How quickly things change. The employment mood in our industry in mid-2008 was only moderately challenging, which prompted me to write a MOBILITY article in December about advancing one’s career in the relocation industry. However, it was late last year at a time when my recruitment firm started to be inundated with people who had been downsized out of their jobs that I sensed first-hand the gravity of all the job losses in our industry. This prompted me to write an article for MOBILITY (February 2009) about how to conduct a job search.
However, I now am sensing it is not so much about talent acquisition because companies are not hiring to the degree they did, nor is it as much about employee retention because employees are not leaving their employers to the degree they had—instead it is all about employee engagement—what to do to ensure a company’s staff is as valued, motivated, and productive as possible. So the question one might ask is, “What is your company doing to engage you?” as well as, “What are you doing to demonstrate that you value your employees?”—all in an effort to ensure people are not fed up and leave for a competitor when the economy turns around.
The new paradigm for today’s workforce is to “batten down the hatches”—an appropriate metaphor for preparedness for the oncoming storm. According to leading outplacement firm Challenger, Gary, & Christmas’s, Chicago, Illinois, January 2009 “Corporate Cost-cutting Survey” of 100 HR professionals, 27 percent reported their companies have imposed salary cuts or freezes. Reading the news, it would appear higher than that. But keep in mind that most large U.S. companies have had layoffs in this recession (52 percent, according to the 2009 Watson Wyatt Worldwide, New York, New York, “Effect of the Economic Crisis on HR Programs” survey of almost 250 large U.S. employers), so salary cuts/freezes are the pain felt by those left.
One relocation industry leader who works for a leading pharmaceutical firm noted his company’s leadership expects employees to work at “150 percent of capacity” with a “rise to the occasion or leave” mentality. “Working more is expected and it will not be rewarded with any kind of bonus or above average raise” at this particular employer as noted by this relocation executive. I believe many of us have heard the phrase, “You're lucky you have a job!” True at this company and, undoubtedly, many more.
This being the situation, corporate America finds itself in these days, being a recruiter, I feel I am at the center of all this activity because my firm is privy to who is looking for career change, whether they have been forced to or are concerned they might have to, as well as who is hiring and who is firing. I began to think about all these companies where our industry professionals work and I wondered what they are doing to engage their employees, to connect with them, to make them feel valued. I presumed they were doing something but I did not know. So I reached out to a number of leading relocation professionals for their insights into what their companies are doing and this article provides some insights. But first a few things.
A Few Things First
In the recent book, “Closing the Engagement Gap,” co-author and HR consultancy Towers Perrin, Stamford, Connecticut, Managing Director Don Lowman cites a finding from the firm’s survey of tens of thousands of employees in a half dozen countries including the United States, China, and India: the number one thing that engages employees is senior management’s interest in their well-being. That beat career advancement, relationship with one’s direct supervisor, and even compensation. “One of the ways we’ll get through this dire economic circumstance we find ourselves in is if leaders set this tone that we’re all in this together,” said Lowman. “It’s very easy to say ‘let’s just whack 15 percent of the company.’ You can immediately take a lot of costs off your books. But that has a big cost both on the people doing the whacking and on the company in the long term, when you’ll need those people you let go again.” So the personal touch is important? Apparently so.
Further, I found a 2008 Gallup, Washington, DC, study on employee engagement pretty shocking—it stated that 54 percent of employees in the United States are not engaged with their employers! If this study holds water, more than half of employees could care less about their employer, its mission, and services, products, or solutions because it is just means to a pay check. Pretty sobering but it actually gets worse. Almost one in five (17 percent) are disengaged! Quick math reveals only 29 percent of employees actually are engaged—a little more than the proverbial 80/20 rule, which supports the notion that a small percentage of workers create value for the rest of the organization. I am sure any manager or business leader thinks long and hard about the productivity results if the majority of employees truly cared about their employer’s reason for being.
According to Katharine Esty of Ibis Consulting Group, Waltham Massachusetts, and Mindy Gewirtz, of Collaborative Networks, Boston, Massachusetts, the following are two specific examples of data that tie an engaged workforce with increased profitability and an unengaged workforce with decreased profitability—highly engaged employees outperform their disengaged colleagues by 20 to 28 percent according to a 2006 finding by the Conference Board, New York, New York. And a 2005 study by Sirota Consulting, Purchase, New York, of 28 multinational companies found that the share prices of organizations with highly engaged employees rose by an average of 16 percent compared with an industry average of 6 percent.
