TriNet delivers HR outsourcing services that allow small companies to do what they do best.
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June 18th, 2009 | HR Outsourcing
 Retain Talent by giving them better ID cards Let’s not kid ourselves and state that the economy is back to where it was, but signs of life are starting to appear. Company job postings are increasing, and in some cases, passive candidates are being sourced. (We know…we’ve seen it here at TriNet ourselves.)
And that means the perennial question of how to retain key talent may be back quicker than we think. For small businesses, the need to do so is a tough reality–it’s never easy to compete with larger, more established organizations that have the brand, the buzz, and in some cases, significantly more robust compensation and benefits packages.
So how can small companies keep their best players happy and safely ensconced?
Motivate, manage, and develop your talent. Always challenge your employees with new and better levels of responsibility. People feel good about their employer when there’s forward momentum–whether that means giving a front desk receptionist a chance to succeed in customer service, or promoting a vice president to the C-suite. If you don’t have the right performance management tools and guidance in place right now, take a look around. The market offers a more comprehensive suite of small business performance management solutions than ever before.
That goes double for your managers. People tend to leave or stay with a company because of the quality of their upline reports. If you take the time to develop and train your line managers, you will dramatically increase your company’s overall ability to retain key talent. If you don’t have a management training program, look into one. Again, there are many affordable manager training programs designed for the small business market.
Don’t skimp on the employer brand. One thing that your small business has going for it that larger companies don’t is the sheer power of a small environment where people know each other’s names and families. (In fact, some times they may know a bit too much about each other.) Leverage this strength by holding potlucks, picnics, and even the occasional happy hour. Being part of a community can be a powerful counterpoint when a larger, more impersonal entity comes calling for your star players.
Keep up the communication. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive, but maintaining regular communication vehicles helps your people feel included, cared for, and valued. Share with them financial details and other company information, and solicit their input. If they feel as though they’re part of the overall process of moving your business forward, they will not only stay and be productive, but support new ideas that come from management.
The quality of your company’s management, career opportunities, and communication are key parts of an effective employee retention program. It may be worth evaluating how well your company is doing in these areas right now–before the talent land grab truly resumes in earnest.
May 27th, 2009 | HR Outsourcing
 Storm clouds photo by CR Artist on Flickr. In April 2009, TriNet conducted an online survey of businesses primarily in the financial services, professional services, and technology industries. The purposes of the study were to assess issues associated with the current employment environment, as well as examine selected changes since the time TriNet conducted its surveys in the first quarter of 2009 and its annual 2008 Employment Trends Survey in November/December 2008.
Responses were received from 234 business owners located in 35 of the 50 United States. Based on the responses, the following summary points and conclusions appear warranted:
• Most respondents (61.7%) have hired or are in the process of trying to attract talent in 2009. Furthermore, this percentage is higher than was found in the first quarter survey results, where 55.2% of the respondents indicated they have or were in the process of hiring. This suggests that hiring is on the upswing as businesses move through the second quarter of 2009. However, 79.6% of the respondents in November/December 2008 indicated they planned to hire in 2009. Accordingly, it appears that the intent to hire has diminished somewhat from late 2008 into early 2009, but the second quarter demonstrates an improvement in the hiring picture over earlier this year.
• The single largest group of respondents (54.0%) feel they are “very successful” in their attempts to retain talent in 2009 and another 31.7% believe they are “somewhat successful” in doing so. Thus, 85.7% of the respondents think they are successful compared to 4.9% who think they are somewhat or very unsuccessful in retaining talent. No comparable questions were included in the first quarter 2009 survey. However, these percentages are consistent with the 2008 annual survey where 51.8% of the respondents thought they were “very successful” in retaining talent and 37.2% indicated they were “somewhat successful” in doing so. This suggests that most companies continue to be able to retain their talent.
• The single largest group of respondents (41.2%) believes that employee morale in their companies has remained unchanged from a year ago. Of the remaining respondents, 34.1% think that employee morale has improved and 24.6% believe it has become worse. Most respondents who believe that employee morale has changed think it has either become somewhat better (23.2%) or somewhat worse (22.7%). Relatively few respondents think employee morale has become much better or much worse than a year ago. Accordingly, it appears that while employee morale may have become somewhat worse in 24.6% of the companies, it has either held steady or improved for 75.3% of the companies. This may be an indication that companies are making concerted efforts to maintain employee morale in these turbulent times.
