6 THINGS
YOUR
EMPLOYEES
WILL FAIL
WITHOUT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction........................................................................................................1
1. Onboarding......................................................................................................4
2. Mentorship.......................................................................................................5
3. The Right Position......................................................................................... 6
4. Training And Education................................................................ 7
5. Reward And Recognition............................................................................. 8
6. Ownership ....................................................................... 9
What Can You Do Today?............................................................................... 10
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INTRODUCTION
With staffing levels expected to rise almost 20 percent in 2015, the job market is
looking hot for candidates and busy for HR. Many companies are bringing in new
candidates at higher rates this year, and your current employees now have other
options if they aren’t happy. Making employees successful is vital to their job
satisfaction and retention—and because of the job market heating up, it’s more
important than ever.
Imagine two companies. Each have great products, fair compensation and only hire
the best people. In fact, in most aspects the companies are pretty similar. There’s
just one difference:
COMPANY A
COMPANY B
Pays close attention to the
Doesn’t have enough time
success of their employees.
to devote to employees
They do their best to make sure
individually so they use a
all their people are in a position
“sink or swim” employee
that’s a good fit, are onboarded
success approach. They let
well and find mentors to help
employees figure it out on their
them succeed. They teach
own, thinking, “Hey, if they
and develop their employees,
can’t make it here, it’s not our
recognize and reward them for
problem.” And most of their
their efforts and help instill a
employees sink.
meaningful purpose to the work
they do. And their employees
are happy and successful.
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It sounds silly that any company would let employees fail by not giving them the
components they need to succeed. Unfortunately, that’s what many companies do.
And the results are devastating.
LETTING EMPLOYEES FAIL IS EXPENSIVE.
$90,000 x 400% = $360,000
$60,000 x 150% = $90,000
$43,000 x 40% = $17,200
For entry-level employees,
it costs between 30 and 50
percent of annual salary.
For mid-level employees, it
costs 150% of annual salary.
For high-level employees, it
costs 400% of annual salary.
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Not only will unsuccessful employees cause expensive replacement costs, but you’ll
also lose because failing employees are
1. UNPRODUCTIVE
2. DISENGAGED
3. DISLOYAL
This costs the U.S. economy
24 percent of employees are
Unsatisfied employees are 11
$350 billion per year.
actively disengaged and likely to
times more likely to leave your
spread negativity to coworkers.
company in the next year.
When companies don’t seek to engage employees by making them successful,
they’re setting themselves and their employees up to fail. Unsuccessful employees
cost your company productivity and drag down the morale of coworkers. And after
all that expense, they end up leaving anyway.
You can avoid all the pain (and money) caused by unproductive, disengaged,
disloyal employees by making them successful instead.
Onboarding
Here are 6
things you
can give
employees to
ensure their
success:
Mentorship
The Right Position
Training And Education
Reward And Recognition
Ownership And Purpose
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1. ONBOARDING
Onboarding is vital to employee success. Most
companies have some sort of onboarding
program—although 32 percent of new hires
receive barely any onboarding or none at all.
Onboarding is your new hire’s first taste of being
a part of their company, so it only makes sense to
put a lot of effort into making it a great experience.
Onboarding is where employees learn how to
be successful at your company. To reach that
success, George Bradt suggests you should:
1. Accommodate
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“Most companies drop the ball
early on. Imagine you’ve been
wooed throughout an entire
recruiting process, and then you
show up on your first day and the
receptionist isn’t even expecting
you or your office isn’t set up.
What are you going to tell your
spouse when you go home and
they ask ‘How was your first day?’”
—Jon Picoult
2. Assimilate
3. Accelerate
Give your employees everything
You should help new hires
New employees need a little
they need to do their job well.
align to company expectations
help getting up to speed.
59 percent of employees say
and culture. Almost 1/4 of
Onboarding increases new
accommodations—like a
employees who left their
hire productivity by up to
company tour, equipment setup
companies early would have
54 percent.
and review of procedures—are
stayed if they had “received
important during the first week
clear guidelines on what their
on a new job.
responsibilities were.”
Onboarding helps you effectively harness new hire potential and guide employees
to meet company goals. If you accommodate new hires with what they need and
assimilate them to expectations and culture, you’ll be able to accelerate their
performance and increase their success.
