People Metrics: Tracking Employee Satisfaction
Your people are, without question, your most valuable resource.
Tracking people metrics means analyzing the costs of hiring, onboarding, and training, tracking employee turnover rates, and measuring employee satisfaction. Employee loyalty is built on the actions of owners, managers, and HR, who are tasked with establishing a work environment that is comfortable, collaborative, and inclusive.
Employee Satisfaction Surveys
Smartly worded surveys can reveal the strengths and weaknesses in your organization and help you build an amazing workplace.
Tracking issues such as coworker relations, job security, flexibility, satisfaction with a boss or superior, the amount of vacation time, chances for promotion, recognitions for accomplishments, and work-related stress can be measured for an unbiased view of the current scene. Low satisfaction rates in any category should be addressed without delay. In many cases, employees that choose to leave, when interviewed, are quitting a manager, not a job. A high turnover rate can indicate a management issue that needs resolution – fast.
Opportunities for Advancement and Employee Satisfaction
Coaching, mentoring, and opportunities for advancement are significant factors in employee satisfaction. A great place to work is one where employees feel valued, and have confidence that if they perform, opportunities for advancement will be offered. The best talent typically sees employment as a journey, rather than just a place to show up and earn a paycheck. They seek employment where skills and dedication are appreciated and acknowledged, and where they can expand their skills and experience. A business that offers in-house training seminars, education assistance programs, and one-on-one mentoring may be more likely to retain – and develop – a talented, loyal team.
Data-Driven Employee Management
Every employee is unique in personality, and management must be extremely flexible and able to work with all types of people without prejudice or favoritism. Rather than rewarding personalities, reward production, which can come from surprising places. Every employee should have trackable production statistics that can be monitored. These measurements can reveal who needs help, more training, and who is a peak performer. Surprisingly, many of the top producers may not be obvious to you by personality, but only by evaluating production statistics. High producers are valuable, no matter what their personalities, whether quiet, arrogant, argumentative, or humble.
To Degree or Not to Degree
It is a common belief that those with a degree are more job-ready. In some cases, this is true. There is something to be said about a person that has dedicated years to education and who has achieved a degree, as it takes discipline and focus. However, many excellent employees have achieved their skills through practical application rather than college and deserve consideration. Rather than insisting on a college degree, look carefully at the employment record and achievements of the individual. Employees who earned their skills in real life may be the ideal choice.
The Drive to Succeed: A Quality of the Best Talent
The top talent in your industry does not “rest on its laurels.” These are people, of any educational level, who are personally driven to achieve more. Your workforce, when you offer opportunities with education and training, will become more competent, productive, and loyal. Offer in-house training opportunities to help lower-level employees advance and earn more by becoming trained in new tasks and technologies. You will enjoy a powerful benefit – a workforce that is loyal, and that you can rely on to support your business for years.
