Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Talent Management and Development

We provide full service talent management and talent development consulting services. Read our blogs in this category for stories and best practices from real clients and real research.

  • The Best Way to Retain and Recruit Top Talent in a Post COVID Environment

    The Best Way to Retain and Recruit Top Talent in a Post COVID Environment

    I could tell before he opened the door to the car that something had gone wrong at school.  My ten-year-old gets in the car, sits down, and scowls.  I ask him what’s wrong and he doesn’t answer. I ask his sister what is wrong and she says she doesn’t know. 

    I’m afraid to have to tell him that we are now headed to do something that he does not like to do, which is to go to reading lessons.  He loves his reading teacher, but he just hates to read.  Especially when he is in a bad mood. 

    Sister goes to reading too, but for the exact opposite reason.  She loves to read, so when she goes to reading she gets to do something she likes. 

    I try to think of a way to tell him he has reading for the afternoon without World War III breaking loose. I remember a podcast by the Neuroleadership Institute that I had recently listened to about how to return to the office well. In it, it talked a lot about the value of giving people autonomy, of giving people choices. 

    So, I asked my son, “Would you like to go to reading first or second?” 

    “Second!” he says “Definitely second.”  

    I drop sister off at reading and take him home for a snack and a little break. His mood begins to change, and by the time I take to reading, he is happy.  His belly is full, he got to make a choice- a kind of choice that is usually made for him- and he was able to hit the reset button. 

    Mission accomplished.

    Can it be this simple at work? Can just giving people choices over things make a difference? The research and brain science says it sure can. 

    Take for example studies (here is one in particular) that cite workers given the autonomy (permission) to decorate their own cubicles saw up to a 25% increase in productivity. 

    COVID has exacerbated the need for autonomy at the office for two reasons 1) Many of us have tasted autonomy in work by being able to work from home (or from anywhere) and we don’t want it stripped back. Taking autonomy away activates all kinds of stress in the form of a threat response. 2) COVID created a lot of stress from uncertainty, where there weren’t a lot of choices, and people need to be able to step back from that stress. One way to do this is to allow for choices or continue to allow choices around where, when, and how work gets done.  These reasons and responses are two sides to the same coin.

    So what can you do as a leader to help cultivate autonomy at work?:

    1. Guide by principles not by mandates.  The first thing to think about is making increased autonomy a driver in your decision-making as an overarching principle of when, how, and where work gets done and then go from there. It’s not a mandate of: Everyone must work from home now! Instead, different industries and situations may govern different ways of offering autonomy, but it can be present in any workplace at any time. Going to one extreme that seems to offer autonomy may actually limit people’s choices by making a mandate based on what one segment of your workforce wants, but isn’t reflective of what all want.  Doing this actually fosters the opposite of autonomy by limiting choice and control through a one size fits all approach. Create guardrails for decision-making to allow for autonomy instead of one-way streets. 
    2. Ask people what they want.  In order to determine what autonomy might best look like at your place of work, ask people what they would like to see when it comes to having choices over their work.  Is where, when, or how the work gets done a priority for your workforce? How can you design principles that support those needs?
    3. Experiment based on the research.  Based on the global body of research out there and the research gathered from your workforce, design an experiment that increases the opportunity for choices for your employees.  Decide your hypothesis (for example: If employees are allowed to work from home or at a place of their choosing outside of the office two days per week, productivity and satisfaction will increase), then decide how you are going to measure to see if your hypothesis is correct (for example, how will you measure productivity and satisfaction if you aren’t already?). Then, run the experiment for a period of time and see what outcomes are achieved. If you have favorable results, expand the choice offerings throughout your workforce.  If not, try a different hypothesis and experiment. 
    4. Don’t be afraid to change. What may work now, may not work in the future. Be in tune and open to change by listening to your employees and having a learning mindset through experimentation. Then, don’t be afraid to change if needed to continue to foster autonomy at work. 

    Resisting the urge to command and control as a leader at work (and as a parent) pays dividends. It always has, but it is increasingly needed as leaders think about how to effectively transition after COVID in order to continue to retain and recruit top talent.  Because top talent does have choices, and they will exercise the need to have it by going elsewhere if you don’t foster autonomy at your place of work. 

