/U/People

No matter what products or services they produce, businesses need two essential things to succeed: employees and customers.

The business functions that take care of these keys to growth, HR and marketing, have a great deal more in common than most organisations realise.

Yet when it comes to taking a strategic role in the business, HR seems to be lagging behind. Here are 10 reasons why HR Directors need to start thinking more like the CMO – especially if they’re seeking a seat at the boardroom table.

1. HR holds the keys to employee engagement

Customer engagement and staff engagement have the same underlying principles: consistent communication, and a perception of value in the rewards for behaviour. Customer engagement can drive sales, employee engagement will fuel productivity – both support a more profitable growth strategy.

2. It’s all about loyalty

It’s much simpler to keep your existing customers than attract new ones. The same goes for staff – it’s more cost-effective to build your talent from within than continually recruit and train new people. If you want new ideas for staff retention strategies, look to customer loyalty.

3. Build internal brand ambassadors

Staff can be your biggest advocates – and with encouragement they can help you fill your talent pool. We all understand the power of a customer referral. Imagine the potential talent waiting to be tapped into in your staff’s social networks, and how much simpler that would make the recruitment and retention process.

4. Create stronger social communities

There’s no doubt that social media has made marketing’s challenge much more complex – so many more channels to connect with customers. Done well, it can create powerful and authentic engagement. So how well is HR managing its social communities? Is there potential to use them more effectively to recruit, train and communicate with staff? Can they be positive collaboration platforms?

5. Focus on measurable ROI

CMOs are held accountable to leads, NPS scores, brand awareness, costs per click and more. They live and breathe return on investment, and this makes them more proactive in spotting new opportunities.

HR tends to be more reactive – putting out fires or cutting costs. If you consistently meet measurable KPIs – for cost per hire, total cost of training and impact of training on performance for example, then you may find it easier to get budget approved for new ideas.

6. Use data to make better decisions

How do you make strategic hiring decisions – intuition, or science? Marketing campaigns are driven by data, targeting defined customer segments and capturing data to continually improve programs and products.

This is a huge opportunity for HR, given the cost of a poor decision. I know of one firm that has overlayed personality traits with safety metrics to understand the best fit for specific roles in its business, and others that use data to improve the impact of training and incentive programs.

7. Start segmenting

What makes a successful team within your business? If you can analyse staff data to understand skills, experience, preferences and motivation, you could potentially optimise performance and productivity.

8. Be the custodian of company culture

Your company culture aligns with your external brand personality. Think of brands such as Red Bull and Virgin, and how their staff profile compares with more conservative brands such as Unilever or Telstra. You define your brand personality through the people you employ.

9. Create core values

The core value proposition for customers is the foundation of any marketing activity. The organisation’s vision and values are equally important – clearly defined, they can attract and inspire the right people. This is your internal ‘reason to believe’ – your positioning and promise to employees.

10. Use technology to automate

The most successful marketers are digitally empowered – they use marketing automation tools and data analytics to manage increasingly complex channels of brand communication. For HR, digital tools can alleviate the administrative burden of the transactional HR services (from payroll processing to incentives management).

This lets HR focus on its strategic priorities: talent acquisition and retention, and learning and development. This is where you can add real value to the business – and gain a seat at the decision-making table.

In the race to attract the best staff, and always have a talent pool ready to fill any immediate gaps at short notice, more employers are turning to non-traditional recruitment channels, using social media.

Social recruitment is an example of agile HR management. By maximising social media engagement and staff referrals, it lets you continuously seek new talent. Managed well, it can help you create a more powerful brand presence as an employer, and a smooth onboarding experience for employees.

With 1.3 billion active users, Facebook is still the world’s largest social network, but Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn are all growing faster. 69 percent of Australians use social media on a regular basis, and if you’re looking to attract new recruits under the age of 30 you’ll probably find more of them on Facebook or Twitter than on job boards.

