The Magnetic Advantage
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When we launched Total Rewards at Scandipharm, we had a luncheon for employees and gave a presentation on the new strategy. We also had promotional items from some benefit providers that we gave away. People love free stuff – no matter how small! For employees in the sales force, we gave a webinar presentation and provided in-person education on programs at sales meetings.
The Total Rewards launch can be fancy with a new logo, t-shirts, or whatever fits your culture. It can also be very simple without a lot of fuss. The important thing is that you communicate!
2. Integrate into the Recruiting Process
Create recruiting tools aligned with your Total Rewards message. You want people to see the value of your employment deal and know that the company takes a strategic approach to managing those programs. Since people are attracted by the whole work experience, you want applicants to see the importance that the company places on non-financial as well as financial rewards. You want applicants to see that you get it! They are a whole person interested in more than just compensation and benefits.
This is another area where digging for the gold in your current programs pays off. Many employers simply don’t think to promote things, such as a free wellness program offered by their healthcare provider, as a benefit. Since you’ve gone through the exercise of creating your Total Rewards strategy, you have a more comprehensive program to promote. Also, in creating your strategy, you identify what makes your company unique, which helps in setting you apart from your competitors trying to lure the same top talent.
To get the Total Rewards message out to applicants, work with your recruiters to enhance their current communications to job applicants. Also, provide them with the Total Rewards inventory list to use as a “cheat sheet” when discussing with employees.
3. Onboarding Process
Continue the Total Rewards message in the onboarding process. I recommend presenting new hire employment papers in a nice pocket folder with the words ‘Total Rewards’ on the front. Instead of handing a new employee a stack of papers to sign and documents to read, the Total Rewards folder further enforces the value that the company places on its programs.
The pocket folder could be as simple as a plain folder with a printed label on the front, or you could have nice folders printed. Either way, it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to increase the perceived value of your programs and start employees off with a positive view of their employment package.
ONGOING COMMUNICATIONS
After the person has been sold on the company and gone through the onboarding process, they still need to be continuously sold on the company. Even after you’ve recruited an employee, other recruiters will still try to steal them away from you. While technology has made the recruiting process better, it also keeps the doors open to thieves. Surround your castle with good communications. Fewer of your employees will be stolen by bandits.
The relationship with employees is like any other relationship. You have to keep investing time and effort to keep it alive. Employees need to be constantly reminded of the programs that the company offers them and why it is a great place to work. This takes some effort, but not as much effort as recruiting and training a new employee. Think of it as preventive medicine.
Provided below are some ways to create ongoing communications.
1. Lunch and Learn
Hold lunch and learn meetings to educate employees on different portions of your Total Rewards package. These meetings can be provided by someone from your company or outside benefit providers. For example, you could invite your 401(k) provider to talk about your plan, and he might even provide the lunch.
Also, ask benefit providers for some of their free promotional items to give to your employees. People generally love these giveaways, and it promotes your company’s program. One time, a healthcare provider gave our employees blue stress balls, and those balls were thrown around the office for years, frequently at an unsuspecting employee! It was all in good fun and broke up the day with some laughter.
If there is an area that people just do not seem to understand or have a lot of questions about, a lunch and learn will help with this problem. Stock-based compensation (stock options, ESPP, restricted share units, etc.) was my niche area at Scandipharm. I provided a lot of training on this topic because people (even executives) have difficulty understanding these complex programs. Stock-based compensation is designed to motivate employees to act as stock holders and drive up the price of the stock. Also, they are designed to be “golden handcuffs” that motivate people to stay with the company. If an employee doesn’t understand the potential value of the award and how he or she can improve the value, the stock-based compensation isn’t serving its purpose. Effective communications are critical to achieving success with more complex programs.
2. Total Rewards Statements
Total Rewards statements are an annual report on how much the employer spent on the employee during the year. It includes everything that an employer spends, including taxes, bonuses, cost of benefits, workers compensation, 401(k) contributions, awards, training, etc. When the costs are added up, it is staggering and gives the employee a different picture of how much their employment deal with the company is worth. Employees simply don’t think about all that the employer is paying on their behalf. The Total Rewards statements are a mindset shifter, even for those of us who work in HR.
The reward statements are designed for engagement and retention. The employee feels more valued when they see the large amount of money that the employer pays for them to work there. Additionally, it gives employees a greater reason to turn away other suiters.
There are many companies that will create Total Rewards statements for you. I suggest that you shop around to find the best fit for you. The company will provide you with the design for the statement, and you will provide the data.
3. Align with Processes
Enhance communications around processes such as performance management, benefit enrollment, and compensation. Use these touchpoints to remind employees of the Total Rewards package. When doing training or giving a presentation on any program, I always start with a slide, showing the whole Total Rewards package. Then I say that we are focusing on a certain segment of that package (e.g., compensation) today. Always, bring people back to the Total Rewards picture to remind them of the whole.
Finally, I want to leave you with a few more tips on communication.
Utilize a variety of communication vehicles (e.g., email, posters, webinars, in-person presentations). Remember, people learn in different ways. It generally takes hearing something three times to remember it.
Make it easy for your employees to access information on the programs that you offer. If you have an employee portal, make information on your employee programs easily accessible on the portal.
Your communications will be stronger if you get support from the managers.
Communication is vital to the success of your Total Rewards program. Strategic communications improve your return on investment in employee programs. Additionally, communications improve your ability to attract, engage, and retain high-caliber employees, which ultimately leads to achieving Magnetic Advantage.
CONCLUSION
I’VE GIVEN YOU A LOT of ideas, resources, and strategies to create Magnetic Advantage in your company. Now it is up to you to choose what will work for you. You and your company are unique, so find that perfect mix that will give you the edge in recruiting top talent, retaining them and keeping them engaged.
Finally, I want to leave you with some Zig Ziglar encouragement.
Success is not a destination; it is a journey.
You already have every characteristic necessary for success if you recognize, claim, develop, and use them.
Man is designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.
Failure
is an event. Not a person.
Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember – the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.
If you don’t like who you are and where you are, don’t worry about it because you’re not stuck either with who you are or where you are. You can grow. You can change. You can be more than you are.
What you get by achieving your goals is not nearly as important as what you become by achieving your goals.
I am honored to carry on the legacy of Zig Ziglar. I hope that this book will be a blessing to you and help you to become the winner that you were born to be!
BIOGRAPHY
PASCHA KELLEY is a Ziglar Legacy Certified trainer with twenty years of human resources experience. The majority of her corporate work experience was with a start-up pharmaceutical company that grew to a global multi-million-dollar organization. Through this experience, Pascha has worked at many different stages of company development, and has been part of several mergers and acquisitions. She designed and implemented a broad range of employee programs to meet the needs of the ever-changing company and workforce.
As a Ziglar Legacy Certified trainer, Pascha has combined her corporate knowledge with the time-tested success principles of Zig Ziglar. She has a passion for helping people succeed in their personal and professional lives. She is a speaker, trainer, author, and consultant.
Pascha lives in Birmingham, Alabama, with her husband Mike. They have a blended family with six kids: Cori, Stephen, Kristin, Madeline, Jacob, and Sean.
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WANT MORE RESOURCES
TO BUILD YOUR
MAGNETIC ADVANTAGE?
Check out my website paschakelley.com for templates to help put the principles from this book into action.