Employees: Finding, Attracting, and Retaining

It is critical to your success in credit management that you learn how to find, attract and retain the best and brightest employees. Studies indicate that star performers tend to out produce the run of the mill employee by 2 to 1 --- meaning that companies get double the bang for the buck. Here are some simple ideas in these areas:

Finding qualified candidates:

• Use local college job banks
• Offer summer internships or work study programs to promising candidates
• Use an employee referral program
• Use a headhunter
• Network (Tell everyone you know about the job openings you have)
• By all means, notify the professional organization(s) you belong to
• Advertise locally, but remember that less than 20% of positions are filled through advertising
  Keeping your best employees

Find ways to reward superior performance:

• Make certain your best employees receive the lions share of raises
• Perform honest performance appraisals
• Nurture and cultivate your best workers (and prune away your worst employees)
• Offer additional challenges and additional training opportunities to star performers
• Make sure the best employees know that you appreciate their efforts
• Recognize, that in your company when the going gets tough, the best leave for greener pastures. Why? Because they can. Consider as an alternative retention bonuses
• Meet regularly with key employees to keep them informed, motivated and assured of their value and importance

Retention strategies include:

• An employment contract
• Stock options, and performance bonuses
• Flexible working hours
• Choice of assignments
• Opportunities to travel on business
• Opportunities for training
• Promotions from within
• Create an innovation award program
• Include peer recognition with and awards (cash or other) given to top performers

The costs associated with a bad hire are significant and include:

• The time and money wasted in training
• Mistakes made by the poor performer while on the job
• Morale problems that can occur when a bad hiring decision is made
• Management time spent documenting problems, in counseling, and in retraining the employee
• The cost to find and recruit a replacement
• The cost to train the replacement
• The costs associated with having the position vacant at any time.

Keeping Your Best Employees

It is essential for companies to find ways to keep their best employees. It is equally important to motivate them to give their full attention and best efforts to the work assigned to them. The following ideas can help retain top performers:

• Don't Send Mixed Messages - Don't follow a compliment with a criticism ("You did an outstanding job on assignment A, but on assignment B you forgot…) The compliment will be overshadowed by the criticism. In all likelihood, the criticism is all the employee will remember.
  
  
• Ask Your Subordinates for their Opinions - If you do, make sure you listen and implement the good ideas. Ignoring their opinions, or failing to give credit to your subordinate for a good idea will undermine the process of asking for their opinions.
  
  
• Lead by Example - "Do as I say, not as I do" is a recipe for trouble. Supervisors must lead by example.
  
  
• Don't Underestimate the Power of Praise - When employees exceed your expectations, tell them so. Compliments and praise can provide encouragement to employees at every level.
  
  
• Give Subordinates Some Control Over their Work - Allow subordinates to exercise some control of their work schedules. Employees feel more empowered if their supervisor or manager does not choreograph their entire day.
  
  
• Find Ways to Work Smarter - If all it took to be successful in business was hard work, then coal miners and assembly line workers would be among America's wealthiest citizens. Activity does not equal productivity or efficiency. As a manager, do what you can to make sure your subordinates prioritize, use time management skills, and understand the difference between work that is urgent, and work that is important.
  

Source: Michael Dennis, author of "Credit and Collection Handbook" available at the NACM Bookstore.