• The most commonly-cited factor cited by respondents as contributing to employee morale is the company culture/reputation (34.6%). Other major factors are flexibility and work/life balance (23.7%), and job security (22.3%). Relatively few respondents believe the main factor in employee morale at this time is advancement opportunities (4.3%), benefits (5.7%), or compensation (9.5%). This suggests that the work environment may have a more significant impact on employee morale than financial factors associated with compensation and benefits.
• The largest group of respondents believes the one action they take to successfully build and maintain their employment brand (i.e., the way their employees perceive the company) is to actively communicate with them (37.3%). The next most commonly-cited actions are the quality of management (23.4%) and creating career/growth opportunities for employees (18.2%). Overall, 60.7% of the respondents believe their success in building and maintaining their employment brand among employees is good communication and quality management practices, factors that are highly interrelated.
• Most respondents (58.6%) believe their companies are doing “good” (46.9%) or “very good” (11.7%) during the current times. Relatively few respondents (5.6%) think their companies are doing poorly or very poorly. This suggests that these respondents are not experiencing the difficulties that are often cited for all businesses.
Overall, it appears that while the majority of companies still plan to hire in 2009, and the percentage who are doing so has increased from about three months ago. Additionally, the companies feel they are successful in being able to retain their talent. Consistent with these findings, most companies do not think that employee morale has declined from a year ago, and they attribute the company’s culture/reputation, flexibility and work/life balance, and job security as the main determinants of employee morale. Advancement opportunities, compensation, and benefits are not thought to be especially strong drivers in determining the level of employee morale.
Finally, good communication with employees and maintaining a high quality of management are thought to be most successful in building and maintaining an employment brand.
May 14th, 2009 | Best Practices
If indeed a RIF is necessary, it is important to prepare for it adequately, conduct it efficiently and then deal with the aftermath humanely. [Read More]
In the first quarter of 2009 TriNet conducted an online survey of businesses primarily in the financial services, professional services, and technology industries. The purposes of the study were to assess the current employment environment and to see if there were changes since the time TriNet conducted its annual 2008 Employment Trends Survey. Here are the results.
TriNet recently surveyed more than 400 white-collar small businesses in order to shine a light on how small employers are evolving their human capital management practices in a down economy, and how employer practices are directly influenced by whether the small business owner is considered bullish, an “economic optimist,” or bearish, an “economic pessimist.”
March 17th, 2009 | News at TriNet
People are wondering what has changed with the recently passed COBRA legislation. In reality, there’s one single change that requires the attention of every business owner. Under the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, anyone who is involuntarily terminated from September 1, 2008 through December 31, 2009, will be given an opportunity to enroll in COBRA and pay only 35% of the COBRA premium for nine months.
March 9th, 2009 | News at TriNet
The news is out about the biggest acquisition in the small business HRO industry in the last ten years: TriNet is acquiring Florida-based Gevity HR. By adding Gevity’s industry expertise to our own, it vastly expands our ability to provide industry-specific services to the customers under our watch. We also expect that it will add to our product and technology portfolio down the line.
TriNet’s human capital consultants often hear the same series of questions from their customers, and recently, the questions have largely been along the lines of effective leadership in an economic downturn. The approach which our consultants do not recommend is to shut down, shut up, and keep everything close to the vest. Sometimes leaders believe that they need to be furtive and secret about the company’s situation until times get better, but that’s as good as packing your star employees’ bags.
February 6th, 2009 | News in General
TriNet’s HR Trends report claimed that small business owners were planning to do quite a bit of hiring in 2009, which surprised people given the obvious state of the economy. But as we begin to move forward into the year, we’re beginning to see that prediction played out among our customer base.
January 16th, 2009 | News in General
In January we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life, a man whose very name represents a legacy of centuries of free thought, speech, belief, and protest. MLK Day marks the day when we should remember the messages to which King devoted and gave his life: the cause of freedom for all people.
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