What does it take to be a preferred
employer; a workplace of choice in the ever more competitive quest for talent.
What do you need to do to keep your top talent on board in the knowledge
industries?
Perhaps a funky office fit-out, free
lunch, pool tables or an x-box in the on-floor coffee bar? Corporate discounts,
the newest smart phone, a seat in the corporate box at the football?
There are already so many think
pieces on this in the business media from better thinkers than me, so rather
than theorize, I'm just going to share. These are the things that I look
for in a workplace, and which would help convince me to work for you.
In my view, strap-on benefits
(gadgets, discounts and games) can help, but they can't make up for getting the
fundamentals right: pay, time and culture. And I think, importantly, the communication
of pay, time and culture...
Remuneration
When it comes to remuneration, I want
to know that you, my prospective employers are not taking the piss.
It never ceases to amaze me how wrong
companies can get it when it comes to remuneration and how the framework for
performance and remuneration is managed. It is the one criticism that has
recurred in every workplace I've ever been... And it is seldom just a question
of how much people earn, but an understanding that they are being looked after.
Let's be clear: I am not interested
in working for a company that does not pay competitively, does not provide
transparency of how pay is addressed and does not conduct itself with integrity
in how remuneration is managed with employees.
What remuneration transparency means
to me is:
- a quantitative industry assessment
of pay at my grade;
- company data for pay at each grade
(not individuals, but useful statistical data, including level, gender and
location);
- a high level breakdown of company
costs; salaries, cost of doing business, other costs and profit target.
It must be clear that what I earn is
commensurate with the industry, the broader company and that the balance of the
business is such that the fruit of my labour is not wasted.
And when putting in place performance
management processes, the link between performance assessment and remuneration
must be crystal clear. There must be no 'black box' where some
assessment of performance goes in, and out comes a remuneration outcome that
cannot be explained.
With pay, context makes up for a lot.
To be considered a preferred employer, you must show me how my remuneration is
competitive; in the industry and the company.
Time
When it comes to time, I want to know
that you value my time.
Time really, truly, is limited - it
is the one thing that you can never get back. So a company that does not value
my time, does not value me.
In the creative industries, overtime
is a fact of life - we are not a strict 9-5 industry... Project workloads are
not smooth, so there is an inevitable need for some time of pushing the edges
to meet the requirements of the business. But if this is not balanced by an
equivalent flexibility, then I remain unconvinced of a company's 'preferred
employer' credentials.
A business that structurally requires
extensive overtime to be profitable is not a business I want to work for. It is
evidence of poor management that it is only profitable by extracting value from
employees.
To show a respect for my time, an
employer of choice would:
- avoid a culture of showing face -
where assessment is based on how late employees stay, or proxy metrics like
'after hours pizza orders'; and
- seek to build a culture of
delivery-based performance and assessment.
In many respects, efficiency and
profitability run directly counter to excessive time at the office. A business
that communicates its focus on delivery rather than time is on the path to
preferred employer status.
Culture
Culture is perhaps the biggest
contributor to being a preferred employer as it encompasses both pay and time,
but it is much broader than that. There are a few other key indicators that
your company has the culture of a preferred employer:
-
diversity; you must disclose your employee
breakdown along gender and minority representation lines (company-wide, within
your executive suite and the gender current pay gap at each level);
-
sustainability; you must disclose your position on
key sustainability issues and show how you address those issues in your
operations;
If you do not have a progressive
attitude to women, minority groups and the environment you cannot be considered
a preferred employer. And woe betide you if your executives make racist or
sexist jokes assuming I'm in on it - culture is always easier to spot than to
describe, always easier to break than to make.
Once you have these core things in
place - transparent remuneration processes, delivery-focused time management
and an office culture that celebrates diversity - the other things can have
their turn in the sun.
That being said, a few things to be
wary of:
- don't dress cross-corporate
advertising up as benefits; marginal special offers on other corporate products
(gym membership, insurance etc) is not a benefit, it's just a marketing
gimmick. We all have enough of those. Benefits must have real value and no
hidden agendas.
- don't link benefits to charity events
and other initiatives to enhance your corporate reputation. If we want to give,
we will do so of our own accord. Corporate social responsibility is your
responsibility, and while it's important, it is not a direct employee
incentive.
- make sure you have decent to coffee -
there's really no excuse not to.
All this really just boils down to a
creating and communicating culture of shared values and authenticity. These are
things that are valuable to me and I value a transparent, authentic approach to
them...