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Keeping and Supporting Young Talent

Katie Williamson October 17, 2018

The workforce is changing. Millennials are no longer the “new” talent, they are THE talent, making up the largest generation in the workplace today. In addition, a recent study shows that 61 million Gen Zers (people born after 1996) are about to enter the workforce.

That means the talent pool is getting younger and it’s time for us to keep up. Keeping and supporting young talent means understanding exactly what they want in a career.

Here are some tips for attracting and retaining young talent:

Find Ways to Add Value

While higher wages are an obvious place to add value for young employees, there are many ways to incentivize them beyond their paycheck. According to a recent study, approximately 20% of Millennials say they cannot afford their healthcare expenses and 46% of Gen Z say their main financial concern is student debt. Get creative with how you’re driving value for these younger generations. Offer better healthcare discounts or start a debt reimbursement program. Better yet, explore what an Employee Discount Program can do for you and your employees.

Offer Opportunities for Collaboration

While Millennials were coming of age with technology, Gen Z has become even more entrenched in social media and constant communication. Due to this change in atmosphere, collaboration is a key motivator for these younger employees. Surprisingly, however, they prefer in-person interactions over the phone, email or even texting when collaborating with co-workers.

Give Them Mentors, Not Managers

Micromanagement is the new smoking. Ok, ok, we made that up. But what we do know is that these younger generations are seeking out thriving relationships between their leaders. Mentorship is a hot topic among this crowd and that is only bound to increase as they take the workforce by storm. Maybe there’s a reason why 70% of multi-national companies are replacing their annual reviews in favor of performance management. Young talent wants specific feedback on their performance, and they don’t want to wait a year to receive it. In fact, studies show Millennials are receiving reviews either daily (19%), weekly (24%), or regularly (23%) versus the traditional annual format (3%).

Create a Culture That Matters

According to Gallup, Millennials turnover costs the U.S. economy $30.5 billion annually. Whoa. We’ve learned a lot from the Millennial workplace and there are many trends that are sure to stay. Flexible hours are considered one of the biggest perks for these employees. They also want a job that is willing to support their career development. They actually want to find a job and stay there, which is great news! As we previously discussed, regular reviews are a great way to focus on career progression and support. In addition to reviews, makes ure you also find time to recognize their efforts, whether it’s through a formal program or as simple as a thank-you note. These few efforts can make a huge difference for your retention as you create a culture that truly matters to your employees.

As we begin to wrap up another year, it will be interesting to see how Gen Z continues to shape our workforce well into 2019. How is your business working to keep and support your young talent?

Keys to Developing a Mentorship Program

Katie Williamson August 13, 2018

Employees today crave trust and independence and shake their heads at micro-management. With this new trend comes a greater emphasis on professional development in the workplace. Through a mentorship program, you can provide the guidance many of these employees need and want.

Why Mentoring?

There are a number of ways mentoring can have a positive, lasting impact on your workforce.

  • Mentorship trains new employees or employees stepping into new roles efficiently.
  • Mentorship builds junior employees into leaders.
  • Mentorship provides opportunities for employees to work cross-departmentally, helping them to work more collaboratively and openly.
  • Mentorship contributes to a dynamic company culture.
  • Mentorship improves employee loyalty and satisfaction.

Getting Started

There are a number of benefits that can come from a mentorship program. For that reason, it’s important to identify which of these objectives is the most valuable to you and your business. Perhaps it’s the focus on cross-department collaboration to improve processes. Maybe you’d like to focus on developing junior employees to step into higher roles. Whatever you’re looking to achieve with your program, make sure you define this goal from the start to ensure success.

Not sure of where to start? Try an office survey to poll your employees on where they see the potential for improvement.

Possible Programs

Most of us probably think of one-on-one sessions from a superior to a lower level employee. However, there is more than one way to implement a mentorship program in your office:

  • Group mentoring: one mentor leads multiple mentees.
  • Peer mentoring: people in the same job function mentor one another.
  • Reverse mentoring: junior employee mentors a senior employee (a great initiative for diversity and inclusion efforts)
  • Team mentoring: similar to group mentoring, but with multiple mentors contributing ideas and experience
  • Supervisory: the traditional superior mentor leads junior mentee.

Consider a combination of these different types of mentoring for your workforce. Some of these work better in casual environments and others work better in more structured workplaces. Whatever method you choose, find what works best for your employees. When in doubt, just try it! Your mentorship program should always be evolving, so don’t be afraid to fail.

Market Your Program

Once you’ve established the type(s) of mentorship program you’d like to implement, it’s time to get the word out. Because some people may feel awkward participating, it’s important to cast a clear vision for how the mentoring will work. Make sure leaders in the company are participating and sharing their interest as well. Again, office surveys are a great tool to kick-start the program, whether that means using it to pair people up or even surveying interest in different types of programs.

