Past Five

The Best Places to Work Put Employees First

Last night, I attended the Daily Herald Business Ledger ceremony for the Best Places to Work in Illinois in 2012. LaSalle was honored in the small and medium size company category. It is a huge honor to be recognized and I am proud of every employee’s contribution to the award.

The keynote speaker, Thomas A. Klobucher, CEO of Thomas Interior Systems, explained why each company made the list using three words: putting employees first. Companies today that have the most unique culture and the most dedicated employees almost always put their staff first.

Happy employees treat customers better, subsequently improving customer service levels and sales at the organization.

Last night reinforced my belief that retaining and engaging staff is not all about monetary incentives. Almost every company that was honored offers training programs, uses recognition tools, provides regular feedback and spends quality time with employees.

They also do fun things as a company, like happy hours, baseball games, March madness parties, potlucks, sumo wrestling competitions and volunteering.

The ceremony attested to the fact that every company, regardless of its size, has the potential to be a great place to work.

Congratulations to all of my co-workers at LaSalle!

Advice for Working Mothers: How to Balance Your Career and Family

For Mother's Day, I thought it would be nice to have one of LaSalle's successful working mothers share her advice on how to balance a career and family. The post below is from Jayme Schrieffer, one of our Manager of Major Accounts who has been with LaSalle for over eleven years. Jayme oversees more than $4 million per year in revenue and is also the mother of an active two-year-old son.

Balancing a career and family is difficult, and doing it successfully is truly a skill. I've found that in order to juggle both responsibilities, it's crucial to be realistic about what can be accomplished in a day or a week at work. It's important not to take on too much that a deadline or goal will be missed. It's all about time management. Making a list of priorities every morning helps me manage my day to ensure that I get everything accomplished and still leave the office at a decent time so that I can spend time with my son before bed.

Communication with your manager is also key when trying to balance home life and a career. Communicating my goals, ambitions and concerns of trying to do it all have helped me take my career to the next level, and at the same time, has strengthened my relationship with my manager. Maintaining open lines of communication, continually checking in and asking for one-on-one meetings demonstrates a commitment to professional development and proves that your career has not taken a back seat because you are a working mom.

Being a working mom is rewarding both personally and professionally. If the skill is mastered, it can
make a woman to do more in less time, produce more and exceed goals.

-Jayme Schrieffer

Survey Shows Chicago Job Seekers Optimistic about Current Market

Despite the recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report of slowing job growth (120,000 jobs added in March) and the nearly unchanged national unemployment rate, positive job seeker sentiment reigns in Chicago.

How do I know?

Because we recently conducted a survey of over 1500 Chicagoans who are either passively* or actively looking for work. Here’s what we found.

• 69.5% of people surveyed said they believed it would take 0-3 months to secure their next position

The fact that almost 70 percent of Chicagoans believe that they can secure a position in three months or less means one of two things. Either they have unrealistic expectations, or they believe there are jobs to be had. Any guesses?

There are jobs in Chicago and they can be secured by the right candidate in a short time frame…. Now that’s something to be optimistic about.

*Candidates that are passively looking for jobs are currently employed but job searching.

Four Ways to Retain Employees

First Business recently aired a segment about unhappiness at work. They stated that employees’ discontent with their positions stems from the fact that they are accepting opportunities they normally wouldn’t just to have job.

As a result, employees do not have loyalty to their organization and are willing to jump ship for a better opportunity. So how do companies retain their employees and increase staff satisfaction? There’s a few ways.