    How do you and how will you foster autonomy in work? 

  • 3 Ways to Think about levels of Pay + A “Bonus”

    3 Ways to Think about levels of Pay + A “Bonus”

    As you can tell from our previous post on all the hiring incentives that are out there now, it is a job-seekers market. 

    A recent LinkedIn update titled “Power shifts in a tight job market” summarizes what employers are doing to lure people to their open positions:  

    Employers eager to fill positions are offering more to attract talent — and they aren’t just upping pay or showing more flexibility — they’re also training workers and taking more chances on people who don’t meet traditional qualifications. “No experience necessary” roles have spiked by two-thirds compared to 2019, and posts offering starting bonuses have doubled, according to new data from Burning Glass Technologies. Meanwhile, minimum compensation requirements for people without college degrees are up 19%, per a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey.

    There are multiple factors impacting the supply and demand for labor. But it’s not just filling positions, it’s also about keeping people in positions.  Particularly acute in production and manual service workers,  a Conference Board report cites strong retention challenges: 

    As we think about what can be done to impact the recruiting and retention challenges of today, it may be wise to think about how you think about pay. Obviously, employers are increasing their wages. Historically, as you can see from the chart below, wages have not kept pace with productivity, so rising wage rates may help to impact this equilibrium. 

    But until we think about pay differently, honing in on what each level of pay actually provides, we may not be able to effectively impact the outcome of increases in pay on worker recruitment and retention. 

    Adam Grant, in his podcast WorkLife provides a framework for three ways to think about wages in the episode titled “Why It Pays to Raise Pay” and I’ll add one more as a bonus that he and his guests allude to: 

    1. Living Wage: Living wages provide what people need to be able to provide for their basic needs.  Living wages allow people to meet the lower-order needs found in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs that you see below.  They provide for survival, and to a certain extent safety and security. (Other factors may impact safety and security needs being met beyond wages, as for example, safety not being present in a domestic violence situation of a wealthy family.) 

     

    Maslow would tell you in order for people to move up the hierarchy to things that provide motivation at work, you have to at least meet these lower order needs.  By and large, pay is what provides for this.

    What do you think a living wage is where you are? You can find out here: https://livingwage.mit.edu/

    For example, here is Alabama’s data: 

    Some of these numbers were quite surprising to me.  Be sure you look at the information on how these rates are determined here.  Although you (and I) may not agree with all the things included in this living wage, what I find most fascinating here is this data seems to imply that most people with children really need two incomes to reach a living wage by combining their incomes. In addition, it is evident through the data how much of an impact childcare costs play into the variability of a living wage.  

    On a personal note, a ministry we’ve started through the Neighborhood Christian Center is helping one single mother provide a bridge for childcare expenses right now until she can see if she qualifies for a government subsidy program to help pay for their childcare.  She has three young children and no support from their father.  The cost for the three of them to attend daycare so she can work would require her to make $13.50 an hour JUST to cover daycare costs. Her pay rate right now is $10.00 an hour.

     

    2. Fair Wage.   A fair wage, I simply define as a market wage rate by position.  Grant defines fair wage as “a living wage plus an amount that reflects an employees’ value for the organization or in the labor market.” 

    What is a fair wage where you live based on the positions you hire?

    Just to give an example, here is the market wage in Alabama for a Production/Manufacturing Operator as reported from one of the subscription market wage sources we use: 

    It is interesting to compare these market rates to the living wage rates.  Oftentimes, it appears as though market or “fair” rates are actually below living wage rates.  

    3. Generous Wage.  A generous wage Grant defines as a shift in thinking to what the purpose of pay actually is.  He says, “Instead of thinking of pay as a way to incentivize people, think of it as a symbol of how much you value them.  When people feel valued, they add value.” 

    It’s easier to get concrete data to define what a living and fair wage is, but a generous wage is so ambiguous.  It means different things to different people and to different organizations. 

