Online Conversion & Beyond

Sources of Discontent with Work - Look Deeper for the Real Answers

It seems that every day, there's another study or report regarding how satisfied people are at work.  According to the latest from the Conference Board, the majority of those employed in the US dislike their current jobs.

What's really important (according to the report) is what they dislike. 

• It's not their supervisor - "Somewhat surprisingly, 53% of surveyed workers said they were happy with their immediate supervisor"
• It's not their working conditions - " . . .  52% are satisfied with the physical environment at work. "
• It's not the work itself, which many find interesting and rewarding.

It's the other stuff.  " . . . when the questions turn to money, the discontent shows. Thirty-six percent of workers are happy with their wages, while just 21% are happy with the bonus plan at work. Less than one-fourth of workers are happy with the promotion policy at work, with fewer than a third satisfied with their potential for future growth."

Another factor that is important to consider is age.  The majority of older workers (55+), particularly those making over $50K per year, are happy with their jobs.  Contrast this with younger workers:

"Less than two out of every five workers under the age of 25 are satisfied with their jobs. This segment of the population has the lowest level of satisfaction and the lowest level ever recorded in the nearly 20-year history of this survey."

Given the new emphasis on retention at many companies, where a significant percentage of the over 55 workforce is expected to retire soon, this is a chilling prospect.

Although the shift from minority dissatisfaction to the majority view is new, it's been moving that direction for years.  The problems are not new.  What remains to be seen are (a) deeper looks at the root causes of dissatisfaction with compensation and prospects for the future and (b) some new ideas to address the situation.   For instance, has the continued rise in executive compensation been a major or minor contributing factor to employee dissatisfaction with pay? What other factors are major contributors to the negative trends in job satisfaction?

We've had long enough to admire the problem.  Let's see some solutions.

Employee Conversion - From Detachment to Engagement

Josephine Rossi's review of the new book from Gallup Press, 12: The Elements of Great Managing in the January T&D magazine poses an interesting question:

"What do $300 billion USD, € 90 billion euro and $3 billion SGD have in common?"

According to the Gallup organization, these are estimates of lost worker productivity due to disengagement in the US, Germany and Singapore, respectively.  And the bad news is that these are not exceptions . . . similar results are found in other countries that Gallup monitors.

The key to reversing this trend, according to authors Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter, lies in improving the quality of managers expected to bring the best out of the employees with whom they've been entrusted.  It's long been known that people "join companies, but quit managers" (source unknown).   So the focus on managers makes good sense, as long as we don't forget the employees themselves.

One interesting aspect of the book, according to Rossi, which falls outside the steps to employee engagement, is the treatment given to compensation.  The authors refer to compensation as ". . . a status-laden, envy-inspiring, politically charged monster."  The authors say that "while higher pay doesn't ensure engagement, compensation disparities among peers most certainly will kill it."  (And keep in mind, we are not talking here about runaway executive compensation, which has effectively stamped out any remaining pretense of meritocracy.)  We're just talking about peer comparisons.

As a follow-up to Marcus Buckingham's 1999 book "First, Break All of the Rules" this is a well done sequel.  The 12 elements are well stated.  Consider adding this one to your reading list.

Outsourcing Blues

When companies make changes that are supposed to reduce costs, they need to make certain that these same moves don't drive conversion into the toilet.   One case in point is outsourcing customer service or support.

For the past decade, conventional wisdom would lead us to believe that outsourcing and offshoring "easily learned" jobs is a no-brainer.  However, recent experiences by Dell, JPMorganChase and others send a very different message.  BLR, quoting from a CNNMoney.com article, reports the following:

". . . a recent Gartner study which predicted that most (60 percent) of employers who outsource customer-service functions will lose "significant numbers" of customers who will become frustrated with a lower (or poor) level of customer service and defect to competitors. The costs from lost customers, the same survey found, translates into a failure to meet the cost-savings targets set by companies when they made the decision to outsource. The study concluded that a whopping 80 percent of companies that outsource customer-service fail to meet these targets. "

Some jobs may be easy to learn, but more challenging to do well (i.e. meeting customer expectations) long term than we think.  Conventional wisdom has a short half-life!