So what are relocation industry leaders and their companies doing about employee engagement?
Intense Communication
In talking with a number of companies about what is being done to better connect with employees, Altair Global Relocation’s, Dallas, Texas, CEO and Co-founder Gail Plummer, SCRP, explains that communication and visibility always have been key parts of the foundation for employee retention. Plummer notes they have enhanced their visibility to their employees via webinars, office visits and meetings, celebratory events, and special recognition. Senior management has made an effort to be even more visible with the knowledge that constant contact demonstrates how integral their employees are to the success of their business. Plummer stated, “communication has always been key at Altair, and we have found that when you empower your employees and keep them informed, they step up and take the business to an entirely different level. Our employees are valued, and recognized for their contribution towards the success of Altair. We know that if Altair is successful, we are all successful.”
Similarly, Christine Haney, CRP, GMS, vice president, business development and relocation services at New York’s largest residential real estate firm, Prudential Douglas Elliman, mentioned she has increased her visibility among Elliman’s more than 3,500 real estate brokers in metro New York City and Long Island. She comments, “I recognize the services my division provides can increase revenue opportunities for Prudential Douglas Elliman and our agents. Whether it is relocation services, broker-to-broker referrals, destination services, or corporate business development, my intent is to educate them about these services so they can capture a greater book of business and be effective in their approach to finding new revenue streams. Shortly after the market began to change, I made a plan to visit every one of Elliman’s over 60 offices and have now given presentations to hundreds of Elliman’s brokers to help them understand what these services are and how they can positively impact their business. Additionally, I’ve conducted a number of business development workshops aimed at teaching brokers how to most effectively connect with customers to help them close deals. As a result our agents recognize my group’s value to them and appreciate the support we provide during very challenging times.”
Paragon Global Resource’s Senior Vice President Craig Selders, SCRP, in Houston, Texas, also notes his company’s continuous communication efforts about how the company is doing and their strategies for dealing with this economy. “We feel it is important to be open and honest with our employees about the state of the economy and the state of our company. In the absence of information, employees tend to create their own stories.”
Home Office and Flexible Hours
Besides seemingly unilateral efforts by many companies’ senior management to openly communicate the health of their organizations, there are equally as many organizations that have launched or increased creative solutions to bind themselves to their employees. Brookfield Global Relocation Services’ (formerly GMAC Global Relocation Services) Executive Vice President Global Operations Maggie Ryan, CRP, in Chicago, Illinois, said that they recognized before the downturn the importance of allowing their relocation consultants greater flexibility in linking their personal and professional lives together. In certain situations, where it is viable based on client and customer support, Brookfield Global Relocation Services has allowed some relocation consultants not just the opportunity to work from home if they do not live in commutable proximity to a company office but they also have allowed employees who are office-based the ability to have a flexible work schedule, always ensuring that the needs of the client and customer are met. Such philosophy and approach is important in creating an environment for success as Brookfield Global Relocation Services recognizes that an engaged and committed employee is going to interact much more successfully with the client and customer, as well as internally among Brookfield Global Relocation Services’ own staff.
Ryan notes, “A key component between employee satisfaction and client satisfaction is Brookfield Global Relocation Services’ commitment to employee flexibility. We’ve been able to sustain our high levels of customer service with the seasoned relocation consultants we’ve hired who are home office-based. Of course, they must achieve the standards of performance that are set for all of our team members.”
When Brookfield Global Relocation Services desires to hire a relocation consultant and they meet someone with the appropriate skill set who does not live near a company office, that is not a deal-breaker like at some other firms. Instead, the company recognizes talent may not always be next door and they are willing to hire someone with the understanding that much of the customer interaction takes place over the phone and in the global world, at some very odd hours of the day. Nonetheless, Brookfield Global Relocation Services brings their home-based consultants into regional offices on a quarterly basis for the benefit of ensuring all team members spend adequate face time together. The “freedom of choice” of allowing consultants the flexibility of where and when to work certainly supports a strong commitment to the organization.