    Grant provides a couple of concrete case studies in the podcast that can help you think through what generous wages look like. For example, PayPal committed to paying generous wages and defined it through measuring net disposable income, which is the money you have leftover after taxes and paying for all essential living expenses.  The threshold they set for employees was having 20% of their take-home pay be in this category.  

    It can’t be understated, however, that in order to work, generous pay has to be combined with a bonus. And that bonus isn’t monetary. 

    4. Necessary Bonus: Treat people holistically.  In order for a generous wage structure to work, it has to be predicated with the mindset of believing in people.  This isn’t throwing money at a problem in order to fix it.  That won’t work. One of Grant’s guests on the podcast states that companies who don’t or can’t get on board with this mindset, “Don’t believe in people. They don’t have the faith in a person’s ability to do a good job in their motivation and in their competence. And of course, in public companies, there is a tremendous emphasis on the short term and a lot of executive’s compensation is tied to short term performance….. Another thing that gets in the way is mediocrity is a lot easier to pursue than excellence.” 

    As she says, it’s easy to say, “Pay as little as you can.” That doesn’t take a lot of thought. But thinking about “how high you should go? How much should you empower your people?” takes a lot more work.

    I hope this framework of thinking about pay provided here through the WorkLife podcast will, at a minimum, provide some food for thought for you to pursue excellence instead of mediocrity. 

    What will you do next to lead your company’s compensation policy? 

     

    Author’s Note/Opinion:  

    I am a capitalist at heart. This isn’t about paying people wages that do not allow for-profits or distributing wealth in a socialist way, it’s about paying wages that maximize profits and it’s about businesses taking ownership of generous pay, not the government being in charge of redistribution of wealth.  

    If businesses took ownership in paying people at least a living wage and hopefully seeing how profits can be maximized with generous wages, the government wouldn’t have to interfere in the market to impact the widening income gap in America.  I believe that much of what is going on now when it comes to why people are sitting out of the labor market due to making as much or more on government subsidies, is a result of wages not having risen past the recession rates of 2008-2009 and that was more than ten years ago now.   

    It’s time for businesses to take an honest look at their role in the problem instead of pointing fingers at everyone else and trying to put out a fire that has been kindling for a long time with a shot in the dark sign-on bonuses and other short term bandaids to entice people to work but that totally negate the need to do the hard work of building better workplaces where people actually want to work and stay. 

    If you listen to the entire WorkLife podcast here, you’ll see that one company engaging in this type of excellence around pay mindset has seen their revenue triple, their customer base double, and their workforce growing by 70%.  Taking a thoughtful look at your wages just isn’t the right thing to do for people to be able to earn a living, it’s the smart thing to do when it comes to maximizing your business’ potential. 

     

  • Gender Themes in Assessments: Are women really more organized than men?

    Gender Themes in Assessments: Are women really more organized than men?

    At HPC, we facilitate assessments and coaching with leaders and potential leaders on a regular basis. We work with individuals from diverse backgrounds and with both males and females. Recently, we facilitated Work Behavior Inventory assessments with a group of organizational leaders. We noticed a trend in one component of the assessment – Conscientiousness. More often than not, males scored considerably lower in conscientiousness, which measures achievement, initiative, persistence, attention to detail, dependability, and rule-following. It is worth noting that most males were self-aware.

    This prompted our team to discuss the idea that maybe there are common gender trends in assessments. Pew Research Center surveyed and published some information that was enlightening.

    According to the research, which surveyed the public on their views of leaders, the public is much more likely to see women as being more organized than men, rather than vice versa. Fully 48% say being organized is more true of women than men, while only 4% say this quality is found more in men than women (46% say it’s true of both).

    Women were also seen as more compassionate. The survey also said:

    Women have an advantage over men when it comes to honesty—one of the most crucial leadership traits, according to the public. Some 29% of all adults associate honesty more with women than men, while 3% say honesty applies more to men than women. A majority of adults (67%) say this characteristic is displayed equally by men and women.

    Read more about Pew Research Center’s findings here: What Makes a Good Leader, and Does Gender Matter?