This is especially important for industries with high turnover or peak seasonal demand – such as hospitality and retail. Using social media to promote your job listings gives you access to the ‘passive market’ – those already in employment who aren’t likely to stumble across your ad on a job board or get in touch with a recruitment agency, but are regularly engaging with social media.

Build your social presence and be part of the conversation

Before you first meet a good candidate, it’s likely they will have done some homework. They will research your culture, work environment, benefits, and look for stories about the people within your business. If you use social channels to create a consistent and attractive story about your business, you’re more likely to attract the best people – and they’ll be better prepared for their new role.

Encourage your current employees to share their stories and experiences on your company Facebook page, for example, post videos, blogs, photos and other content that will attract and engage both customers and staff.

Create a social referral network

When your staff share your job posts with their personal networks, you’ll have a much better chance of attracting – and keeping – the right people, with the best cultural fit.

Data from the US job market indicates employee referrals have the highest applicant to hire conversional rate, and will begin work quicker – saving you valuable time. They also have greater job satisfaction – 46% stay for more than a year. Given the average number of friends, contacts or followers Australians aged 20 to 29 have is 489, you’re likely to be able to reach large numbers of prospective staff quickly through your staff networks.

And, as it’s also less expensive to recruit this way, you can create incentives to reward staff for taking the initiative. That’s a win-win formula for everyone.

So make it as easy as possible to share available positions. Send them the link to your job posting, and give them clear instructions on where to share it, and how to follow up with any friends who may be interested. Everyone in your business can play a recruitment role, you just need to empower them to do so.

Simplify your talent ‘supply chain’

One of the biggest business benefits of social recruitment, compared with traditional recruitment using agencies and paid online job listings, is how cost-effective it can be. Use a free jobs board such as Employment Hero, and you can easily share new vacancies through your company social channels and with your staff.

By always having your recruitment switched on through social recruitment, you can be more responsive and resilient, no matter what opportunities or challenges your business faces.

Three tips for smarter social recruitment

Be authentic. To build your network and your social brand presence, you need to have genuine conversations and share interesting stories.
Be consistent. Social recruitment doesn’t need to end when the candidate accepts the job offer. Think about how you can use social channels to improve onboarding and communication.
Turn your staff into brand ambassadors. Improve the speed to start date, and the success of hire, by supporting them to put the word out through their own networks. And make sure you reward their efforts with a ‘finders fee’ or bonus. By eliminating recruitment overheads such as agency fees and advertising costs, you’ll find the cost-per-hire rate is dramatically reduced.

Shoppers, in turn, get to enjoy savings and score freebies when they continuously participate.

According to the Colloquy Loyalty Census, loyalty program memberships are growing at an annual rate of 26.7 percent and there are over 2.65 billion memberships in the US. But while tons of shoppers are joining loyalty programs, they don’t always participate in them. The study found that even though the number of loyalty program memberships per US household has grown, less than half of those memberships are active (i.e. members have engaged at least once in the previous 12 months).

To help make sure that your loyalty program members don’t fall into that “inactive” category, we took a look at some winning loyalty programs and compiled a list of elements that contribute to their success.

Check them out below and see how you can incorporate them into your own strategy:

Perks

Bribes Incentives are essential to any loyalty program. They drive membership growth and participation, which is why the most important decisions you’ll make when establishing your program are what types of rewards to give out and how you’re going to offer them.

Some stores run product frequency programs where shoppers get a point for every item they purchase, and receive a freebie once a certain threshold is met. “Buy 10, get 1 free” is a common example of this.

This type of reward works best if you sell products or services that are purchased regularly (like food and drink, or haircuts).

Other merchants choose to offer point-based rewards programs, wherein shoppers accumulate points for every dollar they spend. It’s a bit more complex, but it works great for retailers that sell a variety of products and want to give customers more flexibility with their rewards.

This rewards system can also increase spending amount and frequency, which is why it’s also commonly used by airlines and credit card companies. The more people use a certain airline to travel or a particular card to make purchases, the more points they earn.

