Marketing Negotiated Benefits and Employment Attributes For Recruitment and Retention

Transcription

1 Marketing Negotiated Benefits and Employment Attributes For Recruitment and Retention Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) provide employment terms and conditions for employee groups and are negotiated periodically. The table of contents usually provides general provisions, compensation, medical and related benefits, retirement, leaves, educational incentives and working conditions. These documents are normally many pages and vary from association to association. But how many job applicants request a copy of the MOU in advance of a job offer and make job decisions based on the contents? I believe a rare individual would request this document and base their employment decision on the contents. People change jobs for many reasons and it is not always the pay and benefits. Non-negotiated employment attributes can retain current employees, as well as encourage new hires to come on board. Reputation Reputation can make or break any employment deal. The agency s reputation could range from poor, unknown, good or world class. The reputation of a boss can range from worst to average to one of the best. The same reputation concerns are also viewed for the senior executive team. How effective are they as a group? And how about those co-workers? I will never forget watching a new hire decide to quit after working four hours on the first day. The choice to leave was based on one bad employee impression after another. No welcome mat was out in that department. Also, an agency or company s reputation for development and technology can make a real difference to some employees. Has the agency invested in leading edge technology and equipment or only keeping pace with the latest advancements? For some agencies, development and technology are not a priority. The size of an employer can also be of concern to some job applicants. Some workers prefer to work in small organizations of 100 or less and may develop relationships with most of the employees. Others prefer the structure and anonymity of larger employers. Work Quality Quality of work life at an agency has been a best seller for a long time. At the top of the list would be an employer that has a solid reputation as an environment where employee contributions are noticed and valued. A high level of 1 Amy Buck

2 involvement in decisions that affect individual jobs empowers employees. Some employers will only achieve a mixed reputation for recognizing and rewarding employee contributions, and other more impersonal employers exist in an environment where employee contributions go unnoticed. Employee empowerment would likely be at a low or moderate level in these agencies. The degree of work challenge provides motivation to many job candidates. This may be a need for more, or less, challenging work. Many highly valued employees are satisfied with their current level of work challenge. For this type of worker, an employment offer need not offer more challenge, but should not offer less. Risk taking is a factor that some workers find attractive and necessary in employment considerations. Additionally, frequent opportunities for cutting edge work assignments can create a high profile for motivated workers. Employers that do not, or only occasionally, provide that opportunity may not attract and retain highly valued employees. Well defined job responsibilities provide role clarity for workers. Employees can achieve success when they understand their individual roles. Public employers deserve tremendous credit for a long history of written job specifications. One of my previous private employers did not believe in job descriptions. For every job opening I had to interview the hiring authority for job specifications and then write the advertisement and job announcement. This company enjoyed the flexibility of its positions and worried about compensation along the way. I was commended for my ability to write appropriate advertisements and announcements and for the retention of the employees I recruited. Work/Life Balance Work and life balance seems to be the most recent employment attribute that job applicants and employees look for. Requiring a certain job location can limit workers ability to broaden their horizons. While some people don t mind commuting, others would not dream of it. Most of the city s current employees live within the city limits (medium size city). They enjoy access to their families, friends and activities. My own personal history involves working coast to coast. I wanted the opportunity to expand my horizons. Flextime and flex schedules are generally second in priority after location. Job flexibility has provided many answers to family care issues. I allow my employees to choose their schedule and then work around that schedule. Some of my current employees flex their time in the middle of the day to pursue college degrees. These days, many workers won t change employers if they are not offered flex schedules or flexible start times. Telecommuting programs provide an alternative to the traditional work location. 2 Amy Buck

