Welcome to Beaumont Consulting’s Newsletter!

We welcome your feedback - if there is anything in particular you would like us to bring you in these newsletters, please feel free to ask. We are always looking to improve, so any suggestions are more than welcome! Please forward your feedback to Lucy Wells. Email Lucy

December 11 Newsletter

Welcome

Happy New Year from everyone here at Beaumont Consulting!

2012 has arrived and we're wasting no time getting off the starting blocks. For us 2012 means a new database and a new and improved timesheet system. We'll be sending out emails in the next few months letting you know all about it and we will guide you through any changes you need to know about.

At the end of 2011 we welcomed another Beaumont baby to the family with the safe arrival of Jacob Tomasz Sutcliffe, a son to Kamila (our CBD Resourcer) and Ben.

Michelle Maye from our Not for Profit Division married the lovely Matt at the end of December in Ireland and as we send this email out, Justine McKnight from our CBD Accounts Division is in the final preparations to marry Andrew and become Mrs Turnball!

On some very sad news, we also had to say goodbye to Justine in December, as she follows Andrew to Singapore following his promotion. On much happier news we welcomed Claire to the team who has arrived all the way from Scotland . We already love having her here and we just know our clients and candidates will feel the same.

In the Chatswood Branch we are looking forward to welcoming Georgia back to our Temp Division at the end of January following her maternity leave.

I think that's us up to date. We look forward to catching up with you all soon and make sure you take a look at our new events calendar listed later in the newsletter.

Here's wishing you all a great start to the year!

Best wishes

Patricia Leech

Operations Manager

market

Market Update

Record number of New Zealanders migrating

The number of New Zealand citizens crossing the Tasman Sea to live in Australia has hit 1,000 a week, reports news.com.au.

For the first time ever, the number of New Zealanders heading to Australia exceeded 50,000 for a calendar year - and that came only at the end of November.

Meanwhile, Australians emigrating to New Zealand totaled 14,357, with the net loss of over 35,000 also a record.
So called FIFO working(fly in, fly out), an Australian system of flying workers in for several days on site and then flying them home for days off, has also seen a rise in New Zealanders working in Australia, without actually having to emigrate the website reports.

Higher wages are a major factor in such decisions, with the mayor of Invercargill, New Zealand, telling the New Zealand Herald that an engineer previously based there was earning $NZ60k ($AUD45.6k), and was now working as FIFO worker in Western Australia, with more than four times as much pay.

ten

Ten Ways To Retain Your Great Employees

By Susan M. Heathfield, About.com Guide

Key employee retention is critical to the long term health and success of your business. Managers readily agree that retaining your best employees ensures customer satisfaction, product sales, satisfied coworkers and reporting staff, effective succession planning and deeply imbedded organisational knowledge and learning. If managers can cite these facts so well, why do they behave in ways that so frequently encourage great employees to quit their jobs?

Employee retention matters. Organisational issues such as training time and investment; lost knowledge; mourning, insecure coworkers and a costly candidate search aside, failing to retain a key employee is costly. Various estimates suggest that losing a middle manager costs an organization up to 100 percent of his salary. The loss of a senior executive is even more costly. I have seen estimates of double the annual salary and more.

Employee retention is critically important for a second societal reason, too. Over the next few years while Baby Boomers (age 40 to 58) retire, the upcoming Generation X population numbers 44 million people (ages 25-34), compared to 76 million Baby Boomers available for work. Simply stated: there are a lot fewer people available to work.

Employee retention is one of the primary measures of the health of your organization. If you are losing critical staff members, you can safely bet that other people in their departments are looking as well. Exit interviews with departing employees provide valuable information you can use to retain remaining staff. Heed their results. You'll never have a more significant source of data about the health of your organization.

I've provided retention tips in earlier articles, but will add ten more retention tips to your arsenal with these top ten ways to retain a great employee.

Management thinkers from Ferdinand Fournies ( Why Employees Don't Do What They're Supposed to Do and What to Do About It) to Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman ( First Break All the Rules agree that a satisfied employee knows clearly what is expected from him every day at work. Changing expectations keep people on edge and create unhealthy stress. They rob the employee of internal security and make the employee feel unsuccessful. I'm not advocating unchanging jobs just the need for a specific framework within which people clearly know what is expected from them.

The quality of the supervision an employee receives is critical to employee retention.People leave managers and supervisors more often than they leave companies or jobs. It is not enough that the supervisor is well-liked or a nice person, starting with clear expectations of the employee, the supervisor has a critical role to play in retention. Anything the supervisor does to make an employee feel unvalued will contribute to turnover. Frequent employee complaints center on these areas.

Lack of clarity about expectations,
Lack of clarity about earning potential,
Lack of feedback about performance,
Failure to hold scheduled meetings, and
Failure to provide a framework within which the employee perceives he can succeed.

The ability of the employee to speak his or her mind freely within the organization is another key factor in employee retention. Does your organisation solicit ideas and provide an environment in which people are comfortable providing feedback? If so, employees offer ideas, feel free to criticize and commit to continuous improvement. If not, they bite their tongues or find themselves constantly "in trouble" - until they leave.