‘Let’s Talk’ Meetings
Sometimes it can be as simple as the human touch as evidenced by Atlanta, Georgia, OneSource Relocation’s Chief Operations Officer, Michael Nimer, CRP, who notes, “Too many relocation service companies forget that relocation is a service business and while profits are inherently important, the focus should be on the customer first and profits will flow.” He said he believes in the leadership-profit chain management approach. If OneSource’s relocation consultants are content in their daily internal and external interactions, their clients will be pleased with their service delivery and this will help in the retention of their clients.
One way Nimer tries to ensure his staff is valued is to be accessible for them. He brings to his new role a concept he developed while with his former employer, “Let’s Talk” meetings, where he frequently announces he will be in a conference room for the sole purpose for anyone to visit, unscheduled, and engage him in any subject they wish. He has learned these events provide people with the opportunity to voice items of concern while it simultaneously allows him to gauge the pulse of the organization and to be able to rectify anything that needs resolution. Often people just want to talk, to discuss fairly mundane things that may or may not be business-related. “Sometimes a simple ‘thank you’ or nod of appreciation for a job well done is all they’re looking for,” he said. Nimer also said that the more connected people are to one another in an organization, the more connected they will be to their clients.
Brown Bag Lunches and Birthday Coffee Talks
When talking with Lauren Herring, CRP, GMS, chief executive officer of IMPACT Group in St. Louis, Missouri, she tells me her HR consulting organization has instituted a number of things in the past couple of years to better connect with employees, including a few new things because the economy has taken a turn for the worse. She commented that everything they have done to create a more engaged workplace does not cost much money but has shown to make a difference with employees.
The first thing IMPACT Group did was to institute a quarterly “all hands” call where she updates the entire company on the status of the business. This is a meeting with the entire organization from their St. Louis headquarters with off-site personnel calling in from all over the United States and globally.
Subsequent to this, another solution IMPACT Group has initiated is a quarterly “brown bag lunch” event where employees share lunch in a conference room with a rotating member of the executive staff and are able to ask them questions about the business. The global head of HR is present in each of these meetings with one of the fellow senior management team members who lead the meetings each quarter.
A third solution, launched mid-2008, are “birthday coffee talks,” where each month those with a birthday that month are able to meet with Herring and she asks them for their input on the business. She feels she is able to gauge the pulse of the organization via these intimate group settings.
Finally, as a result of a conversation that arose from one of the coffee talks, IMPACT Group launched in the fourth quarter of 2008 a newsletter that updates employees on the business and highlights a particular employee. Each department is given the opportunity to share opportunities and challenges of the business.
The aggregate result of all these new communication solutions is employees feel more connected and more aware of the business they are a part of, and Herring noted that the trust factor in her firm’s leadership has increased as evidenced by a recent internal survey. Herring said, “during challenging times like we’re in now, sometimes it’s the ‘simple’ things like trusting in and communicating with employees that can make the big difference.”
Women’s Network and Great Workplace Awards
Stryker’s Director of International Assignments, Sharon Byrnes, who is based out of Mahwah, New Jersey, commented on a couple of things that have helped employees at her organization feel more engaged about their work. The Stryker’s Women’s Network at this leading medical technology corporation was formed during the past two years and quickly has gained recognition and support in an effort to engage employees in a wide-ranging aspect of business and non-business issues. It emerged as a result of several company-wide Women’s Leadership Roundtables, as well as external benchmarking, and has been successful in driving diversity and inclusion efforts across the globe. It offers enhanced opportunities for members through networking, professional development, leadership mentoring, community outreach, and co-educational partnership projects that drive attraction and retention of talented women (but it is open to all employees, both men and women).
Stryker offices have local coordinators and many meetings are conducted via tele- or web-conference. Byrnes also mentioned Stryker is a third consecutive year recipient of the Gallup Great Workplace Award, which annually recognizes the best-performing workforces globally in more than 100 countries.
Stryker’s website notes, “we take employee engagement very seriously because we have seen the direct link between a highly engaged workforce and our long track record for delivering exceptional growth and profitability. These great results in turn fuel ongoing opportunities for our people to build outstanding careers, and for continued personal growth and learning aligned to individual talents and passions.”
Frequent Employee Surveys
In talking with Intel’s, Draper, Utah, Dale Welcome, HR employee relations program manager, he tells me Intel is faring fairly well in this downturn because of the lessons learned from its major restructuring back in 2006. Of note from that reorganization is Intel’s initiation of annual employee surveys that gauge every Intel employee’s perspective about the company and their role within it.