Talent Crunch Does Not Necessarily Convert in to Jobs for Older Workers

Stories predicting a "talent crunch" in parallel with the retirement of the first Boomers have been showing up in the trade and popular press for about two years.   At the same time, AARP and SHRM studies highlighting the desire (and need) of Boomers to keep working and a recent Merrill Lynch survey (". . . 80% of the 76 million baby boomers plan to keep working in the future.") lead one to question just how severe the "crunch" will actually be.

The key variable which will either drive or forestall the predicted talent shortfall is often buried in the reports.  More balanced reporting is finally beginning to emerge; for example, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, quoted in Workspan Weekly tells us:

"Overall, more than 80% of employers said older workers were “as attractive” or “more attractive” than younger employees. According to Alicia H. Munnell, the center’s director, “the survey results are encouraging given that many people nearing traditional retirement ages will need to work longer to ensure their retirement income security.”

However, the report goes on to say:

"While generally encouraging, the survey results raise two important cautions. First, older rank-and-file workers, who face the greatest retirement income challenge, appear to have weaker employment prospects than older white-collar workers. Second, other surveys have shown that positive evaluations of the productivity of older workers do not necessarily translate into actual employment opportunities."

More succinctly put:

• Blue-collar skills (other than the skilled trades, which are needed outside the factory) don't translate into post-retirement opportunities.
• Employers, particularly those with post-Boomer managers in the hiring role, have a significant list of "reasons" to shun older workers who attempt to stay in the workforce.

Is the talent crunch real?  It's really a matter of choice . . . on the part of the employers.

Converting Former Employees into a Living Asset

Today, only shortsighted companies believe that the utility of employees is exhausted on the date of termination.  In fact, "alumni" (sounds better than "former employees") who have been properly treated at time of exit can be a perpetual asset for the firm.  They can provide a point of connection for business development, serve as a referring group for recruiting and occasionally provide a flexible pool of expertise for projects requiring specialty skills. 

Yesterday evening I had the opportunity to attend the first gathering of Boston Accenture alumni at Symphony Hall.   This gathering, attended by over 100 people (a 40% response according to event organizers), was a lively event.  Life changes were noted (a lot of marriages - consultants do tend to mate once they are off the road) and successes celebrated.

What was clear is that people were happy to see one another, a real payoff for attending.  And for Accenture (which looks for a "value proposition" under every rock) the payoff was equally clear.  Good relationships are good business.

Employment Statistics - Depends on Where You Are Standing

Signs that the human capital marketplace has become a sellers' market continue to show up on our radar.  Today, from Ellen Stuhlman of ExecuNet, we hear the following:

"ExecuNet's April Recruiter Confidence Index (RCI) hugged its all-time high, demonstrating that recruiters remain optimistic that job growth will accelerate during the next six months. According to the survey of 249 executive recruiters, 79% are confident or very confident that the executive employment market will improve during the next six months . . ."

Please note that this rosy report comes from the "executive" job segment.  If we're to believe the statistics, the US has lost nearly 3 million manufacturing jobs since 2001.  And immigration turmoil that we are now experiencing is largely a job-related issue. What we can expect to see as we move deeper into the century is a very different America than the one we inherited from the WWII generation.   Stay tuned.

Double Digit Growth at Top Executive Search Firms

There are more and more signs that the economy is continuing to move, despite a long string of Fed interest rate bumps, rising gasoline prices and increased unrest around the world (Iraq, riots in France, immigration rallies here in the US, etc.).  Business is booming in the human capital conversion marketplace.  According to a recently released Hunt-Scanlon Advisors Survey,  carried in the Electronic Recruiting News:

"Seven firms in the top 25 ranking reported revenue growth in excess of 30 percent; these include: Sextant Search Partners (up 104 percent), Gilbert Tweed Associates (up 95 percent), Christian & Timbers (up 60 percent), Stanton Chase International (up 40 percent), Slayton Search Partners (up 36 percent), Whitney Group (up 32 percent) and industry leader Korn/Ferry International (up 30 percent). "

Over 2/3 of the top 25 firms reported double digit growth, a remarkable recovery from the lean years following 9/11. 

It will be interesting to see if the increased demand for talent at the top trickles down into jobs for those outside the executive suite.  A renewed push to increase the number of H1-B's, losses in the automotive sector and other issues of importance to "Joe Lunchbox" (which includes many highly skilled tech workers in today's marketplace) seems to reinforce the message that perhaps only the rich are getting richer.  We'll be watching to see how the "complete story" is played out in the various media given the coming elections.

