It's not just about the policies - it's how they are implemented.....

The other day I was standing in line at the Newsagents. There were a couple of people behind me, on their lunch break, chatting about work. One of them had been sick, with the flu, and had taken a few days off work.

She was annoyed that upon her return her Manager had been very unsupportive of her taking 3 days leave and felt that she had needed to justify to him why she had taken the time off. She was clearly upset by the way he had spoken to her and was feeling both undervalued and disengaged.

It seems that most of us have either had it, or know of someone who has been hit with the nasty flu bug that is rapidly spreading. With it comes more sick leave.

We know that there are legal requirements surrounding sick leave and that organisations need policies in place around it. However, how these policies are implemented on a day to day basis very much depends on the line manager who can in turn shape an employee's sense of value.

An employee's retention decision can be influenced by an organisation in 2 ways:

1. through policy: for example learning and development policy, promotion policy, remuneration policy and so on; and

2. through practice: what a manager says and does, or doesn't say and do everyday.

Clearly the person behind me in the Newsagents had not had a good experience with her manager and evidences the impact they can have on the experience an employee has at work. In effect it was a disconnection event.

It just goes to show that the manager has the single greatest influence over an employee's decision to perform, to stay or to resign.

Here at Retention Partners we run various education programs for managers, including the "3 Step Retention Agents Program", run on site and aimed at turning managers into Retention Agents.

Contact us on 02 9362 8970 for more information!!

New stats show that women earn less than men.....

Kim and I were chatting about the research released today that showed women being underpaid. Aside from our surprise ( well, were you?), I was reminded about a piece of our own research we conducted in about 2002.

We were asked by one of the planet's biggest brands to find out how to attract men and women to various job ads. (Remember that's what we do - find out why people join, stay and quit!).

One of the many, many surprising and controversial findings was this: if the client wanted to attract the attention of a man to a job ad, the ad would be more effective if it contained.....a dollar sign! Literally, $. Not even a sum after it.

We went on to discover that that symbol ('$') wouldn't attract women to the ad. Instead, they wanted to see words, such as 'development' and 'experience'.

WARNING! This research only held true for our client, back in 2002, recruiting for certain senior level jobs, so you can't take it to the bank - but the client did, and enjoyed the benefits of targeted ads.

So this doesn't mean that men are interested in money and women aren't - not by any means. But our research indicates that there comes a time in women's personal lives when their employment expectation's can change, whereas men generally continue to focus on linear promotion and financial rewards, uninterrupted by child care breaks.

Whats the implication for employers? Don't assume that one size fits all! I think we're right to hope that an advanced economy like Australia's has room for:

• the gung-ho careerist
• the 'I don't have spare time to devote to work' Gen Y
• the 'I can't afford retirement so I need part-time work' 60 year olds and
• the 'Thanks, but I really wanna be a full-time mum for a while' women.

And if choosing different work priorities and work/social/life mixes result in different salaries, then that sounds about right.

Lisa

Job advertisements decline eases

Today the Oliver Job Index showed that internet job advertisements declined again in May by 4.32 per cent, however, the fall was less than previous months. Online jobs ads are now down 51.9 per cent compare to a year earlier - quite a drop. Part time and fixed term contract jobs increased in the month.

But what does this mean for HR teams around Australia?

1. Now is the time to build your IDEAL team. Candidates that may not have talked to you a year ago, may now be willing to take a job with you. Of course, you then need to plan on how you will keep them once the economy picks up (Personalised Talent Plans are our solution for this).

2. The economy will pick up and you don't want to have a mass exodus of your disengaged employees once they have better options. Give them reasons to stay NOW.

3. Recruit differently. Traditional print advertisements & the big online job ad websites are often not the best places to find candidates. Do you know which recruitment channels deliver you the best performing & longest staying employees? Do you have out-of-the-box recruitment methods? Lisa's upcoming Recruitment Clinic is a MUST DO for HR professionals with a recruitment focus.