They came for the lunch and stayed for the speaker.
During a Humboldt and District Chamber of Commerce luncheon held on February 6, David Hagel, who has more than 30 years experience in human resources, spoke to Chamber members about how to retain employees.
Hagel explained that it's becoming harder to retain employees because of change.
"There is an old saying that there are only two things that are absolute - one is taxes and the other is death," said Hagel. "I'm going to suggest this is outdated and we need to add a third piece to this and it is change. Change is up there with taxes and death. It is certain and it is going to happen. Change is inevitable."
He said research indicates change is accelerating and is caused by an expansion of technology, globalization and changing demographics.
"We are going to talk about expansion of technology and changing demographics," said Hagel.
There is a paradigm shift happening in Saskatchewan, Hagel explained.
"I'm originally from Saskatchewan, I left and now it is interesting to come back and see things as an outsider," said Hagel.
There have been major or radical changes that have happened in the Saskatchewan workforce.
"We are slowly changing from an agriculture to a resource-based culture," said Hagel. "Think about the resources this province has and it is really quite scary."
He said the province has also gone from negative population growth to record population growth. There's been record investment in start-up homes, an extreme labour shortage, as well as many other changes.
"We have gone from a buyers' market to a sellers' market," said Hagel. "The old economy we could pick and choose what we wanted."
Although with the major changes in the Saskatchewan economy, the other major change has been the idea of employment for life, he noted.
"That has gone the way of the dodo bird," said Hagel. "It just isn't happening. If I hear it today, it is very rare. The concept now is employability for life. Employees now have to take charge of their career, they have to start thinking about what I am going to do to improve myself so I can move into another job and another opportunity."
Another major change is people are staying in jobs for a much shorter period - on average three years.
"People are jumping ship for a buck or two bucks, or a signing bonus," said Hagel. "So what is happening is it is forcing everyone in the province to look at their comp and benefit systems and asking if they are really competitive."
Hagel told a story about an electrician who helped a young man by making him his apprentice. The electrician helped the young man through his program, helped him get his ticket. When the mines offered him $10 an hour more, he took their offer.
"He had nothing to show for that five-year investment," said Hagel.
Since there is so much change in employees' attitudes, Hagel said human resources needs to move from a tactical approach of recruiting to a strategic approach.
"What has happened from all of this is I think we have created a free agent nation," said Hagel.
He explained employees are looking for more perks and higher wages.
Hagel explained a human resources firm did a survey with 900 people on their exit interviews from jobs. The top reasons people quit were limited growth or advancement opportunities, inadequate training, unreasonable workload, disliked work, perception of unfairness, unreasonable procedures, sexual harassment, difficult co-workers and lack of quality products or services."
He said money was not in the top 10 list.
In order to help retain employees, companies need to take many things into consideration, but a major factor is their brand.
"The thing you want to remember is you want to be seen as a progressive employer who does things to retain employees," said Hagel. "Saying your best resource is people is a cliche. The people are a competitive advantage and you need to start thinking of them (as such)."
WestJet versus Air Canada was an example Hagel used of good and bad branding. He explained the service from Air Canada gives them a bad brand, whereas WestJet has a good brand because of their good service.
"I don't fly Air Canada anymore," said Hagel. "Their brand is bad."
Another tip Hagel gave employers was to have a process and system on how to recruit people.
"Make sure you have a good fit between the job and the person," said Hagel.
Also have a realistic job preview.
"People get on to the job and say, 'I made a mistake. I shouldn't have come here' and they leave," said Hagel. "Be transparent and honest with commitments."
He suggested doing a long orientation process instead of a compressed one-day orientation.
"You don't want to have orientation by firehose," said Hagel. "We want to be drinking from the garden hose. Orientation begins before the employee even gets on the job and should be spread out over days."
One of the biggest complaints Hagel hears from employees is their boss is an idiot and doesn't know what they are doing. He suggests having better management training in place.
"It is because they do not do management training," said Hagel. "Just because you are good at being a technician doesn't mean you will be any good at being a supervisor or manager... You want them to come out, go into the phone booth and jump out as Superman."
Hagel was full of tips and suggestions for employers to keep employees, including cross training, training on products and services, designate trainer, have information meetings at the start of a shift, performance management, transparency and have competitive wages and benefits.
It is also important to communicate with employees to let them voice opinions and show appreciation.
"Praise people," said Hagel. "It is really simple and it doesn't cost you any money. Show appreciation. It can be really simple things, like a pat on the back, a set of tickets to a movie - just show appreciation."
If employers follow his advice, he said it will be easier to retain employees because the company will have improved its brand and made the workplace more enjoyable.
