June 2016 - People: Are you sleep walking into a crisis?

It is now nearly 8 years since the Great Recession started, & people became concerned about their job & how to pay their mortgage if they did not have one.

Since then there has been an economic recovery of sorts, BUT this has NOT been accompanied by a commensurate rise in salaries - far from it.

With Armageddon avoided (for now) & the media becoming less hysterical, the grass may be looking greener on the other side of the fence. This mood of course could be encouraged if members of staff are struggling with financial housekeeping , or just feel out of the loop, and not appreciated.

In these circumstances it will always be those staff members that leave, that are critical to the ongoing functioning of the business.

This is just as likely to be an unsung hero in Accounts or the Sales Office, as a more high profile Sales person.

Remedy

• Undertake an audit of who are the key staff members you really cannot do without
• Then review how you do all you reasonably can to retain them
• This could be just as easily, better communication, confiding in operational issues, training, promotion, as the more obvious salary increase or bonus

Your People Are No Longer Market Relevant

We now work in a very fast changing business environment, driven by technology and regulation.

A people structure & skill set that was relevant even 5 years ago, may not be so, now!

In such circumstances, the leaden footed risks  of being left behind or even in extreme situations left fighting for business survival, are all too real.

Time to dispassionately re-assess the team.

The examples below hopefully emphasis the business risk of NOT monitoring the relevance of your staff skill sets to the modern marketplace:

• Supermarkets: the era of larger & larger sites & aggressive behaviour towards suppliers have seen the sunset: Tesco’s building programme has come to a shuddering halt & a new more conciliatory culture to suppliers is being introduced- both have people repercussions
• Selling Financial Services: the days of large sales forces have gone –they are expensive & have been overtaken by the web.

Direct marketing initiatives supplemented by key business development executives is becoming the norm.

In Insurance the emergence of Direct Line changed an industry & made a multi million fortune for its entrepreneurial owner

• Social Media: do any staff have the skill set to engage with Social Media & manage the website, or do you rely on out sourcing, or even worse not recognise the need?

Remedy

• Review your business model in relation to the markets you serve

You Do Not Attract and Retain New People

You seem unable to attract the right calibre of candidate.

This may not necessarily be a result of the remuneration package

Remedy

• Candidly review the total package on offer in terms of working environment, location, career progression, as well as money

Often having gone to all the expense both in terms of £ & time to recruit important staff additions, they do not stay long? Why?

• The Recruitment Process in terms of the Job Description, Interviewing Technique?
• A poor Induction Programme , or failure to except that their might be Business Culture issues

Remedy

• Seek help from a professional HR outfit & ignore the siren calls ofthe “mud against the wall” Recruitment Agency