The surveys anonymously ask employees a number of penetrating questions, including how they weigh their relationships with their managers, meaningful career conversations they have with their supervisors, how emotionally engaged they are with the organization, whether they trust senior-level management, whether there is adequate allocation of resources in the business units, how they rate decision-making processes, and whether they are interested in staying at Intel or leaving, among other issues.
HR managers evaluate the results and engage with business unit managers to initiate action plans to focus on the areas most needing improvement, while incentivizing them on their results.
Intel’s surveys have ushered in not just a wave of heightened awareness of employee morale but the use of such feelings to better run the overall organization.
Employee Performance
Many corporations are realizing that in addition to the typical engagement efforts, now is an appropriate time to better tie employees to their employer’s corporate values in an effort to more closely engage them for maximum performance and retention. SIRVA’s, Mayfield Heights, Ohio, Director of Learning and Corporate Development, Joan Rebolj, notes they recently have revised their talent management system and are in the process of instituting leadership behaviors that are being tied to their corporate values. The behaviors drive how employees perform their tasks. SIRVA measures both what is achieved and how it is achieved; they call it the SIRVA Standard. To ensure all employees are on track, managers provide quarterly feedback that leverage the values, behaviors, and goal achievement. Performance reviews, career and development discussions, as well as succession planning, are all tied to corporate values and leadership behaviors. SIRVA also incorporates the values and leadership behaviors into their talent acquisition efforts, which helps to ensure they are attracting new hires that best match the organization. SIRVA believes that personal satisfaction is an end product when employees perform at their peak. And it is that feeling of satisfaction that helps create commitment to the organization. In monthly communication meetings the CEO, Wes Lucas, and senior leaders reinforce the talent management system by recognizing performance; the idea being when SIRVA wins, each employee wins.
The difference at SIRVA is that the business owns the talent management process, not HR. “What is most effective about our talent management system updates is that each layer of leadership is fully engaged in the process, from the office of the president to the staff level,” Rebolj said. “With a focus on customer value, people, and organizational excellence, each individual has goals cascaded from our CEO’s goals, and each individual is committed to achieving those goals by following the SIRVA Standard for Leadership behavior.”
Ongoing Financial Support for Employees
Despite all the pay cuts we read about, some companies in our industry are holding tight and continuing to reward employees who are integral to their organizations. Selders acknowledges Paragon is continuing to pay for performance through competitive compensation plans. “We still want to be competitive with our comp plans, although we do have to be careful about how and where we spend our compensation dollars.”
Altair Global Relocation, too, has continued its support of service personnel through maintaining 401(k) matches and service incentive plans to staff interfacing with client transferees. “It is important that employees feel secure and motivated,” said Plummer. “We knew it was important to continue with the payment of service incentive plans for motivation. If you do not take care of your employees who are responsible for the service to your customers, you will not have those customers for long.”
Career Development
One might think companies are not interested in employees’ career development during times like these but, I learned, on the contrary, when talking with a number of companies. Adele Yeargan, CRP, GMS, GPHR, former global mobility lead at Hewitt Mobility Services, Inc., Norwalk, Connecticut, remarks about companies’ “fear of flight” of the best talent to companies better able to reward them for performance. She reports some companies have launched technology-based platforms to identify “hi-pos” (high potentials) to move these valued employees around the organization for maximum value.
Yeargan said, “Companies have to aim for three types of criteria—‘hi-pos’ need to be engaged and challenged in their roles as they are quickly bored and looking for the next venture, they need to be more than adequately compensated for their work, and they need to be visibly recognized for their contributions within the organization.”
By using a technology format, organizations can identify more rapidly and deploy top talent from a corporate vantage point. HR also can use technology to collaborate with the hi-po’s managers to assure the right direction and application of the talent to meet multiple objectives for business unit P&L and corporate strategic talent retention.