Collect Feedback

As we said before, mentorship programs should constantly be evolving. Gain feedback after the first month or so and find out where your pain points are. Obviously, no one should feel forced into this relationship and should have a clear way out at any time. There should never be any pressure to participate and if employees aren’t enjoying the process, find out why and make some changes.

It may not be an easy process, but investing in and developing your employees should be a top priority for any business. A mentorship program may be the tool you need to ramp up your employee happiness.

What It Takes to Be A Great Leader

Katie Williamson April 9, 2018

We are fortunate to have an amazing team here at PerkSpot. But, it’s not by accident. A great teams needs a great leader, and our executive team is no exception.

We decided to pick their brains to discover all the traits they think make up a great leader. Here’s what they had to say.

“Being a great leader means knowing that your own growth never stops and that you can learn just as much from your team as what you can teach them.”

Humility

What better place to start when discussing leadership than with humility? We’re not talking about the self-deprecating type of humility that never acknowledges accomplishments or speaks up. True humility, however, pushes your team to be the best they can be for the sake of the team and the business, not for selfish gain.

Leaders who exemplify this quality…

  • Aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. There is no work too big or too small for them.
  • Acknowledge your value. “When I talk to a manager, I get the feeling that they are important. When I talk to a leader, I get the feeling that I am important.”
  • Acknowledge their mistakes. Nothing is more frustrating than having a boss who shifts blame and refuses to take responsibility for their errors. True leaders use their mistakes as opportunities to learn and grow, sharing these mistakes with their team as teachable moments for everyone involved.

“Great leaders always point the way to something bigger than ourselves.”

Vision

As CEO, it’s not surprising that Jace would focus on casting vision, arguably the most important thing a CEO can do! As the leader of PerkSpot, it’s of the utmost importance that Jace uses his leadership to lead us towards bigger and better goals, without getting caught up in the muck.

Here’s how great leaders cast vision:

  • They make the vision relevant. Take a moment to think about your team and the problems their facing. How does this vision or goal help them to solve problems and reach this goal? Make it relevant to their day-to-day.
  • They make the vision actionable. A great vision is nothing without a great plan to push it along. Vision-casting isn’t just a head-in-the-clouds, aspirational story. Great leaders know how to cast vision, while making it actionable for their teams by laying out a clear plan for getting there.
  • They make the vision personal. When dealing with a change or working toward a goal, most people will be thinking “what’s in it for me?”. Great leaders know how to address that question for each member of their team, dealing with the emotions they may be experiencing and answering doubts or fears that may arise.

“A great leader is similar to a great football coach- Surround yourself with quality players, develop the best game plan possible with their input, and most importantly enable your team to have the confidence and skills to achieve their goals.”

Team Players

As head of our sales team, it’s not surprising that Taylor would use a competitive analogy. Taylor knows that in order to get ahead and be successful, he needs each and every part of his team to work effectively. They share a common goal and work together to accomplish it.

So why is it important for leaders to be team players?

  • No man is an island. Going back to our first point, humility is of the utmost importance. Being a team player means that you’re working towards something together, not just individually. If you only focus on what your two hands can accomplish, that’s as far as you’ll ever get.
  • Each voice needs to be heard. Taylor mentioned building a game plan with everyone’s input. Building a great team means making decisions together. This breeds trust as you move forward toward achieving your goals.
  • Every member has their role. No team is made up of the same type of player. You have many personalities and responsibilities. While you may not treat each team member exactly the same, you should treat them all with the same respect. A team player, or better yet, a great coach, will do just that.

“A great leader should be a few things: A good listener, an effective communicator, and an awesome motivator. If you do those things well, the rest will fall into place.”

Mentorship

Justin listed three great qualities that can all be summed up in one word: Mentorship. Mentorship is a popular trend among many great leaders: Steve Jobs had Bill Campbell, Mark Zuckerberg had Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates was mentored by Warren Buffet.

Great mentors, and in turn, great leaders, follow these trends:

  • They listen well. Too often leaders treat their one-on-ones as an item on their to-do list versus a chance to deepen their relationship with their employees. Great mentors put the relationship first, asking great questions and even more importantly, listening to the answers!
  • They speak honestly. Great mentors are honest, not just with criticisms, but with praises as well. As Justin mentioned, they know how to communicate effectively to produce strong results from their employees.
  • They push harder. Motivating others is the most contagious quality of a great mentor and leader. Mentors push others to be the best version of themselves, beyond just company goals and metrics. They focus on character and quality of work.
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