year, 2007

Mr. Fogel can be e-mailed [email protected]


When we talk about how we as a company arehelping to create a level of employee satisfaction,we act as catalysts in that, and it was notsomething that happened overnight.

Mark Fogel

Vice President, HR and Administration, CHROLeviton

development plans off of them, andit all integrates into where we aregoing. It integrates into what theirjobs are now and what their jobsmay be in the future, and I think itis a really good way of really knitting together all of the differentelements.

Hiring ProceduresWe have a formal process for hir-ing. All of our business groups,whether they are functional orbusiness units, have criteria. Theyhave a budget and a head count thatthey go into a budgeted year with,and we make adjustments if some-body’s business is doing well. Wedeal in real time with makingadjustments.

If people need more staffingbecause the business is accelerating,we try to fill those needs. If a busi-ness area is suffering or retrenching,we evaluate whether changes needto be made or reductions need tooccur. We have also gotten some-what flexible in that our model formany of our areas is for individu-als to not only be technical, but havebetter generalist skills so that theycan criss-cross and work in otherdivisions and have better mobility.

Enrichment ProgramsWe have always done a nice job ofconducting enrichment programs.Those are conducted during workhours at Lunch & Learns, and wealso do them after work in somecases. They run the gamut from run-ning a Weight Watchers programduring lunch on Mondays to doinga health fair where we will do somecancer and blood pressure screen-ing. We also do Smoke Enders andeven run a defensive driving course.

Though we are not big on con-ducting surveys, we do occasionallydo micro-surveys. We will useSurvey Monkey or an internalresource, such as our director ofmarket research, to help us do asmall survey. We will send out a 10or 15 question survey to get somequick feedback on an area wheremaybe we are making changes orwe want to know if we are on trackwith employee expectations. Theseare generally very well received. We get very good feedback.Occasionally we will get somethingcritical, and that is good too. Youwant to make sure that you are getting relevant, honest feedback.

Employee EngagementOur employee population isextremely engaged. We have done

a good job of creating engagement.When I started here nine years ago,the human resource office was thelast place anybody wanted to come.They avoided it like the plague,unless they needed a medical form.I can tell you today without a doubtwe are the busiest department. Weare like Grand Central Station atrush hour. There is a flow ofemployees in and out of the depart-ment for a multitude of reasons, andthe interaction is extremely positive.

We are a very high engagementorganization, and that is not some-thing that happens just corpo-rately; rather, this occursthroughout our facilities throughoutthe U.S., Mexico, China, andCanada. When we talk about howwe as a company are helping to cre-ate a level of employee satisfaction,we act as catalysts in that, and it


Mark FogelVice President, HR and Administration, CHRO, Leviton (continued)

Generational Change

Traditionalists and Baby Boomers

60%Generation X and Y

40%

was not something that happenedovernight. It took a lot of time anda lot of putting together programs,talking to people, earning trust, andearning respect.

We were not handed our stripes;we had to earn our stripes. We hadto work very hard to get to a pointof respect within the organization,and once you get there, you have

to work at it every single day tomaintain people’s respect and trust,and to be an outlet for individualswho need help in a multitude ofthings. ■


Mark FogelVice President, HR and Administration, CHRO, Leviton (continued)

Recently, we moved some sales people from an under-performing divisionthat continues to be effected by the slowdown in the residential housingcommunity into a business that services green technologies, lightingmanagement, and energy conservation — an area that is growing for ourcompany. Where in the past the evaluation may have been, “Do we need toterminate some employees and hire some new ones,” in this case, becausewe have started to implement a different strategy we were able to literallytransfer a small group of individuals from one group into the other.

Mark Fogel

Vice President, HR and Administration, CHROLeviton

I. Key Supervisor SkillsAn employee’s job satisfaction isstrongly correlated to satisfactionwith his or her manager. Keysupervisor skills are:

Relationship-building• Communication is a big part of

employee satisfaction,especially communication withone’s supervisor.

• If the supervisor prioritized therelationship with the employee,the employee will give back to the company exponentially.

Goal-setting• Setting goals, communicating

those goals, and holding staffaccountable is one of thefoundations of goodsupervision.