Sephora’s Beauty Insider program is a great example of this. Members earn points for every dollar they spend at the store, and can later redeem those points for an item of their choice.

Tip: Have you checked out Vend Loyalty yet? With it your customers can earn points on every qualifying purchase. They’ll also be able to see their balance on receipts and redeem it as credit against future purchases.

Perks shouldn’t be limited to points or dollars, though. The points-for-purchases format, while effective, is pretty generic and may not be enough to really engage members. Be sure to come up with other unique rewards. Think of benefits that would make members feel like they’re really part of something exclusive.

For instance, Sephora’s rewards program offers birthday gifts, free beauty classes, first dibs on new products, advance access to sales, and more. As you can see, these perks go beyond monetary factors; they also educate customers, give them a sense of exclusivity, and celebrate moments in their lives.

Earned dollars and points can convince people to join and buy from you, but its the thoughtful and exclusive rewards that truly deepen their personal relationship with your brand.

Can you come up with something along the same lines? What special perks can you offer to your loyal members?

Data

Data can turn a so-so loyalty program into one that keeps people coming back. By collecting customers’ basic information and tracking their shopping activities, you’ll be able to provide more thoughtful benefits (i.e. a little something on their birthday, an item complementing a recent purchase, or tailored advice and recommendations).

Such perks earn you points for being relevant and they strengthen the connection that customers have with your brand.

TheSuperCool, a Melbourne-based retailer, leverages data quite well. With the help of loyalty app Collect, they’re able to identify their best customers and get to know them better. TheSuperCool then makes use of that information by inviting their most loyal patrons to private shopping events where they can enjoy free vouchers and personalized styling advice.

Consider doing something similar in your store. Gather intel on your loyalty program members and then use that information to tailor their rewards and experiences.

Tip: Need more pointers on how to gather customer data and use it in your store? Check out this recent guest post by our friends at Collect.

Surprise and Delight

Surprising and delighting customers is an effective way to boost spending, engagement, and word of mouth.

As we mentioned in a previous post, rewards that customers don’t see coming are far more memorable than generic points. Customers won’t recall all of the items they redeemed with their earned dollars, but you can bet that they’ll remember–and talk about–the unexpected gifts or perks you gave them.

Consider the tale of Brad Handler, chairman of Inspirato, who talked about how an airline gave him and his family a surprise upgrade to first class back when he was a 10th grader. The upgrade, he wrote, was “unexpected and appreciated” and it made such a huge impression on him that he continues to talk about his experience decades after it happened.

“Had we not been upgraded, the connecting flight to Orlando would have been exactly as I anticipated and instantly forgotten. Instead, I remember it 30 years later.”

Plenty of merchants have already realized how big of an impact surprises can have on shoppers which is why more and more companies are incorporating the element of surprise into their loyalty programs.

Take Expedia for example. In 2010, the website ran a surprise-and-delight campaign to engage members of its Elite Plus program. According to Colloquy, Expedia sent a $100 coupon to select members and saw transactions by that group increase by almost 10%.

And what’s even more interesting is that while just 10% of recipients redeemed the coupon, the company found that even those who didn’t use the offer ended up travelling more with them.

Other retailers are putting surprises at the core of their loyalty programs. Panera Bread for example, makes every reward a surprise. Instead of keeping count of points or stars, Panera simply gives customers perks at unexpected times. Members can look forward to anything from free bakery items and exclusive tastings to recipe books and invites to special events.

Take a leaf out of the playbook of the businesses above. Spice up your loyalty programs by giving members unexpected perks like a free cup of coffee or even a handwritten card thanking them for being such a loyal customer.

Convenience

See to it that your loyalty programs are easy to participate in. Make them seamless by eliminating friction points that curb or slow the process of earning or redeeming rewards.