Converting Interviews into Jobs, With a Little Help From Your Friends

Most of our features on conversion in the human capital marketplace are presented from the POV of hiring companies, rather than candidates for positions.  However, today we'd like to focus on a new service that claims to provide competitive intelligence to candidates hoping to convert an interview into a job offer.

According to a recent article in the Boston Globe,  the service, "Puvu.com, which started up last year, offers ''job interview reports" on about 100 Boston-area companies for purchase. The reports offer applicants insight into what an interview for a position was like, including examples of specific questions asked."

The people at Puvu.com are willing to pay recent interviewees $40 for a detailed report of their interview experience.  Once a database (?) of interviews for a given company is assembled, Puvu.com makes money by selling company reports to aspiring applicants ($19.95) or by selling reports to the hiring company or its competitors for $79.95.

The founder of the company is Ashot Hayrapetyan, a 25-year-old whose own interviewing experiences provided him with both the idea and the impetus to give job seekers like himself a more "level playing field" in the interview process.

Is it worth $19.95 to get a better idea of what you might face in an interview?  Is it a problem for future employers (who are often impressed when a prospect does company research prior to an interview)?  We'd like to know.  Send us your comments!

Conversion Among the Converted - Some Good News at Last on Army Recruiting

In recent months, we've been closely following the Army's hard-fought battle on the home front - recruiting new soldiers to provide relief for those currently deployed.   It's interesting to contrast the behaviors of those already committed to the fight with those here at home. According to Steven Rothberg's December 1 article on the collegerecruiter.com blog, entitled Army Exceeds Reenlistment Goals:

" . . . reenlistment rates (for the past 3 years) have been at least six percent higher than the Army's goals."

According to Rothberg,

"The Army attributes these strong rates to unprecedented cash bonuses and a renewed sense of purpose in fighting terrorism."

He further notes that some of these bonuses, for those currently in Iraq or Afghanistan, are tax-free.

However, the Army is still in trouble when it comes to meeting overall staffing goals.  Deeper in the article, Rothberg notes:

"The Army still is two-thirds short of its recruiting goals for the year, which translates into a projected 12,000-troop shortfall. In addition, the re-enlistments won't address some key personnel vacancies, such as military police and bomb-disposal experts."

Given these two contrary trends (reenlistment up, recruiting new folks down), what lessons are to be learned?  First, I think we should seriously consider what's motivating the re-enlistments:

• Intrinsic rewards and recognition ("renewed sense of purpose in fighting terrorism" or, perhaps more significantly, a sense of obligation to one's unit and fellow soldiers) OR
• Extrinsic rewards - the tax-free bonuses and other remuneration.

Like Rothberg, I've always been impressed with the quality of the people who are involved in Army (and for that matter all Armed Services) recruiting.  My own experience with the people involved at the strategic level of this endeavor during my years in Big 5 consulting leads me to have a great deal of respect for their analytic rigor and innovative approaches to this daunting task.  I would challenge this group to continue doing research on motivation and mindset differences that lead to action in both market segments, that is, those targeted for recruiting and those already in the service.

Bottom line - "preaching to the choir," no matter how well it's done, is not going to fill all the open positions that must be filled to maintain an effective fighting force.  New messages, compelling stories and a mission that makes sense to a broad audience are required to bring in new recruits. For the sake of our country, and those already serving, I wish our recruiting strategists the best.

Blogging as Recruiting Tool? It's MSM now, Baby!

By now, it should not be news that blogging has come of age as an outreach tool supporting the recruiting function.  We regularly follow Joel Cheesman's blog, the jobster blog and a number of corporate blogs with a recruiting flavor, just to see what's new (and, when they have moments of candor, what works).  Of note at the recent ERE conference here in Boston were corporate recruiting bloggers like Mike Homula of Ohio's FirstMerit Bank . . . the guy who Dr. John Sullivan has been praising to the heavens as having the juice (and lack of restraint) necessary to succeed in today's tough market.

What we are surprised to see is that there are still organizations out there who are just now catching on.  The fact that there's a market for $200+ audioseminars like Blogging: The New Recruiting Tool:

"Join Kennedy Information and Heather Hamilton in this fascinating seminar about Microsoft's use of blogging as a Staffing outreach channel, the dynamics of blogging and the results of the blogging activity. "

tells us that there must be a lot of late adopters out there.  Come on folks.  It just ain't that hard. Give it a try.