If costs , customers, and quality service is important, then turnover should be at the top of your list. If the CEO does not own turnover, he is more comfortable with poor performance than he may admit. High turnover that is something that unquestionably costs money and time for existing staff, but its tentacles extend to just about everything a company does. If you can reduce turnover it will positively affect the entire organization, it links to every department and ultimately every customer, client or future employee.
Turnover is fundamentally about the culture of the organization and whether or not it cares about retaining good people, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it puts your among the best in your industry and financial well being.
Until the recent downturn, many leaders could legitimately blame turnover on external factors, such as shortages of people across all industries and the hot job market. Many of those external pressures have resided and now is a perfect time to for senior leaders to address the internal problems causing turnover. By doing so, CEO's can better attack problems with morale, unproductive teams, client service, and mistakes.
Many CEO's don't see employee turnover as an area where they can (or should) make a substantial impact. Maybe they can't match higher salaries being paid elsewhere. Maybe they can't match the challenging smaller more nimble competitor. Concerns about turnover are often directed to HR. But, CEO's can make a huge difference in employee turnover.
A focused strategy on retention and reduction of turnover does not mean that low performers should be allowed to hang around. Quite the opposite, in fact. If low performance means that you may lose your job it creates a sense of ownership for each employee and become embedded into the fabric of the culture. The turnover of low performers is very healthy it is when you lose top performers it can literally implode and organization from the inside out.
CEO's need to own turnover no matter what industry. Employee mortality can mean the difference between profit and loss and thriving or survival.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Hiring in 2010 - What's the Real Deal?
By: Shawn Desgrosellier of Vitality Group
This year has been a whirlwind in the construction recruiting business! I thought it might be interesting to recap what has happened in the first quarter of 2010 to give you a real look at what is really going on out there. I will tell you about our findings in the job market, the employers perspective on recruiting and hiring in 2010, and a few tips for the jobless.
In January and February we spent most of the month on the road. We met with the CEO's, COO's and HR Executives in the Commercial, Civil, Industrial and Specialty Contracting industry. We targeted in the San Francisco Bay Area, Hawaii, and Texas which is where our strong relationships, market knowledge, experience and best opportunity to secure new search assignments exist. We also fielded hundreds of calls from the candidate community and met in person many of the top candidates who were unemployed, underemployed or were preparing for an expected layoff or downsizing.
I recall in 2000 when we were faced with high unemployment in construction, search assignments were very tough to come by. If there was a demand it was for Business Development, Estimating, Senior Project Management or Project Executive level candidates in a technical market segment like bio tech, life sciences, pharmaceutical or health care. We placed dozens of candidates at that time with that experience so we learned quickly to stay away from everything else and focus our effort exclusively in that area. Ten years later we are faced with a similar story with the same characters but the niche and industry experience has shifted.
The demand in 2010 is for Business Development, Estimating, Senior Project Management and Project Executive level candidates however in 2010 employers want to see federal, health care or renewable energy experience. I guarantee if you have that experience you are not looking for work right now. If you do not have that experience you need to figure out a way to get it and get it fast.
The employers pespective is varied, most fall into the cut costs, reduce overhead and expand the responsibilities of the current staff company wide and are not hiring or even interviewing. Then there are companies who also are cutting costs, fixed expenses, overhead but also continue to interview and replace the "B" and "C" players with "A" talent from the competition. If they ultimately do not hire, at the very least they are evaluating the available talent and driving a corporate strategy which includes the potential talent they have access to because of their active participation in candidate recruitment. For obvious reasons, this makes smart business sense.
As a job seeker it is tough out there, those who treat their job search as a full time endeavor are having more success then those who are not. It is not a part time job! The one's who are involved in the construction market, community and are socially engaging in activities that create opportunities are also having success. The one thing you can not rely upon is adding your resume to Career Builder and Monster and simply let that do the work for you, you will go hungry with that approach right now. You are in control of your destiny and if you cast a wide net will find opportunities where you least expect them. If you take one thing away from this post remember CHEMISTRY is everything in these challenging times so take initiative and get out there and meet potential employers, clients, customers and vendors- it will be one of the best investments you make today.
This year has been a whirlwind in the construction recruiting business! I thought it might be interesting to recap what has happened in the first quarter of 2010 to give you a real look at what is really going on out there. I will tell you about our findings in the job market, the employers perspective on recruiting and hiring in 2010, and a few tips for the jobless.
In January and February we spent most of the month on the road. We met with the CEO's, COO's and HR Executives in the Commercial, Civil, Industrial and Specialty Contracting industry. We targeted in the San Francisco Bay Area, Hawaii, and Texas which is where our strong relationships, market knowledge, experience and best opportunity to secure new search assignments exist. We also fielded hundreds of calls from the candidate community and met in person many of the top candidates who were unemployed, underemployed or were preparing for an expected layoff or downsizing.
I recall in 2000 when we were faced with high unemployment in construction, search assignments were very tough to come by. If there was a demand it was for Business Development, Estimating, Senior Project Management or Project Executive level candidates in a technical market segment like bio tech, life sciences, pharmaceutical or health care. We placed dozens of candidates at that time with that experience so we learned quickly to stay away from everything else and focus our effort exclusively in that area. Ten years later we are faced with a similar story with the same characters but the niche and industry experience has shifted.
The demand in 2010 is for Business Development, Estimating, Senior Project Management and Project Executive level candidates however in 2010 employers want to see federal, health care or renewable energy experience. I guarantee if you have that experience you are not looking for work right now. If you do not have that experience you need to figure out a way to get it and get it fast.
The employers pespective is varied, most fall into the cut costs, reduce overhead and expand the responsibilities of the current staff company wide and are not hiring or even interviewing. Then there are companies who also are cutting costs, fixed expenses, overhead but also continue to interview and replace the "B" and "C" players with "A" talent from the competition. If they ultimately do not hire, at the very least they are evaluating the available talent and driving a corporate strategy which includes the potential talent they have access to because of their active participation in candidate recruitment. For obvious reasons, this makes smart business sense.
As a job seeker it is tough out there, those who treat their job search as a full time endeavor are having more success then those who are not. It is not a part time job! The one's who are involved in the construction market, community and are socially engaging in activities that create opportunities are also having success. The one thing you can not rely upon is adding your resume to Career Builder and Monster and simply let that do the work for you, you will go hungry with that approach right now. You are in control of your destiny and if you cast a wide net will find opportunities where you least expect them. If you take one thing away from this post remember CHEMISTRY is everything in these challenging times so take initiative and get out there and meet potential employers, clients, customers and vendors- it will be one of the best investments you make today.
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