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2. MENTORSHIP
Employees who are mentored are more successful than their peers who aren’t. Sometimes
mentoring relationships grow organically. Other times, you have to nurture the relationship.
But either way you do it, helping employees find mentors in your company is a great way
to raise internal leaders and create stronger organizational ties.
96 percent of
75 percent of Fortune
Fortune 500 executives
say that mentoring
is an important
developmental tool.
500 executives say it
played a key role in
their career success.
Employees who
received mentoring were
promoted FIVE times
more often than those
who didn’t.
Turnover rates among
unmentored employees
was 14 times
higher than among
mentored employees.
When employees have someone to show them the ropes and mentor them, it increases their
likelihood to succeed. And you’ll benefit if employees are able to succeed and become leaders
within your company.
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3. THE RIGHT POSITION
“You absolutely must have the discipline not to hire until you find the right people.”
—Jim Collins
Fit is so important. Picking
employees who don’t fit
the position isn’t doing
them a favor—it’s setting
both them and, ultimately,
company initiatives up
to fail. This doesn’t mean
you can’t take a chance
on a candidate with less
experience but more
drive. It means matching
candidate goals, desires
and values with company
goals, needs and culture.
Making sure each
employee is aligned—both
in their position and with
the company as a whole—
is vital for organizational
success. Employees won’t
be happy if what they’re
doing doesn’t align with
their goals (which means
they won’t be engaged
or productive).
Times may come when
a position that used to
have great alignment for
an employee and used to
be a great fit no longer is.
If this happens, don’t try
to force them back into
their defined role. (It won’t
work.) Instead, see if you
can find a better place for
them within the company.
Great employees are hard
to find and worth keeping.
If you want employees
to succeed, you must
put them in a situation
where they can. It’s really
tricky for someone to
succeed at a company
where they don’t have the
same goals. You can avoid
that problem by getting
employees into a position
that’s right for them.
89 percent of hiring failures are due to
problems fitting the company culture.
“Without alignment, the best
strategic plan will never
be fully achieved because
organizational alignment is
the glue that makes strategy
execution excellence happen. An
aligned organization gets things
done faster, with less effort,
and with better results, and is
more agile and responsive to
changing business conditions.”
—Torben Rick
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4. TRAINING AND EDUCATION
Companies who train their employees will see a lot of benefits:
Higher
Revenues
Higher
Retention
Higher
Productivity
Higher
ENGAGEMENT
Higher
EFFICIENCY
Companies with
40 percent of
One trained
67 percent say they
61 percent say they
comprehensive
employees who
employee is as
have experienced
have experienced
training programs
receive poor job
productive as
increased
increased efficiency
have 218 percent
training leave their
six untrained
engagement as a
as a result of training.
higher income per
positions within the
employees.
result of training.
employee than
first year.
those without.
30 percent of
Companies investing
companies say they
$1,500 or more per
have experienced
employee per year
lower turnover as a
on training average
result of training.
24 percent higher
profit margins than
companies with
lower yearly training
investments.
Employees crave it, and companies who do it are better off for
it. Training and developing employees is worth your time and the
investment because it very directly makes employees more successful
(and the numbers show it makes companies more successful too).
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5. REWARD AND RECOGNITION
Rewarding and recognizing employees is the best way to tailor their
behavior. It shows them exactly what kind of actions the company
appreciates and helps guide them to success. Reward and recognition
have some other pretty great benefits as well:
Increased
Motivation
Increased
Commitment
Increased Rate of
Future Success
78 percent of employees will
76 percent of employees
work harder if they’re better
who are regularly recognized
praised for any accomplishment by
recognized.
say they love their jobs while
someone whose opinion you hold
only 37 percent of those who
in high regard, your self esteem goes
aren’t being recognized say
up along with your eagerness and
they do.
enthusiasm to do an even better job.”
82 percent of workers say
that recognition is a major
motivator.
“Whenever you’re recognized and
—Brian Tracy
Employees need to know when you notice their success so they can
replicate those behaviors—ones that point to company goals or
values—and be even more successful in the future. Using rewards and
recognition is a great way to point those successes out!
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6. OWNERSHIP
AND PURPOSE
Employees who have a purpose at work are
more engaged.
73 percent of employees who say they work
at a “purpose-driven” company are engaged,
compared to 23 percent of those who don’t.