Start by getting rid of physical rewards cards. Not only do they clutter up people’s wallets, they also add time and effort at checkout. As we noted on Chain Store Age, “A typical rewards card scenario involves the customer finding their card, taking it out of their wallet, scanning it, and putting it back. And if they happen to forget their card, they miss out on the chance of earning loyalty points. Those barriers add friction and time to the checkout process and can lower customer satisfaction.”

It’s best to opt for a POS-based program instead. Your customers won’t have to carry around rewards cards; they can just give you their name and be all set.

One retailer that’s doing a great job at implementing POS-based loyalty is Rockets and Rascals, a bike emporium in England. They have more than eight hundred members in their loyalty program, and the fact that they don’t require physical cards proved to be a big boon for the retailer and their patrons, who don’t always have their wallets on them.

“It’s a wonderful life saver for a cold, wet cyclist that’s come in without their wallet,” says Steve Toze, marketing director at Rockets & Rascals.

You can also choose to implement your loyalty program through a mobile app. Instead of traditional cards, mobile-based loyalty programs enable you to track rewards and offer perks through peoples’ smartphones. Some solutions (like Vend add-on Collect) even allow you to gather data and personalize rewards for each member.

Mobile-based loyalty programs are also convenient for shoppers. Since they work through people’s smartphones, customers won’t have to add yet another card to their wallet. They can just scan their phones to earn and redeem points.

Marketing

Marketing should be a big part of your loyalty efforts. After all, your program won’t take off unless you put it out there. Common tactics for doing this include instructing associates to mention the loyalty program to customers and putting up posters, counter wobblers, or tent cards around the store.

Also remember to market your loyalty program to existing members. Don’t just sign people up and send them on their way. Touch base with them regularly and remind them to swing by your store so they can earn or cash in their rewards.

If you’re collecting data on their shopping behavior, send them relevant messages based on their previous purchases. You can also cook up exclusive members-only offers to entice them to come in.

Check out what Starbucks is doing. The coffee company frequently gives members opportunities to earn bonus stars (i.e. points) when they purchase select products or complete certain actions.

Bottom line

Most people assume that rewards programs are all about well, rewards. The fact is though, perks are only the tip of the iceberg. Your program shouldn’t just bribe customers, it should instill genuine loyalty and attract repeat patronage not just because they’re going to get points out of their visit, but because they feel a real connection with your brand.

There’s a direct link between the leadership skills of a manager and the performance of an individual employee.

Obvious signs of happy employees are:

• Job satisfaction 
• Improved work performance 
• A Motivation to please 
• Aspiration to progress with the business 
• Desire to move higher with internal promotion opportunities 
• A generally happy demeanour! 

Need more of these employees within your business? Easy. Here are 10 tips for keeping your employees happy.

1. Awards – Try implementing awards for good behaviour, reaching certain targets, or simply miscellaneous/general awards for humour. This gives employees something to work for. 
2. Employee Surveys – By conducting a staff survey you give employees the opportunity to have a voice. Whilst not all feedback may be gleaming, some criticism can often help to illustrate flaws within management that may need to be looked at. This will help you to cater your management style to your employees. 
3. Make room for fun – It’s important to have fun within the workplace. It not only can lighten the mood but it also allows your employees to feel comfortable amongst management and also their co-workers. 
4. Career path/progression – By promoting opportunities to move up within the business, this can play a major part in employee retention. They begin to see the bigger picture in how their current job could play a important role in their career development. 
5. Birthdays – Not only is this an easy thing to remember (simply set a notification on your computer or phone), but it’s only one day a year! Maybe even take this one step further and give them a small gift to commemorate the occasion! 
6. Pats on the back – Recognising when an employee has done something good is crucial in job satisfaction. It’s important to voice recognition also Make a point of telling an employee when they’ve done something great – positive feedback can really benefit them and make them feel part of the team! 
7. Walk the talk – Ensure that whatever you tell your employees to do, that they get the chance to see you do the same task. Employees work better for managers that work 10x harder than everyone else, right through from clearing rubbish bins through to managing a shift. Be a managerial figure they want to aspire to! 
8. Encourage socialising – If you can promote this within the business at a low monetary cost, this will benefit your employees greatly. Bonding between co-workers and management is important in establishing friendships and connections between all levels of employees. 
9. Develop trust – Without trust, your employees won’t feel comfortable coming to you with anything, whether it be that they’re sick, that they have exams coming up or they simply aren’t feeling very happy at the moment. Make sure trust is central to all of your communication with your employees. Wouldn’t you rather they were honest about being hungover from last night’s party rather than lying about it and calling in sick for their shift five minutes beforehand! 
10. Culture – Promoting a culture that is consistent and honest is pretty crucial for maintaining happy employees. If you are choosing to implement any of these tips, try to be consistent in promoting a continuously great culture. Not one that is volatile and inconsistent, which makes management efforts look unbelievable. 

