WHAT KIND OF POSITIVE FEEDBACK ARE THEY RECEIVING?
It is critical that employees receive ongoing feedback on their progress or lack of progress once they are on the job. Here is many times where turnover of employees occur. Do they only hear from the supervisor or area manager when there is a customer complaint or they doing a procedure incorrectly?
Many times the supervisor will come to work mid afternoon with the first question being, "any complaints today"? And if there are some, away they go that evening to find the employee and "give them the whatfor". Question, are we sure the employee was properly trained? Have they had a refresher course in what they do? Did they even know the item in question was their responsibility? I know, I know, some employees just never learn but it is our responsibility to make sure they have been trained and coached in the right way. While we are on the subject, have you installed an ongoing paid refresher course for all of your employees. We all get into bad habits and it is important to remind everyone, at least every 6 months, of your company's systematic way of performing the service you promised your customers.
Let me suggest that you make a conscious effort TODAY to compliment as many of your staff members as you can and get in the habit of doing so. We are in a business that thrives many times on the negative and so we need to focus more on the positive. Say "thank you" for a job well done. Don't create false reasons to compliment as those sound as bad as complaining to them. Why not take 30 minutes this week and take a crew a pizza or sandwiches etc. They may be shocked. I hope not.
KEEP EMPLOYEES INFORMED OF POTENTIAL OPPORTUNITIES TO ADVANCE
I wish I had a dollar for every time a BSC has told me they can't find good supervisors. So what do we do? We try to recruit our competitor's supervisors while they are trying to recruit ours. You may just have future leaders in your company and aren't aware of it. If you ask your current supervisors if there is anyone to promote they will many times say no because if they tell you they have someone, they then have to get to work and train someone to fill the slot which means more work for them. You have to take the lead and hold quarterly supervisor training classes (Maybe a Saturday) where you invite the second in command in a building even if the supervisor doesn't suggest it. Remember, you are building a company and the people you already have may be your very best solution for growth but they won't be if they don't know about possible promotion opportunities.
We held our quarterly meetings at a local university continuing education building so our people felt like they were really in a learning situation. We paid them, fed them lunch, and really developed some great people using this process. You will really find out a lot about your staff.
So...if you have followed us through these last 4 blogs you are probably now aware that in order to find reliable employees and keep reliable employees you need to design an ongoing process that lets people know that you have a solid, professional organization that has career opportunities, not just jobs. It starts with when they come in the door, how your facilities look, how they are treated by the receptionist and how the interview is conducted. In addition there needs to be an organized scripted orientation and initial training program along with a refresher agenda to keep everyone focused on your company's way of "doing things". Couple that will a positive focus and a reminder to your people that they can grow with you.
Don't forget to follow us with our weekly free pod casts at www.tripodcast.com and look for a lot of the free forms etc. that we talked about over the past 4 weeks. They can be found at www.consultantsincleaning.com and click on the worksheets icon.
Till next time.
By the way, in the last two issues of SERVICES magazine we have articles on how to establish an effective training area and how to conduct the initial training class.
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