Yeargan comments, “Using a metric-oriented career path process versus the more traditional mentoring approach allows for a clearer alignment of key talent retention and overall business goals. Rigorously instituting this process especially when international mobility assignments are a part of the developmental path gives the organization and the employee a line of sight into objective results. With these talent metrics in-hand it is immediately demonstrable to gauge, promote, and continue to support the investment in key talent and particularly aligns well to the pay-for-performance compensation methodologies widely in use. By having corporate talent programs metric-based they will be more widely accepted and deployed across the organization by the business—regardless of whether a centralized or decentralized organizational model is in place.”
Paragon Global Resources is continuing the use of developmental reviews for career purposes so as to discuss career pathing with employees, and what it will take to get them to where they want to go. As Selders reveals, “As long as they are employed by Paragon, we want employees to feel good about the company and what we do to support them and their careers.”
Education/Training
Like many relocation management companies, Paragon continues to encourage educational opportunities through internal or technological means. Selders acknowledges, “Paragon offers a variety of options to employees to continually update their knowledge and skill sets through access to a variety of online training courses and in-house educational formats. Employees appreciate the chance to continue to develop themselves, even, and especially, in times of economic uncertainty.”
As David Takahashi, GMS, formerly director of HR operations at PMC Sierra, Santa Clara, California, and senior manager global mobility at Amazon.com, Seattle, Washington, proposes, “Demonstrate your and the company’s commitment to the employees by supporting education programs and networking events. It is critical that teams stay current on industry trends. Invest in team certification to reinforce the team’s credibility and value within the organization. Take time to understand your team member’s professional objectives and devise a plan to help get them there.”
Rebecca Kirschbaum, SCRP, senior director, corporate relocation and real estate assistance programs at business process management company, ADP, Roseland, New Jersey, commented on the new opportunities she has presented to her team because of slowdown in the relocation and real estate industry. Because she runs a partially in-house real estate business, in an effort to keep her team engaged and to ensure their relocation expertise still has a place despite reduced volumes, she is encouraging her group to promote their knowledge deeper and wider into the ADP organization, including working strategically with HR business partners on their mobility needs, providing enhanced real estate and mortgage services and solutions for associates moving on their own behalf, and using this time to strengthen their own skills through online education programs and relocation cross-training opportunities.
Kirschbaum reveals, “The slowdown of relocations has given us the time to increase and further develop the real estate assistance program for personal moves, a program started over seven years ago. Our relocation counselors are cross-trained to participate with our Real Estate Assistance Team (REST) focusing on our employee and family member personal mobility needs and using their expertise to offer guidance in this difficult real estate market, something critically needed. We have significantly added to the number of seminars and improved on the educational component of this program. Additionally, we are finding new friends in our own company, such as working with the travel department so as to partner with providing temporary housing providers to ADP’s extended-stay travelers, partnering with facilities when they close/open new offices to provide real estate services to associates that may want to move closer to the new office, working with HR business partners to provide ‘up-front’ information prior to acceptance of the relocation including setting up discovery tours introducing associates to new areas, ordering appraisals and BPOs, and currently planning to work with procurement to add new types of services to our preferred provider list.”
Despite the industry’s economic challenges, Altair has continued its investments in skills and technical education (CRP® and GMS™ designations and Altair University). Plummer states, “Continuing education and training is more important today than ever. We want to ensure that our employees are fully trained and up-to-date on constantly changing trends in the current marketplace. They need this information in order to provide our customers with the best available options.”
The Importance of Employee Engagement
In closing, employee engagement is one of today’s most important business issues and these examples are only a handful of impressive innovative solutions advocated by our industry’s leaders to ensure employees are as satisfied as possible in their daily roles. Creativity and productivity are the lifeblood of America’s businesses and we all should be proud that companies in our industry are recognizing the value of engaging with employees to provide more positive environments so as to better serve our clients and one another.
But the ultimate goal is to create a corporate environment that engages employees on a higher level so everyone is independently in tune with the company mission as noted by Southwest Airlines’ founder Herb Kelleher, “If you create an environment where people truly participate, you don’t need control. They know what needs to be done and they do it. We’re not looking for blind obedience. We’re looking for people who on their own initiative want to be doing what they’re doing because they consider it to be a worthy objective.” Sage advice for uncommon times as well as good ones.
Scott Craighead, SCRP, GMS, is general manager, Americas, for Bluesky Executive Search, New York, New York, and a member of the MOBILITY Global Editorial Advisory Committee. He can be reached at +1 646 673 8452 or scott.craighead@blueskyrecruit.com.