The Change Dude’s Blog

Pulse Your Staff…Now

When was the last time you took the pulse of your employees?  Most businesses accomplish the obligatory annual employee climate survey to get a view of how the organization is meeting the needs of its most valuable assets, people.  If this has happened in your world and it was pre-November 2008 go ahead and throw it in the trash.  Employee’s needs have swung dramatically in the past 6 months from needing a high level of self actualization to needing consistent cash flow and the assurance a job will be there in the next few weeks.

As Q1 financial results hit the street and business leaders begin to reach back into the old cost cutting bag take the time to pulse your employee base before hitting the eject button on more assets.  Ask the right questions and you may find that the cost savings from adding to the unemployment totals may be jeopardizing your future.  Below is an excerpt from a strategic communication that recently emerged at an organization, tell me how you feel after reading the list:

Short-term actions effective immediately

1. All discretionary travel is suspended.  Travel required by your job obviously should continue.
2. Out of cycle wage increases are suspended with the exception of those positions that are on an approved, step-wage increase schedule (e.g., actuarial and customer service).
3. Company provided meals are only approved for on-site meetings that run through lunch or dinner.
4. Professional services and consulting engagements in excess of $100kmust be preapproved by the EC (process to be determined).

 Long-term actions effective immediately

1. Replacement of Your Great Cards with non-monetary recognition greetings.  What employees tell us they value is the recognition more so than the $25 gift card.  So, we are retaining the emphasis on thanking each other and dropping the nominal gift amount in this program. (More details to follow.)
2. Elimination of the Employment Anniversary Gift Program effective May 31.  We continue to believe that employee recognition is important.  We are developing tools for managers to recognize milestone anniversaries and other significant events.
3. Competitive bidding for all RFPs will be standard (procurement has this underway already).
4. Paper, color-copy & ink reduction program will be created (procurement to provide details).
5. Office supply procurement governance program will begin (procurement to provide details).

Notice the justification that providing employees a token $25 gift card really isn’t what they want, it’s the recognition that’s important.  HA!  true but not really true.  People desire to be recognized that’s true, people also enjoy getting a little token, so let’s pull that out and save a few beans.  What’s the true impact of suspending the annivesary gift program?  Clearly a few more beans will be saved.  But what is the exposure this company now has to a reduction in productivity while everyone mocks the executive suite for being foolishly frugal.  How about asking your most valuable assets for feedback on what they’d be willing to do differently to put a few extra coins in the shareholder’s hands?  They probably will come up with ideas that will be both productive and provide savings.

Executives often come down with a case of RLD (Reduced Listening Disorder) when financials get a little iffy.  TIme to take a look at what really matters to your future through the eyes of the assets that serve your customers everyday. 

If you haven’t taken a quantitative pulse of employees in the last 60 days spend the money being saved on recruiting costs and DO IT… Just DO IT and take action on what you hear.

April 8, 2009 - Posted by thechangedude | Thinking About Associates