Posts

Behind every stay: How helpful is the influence of managers on employee retention

/in , , /by

Let’s state the obvious. The world of work has undergone a massive transformation globally in recent years. Traditional office-based work models are no longer the standard norm As businesses transition to hybrid work models, the influence of managers on employee retention is even more critical.

Before delving into more detail on the importance of direct managers, let’s first define what we mean by this term. A direct manager is responsible for supervising and managing a group of employees. They are often the main point of contact for employees when issues arise and play a crucial role in ensuring each employee they are managing is working to their full potential.

What are the factors behind the influence of managers on employee retention?

Bridging the gap: One of the key reasons these managers are so crucial is their ability to bridge the gap between employees and the organisation. This role becomes even more essential in a hybrid work environment where maintaining effective communication is vital. They ensure that employees understand the organisation’s goals and objectives, and role and purpose within the company. Regular feedback and support from these managers help employees feel engaged and connected to their work.

Well-being: Direct managers also play a vital role in supporting employee well-being. New ways of working do not remove the legal responsibilities of employers to pay attention to workplace health and safety. Managers are well-positioned to identify when employees are struggling with their workload or experiencing increased stress. They can offer support and guidance, such as providing access to mental health resources or adjusting an employee’s workload.

Team morale: Maintaining team morale is also critical to retention. Direct managers can provide opportunities for team building and socialising. Regular team meetings, social events, and other initiatives help create a sense of community and belonging, boosting morale and productivity.

Development and growth: Encouraging employee development and growth is also essential. Only some people can work from home. Also, some recent studies tell us that those working away from the office can become less visible and may be overlooked for new projects or promotions. Direct managers can overcome the perils of “out of sight, out of mind” and provide:

  • tailored training and development opportunities,
  • guidance in identifying strengths and weaknesses,
  • and direction on advancing careers within the organisation.

This manager role ensures fairness and recognition of course growth for all team members regardless of WFH or not.

The need for organisations to back their managers

However, it’s crucial to recognise that not all direct managers are great managers. Some have been promoted based on tenure and previous success in different roles. Some are simply the last man standing in a team. Research shows that mediocre management is the number one reason people leave companies. Managing people is a complex task, and the complexity is further amplified in a hybrid work environment. Therefore, businesses must provide support and resources to direct managers.

Just as dentists require specialist tools to treat patients, managers need the right tools to lead and support their employees effectively. You may be curious about our range of practical, customised tools to help your managers succeed. As a first step, why not try the assessment yourself here to see what it looks and feels like?

How an HR management tool can predict sales people performance

/in , , , /by

Better sales staff equals more sales revenue. It sounds simple. However, an HR management tool can help significantly to increase your salespeople’s productivity.  A complex task fraught with misunderstanding.

Finding high-performing staff involves a specific hiring approach that targets those with precisely the right attributes for the job at hand.

Once you have the right players, it doesn’t stop there. It’s a question of matching them to the right sales roles, managing them and developing the sales team in an ongoing way to ensure maximum efficiency and results.

Remember the old maxim ‘If you can sell, you can sell anything’?

Well, times have changed. Not all sales positions – or reps – are created equal.

According to studies by Herb Greenberg, Harold Weinstein and Patrick Sweeney in their book How to Hire and Develop Your Next Top Performer:

around 50% of sales employees lack the fundamental traits necessary for effective salespeople, and

a further 25% are selling the wrong thing, for the wrong managers, in the wrong place.

That leaves just 25% of salespeople operating to total capacity and producing great results.

So one size doesn’t fit all when finding the right salesperson to sell your product or services.

Financial benefits of hiring the best salespeople

Having a sales team composed of star performers can make a significant difference to your bottom line.

In a study of 100 businesses, Sales Force of Top Producers – A Manager’s (and Owner’s) Dream, reported in Employer’s Advantage, the company’s top performer outsold the bottom performer by a whopping average of 5.7 to 1 – with a range of 3:1 to 9:1.

Just imagine what kind of results you’d get if your entire team worked at the lower margin of 3:1, not to mention 5:1 or higher.

Salesforce Work.com and the TAS Group drew some more shocking statistics from their research. These include:

  • Two-thirds of salespeople miss their sales target.
  • More than half of all salespeople close less than 40% of potential deals.
  • Top-performing sales reps are 250% better at qualifying leads.
  • High performers are 2.5 times more likely to be effective qualifiers than the general population.
  • Revenue can be up to 25% greater at companies where sales and marketing integrate well.

Talent Management – how do you measure an individual salesperson’s productivity?

All this begs the question, just how productive is your own sales team? Can you measure individual productivity? And once you’ve measured it, how do you replace or improve average or poor performers?

The answer is using the advanced science from the next generation of smart psychometric assessment tools. Our award-winning Great People Inside psychometric testing platform will help you identify those essential success attributes for each sales role. As a result, you can match each position with the right employee.

Great People Inside’s psychometric analysis will tell you:

  • what makes your top performers so great
  • why your average performers are less effective
  • how to improve your least successful performers

How to hire the best people with an hr management tool

The right psychometric assessment tools can help you find the right people for your sales roles.