So, here’s to happy employees!

Did you know you can also keep your employees happy by eliminating roster confusion? Simply send their roster notifications to them via SMS or email. It’s that easy! Start a free trial of goRoster here.

In the professional services industry over 53.4% of employee turnover was voluntary during the last four months (vs. 38% in 2009). With the economy improving and the emergence of “Free Agent Nation” and Gen Y, managing turnover is becoming priority for every firm and business.

We’ve come up with common causes of employee turnover and 15 potent ways to confront it.

“It Wasn’t A Good Fit”

Every business (especially small businesses) have their own distinct culture. It seems more and more hiring decisions are based on “personality” fit as they are on “performance” fit to avoid disrupting overall company culture.

Here are some things to keep in mind when meeting with the next potential new hire to avoid hiring the wrong fit:

Hire the right people from the start

Identify the major themes of your business environment, traits of employees, and the character profiles of your top performers. Once these are identified, use them as leading indicators for the “type” of person you’re looking for. Remember many “fit” hires have a lot to do with attitude and personality and less to do with types of skill or background. Remember, you don’t have to sacrifice diversity when hiring for people to fit your company culture.

Open Book Management

Open communication about the status of finances and sales gives employees a sense of working towards a common goal and feeling ownership over results no matter the department they may work in. New Belgium Brewing Company is a great example of a company owning this ethos over the last decade, and it’s difficult to argue with their results.

Salary and Benefits

There are plenty of studies which show monetary compensation is not a primary driver of employee satisfaction, performance, or engagement. While there is a requisite amount of compensation for each position, “throwing money at the problem” isn’t sustainable long-term for any employer and employee relationship. Here are some things to keep in mind in regards to salary and benefits:

Stay Up To Date:

Keep up to date with current benefit trends within your industry – this report by the Society of Human Resources gives great insight into current trends.

Show Appreciation:

This study by MIT shows that the less we feel appreciated at work, the more pay we want in return. Providing constructive feedback, positive reinforcement, and appreciation can go a long way in the fight against rising wages and employee turnover.

Poor Working Environment

Patrick Hull pointed out in Forbes, that a positive work environment proved to be a key factor in the success of a startup. The goal is to create a place that is enjoyable and makes employees want to come to each day.

Create a Welcoming Atmosphere

Throw out standard ‘norms’ (like the office cubical) that have become outdated and misused. In today’s work environment collaboration, self-initiated privacy, and relaxing break areas provide employees everything they need throughout the workday.

Have Clear Expectations

Treat employees like adults by giving them clear expectations and letting them meet those expectations how they best see fit. Motivate employees by giving them the trust they deserve for meeting those expectations.

Provide Opportunities to Learn and Grow

Incentivizing employees to constantly learn and grow gives them the confidence (and ability) to take on harder projects and seek higher goals.

For some more great ideas check out a post from The Harvard Business Review wrote about 12 attributes of a truly great workplace.

