Hiring in the Great Resignation - Being an Owner - Building Blocks 4
Don Davis PhD, MBA
?? Driving B2B Growth Through Digital Strategy | Turning Traffic into Leads & Sales | CEO & Founder at D3 Digital Media Marketing | Author ??
Hiring in the Great Resignation - Being an Owner
I have had quite a few leaders come to me recently with their openings asking if I can help them by suggesting people in my network that might be open to a new opportunity.? In the wake of the great resignation, many companies are struggling to find new employees. In November 2021, 4.53 Million Americans quit their jobs.? In this labor market, it can be difficult to attract potential employees especially when you or your company is seen as not meeting the needs of potential employees.
If you are struggling to hire you have to be an owner. You have to own the experience that people have that are willing to come along with you.?
Why would someone work for you?
Leader, Boss, Manager at the end of the day why would someone work for you? In today’s environment people are asking this question more than any other.??
From my point of view, knowing several candidates that have passed on jobs there are four things that can be closely associated with employees passing on opportunities: value, culture, potential, and reputation.?
Leaders today need to be thinking like owners of the employee experience who want to attract people based on what they can do for the people they hire versus the other way around.
Value
Let's take a look at this word from several perspectives.? Initially, what value are you looking to have someone deliver at your organization?? Some people like certain jobs because they are a challenge (mental, physical, etc.).? Will it be a challenging job or even one that someone has failed at previously?? How are you positioning your opening with what the perfect individual will deliver in your organization?? Some people value the challenge and understanding what is being delivered (value) and the individual that is best suited for this will help to define this value.??
From the perspective of the candidate, will you be compensating them in a way that makes them feel initially valued and can they continue to see benefit from extremely hard work and results?? What do you do to recognize top performers in an organization or someone who has gone out of their way to ensure the company is successful?? When they do well, what are you doing to make them feel valued? This is not just about monetary compensation it is also about ways that success is celebrated.??
I believe that the pandemic for all of the struggles that it created it also opened a lot of eyes in seeing that grinding away at a job may not be what makes you feel valued.? To overcome this, any hiring manager needs to seriously think about what they can do to make people feel the value/impact they are having on the organization.?
Culture
Culture has been a part of my dialogue when hiring for quite some time.? In part being a part of my team has meant that you understand that we have a high performing culture with laser focus on the values, vision and objectives.??
The culture of a team or company can make or break someone's desire to stay with an organization.? ? On the surface, it may appear that culture is merely a work environment or dress code. However, there are two distinct pieces of the puzzle to consider: how does your company fit with the individuals on your team and how does your company fit into their life outside of work?? People that extend what they are doing beyond the walls of the organization into their personal lives have a higher rate of being aligned with the culture at work.??
I had someone tell me that without the culture we built in an organization in the past they could not have fully shown up for work every day.? Culture is a critical element that needs broad focus with a lot of listening to the team.? At the end of the day people that you hire will be asking themselves, can they jump out of bed in the morning excited about the focus of the company and the environment they are doing it in?
Your job as a leader or hiring manager is to own this experience and make sure people are not just submersed into an organization but that they also feel comfortable knowing they can relate on some level outside of work.?
Potential
No matter what type of organization you run, everyone wants to hire people who have a future with the company. You also have to consider that the tables on potential are reversed a bit.? The candidate that is being interviewed is also asking themself if they feel that they will have growth opportunities with the organization.?
How do you help people grow?? Are other people from your team getting promoted??
Being a good leader means that you are continually evaluating and helping people move forward in your organization and where possible, providing opportunities for individuals to grow. If you are not growing people today or helping people feel their future potential you risk losing good people including individuals you want to come to your organization.?
To clarify, this is not about handouts or you giving someone a position that they have not worked for.? Individuals in your organization want to do great things and have an impact.? When they do, you as the leader own the employee experience in how you help people that are showing you their potential.?
Reputation
The name Vishal Garg should be in everyone's mind here.? Can't remember him well, he was the CEO of Better.com that laid off 900 people over Zoom.? Why would anyone ever again go and work at Better.com.??
There are legitimate times when layoffs and terminations are the only way forward. However, this is as personal as it gets and leaders should know better than to have a massive layoff in a group meeting. The Better.com layoff made it on the news.? Recently, Better.com also announced that it is hiring again, hmmm.? As people are considering where they want to work one consideration might be how you have treated people in the past.??
When someone is coming out of an interview, what are the first things they say to their network? For example, on the company side, people may be saying how great it was working with you. On the candidate's side, they might be saying it felt like I would not have opportunities to grow or that there were no opportunities. How leaders in your organization directly impact the Value, Culture or Potential of the organization will shine through to people considering coming to work for your organization.??
Additionally, you can bet that employees will be looking on websites and potentially calling past employees to find out what it is like to work for your organization.? In the current hiring environment, your reputation can make or break your ability to attract great talent.
The CEO of Better.com has demonstrated horrendous leadership and in the wake of the great resignation they may have a real tough time hiring again.?
People are looking for companies with a reputation that does not risk the items above (Value, Culture or Potential).? Owning employee experience in value, culture and potential should result in a promising reputation for your organization.??
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Conclusion
There are recent posts on LinkedIn and from people in my network about taking their next position at a new company so people are continuing to move forward in the workforce.? For each of the individuals the story seems to be the same, they found a company that they can provide value and be valued.? They found a company that has a culture that they are excited to be a part of.? They found a company where they can see future potential for their career.? They found a company that has a reputation that they feel confident will not damage the things above (value, culture, or potential).? Maybe the great resignation is an opportunity to evaluate the position of being a hiring manager or company in the workplace and how you can own the employee experience by showing that you value people, have a great culture, offer people the opportunity to grow and can maintain a good reputation.?
?? Podcast
Previous Shows:
Jan 17th - I interviewed Bella Englebach and we discussed Lean, Operational Excellence and Continuous improvement.? You can catch the replay here.
Jan 2nd - I interviewed Ron Kaufman, he has been named Global Guru of Customer Service on numerous occasions.? Additionally, he is routinely quoted in the NY Times and Harvard Business Review in the area of Customer Service.? You can catch the replay here.
Upcoming Shows:
January 26th Samir Hanash MD, PhD and Dusty Majumdar PhD - Early Stage Cancer Detection - Liquid Biopsies Please Join Us Live
February 2nd April Zambelli-Weiner PhD - Healthcare Economic Research Please Join Us Live
February 9th Mark Gordon - Using Collective Intelligence to Predict Clinical Trial Success
February 16th Chris Yeh - Blitzscaling
April 19th Dorie Clark - Long Game - what is the long game and how can people in Life Sciences leverage the Long Game
We are currently booking guests for late February.? If you know of a leader in Life Sciences that we should spotlight please feel free to let me know or you can send them to our “be a guest” site where they can apply: (https://5280lsc.com/podcast-guest/)
?? Healthtech and Life Science Highlights?
Liquid Biopsy has been in the news a lot lately and there are tremendous possibilities for this technology with billions being invested in the race.? After reading through the items below I still believe that there is a lot to be done and possibly decades before we see an early detection pan-cancer liquid biopsy screening test that is highly accurate.??
I look forward to the companies that are pursuing this technology to keep moving forward and picking off areas where they can be successful.? I thought I would pull together some of the most recent articles on the top of my reading list and you can form your own opinion.