March/April 2010 Developments - 76

HR efore you dive into this article, consider one critical correlation between a great place to work and the degree of hospitality a guest perceives throughout their stay in a hotel or timeshare. Like a “resort of choice,” a company or business atmosphere should offer uncompromising hospitality to its employees. Sound impossible to achieve? According to its Web site, Southwest Airlines received 245,895 resumes and hired 1,506 new employees in 2006—that is more than 163 applications for each available position. Fortune Magazine has consistently ranked Southwest Airlines in the top ﬁve of the “Best Companies to Work for in the United States.” Wegmans Supermarkets consider their employees to be its most important customers, and this attitude is obvious in its highly regarded customer service. Likewise, Wegmans consistently makes it to the America’s best workplaces list by Fortune Magazine, ranking ﬁrst in 2006 and second in 2007, and by the Great Places to Work Institute. Hayman Island Resort on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia encourages employees to “own” any problem that is brought to them by a resort guest and empowers them to do whatever is necessary to resolve the guest’s problem, regardless of whether the issue is within his/her area of responsibility. It provides extensive training and cross-training, plus generous recognition awards for employees who promote the resort’s customer service values. What traits do these geographically and industry-diverse employers share? Exceptional customer service and an exemplary “spirit.” The evidence seems to support the idea that excellent employee treatment directly results in superior customer service, which in turn, leads to strong customer loyalty, repeat business, and great “word of mouth” advertising— the winning formula in business. Let’s Greg Richardson “Employer of Choice”: Is It Worth the Effort?consider what makes these businesses successful, and what can make your organization an “Employer of Choice.” Here are 10 important elements for you to consider, evaluate, and strengthen in order to generate the results you want. 2. “Dare to Care” Demonstrate that you and the management team care as much if not more about your employees as the almighty “customer.” Herb Kelleher, founder and chairman of Southwest Airlines, is often quoted as saying: “Any company had better be scared about their future if they pay more attention to their customers than to their own employees.” 1. Know Your Team Even though we all work together, how much time and effort is really expended on getting to know one another? You might be amazed to discover others’ capabilities, interests, perspectives, and approaches to work and to life. When you do, you will appreciate the degree to which each individual contributes to the fabric of a great team and a diverse workplace. Marcus Buckingham, author of First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently, emphasizes that great managers focus on employees’ strengths, not weaknesses. According to Buckingham, the best managers share one talent: the ability to ﬁnd and capitalize upon their employees’ unique traits. The guiding principle is, “How can I take this person’s talent and turn it into performance?” Not everyone has that talent, he notes. If he has learned anything from years spent interviewing the best minds of the business world, it is this: Truly great managers and truly inspiring business leaders are rarer than many think, but all demonstrate easily recognizable leadership behaviors. So, how do you tell a good manager from a bad manager? To achieve their own success, they put their employees in a position where they will be able to use their strengths. “Great managers know they don’t have ten salespeople working for them. They know they have ten individuals working for them. A great manager is brilliant at spotting the unique differences that separate each person and then capitalizing on them.” 3. Leadership Culture What is your organization doing to emphasize, strengthen, and reward leadership behavior at all levels and in all employees and managers? How can people be truly empowered to innovate/create, perform with accountability, and share in acknowledgment for the results? To what degree is staff allowed to make decisions that may affect their workplace? Generally speaking, a “Workplace of Choice” will ﬁrst be viewed as a culture of leadership. 4. Team Mentality “Team” is an easy word to invoke, but are the indicators of a real “team” actually there? Does everyone understand and agree on where their workgroup is headed (vision)? Do they act in accordance with common principles shared by all (values)? Are they headed the same way every day (goals and objectives)? Are they assigned tasks and activities that are relevant and matter (alignment)? The process of creating a strong team takes time and effort, but the results can make all the difference in productivity and proﬁtability. 5. General Respect Consider how easily disrespect can creep into a relationship and often for completely unfounded reasons. Enthusiasm can wane naturally for a variety of reasons, but the sting of disrespect need not be one of them. Even the most enthusiastic and committed of employees will ﬁnd it almost Developments • March/April 2010

March/April 2010 Developments

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