Talent and skill utilization is another environmental factor your key employees seek in your workplace. A motivated employee wants to contribute to work areas outside of his specific job description. How many people could contribute far more than they currently do? You just need to know their skills, talent and experience, and take the time to tap into it. As an example, in a small company, a manager pursued a new marketing plan and logo with the help of external consultants. An internal sales rep, with seven years of ad agency and logo development experience, repeatedly offered to help. His offer was ignored and he cited this as one reason why he quit his job. In fact, the recognition that the company didn't want to take advantage of his knowledge and capabilities helped precipitate his job search.

The perception of fairness and equitable treatment is important in employee retention.In one company, a new sales rep was given the most potentially successful, commission-producing accounts. Current staff viewed these decisions as taking food off their tables. You can bet a number of them are looking for their next opportunity.

In another instance, a staff person, just a year or two out of college, was given $20,000 in raises over a six month time period. Information of this type never stays secret in companies so you know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the morale of several other employees will be affected. For example, you have a staff person who views her role as important and she brings ten years of experience, an M.B.A. and a great contribution record to the table. When she finds she is making less money than this employee, she is likely to look for a new job. Minimally, her morale and motivation will take a big hit. Did the staff person deserve the raises? Yes. But, recognize that there will be impact on others.

When an employee is failing at work, I ask the W. Edwards Deming question, "What about the work system is causing the person to fail?" Most frequently, if the employee knows what they are supposed to do, I find the answer is time, tools, training, temperament or talent. The easiest to solve, and the ones most affecting employee retention, are tools, time and training. The employee must have the tools, time and training necessary to do their job well or they will move to an employer who provides them.

Your best employees, those employees you want to retain, seek frequent opportunities to learn and grow in their careers, knowledge and skill. Without the opportunity to try new opportunities, sit on challenging committees, attend seminars and read and discuss books, they feel they will stagnate. A career-oriented, valued employee must experience growth opportunities within your organization.

A common place complaint or lament I hear during an exit interview is that the employee never felt senior managers knew he existed. By senior managers I refer to the president of a small company or a department or division head in a larger company. Take time to meet with new employees to learn about their talents, abilities and skills. Meet with each employee periodically. You'll have more useful information and keep your fingers on the pulse of your organisation. It's a critical tool to help employees feel welcomed, acknowledged and loyal.

No matter the circumstances, never, never, ever threaten an employee's job or income. Even if you know layoffs loom if you fail to meet production or sales goals, it is a mistake to foreshadow this information with employees. It makes them nervous; no matter how you phrase the information; no matter how you explain the information, even if you're absolutely correct, your best staff members will update their resumes. I'm not advocating keeping solid information away from people, however, think before you say anything that makes people feel they need to search for another job.

I place this final tip on every retention list I develop because it is so key and critical to retention success. Your staff members must feel rewarded, recognized and appreciated. Frequently saying thank you goes a long way. Monetary rewards, bonuses and gifts make the thank you even more appreciated. Understandable raises, tied to accomplishments and achievement, help retain staff. Commissions and bonuses that are easily calculated on a daily basis, and easily understood, raise motivation and help retain staff. Annually, I receive emails from staff members that provide information about raises nationally. You can bet that work is about the money and almost every individual wants more.

Take a look at your organization Are you doing your best to retain your top talent? Employ these ten factors in your organization to retain your desired employees and attract the best talent, too.

know

Getting To Know You: Patricia Leech

1. What is your role in Beaumont Consulting?

Operations Manager

2. What was your first job?

Assistant in the local bakery on Saturdays

3. What was your favourite subject at school?

Textile Design

4. If you were stuck on a desert island, what is the one thing you couldn't do without?

My husband

5. What is the first thing you notice about people?

Their shoes. I can't help it, I have an obsession with people's shoes!

6. Who is someone that inspires you and why?

It would have to be two people, my mum and dad. They just don't stop. They're on to their next adventure and will be hiking through Tuscany in July and are currently walking a minimum of 50km a week on top of their weekly rounds of golf. They're both well in to they're 70's, have just celebrated 50 years in marriage and really are an inspiration to us four kids.

7. What do you do in your spare time?

When I'm not spending time with my lovely husband, yoga, and lots of it!

8. What was the last book you read?

I'm really bad at reading, it takes a lot to get me to even think about concentrating on one thing for a length of time. I did recently read (and finish!) Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. Intense and full of twists is all I can say! Not for the weak hearted!!

9. If you could be famous for anything what would it be?

Making fabulous cakes! I get so much satisfaction from feeding people food they love.

10. What's the best decision you have ever made?

To get married to my husband, obviously!!

temp

Temp of the month

This month our $100 Temp of the Month prize goes to Dee Robbins

This is what the client had to say:
"A wonderful asset to the team, we are very lucky to have Dee join us here."

Well done Dee from the team at Beaumont!

Newsletter Archive

2011 Nov 11 Newsletter