    Regardless if there is a trend or not, we think self-awareness is key for good leaders, both male and female. During our coaching sessions, we discuss trends in strengths and areas for development and work with leaders to create a game plan for development. 

    Do you have leaders or high-potential employees who would benefit from an assessment and coaching? Reach out to us today for more information.

  • The Volunteer Venn

    The Volunteer Venn

    Q: How many volunteers does it take to plan and host a statewide HR conference? 

    A: Whatever number you’re thinking, add 10 more! 

     

    Volunteers are absolutely critical to the success of all organizations, not-for-profit or otherwise, but they are often overlooked and undervalued. Knowing this to be true, why do we volunteer? 

    I am absolutely certain that I owe much of my professional (and personal) success to volunteerism. I have been equally – if not more – challenged, encouraged, and developed in volunteer roles in comparison with paid roles. Some of my most significant growth moments were from volunteer projects. I literally would not be working in my current paid role without a volunteer connection. Every member of our professional team has served in volunteer leadership roles for community-based organizations and professional/trade associations, and each of us has gained invaluable interpersonal skills, project management experience, and so much more, specifically through volunteerism. 

    I just had the great pleasure of planning a conference with a committee of six for a statewide volunteer-led organization. We start with six for planning purposes, but on the day of, six becomes forty. Every year, almost the entire event is staffed by volunteers who give up work or personal time to stuff conference bags, hand out boxed lunches, direct people to restrooms, or whatever other tasks pop up. Mixed in with operational responsibilities, we talk and laugh and commiserate about life and work and dogs and sports. We refresh. We make connections. We learn. 

    So, the answer to the question about why we volunteer when we’re often overlooked and undervalued is really a three-part answer. I like a good visual, so here’s my homemade Volunteer Venn: 

    Through volunteer roles, we explore ourselves and grow as individual people, we experience the good and the human connection separate from paychecks and performance evaluations, and we also create and facilitate career opportunities for ourselves and others. We are better leaders at work, better family members, and better friends when we’ve learned to give of our time and resources freely and without strings. 

    Volunteers are a community. Some of my best relationships, personal and professional, were cultivated through volunteering, and I will forever be thankful for them. 

    What positive, life-changing volunteer experiences have you had? How can you start today? 

     

  • Innovations in #CareerAdvice and Recruiting

    Innovations in #CareerAdvice and Recruiting

    Unemployment rates in Alabama are slowly falling and are on track to reach numbers from the pre-pandemic job boom. In the Huntsville/Madison area, there are more jobs than there are people to fill them. As a result of a volatile job market and the workplace changes in the last year, recruiters are working through some innovative ideas for 2021.

    Would you be surprised to learn that videos with the hashtag #careeradvice have reached over 80 million views since the start of 2021? TikTok has evolved into a recruiting marketplace, where job seekers and potential employers connect in a creative way. Businesses are turning to TikTok for brand visibility and as a way to reach a broader candidate pool. 

    Organizations are also working internally to redesign jobs to be more adaptable and allow for built-in upskilling and cross-training. According to a Deloitte study, “41% of executives said that building workforce capability through upskilling, reskilling, and mobility is one of the most important actions they are taking to transform work”. Looking for some resources for upskilling and reskilling? Here are three:  

    Forbes – Why Employee Upskilling And Reskilling Is So Important Right Now

    theHRDIRECTOR – Why Upskilling and Reskilling is essential to business survival

    Indeed – Upskilling Your Employees: A Guide for Managers

    We see these two questions as critical components of innovation for recruiters and organizations this year: 

    • How can we introduce new brand visibility and recruiting strategies to reach a larger candidate pool?
    • How can we reimagine our organization chart, job descriptions, and talent management strategies to build in upskilling and reskilling? 

     

    We are currently working with an organization that found itself with fewer applicants and a low applicant-to-hire ratio. We looked closely at the hiring process, we looked at job descriptions, we looked at hiring best practices in the local market, and only then did we start to ask these same questions above. 

    You can get started now by mapping out your current strategy, reach, and impact. What’s working? What worked pre-pandemic, but doesn’t work now? How can you and your team innovate recruiting practices? Dig deep, then take the leap!