1. Involve staff in important decisions: Employees want to know that their thoughts and opinions matter. They want to know that they are more than just a number. Involving staff in important decisions demonstrates that you value their opinion. This can be done in a variety of ways; implement a staff council, meet one-on-one with team members or bring lower level employees into management meetings.
2. Schedule time with employees: Set aside time regularly to meet with staff in order to discuss what motivates them. For some it’s face time, for others it’s outward recognition. In order to best retain employees, it’s essential to know what keeps them happy and motivated.
3. Use awards and recognition tools: Everyone wants recognition for a job well done, but the medium of recognition, as I mentioned above, is different for every employee. A few recognition tools include public praise, an award or a private conversation.
4. Invest in them: Most employees want to continue to develop their skills while learning new ones. Offering training sessions and having employees attend webinars and conferences will feed their desire to learn while augmenting their skill sets. At the same time, push employees to achieve their potential. Trusting them with new and challenging tasks demonstrates confidence in their abilities and the new skills they have acquired.

Embrace the Madness

Companies that attempt to squash the fun and energy of March Madness are approaching the situation the wrong way. The games are an ideal opportunity to boost employee morale and thank clients.

Limiting an employee’s ability to watch or discuss the games is exactly the reason articles are predicting a decrease in worker productivity during this time period. The more a person is told they can’t do something, the more they want to.

So embrace it, encourage staff to wear their favorite college jersey or start companywide brackets. Maybe even consider bringing in a few T.Vs for employees to watch the games during lunch. Allowing staff a minor “indulgence” has been known to increase productivity and spur creativity. Not to mention it will do wonders for morale.

March Madness is also the ideal time to thank clients outside of the holiday season. We throw an annual March Madness open house, where we invite all of our clients and bring in hot dog vendors, a popcorn stand, beer and snacks. The open house allows us to show our appreciation for our clients and is also a more casual forum that facilitates relaxed dialogue and helps our staff and clients connect on a more personal level.

But it’s not necessary to spend a lot of money to thank clients. Companies could hold a bracket challenge with a small prize for the winner. Any other ideas?

Relocation: A Viable Option for the Long-Term Unemployed

The Congressional Budget Office recently announced that as of January 2012, 5.5. million workers had been unemployed for six months or longer, and nearly 2 million of those had been jobless for 99 weeks or more. So what can the long-term unemployed do to find a job? In my previous post I mentioned being willing to make sacrifices, such as taking a pay cut. One highly overlooked avenue is relocation. However, few people consider this option due to the poor housing market.

But why not call in the moving vans? If your job search is fruitless and you live in an area where jobs are scarce, it might pay to relocate.

History has taught us that people go where there is opportunity. Europeans immigrated to America in search of a better life and settlers ventured out west chasing the promise of riches, both with measurable results.

But today we have the mentality that we can’t uproot our families; the reality is people move all
the time with few (if any) long-term detrimental effects to themselves or their children.

Constraining a job search to geographic locations limits the number of potential opportunities
available and creates another hurdle to finding a job if you are unemployed.

Ditch the Corporate "Don'ts" this Holiday Party Season

Why do people always focus on what not to do at holiday parties? Concentrating on the taboo makes us forget what holiday parties are all about- an opportunity to have fun while networking and generating business.

In order to make the most of a corporate gathering, toss the restrictions out the window and utilize some commonsense.

It all begins by dressing for the occasion. Whether a company hosts an ugly sweater party or maintains business professional apparel, it's important to follow the dress code. Showing up under or overdressed causes people to focus on their wardrobe instead of the party at hand.

Once the party is underway, many people worry about when to eat, what to say to clients and how to break the ice. But these are unnecessary concerns that distract us from the party. There's no need to turn away the mouthwatering mini burgers in order to maintain a "professional" façade. Eating throughout the party allows people to maintain high energy levels necessary for socializing.

Although it seems obvious, people should be continuously mingling the entire length of the party, and not just with colleagues and clients. A corporate shindig is the perfect opportunity to meet new people and network.

While it's tempting to stay on safe conversation topics when talking with acquaintances and clients, a holiday party is the ideal occasion to get to know business partners on a personal level. Asking questions about hobbies, spouses, children, pets, etc., demonstrates an invested interest in the relationship.

Holiday parties shouldn't be a source of stress to employees. It's one of the many joys
of the season, so relax and have fun!

