Motivate the troops
What makes your employees want to come to work at your
company every day, beyond their paychecks? It’s a question
you need to become aware of as you are trying to achieve
buy-in from your work force as you move your company
ahead.
Bento and his management team divide employees into two
basic groups: those who want to become exceptional performers at one specific job and those who want to scale the
organizational ladder.
Employees work with their managers to outline goals aimed
at building their particular career path, and each employee’s
performance is measured periodically against performance
indicators. Rewards such as recognition, bonuses and promotions are based in part on meeting and exceeding goals.
“One of the techniques we’ve done here that has been adopted by the global CEVA organization is to really be developmental with our employees as to what are their career aspirations,” he says. “We are doing more in terms of performance
appraisals. Not saying, ‘Here is a 5 percent raise,’ but asking,
‘How are we helping you to become a better employee?’ So my
human resources director is working with the global HR director to create a performance management arc for the organization that can help foster and develop that contribution —
whether it’s the night-shift employee moving cargo in Hong
Kong or someone working in distribution after hours, they
know how they are making a difference.
“These things over time do make a difference, that you are
making performance and performance management a part of
your organization’s culture. It can’t be once a year that I’m
telling someone they’re doing a good job.”
No matter where they work in the organization, they need to
hear and see communication from the top often and in multiple forms.
“You have to be able to give verbal communication or a pat
on the back,” Bento says. “You need to recognize what your
employees do in a group setting, in big settings. Anything you
can do along the lines of reinforcing the behavior in a positive
way, it costs you nothing.
“Recognition makes people feel great. An ‘attaboy’ goes a
long way. So we’re trying to reinforce that; we have things
we’re trying to evolve in terms of the involvement and the rewards for doing a very exceptional job. I’m a big fan of recognition, and it doesn’t cost you anything to do it.”
The key indicator for employee satisfaction and fulfillment
is your level of turnover.
If employees are leaving at a higher rate than you anticipated, it’s a signal to delve deeper into the issue.
“Your turnover will always be an indicator,” he says. “If you
can say, ‘Shoot, I have heavy turnover,’ well, why? Maybe
you’re not communicating the message very well. Maybe you
don’t have a good way to bring on new employees and teach
them the business in a way where they’re feeling like they can
make a contribution, so they quit.
“But the other side to that is, if you have areas in your company where you have a good methodology to developing people, where those people are the ones getting promoted, you’ll
populate your organization with employees who are doing
effective work outside of where they started.”