Employees with a purpose are also more
productive, have better performance and are
more satisfied—as are the customers they
work with.
90 percent of people who believe their
organization has a strong sense of purpose
also report a strong financial showing in the
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Once while visiting NASA, President
John F. Kennedy asked a man mopping
the floor what his job was. The man
replied, “My job is to put a man on the
moon.” What would your employees
say if someone were to ask them what
their job was? Do they code, or clean,
or recruit? Or are they contributing to
some grander purpose?
business over the past year. They also report
high employee and customer satisfaction.
Only 65 percent of respondents who say
they work for an organization without a
strong culture of purpose report a good
financial performance in the company.
Chances are, the founders of your company
began their journey with a mission. Whether
it was to help people or create a better
“When you’re surrounded by people
who share a passionate commitment
around a common purpose, anything
is possible.”
—Howard Schultz
way to do something, people usually
start businesses with more in mind than
just making money. Keeping that goal in
everyone’s mind is the best way to ensure
you get there.
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WHAT CAN YOU DO TODAY?
You’re probably already juggling many different tasks. Adding six more things is simply too
much. Your first step is figuring out how to automate some of your work so you can focus
on important things like increasing employee success. Even with everything you’re doing,
you can probably add one more little thing. And later, when you’ve started to automate your
processes, maybe another. Eventually, you’ll be doing all six things that help your employees
be successful and their retention, engagement and performance will increase.
So pick one or two things and get to work. Here are some simple first-steps:
ONBOARDING
MENTORSHIP
THE RIGHT
POSITION
If you don’t currently have a
Check out some of the mentor
Starting here requires two
formal onboarding program,
relationships that already exist
things: First, learn to say “no”
start planning one. If you do
within your company. Then try
if a candidate isn’t a perfect fit.
have an onboarding program,
to replicate the positive aspects
Second, look for employees
give it an audit. Is it working?
of those existing relationships
in your company who have
Are employees trained well?
with other employees. If you
become disengaged. If they’re
Are they acquainted with the
have an ambitious entry-level
a rockstar employee, find out
culture and their coworkers?
employee, career map with
what part of their position
Once you find out, you can start
them and find someone within
they’re not enjoying anymore,
filling any holes.
the company who can help
then try to find them a better fit
them get to where they want
within the company.
to be (ambitious entry-level
employees can become great
leaders in the company if you
can keep them).
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TRAINING AND
EDUCATION
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REWARD AND
RECOGNITION
OWNERSHIP
AND PURPOSE
Are there specific knowledge
This one is easy. You can start
What is your company’s
gaps within your company?
by saying “thank you!” and
purpose? If you can’t think
(Perhaps you need someone to
challenging others to do the
of it or you don’t even have
do SEO or app development.)
same. This will help those
one, you’ve got a bit of a
You probably already employ
around you feel valued and
problem. You’ll need to get the
someone who would love
appreciated. If you have a little
stakeholders together and nail
to learn about those things.
more time, you can start to plan
a mission down. If you do have
Sometimes you’ll need to
a rewards program too. Begin
a stated mission and vision
train an entire team. Get them
with something as simple (and
(but it’s a little obscure like a
together for a lunch-and-learn
inexpensive) as a gift card for
lot of companies’ are), think
where you go through skills
an employee each month who
of some ways you can bring it
with them. These small steps
goes above and beyond. What
front and center.
will help your teams be more
your program ends up looking
successful, employees feel
like will be specific to your
invested in and increase the
organization, but you can start
amount of skill on your teams.
with just a little thanks (it really
does go a long way).
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With the job market heating up, you need to keep employees happy at your company.
A large part of that is making sure they’re able to succeed at work (and then rewarding
them for that success).
Pay close attention to what they need in order to launch on a path of success from the
very start and be rewarded with higher engagement, performance, retention and more.
To give yourself more time and tools to enable strategic things like employee success,
try BambooHR’s HRIS and When I Work’s scheduling tools.
BambooHR is the leading HR software for small to medium sized businesses.
Through their applicant tracking system, time-off management, benefits tracking
and more, they’ve helped thousands of clients in more than 70 countries
automate their HR processes and become more strategic.
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scheduling, time clock, and communication. Use the web, mobile apps, texting, and
email to make your team more efficient, more accountable, and better prepared.
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