• Taking the time for this is akey element of employeesatisfaction.

Individualized management• Managers must take the time

to understand the motivationallevers on an individual basis.

• Dealing with people asindividuals instead of taking aone-size-fits-all managementapproach is critical.

II. The Bottom LineThe basic core competencies foremployees are remarkably stable.They include:• Customer service

• Communication

• Developing talent

• Technical expertise

• Business results

Hiring and promoting leaderswith these competencies will createan engaged, self-perpetuating, high-performance team.

• HR must groom the talentpool to retain these individualsand eliminate those who aredetrimental.

• When HR takes action toreward what the company saysit values, this will motivateemployees and benefit thebusiness.

III. Must-Haves for SmartRetention

Evolving strategies• Employee needs are ever-

changing, so motivation cannotbe a static process.

• Retention is growing morechallenging, and strategies forretaining employees must becreated in light of the changingemployee demographics andexpectations.

Two-way communication• Constantly ask for input from

staff: Why are they here? Whatkeeps them here?

• Learn what’s important topeople, and work to meet theiroverall, long-term needs.

Understanding the role of turnover• Retention has to be smart;

turnover isn’t always a badthing.

• Retain and challenge your topperformers, but also realizewhen it makes sense for anindividual to move on.

IV. The Golden Rules inDriving EmployeeEngagementWhat you measure is what getsmanaged.

When you establish the goals,communicate those goals, holdpeople accountable, and align theindividual objectives andcompensation to the results, you canenergize your entire organizationand drive engagement and businessresults.

Take an active interest in everyemployee you have.

• Employee development shouldbe a core value.

• HR should ensure that everyemployee has line of sight todevelopment goals, and hasmanagers that invest in theirlong-term success.

Prioritize creating many avenuesfor communication.

• HR has to create processes soemployees feel that they caneasily communicate and givefeedback.

• Ensure the systems are in placeso their opinions do count.

V. Essential Take-AwaysRetaining, motivating, and focusingemployees on business results takesa dedicated HR effort.

HR must share this work withmanagers at every level, and investin maintaining successes.

Creating change in theorganization requires broad trust ofHR, which is something leadersmust work to build. ■

© Books24x7, 2008 Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points ExecBlueprints 11

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points

© Books24x7, 2008 Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points ExecBlueprints 12

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points (continued)

ExecBlueprints is a subscription-based offering from Books24x7, a SkillSoft Company. For more information on subscribing,please visit www.books24x7.com.

10 KEY QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION POINTS

What experience and skill sets does your company presently need? In what ways have these needschanged in the past five years? What factors have driven these changes?

When assessing which employees to develop into future leaders, what standards do you use? Whatrole does performance in their current positions play? Degree of loyalty and satisfaction with thecompany? Degree of technical, analytical, or writing expertise? Innovation? Leadership skills? Peopleskills?

What hiring procedures do you follow? Who is generally responsible for reviewing applications? Forconducting interviews? For making hiring decisions?

At your company, what respective roles do departments play in assessing the company’s futureperformance needs? In what ways have your recruitment methods already served your company’s performance needs? In what ways could they be improved?

What are HR’s best practices for promoting employee satisfaction at your company? How did thesepractices evolve? How are they currently serving each department? The company as a whole? Howdo you measure their effect (e.g., employee satisfaction surveys)?

What are your company’s top three challenges when seeking to improve employee satisfaction? Whyare these important? How have they changed in the past five years?

How does your company convey performance expectations? How does this differ by department andposition? When formulating performance expectations, in what ways do your company’s policies alsofactor in ways to bolster employee satisfaction?

What are your top three approaches for motivating your current employees to become moreproductive and satisfied with the company?

In the next 12 months, how do you plan to improve employee satisfaction? What new perks,activities, or benefits will you offer? What new management strategies will you encourage? How willyou measure employee satisfaction?

How do you measure the ROI for hiring and retaining qualified, productive employees? What roledoes efficiency play in your calculation? Wage and benefits compensation? Problem-solvingcapability? Reduced errors?

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

?

Documents

Balancing Employee Satisfaction With Maximum Output