How does all of this turmoil affect you and your business?
If you are like a lot of employers I talk with, then you may be ready to pull the trigger on letting people go to keep your costs in line with your actual or estimated revenue over the next year or two.
That's good stewardship of your business if you want to be around when the business / economic climate are back to 'normal'. There's little reason to carry a negative cash flow, especially when you aren't even sure if you can rely on your normal sources of funds.
OK, so you feel or know you need to let some or many people go if you are to survive.
The question I have is do you have a good plan for determining who to keep and who to let go?
Are you just telling each department head to cut back by, say, 10% across the board? Or, are you going by seniority or some other seemingly 'objective' selection process?
Well, here's some brain food for thought before you take action:
Have you thought about what your business may look like when things start to turn around?
- Will your customers be buying the same way they always have or will you need to sell differently to them?
- Will your products and services be what they are today?
- What talent will you absolutely need? Is it the same talent you have had over the last several years, or will your needs change?
- How do you intelligently select who to keep and who to let go? Are you setting yourself up for legal problems around discrimination because you let you more expensive folks go?
You need to give these and other questions serious consideration before taking action.
I advise my clients to brainstorm with their senior management team around looking a just how the business climate may be when we start to climb out of this morass. As part of this important exercise, think about how you can outflank your competition.
Now let's get down the people level-who to keep and who to let go.
After going through the crystal-ball exercise, it's now time to look at your employees and figure out which one's best suit the profile of what you not only need today, but absolutely will need down the road. It's highly likely you pretty much have some of the right people on board today. If not, you need to turn out those who don't fit and find people who do fit.
If you wait until things turn around before figuring this out, you are likely to find it hard to find and attract people who fit.
You may think I am just talking about the type of skills you will need among your employees. Well, to some degree that's true...but,
...skills can be taught
No, I am talking more about the type of people you will need based on their behavioral characteristics and their ability to learn and communicate effectively.
The profile you build should include things like...
- whether or not you will be a 'lean and mean' organization.
- will you need people who are self-starters or people who require oversight?
- will your sales team primarily be out looking for new clients or managing existing ones?
If you need to teach new information and new skills, how fast do you need to bring employees up to speed on them?
The key to this whole thing is the...
...Profile.
In reality, the profile is really several profiles, because each position may need a different set of behavioral and learning characteristics.
One way to attack this is to figure out which employees currently in a position have what you think it will take when things turn around and use them as the model profile for that position. Use an objective assessment tool like eSessments Profile XT to actually construct such a profile. The output tells you just what type of person you need to have in each position.
The output also tells you just how to work with each employee so they reach their full potential. Employees who believe their employer cares about their growth will want to stay around for the long term...turnover can kill your plans for the turnaround.
Now look at each employee to determine how well they fit the profile. If you think they are a good fit, you need to focus on retaining them now. Make sure they know you want them around for the long term. If they feel nervous about whether or not they will be let go, they may proactively start looking for a safe harbor.
If they are not the best fit for their current position, consider other positions where they would be a good fit even if it means you need to give them additional training. That's better than having to go out and find someone who is a good fit when you need them, because you might not find them or be able to hire them.
I hope this gives you some actionable food for thought.
I urge you to keep the employees who will not only best serve you best now, but who will be the right ones when the economy regains its footing.
Michael_Beek
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