So where are all the eager workers?
few years back
when the unemployment rate was down to 3 percent, many of us
longed for the good ole days of higher unemployment rates.
After all, logic tells us that now with the unemployment rate
up to 6 percent it will be easier to find good employees.
According to what I’m hearing from
drycleaners around the country, it appears that logic has taken
a holiday.
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Several cleaners have told me that they
are having trouble getting people to respond to their Help
Wanted ads while other cleaners in the same area are getting a
good response.
Most business owners believe that people
should respond to a Help Wanted ad simply because they need a
job — any job. As a result, most owners do not sell
themselves to prospective employees in their Help Wanted ads.
You must stop and think about the things
that will attract people to work for your company. Is it the
pay? The benefits? The hours? Or, is there more to it than
these basic needs?
The vast majority of people looking for
work want some stability in their lives. They also want to be
associated with a company that their peers will recognize as a
good company.
Furthermore, they do not want to apply to
a company that runs a Help Wanted ad week in and week out. The
applicant’s perception of those companies is that they
must be real hard to work for — why else would they have
such a high turnover?
If you have done a lot of advertising in
the past with poor results, change the ad. Also, instead of
putting your company name in the ad use a phone number. Cell
phone numbers work well if you want to maintain anonymity.
State in the ad that your employees know of this ad. That will
tell people who have a job that it is not their employer who is
advertising. Advertise that evening and weekend interviews are
available.
If you advertise flex hours, know how
flexible you intend those hours to be before you run the ad.
Never say to an applicant, “I don’t know, you tell
me when you want to work.” Advertising is expensive. Make
it work for you. Also, don’t lose sight of the fact that
advertising is not anywhere near as expensive as the cost of
having an employee “revolving door.”
Before you start advertising, determine
what type of employee you want. From hiring the wrong people
over the years, we all know what kind of person we don’t
want. But we keep hiring the same mistakes over and over again.
After a few years of this routine, we become convinced that
good employees are like dinosaurs — extinct.
You will never develop a strong and
competent workforce if you don’t start hiring the right
people. In order to do this you have to know what you are
looking for. Do you want people with:
• Experience?
• A good attitude?
• Good attendance.
• A willingness to learn?
• Team player.
• All of the above — OF COURSE!
When you interview, interview the whole
person not just the “work” person. Find out what is
important to them — short and long term. Make them think
during the interview process. Also, you ask the questions and
do 20 percent of the talking while they answer the questions
and do 80 percent of the talking.
People want to work in an environment that
is predictable. This can only be accomplished if the company
has a set of rules and regulations that are administered
consistently throughout the organization.
When you hire someone, invest the time to
train them in how you expect things done and why you expect
them done that way. This is your responsibility.
Spend time teaching them about your
quality standards. Train and re-train. Employees cannot be
expected to do things the way you want them done by osmosis or
in a vacuum.
Assign one supervisor to each new hire.
Don’t confuse them by saying, “If you have any
questions you can ask me or Bill or Mary over there.
We all know that sales dollars are the
life blood of every company and we spend a great deal of time
and energy nurturing existing customers and bringing in new
customers.
If you invested the same amount of effort
in cultivating new and existing employees with training and
re-training and, also, in recognizing the individuals who are
making the biggest contributions — where could your
company grow to?
When you started your business you had a
vision for your company, your customers, your employees
and yourself.
For your vision to be realized it must be
shared by your employees.
As stated in the book The Fifth Discipline
by Peter Senge: “A shared vision is not an idea. It is
not even an important idea such as freedom. It is, rather, a
force in people’s hearts, a force of impressive power. It
may be inspired by an idea, but once it goes further — if
it is compelling enough to acquire the support of more than one
person — then it is no longer an abstraction. It is
palpable. People begin to see it as if it exists. Few, if any,
forces in human affairs are as powerful as a shared
vision.”
For more information on company rules and
regulations, interviewing techniques, etc. visit the library of
articles on my web site, www.bizbuilderonline.com, and use the
keyword search.
In the game of business the more you know
the better you can play the game.
Alan Robson is a private consultant
dealing with the specialized needs of the drycleaning industry.
Contact him by telephone at (941) 408-8819 or send e-mail to
him at: alan@bizbuilderonline.com or visit the Biz Builder web site: www.bizbuilderonline.com.
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