Are Job Seekers Above Receiving Training?

If you read "Help Wanted: In Unexpected Twist, Some Skilled Jobs Go Begging," in the Wall Street Journal, you know that Union Pacific is having difficulty finding workers with the necessary skill sets for their open positions. But Union Pacific isn't the only company struggling with this problem. Companies across the U.S. are willing to hire, but can't find candidates with the right level of experience.

Should these subpar candidates be hired merely to lower the unemployment rate? No. However, if companies find strong, hard working candidates, why not offer the position at a lower compensation rate for the first 6-18 months while the "A" candidates (that are lacking a few of the job requirements) are trained in the desired skills? Not only will this help the unemployment rate, but it will also eliminate the lack of qualified workers in the job market. Training is effective, builds loyalty and protects a company from turnover. And the best part is that training can be given to all employees in any division of a company.

But there's always two sides to a coin. While companies need to be willing to offer training programs to augment the desired skill set, employees and candidates need to be willing to take the pay cut and accept training. Job seekers today need to realize they don't have the skills companies are looking for. They need to realize they aren't worth the salaries they were making one, two, three years ago. They need to appreciate an opportunity to be invested in and trained. They should be the first ones in the office and the last ones to leave. If they can do this, then companies should be expected to train and develop hard working, intelligent people.

Now is the time for companies to train their own, at any level, and create their own stable of go-getters. The question is, are there people out there willing to commit themselves if this opportunity arrives?

What about the Oil Worker?

President Obama's State of the Union speech emphasized the need for creating renewable energy jobs in the near future. While I understand more sustainable energy sources will create jobs and new economic opportunities, what will happen to the non-renewable energy workforce?

With the administration focusing their resources and time on renewable energy instead of traditional energy sources, they are driving up costs and driving out jobs in the oil and coal industry. Many of the skills needed in the traditional energy industry are not transferable to green jobs, thus the coal miner who gets laid off cannot directly jump into one of the many of new jobs the President hopes to create in the solar and wind industries.

These sustainable programs and jobs are extremely costly and will not help the short-term economic problem; instead they will lead to longer term unemployment for the coal and oil worker, people who have fueled America’s growth over the past century.

After the introduction of electricity, the number of house staff fell 25%, replaced, in large part, by appliances. Likewise with the introduction of online shopping, retail employment has dropped dramatically. This is what will happen to the five million workers in the non-renewable energy industry unless the government sponsors a vocational education plan, for example. With this plan, these employees can be trained and taught new skill sets instead of being left in the unemployment line. 

Ultimately we want to see a job increase as soon as possible, but when push comes to shove, will this investment in sustainable energy lead another electricity-layoff disaster?

Unemployment Jumps the Shark

Unemployment jumped the shark today.  The elusive 10% barrier has been crossed.  What does this mean? 

 

As I was waiting for the report this morning, I "knew", as much as anyone can know, that it would cross 10 percent today.  The healthcare bill is up for grabs, two democratic states in 2008 (NJ and VA) elected Republican governors....the tide was coming and it was spouting, "No good news for D.C."

 

My thought is that as unemployment rises and this "jobless recovery" continues and the DJIA goes above 10,000....is this good for the current administration?  Does it scream to the American public, "do more, fast!!!" in order to save us?  I hope not.  All cycles are just that, cycles.  The government did the right thing in stepping in to save GM and the financial services bail out, now we need to let the market settle in...let capitalism take over...and let small businesses grow!

 

We need to encourage small businesses to become large businesses.  To encourage companies to go public.  To foster the creation of start up companies.  We must, as a society, embrace people who are willing to risk everything, reputation, savings, etc. to start a company.  Entrepreneurs are the job creators of America; hopefully our politicians will realize this.  Extending unemployment benefits another 20 weeks is not the answer.  Giving an incentive for people not to take any job is a disservice to the countless men and women who will do anything to put food on their family's table.