3 The program is designed to achieve increased productivity and effective use of staff work time, promote efficient use of resources, and assist in reducing traffic and air quality hazards. The program should be applicable to selected employees who meet specific work standards. The selected employees must have job duties appropriate for telecommuting, a consistently high rate of productivity, a high level of skill and job knowledge, good organizational and time management ability, be able to work with minimal supervision, and have earned satisfactory job performance evaluations. Job travel can be considered a benefit or a nightmare. Full-time business travel is generally not considered desirable, although some degree of travel is considered desirable by most people. The percent of desirable travel will vary for each worker depending on family and lifestyle issues. This employment attribute is budgetary and not a negotiated item included in the MOU. Child care assistance can range from none, to referrals and subsidies, to on-site child care. Corporate America may be able to provide on-site child care, but most public employers generally cannot spend their dollars that way. A few years ago I almost lost an outstanding candidate because of her child care issues combined with relocation. I photocopied all the telephone book pages for child care centers in the Sacramento area and faxed them to her with my personal recommendations. She resolved the childcare issue and chose her new neighborhood based on the location of the child care center. Internal mobility and project responsibility can go hand in hand with providing career broadening opportunities. Highly motivated workers normally jump at the chance to work in a variety of roles and jobs over the course of their career and want the responsibility for managing high-profile projects and accounts. Ambitious workers need to be in work environments which allow movement. However, the work force is filled with many kinds of people and some workers may prefer less responsibility or the same responsibility with job changes. Compelling Employment Offers Non-compensation considerations definitely affect employment decisions. These attributes can put a completely different spin on recruitment and retention issues. Once you know what attribute motivates an individual, crafting an employment offer is easier. It is important to listen to your job candidates or employees and determine which element of the employment offer is most attractive to them: Financial / Career Achievement competitive salaries, career growth and promotional opportunities. Personal Achievement support employee projects, suggestions and success; give employees accountability and control over work decisions; and provide a broad scope of responsibilities. Stability / Company Success job stability and financial success. 3 Amy Buck

4 Work Support / Direction training, development, funding and resources and career planning. Interesting / Exciting Work job movement, challenging assignments and learning opportunities, industry recognition. Social / Interpersonal Activities fun atmosphere, employee recognition, open communications and professional networking opportunities. Personal / Non-work work/life balance, good location, flexible work schedules and comprehensive benefits. Understanding your organizational design and organizational attributes will provide the business results and outcomes for successful recruitment and retention. To truly craft the compelling offer we need to understand what aspects of an employment relationship are most highly valued by the individual. Misunderstanding an individual s values may result in misleading employment offers. For every individual it is important to measure the satisfaction level of a specific employment attribute. For example, if a job applicant received a pay increase to join your agency, but the agency did not allow telecommuting which was a high value to the applicant, you may lose the applicant. A few years ago I resigned my Human Resources Manager position with a large company on the east coast. The company had a great reputation and the job was outstanding. I just wanted to return to the west coast. My boss, the vice-president of the company, immediately offered me a salary increase. He was shocked when I turned him down and told him there was nothing he could offer me that would keep me on the east coast. An increase in salary was not an appropriate trade off for my need to change my work/life balance. The more satisfaction and value an employee gets from an attribute level, the more it is preferred. When building work-life balance into the compelling offer, gains can be made by reducing time on the job and on the road. Better workload management and availability of time away from the job can carry more importance to some employees than traditionally packaged benefits. Segmenting the Employees High achievers will place a higher value on challenging, high profile work in a risk taking environment. They enjoy a variety of roles and job empowerment and prefer world class senior management. Work-life balance employees will value location of employer, stability of current company, flexible work schedules, low level of business travel, child care referrals, and role clarity. Workers focused on rewards pay attention to high salary base, internal equity, performance bonuses, pay above market rates and high quality managers. 4 Amy Buck

5 Some employees additionally enjoy low levels of workload and business travel, location, vacation, high base salaries and high quality managers. Human Resources is responsible for salary, health and retirement benefits. However, there is a shared responsibility with the staffs of departments for internal mobility, company and co-worker reputation, empowerment, risk taking, role clarity, flex schedules, vacation usage, and telecommuting. Departments are solely responsible for boss reputation, business travel, hours worked, recognition, technology level, cutting-edge work, and work challenge and responsibility. Most public agency job announcements will provide the MOU s negotiated salary and benefits to attract the best employees. However, the best job candidates will look beyond the printed paper and ask questions to ensure that their needs are met. Human Resources must understand what their employer is able to offer and seek the best employee. Amy Buck Human Resources Manager City of Woodland 300 First Street Woodland, CA Phone: (530) amy.buck@cityofwoodland.org July Amy Buck