Applied correctly, the Great People Inside HR management tool can make your recruitment of future high performers up to three times more successful and also significantly reduce sales team turnover. When considering the statistics, these results should be music to any employer’s ear.

Figures reported in Employer’s Advantage show that three out of four new sales employees don’t last the distance. They have, in fact, only a 25% chance of staying with the company for an entire year.

Of those that do stick, only one in 10 go on to become a genuine top performer within three years.

So what is the essential DNA of these star performers?

Many have fundamental traits and attributes that help drive their peak performance for the longer term. Using our validated and reliable customised sales assessments, we work with you and scientifically study your current top-performing salespeople.

These measures enable us to create a customised job profile benchmark specific to your company based on your company’s top performers, not a random benchmark based on a collection of external organisations. A company customised standard means you can clearly see what sets your top performers apart from the rest.

This benchmark can also be used to significant effect when recruiting new sales staff, ensuring that candidates fit these rigorous criteria and carry the ‘work genes’ critical to success in their roles. You don’t take risks when buying a personal asset such as a car, so why risk it when hiring your most crucial business asset.

Try us! Just click HERE and we will be in touch.

Remote Work – What are seen effects of further shifts in this competitive market?

/in , , , /by

After two years of disruption further shifts in remote work and our lives have emerged. There’s been:

  • the rise of individualism and independence bringing out new confidence to show up as themselves at work. (Fjord Trends 2022)
  • hybrid employment arrangements placing more emphasis on staff being able to work remotely and maintain productivity and service delivery
  • continued challenges to organisations due to Omicron leading to staff shortages resulting in increased costs of hiring more or temporary staff
  • increased pressures on both existing and new staff in the present climate

Moving forward, employers need to relook at balancing the flexibility they offer to individuals with the needs of the team and the greater good of the organisation. (Fjord Trends 2022)

Obtaining the right information for remote hires

How can you increase your success rate and hire the right people the first time for roles in the current labour market? And what about remote work? How can you more easily identify those who will thrive and be productive in a work from home environment?

The traditional recruitment process leaves a lot up to chance. You’ll sift through a stack of resumes and cover letters trying to narrow down the people with the right experience and qualifications and get a sense of other relevant aspects.

You’ll then perform a round of interviews to gauge which candidate sounds and acts right for the role.

You might ask yourself:

  •  “does this person have the right skills to perform the job?..
  • the right credentials?..
  • enough experience?..
  • will they fit in with the workplace culture?..
  • can they bring anything to the table to benefit the business?”

While some of these questions can easily be answered with a CV and interview, others are trickier.

And let’s face it most employees, when asked if they would like to work from home, will answer ‘yes’. This is simply because they are only looking at the positive aspects of doing so.

But this is the homeworking equivalent of asking someone ‘How are you?’. And accepting the answer ‘Fine.’ As confirmation that all is well.

Some key questions are difficult to answer through the traditional hiring process such as:

  • “Will this person be engaged in their work and great in this role?”
  • “Is this person likely to be capable and productive in this remote work role?”
  • “In the long term, will this person be able to handle hybrid working?”

Engagement is critical

Great managers and business owners know that higher employee engagement levels in the workplace translate to higher productivity and better company performance. So especially in this current environment, how can hiring managers improve the likelihood of selecting highly engaged remote work top performers?

It all starts with thinking about how potential employees will “fit”, rather than experience and qualifications. Or even age and gender. Studies have shown that ‘fit’ is what counts if you want a high performer.

‘Fit’ refers to how well a person is suited to their job role, the environment, and the workplace culture. Whether or not a person ‘fits’ in a particular position depends on a few factors, for example,

  • their attitude,
  • personality, and
  • enthusiasm for the work at hand.

To find out which candidate is the right fit for the job and culture, hiring managers must check their biases at the door and use objective information to make their decision. Making this type of decision can be trickier than it sounds, but it is possible.

How does it work?

Hire someone who is objectively the right fit

Choosing the right person for a role can influence how long they stay in the job and how engaged they are with their role working remotely or onsite.

According to Gallup, employee engagement is defined as “the involvement and enthusiasm of employees in their work and workplace”.

According to studies they conducted, businesses are 21% more profitable with engaged employees; I am sure most CEO’s would take this profit increase as a Christmas present!

Instead of solely relying on opinions or a hunch, validated benchmarkable assessments provide you with tools using objective data to determine whether your candidate is right for the role. Recent shifts have meant employee preferences don’t necessarily match what’s best for a business.

 Use your top performers as a benchmark for new talent

When a top performer walks out the door, it often feels like you’re back at square one; scrambling to build your team from the ground up again. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Companies, teams and hiring managers can make the process of replacing top performers easier while improving their hiring process each time.

Not all candidates are suited to homeworking

Buffer.com published an annual global survey on homeworking and discovered in 2020 (like in previous years) that the top 3 difficulties people experience with homeworking, worldwide, are not necessarily related to the pandemic and lockdown:

  • collaboration and communication,
  • loneliness, and
  • not being able to unplug.

This survey suggests that many individuals will either need help to overcome these problems or even that remote work is not a long-term viable option for some people.

 

Remote working

 

To learn more about the Great People Inside assessments specifically designed for work from home employees and teams contact us