Little To No Flexibilty

The current generation of employees are looking for work/life balance. Boston College conducted a study on Job Flexibility that identified 76% of employees and 80% of Managers indicated flexible hours had positive effects on retention.

According to a SHRM study, 63% of companies now allow for telecommuting, nearly twice as many than did in 2005. With companies identifying flexibility as a top priority, it’s more important than ever for companies to stop telling about their “work/life balance” and start showing.

Flexible Time and Place

Give employees flexibility of when and where they can work. Is it really necessary to mandate employees who do the majority of their business via phone and internet to be in the office? Giving employees the option to telecommute helps with their busy schedules and allows a positive work/life balance. It also reinforces the trust you have for them to perform their necessary tasks without oversight.

If a clearly defined set of goals are agreed upon to monitor the progress and ensure their work is still getting done, what is there to lose?

Choices in Managing Time

Giving employees the option of how their time at work is spent provides a sense of trust in their ability to manage their own time. By deciding what needs to be done at what times employees can take breaks when they are needed are more likely to be more productive.

If you have to constantly worry about managing your employees, you should reconsider your hiring principles. Back to #1!

When Your Employees Take Time Off, Reinforce That They Shouldn’t Be Working

From our own experience working for large corporate entities it was a common understanding that “taking time off” was often worse than not taking time off. Many were expected to still get their work done on vacation, never allowing for any breaks to be taken in the first place. In many cases vacation ended up being more stressful than just sticking around the office.

Meeting short-term deadlines is one thing, but if you truly want your employees to remain fresh, asking them to work when they should be vacationing is not a sustainable strategy for long-term retention.

Lack of Challenge

Finding meaning at work and being happy are two different things, and it turns out that meaning is more important. Increasing an employee’s sense of meaning is one of the most potent and underutilized ways to increase productivity, engagement and performance.

Give Them Big Picture “Why”

An incredible Ted Talk by Simon Senik called “Start with Why” lists out why people buy certain products (Apple being the example). This concept can be applied to employees as well. When they are given the “why” they are doing a project and what the ultimate goal is, it opens the door for more creativity, more challenge and ultimately more meaning.

Foster Meaningful Relationships

The same way coaches encompass team building exercises to build relationships within sport, building relationships at work creates more engagement. This engagement drives employees to actively give their best performance, not because they are passionate about what they do, but they’re passionate about their ‘teammates’ for which they are doing it.

Intentionally engage in daily conversations, and push for outside, non-work related gatherings to build these relationships. Not only do employees develop this passion, they also combine their lives inside and oustide of the office with the people they consider close friends. It’s much harder to leave when you’ve developed tight bonds with the people you work with.

Challenge Them to Learn and Grow

Add on challenging projects with the less glamorous responsibilities that are geared towards individual talents or passions. As Forbes puts it, anyone can put information into a spreadsheet, but balancing that with a challenging task makes them use the unique skills that they have to making employees feel indispensable.

Reduce Boredom

Employees that are under taxed (from their job, not the government), can easily get bored and restless. This is a psychological phenomenon that is frequently seen in underachieving students. When someone needs to challenge their mind, stress levels increase because of underutilization of the brain.

Poor or Little to No Feedback

Reviews are feedback, but feedback is not (and should not be) confined to only “reviews.”

Overall employees feel reviews are inaccurate and misrepresented, feedback on the other hand, is seen as a necessity. How well would someone be able to drive a car if they were only provided snapshots of the road every quarter-mile vs real time feedback. Employee feedback uses the same logic. By giving feedback constantly and outside of formal reviews allows for employees to be more productive and improve overall performance.

Feedback on Performance

Performance related feedback opens communication in a way that reinforces employees’ understanding of how their work has an impact on the bigger picture. It also gives them motivation and purpose outside of quarterly reviews.

What other strategies or problems have you come across? We’d love to hear from you so let us know in the comments section below!

As the economy recovers, employers are beginning to see more employees leaving again. According to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey..