Our guest, Sean Conrad at Halogen Software, shares with us four valuable practices to engage and retain your new hires. Enjoy!

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Doing a good job of welcoming new employees and setting them up for success is critical to employee retention.

When we talk about “onboarding” or the work involved in welcoming new employees, most people think about the administrative tasks involved, like: assigning badges; issuing parking passes; filling out the HR paperwork required for employee records (payroll, taxation, benefits, emergency contacts, etc.); making sure the employee has a workspace, phone and computer; setting up IT accounts/passwords for network access; giving them a branded pen or shirt; etc. While all these activities are necessary and important, they don’t really contribute significantly to the employee’s success on the job.

Some companies also include activities to help a new employee build a network of internal of contacts and learn the organization’s culture. These can include things like: meetings with key decision-makers, influencers or executives, team lunches, pairing with a work buddy, or simply a checklist of people to meet. While this too is helpful, there are some other more important tasks that can improve new employee performance, engagement and retention.

Here is a quick overview of some essential activities that can help new employees successfully transition into their role and the organization.

Make Sure Your New Employee has an Up-to-Date Job Description
Every new employee should be given an up-to-date job description. While ideally, the content of the job description should have been represented in the job posting and discussed in the interview process, that is not always the case. And even if it was, often significant time elapses between the interview and start date, or the manager/organization make changes to the job description during the hiring process. So it’s important for the manager or HR to reiterate, clarify and confirm the details of the job the employee will be doing and what is expected of them. New employees need to quickly understand the essential functions they are responsible for and that they’ll be evaluated on. This includes things like: the purpose of their role; the reporting structure they fit into; the main challenges they’ll face; the competencies they are expected to demonstrate; the requirements for their role; the outcomes they are expected to produce. The job description helps communicate expectations and set the employee up for success.

Set Goals the Next 3-6 Months
Beyond their job description, your new employee needs to know what you expect of them in the next three to six months. A new employee typically wants to “hit the ground running” and prove themselves; they join the organization full of energy, passion and optimism. Capitalize on that energy by giving them goals and work assignments that help them transition into their new role, learn on the job and start contributing right away. It can be especially helpful to assign a new employee to work on a team or in partnership with a more experienced employee. This kind of assignment provides your new employee with the on-the-job learning and mentoring they need to adopt your organization’s “way of doing things” and culture. And it helps them feel like they’re contributing to the organization in a meaningful way, which is critical for engagement and retention.

Give Them Feedback
Right from the start, employees need to know what they’re doing well and where they can improve. So make sure their managers give them feedback on their performance early on, both formally and informally. It’s never too soon to start the dialogue on performance! But you should also schedule more formal 30, 60, and 90 day reviews to discuss expectations, review and revise goals, provide feedback on performance and assign appropriate development activities as needed. These frequent reviews are vital to give the employee the direction, feedback and support they need to succeed.

Help Them Develop
All new employees go through a steep learning curve, regardless of their knowledge, skills or experience. So right from day 1, support their continued learning with meaningful development activities. Research from the Center for Creative Leadership tells us that up to 90% of the learning we do is on the job, so don’t overwhelm your new employee with days or weeks of formal training they can’t apply immediately. Focus instead on providing them with a supportive work environment where they can learn from others and apply their learnings to their work. You can achieve this through job shadowing, or assigning them a coach, mentor or even a “work buddy” who’s there to guide their work, answer their questions, and teach them what they need to know to achieve their initial goals and become proficient in their role.

Conclusion
Assimilating a new employee well, so they quickly become engaged and productive is vitally important to your organization. It requires more than efficient administrative processes, some company swag and a few courses. From day 1, you need to provide a new employee with the direction, feedback and development they need to succeed. These performance management basics are important supports for all employees, but especially for new ones, and contribute to employee performance, engagement, retention and success.

Sean Conrad is a Certified Human Capital Strategist and Senior Product Analyst at Halogen Software. He writes about people management best-practices for the Halogen Software blog.

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Photo Credit: Galileo 55 on Flickr Creative Common

This week, we’ll examine two additional leadership lessons gleaned from my sailing trip with my friend Rob.

If you want to change direction, you have to make sure both crew members manning the ropes on the port and starboard are ready before making a swiping change.
Rob taught us how to release and tighten the ropes on the jib so that we could change direction, also known as tacking, in sailing lingo. His instructions were very clear:

Before you change direction, you’ll need to ask your crew “ready to tack?”

Then you’ll need to hear two readies before you turn the wheel.

And just before you turn, you need to shout out “tacking” so that the crew knows what to do when the time is right.

This was communication at its best: clear, precise, and constant feedback.

Likewise, when you need to change the direction of your organization, plan to over communicate with your employees and stakeholders. I recognize that it’s challenging to communicate regularly amid many changes. But your employees need to know where the company is headed and how their jobs are impacted.

In addition, as a leader, you need to know that your employees are ready for this transition. How prepared are they for this change? Do they need to learn new skills? Do you need to rearrange your team composition? Do you need to buy or grow talent? If your employees are not ready to support you on this change, your turn will not be successful. You may be making circles on the same spot for a while before regaining your direction.

That’s what we did on the ship at one point when we could not agree which way to turn, and ended up making circles in the water!

Keep an eye out for your crew, take the lead, and thank them when you are safely home.
We had a wonderful time sailing into the city. We watched the sunset on the open water and enjoyed the city lights. And then it was dark.

We turned around, took the sails down, and headed home. But it was difficult to find the green light that signaled the entry to the Yacht Club. Rob stood on the bow, like a true skipper, looking for the green light to guide us home. He finally found it and pointed it out to us. Rob guided her safely back to the dock, we jumped out of the ship and bid goodbye.

What would you do as a leader when it’s dark outside? Will you have the courage to stand on the bow and look for the light to guide your team home? Leaders lead. That means sometimes you’ll have to explore new ground, search for the light, and take risk to guide your crew home.

When you and your team have achieved a goal, thank them and celebrate! Champagne is optional.

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Photo Credit: Galileo 55 on Flickr Creative Common

Our friend Rob invited us to go for a sunset sail with him this past weekend. It was a gorgeous day for sailing—crisp blue sky, high tide, windy but not too gusty. Rob has been sailing for more than 30 years and he’s been in many races. But we are complete novices.

Rob turned on the motor and guided the boat out of its dock. Once on the open water, he asked me to take the helm and showed me how to make micro adjustments so that we’d stay on course while he and Marcus put up the main sail.

The first time I had a deep experiential appreciation for the phrase “taking the helm” was on my friend Melvin’s boat. On that trip, Melvin was the skipper. When he needed to do something else, he asked his wife to take over the helm. She did a fine job taking the helm and guided us to where we wanted to go.

It dawned on me that there are many parallels between sailing and leading. The metaphors in leadership came alive for me on this particular sailing trip.

Here are lessons I learned from Rob, who’s a wonderful and patient instructor, and my observations on how these lessons can be applied to leading people and organizations.

Take the helm, make micro adjustments but never lose sight of your target and where you are going.
At one point when I was at the helm, Rob was standing in my line of sight and I could not see my target on the horizon. I had to ask Rob to step aside so that I could steer the wheel and get us closer to our destination.

Similarly, as a leader, you constantly need to make micro adjustments to meet the changing market conditions and keep your organization competitive and sustainable. At the same time, you shall never lose sight of your goals so that you can lead your people to achieve what you set out to accomplish.

Sometimes your line of sight may be blocked. This is when having a vision and business strategy is critical. A clear vision will help you see the overall picture and avoid distractions along the way. When the vision is clearly articulated, employees will have a better understanding of where the company is headed and how they can help to get the team there.

Check the wind index and make sure you are sailing in the wind, especially when you need to put up your sails.
Experienced sailors know that the most dangerous time on board is when you put up and take down the sails. To make this task safer, it’s best to position the ship in the direction of the wind so that when you put up your sail you’ll minimize the risk of being hit by the sail from counter wind and potentially falling into the water.

Likewise, as a leader you need to assess your risks and position your team or organization in the wind to grow your business while minimizing potential danger. You need to check your “wind index”—your dashboard of indicators, to monitor progress, identify potential risks, and take preventive measures before it’s too late. Having business analytics will help. You can use the insights from business analytics to identify new business opportunities, change your products or services, and improve internal processes.

If you are sailing in the wind, you have to follow the wind’s direction. Your target will shift, and that’s okay.
When I first took the helm, Rob asked me to sail in the wind and aim for Angel Island. I kept my eye on Angel Island, constantly making micro adjustments on the helm to make sure that our ship was headed in the right direction.

But the wind changed direction. I was still aiming for Angel Island but was having difficulty keeping the ship sailing in the wind. Finally Rob said, “now that the wind has changed direction, you’ll need to change your target, too!”

Right, just when I thought I’ve got it, the wind changed direction. I’d need to change my target in order to continue sailing in the wind and take a detour to get to my destination.

How often have you experienced similar situations as a leader? Just when you thought you’ve identified your target market and got your process down, the market conditions changed. It may be due to a natural disaster that means you don’t have enough supplies of raw materials. Or, there’s a rapid adoption of a new technology and your existing system cannot keep up. Perhaps your customers’ needs have changed. Now what do you do?

If you want to sail in the wind and achieve your ultimate goals, you’ll need to constantly listen to the market, shift your target, and take a detour. You may need to identify other sources for raw materials or hire contract workers to build a system that’s compatible with the new technology, quickly. In some cases, you may have to let go of some non-profitable product lines or services and carve a niche for your business. You’ll refocus, serve your niche exceptionally well, and be successful.

We will stop here for now. Next week, I’ll share additional observations about sailing and leadership. Stay tuned!

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At 826 Valencia, children aged six to eighteen read books and articles, discuss the writing, and write. With the help of volunteer tutors, these children advance their comprehension and writing skills. And with the support of the scholarship fund raised by this organization, some students went on to college.

Running 826 Valencia, a nonprofit organization, takes passion, dedication, and management skills. It was clear that Dave is passionate about teaching children. He described a book discussion session with the students: “It was electrifying to see ideas fly in the discussion. I get energized. I can’t sleep after listening to their ideas!” His face lit up when he recounted the story.

At 826 Valencia, children learn in a supportive environment where they can be creative and feel validated. No ideas are too bizarre for writing. Here is an example of a students’ writing: Werewolves let you down. This piece makes me chuckle. Dave went on to say that in their Storytelling and Bookmaking workshop, students collaborate to create a story. The organization supports them by printing their story into a book. Imagine that! A book. Nicely bound, with pictures, and words written by the children. These children feel validated and are enthusiastic to read and write more.

An audience member asked how Dave invoked his writing muse. Dave said he would go to his shed for eight hours of isolated time and sat in his writing position. Here’s the insight: Dave is just like us! Dave admitted that he would procrastinate and do other things except writing. After six and a half or seven hours, and knowing that his kids would be home and he’d be having dinner soon, he started writing. The audience laughed. We all have been there!

826 Valencia has chapters all over the US: New York, Seattle, Washington DC, Chicago, Ann Arbor, Los Angeles, and Boston. Dan Moulthrop, the interviewer, asked Dave how he managed 826 Valencia. Dave said, “Find great people, empower them, and step away.” Dave noted that when you empower your employees and trust them, they’ll do amazing things.

How true. Once you have your great employees, give them the authority to do their work, give them the space to be creative to solve problems, and don’t micromanage.

Employees will need your support, however. Check in with your employees regularly, acknowledge their efforts, and ask them how you can help them. Create structures and processes to support employee development. Identify projects that are challenging, interesting, and that provide learning opportunities. Encourage employees to present their wild and crazy ideas at work. And foster a work environment where employees can have uninterrupted time to think, to solve problems, and be creative.

Find great people, empower them, and step back. And watch your employee engagement and productivity grow!

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Flying high, by Pi Wen Looi

According to Goldberg, two-thirds of employees have a contemporary view of career success. In this contemporary view, employees define career success as having a job that is challenging and that they are passionate about. Employees also want a job that makes full use of their skills, gives them opportunities for continuous learning, and enables them to make an impact on the people they serve. In addition, employees consider the alignment of personal and company goals an important element of career success.

On the other hand, only 13% still hold the traditional view of career success. These employees see career success as climbing up the corporate ladder and getting more pay. The other 21% had a combination of traditional and contemporary view of career success.

What this means for HR and managers:

Redefine career advancement at your company—Create an organizational culture that values employees’ experience and their contributions. Help employees understand that advancement is more than just moving up the company ladder. It also means amassing a portfolio of experiences and skills that can help them with their future careers.

Provide stretched assignments to employees—Provide opportunities for employees to work on projects that are slightly beyond their current skills and knowledge. Staff your project team with employees whose skills complement each other. More importantly, set the expectation that employees on the team will need to learn from each other to strengthen their skills.

Manage employees’ expectations of career advancement—set realistic expectations with employees upfront. Younger employees tend to want to progress quickly, so it is important to manage their expectations by clearly communicating what it would take (e.g., what competencies or project skills are needed) for them to be promoted to the next level.

Use the power of language—talk about opportunities for growth, development, making an impact, and creating meanings in their jobs. When an organization truly values employees’ skills and abilities, and pays them accordingly, then it is easier for employees to see that they don’t have to climb up the career ladder to be paid more.

Hold managers accountable for developing talent—You probably know a few managers who are talent hoarders. Don’t let this happen to your organization. Encourage and reward managers for developing their employees and provide resources and support for managers to develop their employees.

In Conclusion
Recognize that employees want more than just be promoted to the next level when they think about successful careers. Many employees are looking for continual learning, challenging assignments, and opportunities to make a difference in their customers’ life or communities. Shifting the focus from career advancement to career development and personal growth, and paying employees accordingly by their work, not by title, will help engage and retain your employees.

Further Readings

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I’ve been working hard in the past few months with my designer to redesign our website. And now it’s here! Anyone who’s undertaken a website redesign knows how much energy and time it takes. So it feels right to celebrate this milestone in Novacrea’s history and make a proper announcement of it to all.

This new website is designed with a more focused message of who we are and of the services we offer–customized employee surveys, employee engagement consulting, and action planning facilitation. It highlights our goal to embrace new tools in social media. It shows our vision of integrating research in positive psychology, talent management, and design thinking to bring  you customized solutions that keep up with the rapid changes in the world of work.

We’ve integrated my blog and Twitter feeds on the site, so you are only one click away to read about what we’ve been up to, our thoughts on employee engagement, and observations about workplace trends.

We’ve also created a page of Frequently Asked Questions in addition to the description of our consulting process to help you learn more about working with us. I love the slides on the homepage. They encapsulate our consulting philosophy. Employee surveys don’t have to be dry or boring. Research shows that people remembers stories better, and are more apt to take action when you present them with information that’s in a story form rather than in bullet points. That’s our goal in presenting survey results. We want to help you tell your organization’s stories and identify strengths and barriers to success. And by doing so, motivate you and your employees to take action to make your organization a better place to work.

There’s more. We now have a link to our online Demo Survey. I invite you to take a test drive and check out the types of survey questions we design. We love designing customized surveys for our clients, and helping them uncover the stories that lie behind their data.

In addition, we’ve a sample report that you can download. We strive to make our report engaging while presenting survey data in a small, easily digestible size. Feel free to download a copy and I welcome your feedback!

I invite you to explore our website, check out the case studies, download a sample report, comment on my blog, and sign up for my blog to keep in touch.

Have a great 2012!

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Fun with yoga, photo by Pi Wen Looi

I’ve been practicing yoga on and off for more than 10 years. I always enjoy my class and feel refreshed after the class. Today, as my yoga instructor led us through various poses, I saw the connection between practicing yoga and creating a work environment that engages employees. Here are the insights I gathered:

Insights

Model the desired behaviors. In addition to telling us what poses to do, my yoga instructor demonstrated the pose herself. She showed us the correct alignment of arms and shoulder, and used visual cues to help us “get it.” Similarly, leaders in an organization need to model the desired behaviors for employees and articulate clearly what is expected of employees, how their performance will be measured, and what it means to contribute to the success of the company.

Provide resources. In class, students have the necessary props, blankets, mats, and straps to do their poses and deepen their practice. At work, it is equally important to provide the necessary tools and resources to support employees to do their jobs well.

The most common complaints about resources we have seen from our employee surveys are related to outdated systems, a lack of supplies, and not hiring people with the right skills (and attitude) for the jobs. I encourage you to review these three areas regularly to ensure that your employees have the right tools and resources to do their best work.

Emphasize continual improvement. In a yoga class, students can continually make micro adjustments to their poses and deepen their practice. Likewise, to remain competitive, an organization needs to continually improve its processes, products, and services. Leaders who support and encourage their employees to learn new skills, attend seminars, use social media to connect and learn with each other will see employee engagement improve. You will also see improved productivity and increased customer satisfaction.

Mistakes are encouraged and used for learning. Students in my yoga class are at different levels, sometimes they fall or wobble in their pose. Sometimes they flip upside down and do a few seconds of handstand. My instructor emphasized that we practice at our own level. It’s okay to fall, have a laugh and try again. Like kids, we fell, we laughed, and we tried again until we could hold a pose for a few seconds or a minute.

Imagine how much more creative energy you could release from your workforce if you fostered an environment where mistakes were used for learning? This does not mean employees are not held accountable for their performance, it means you use mistakes as a just-in-time coaching moment, debrief with your employees, and learn from the experience.

Make it meaningful. Most students come to class to improve their health and flexibility. Some students want to find respite in quiet meditation and calm their minds. They find doing yoga meaningful however they define meaning in their practice.

Research has shown that employees are more engaged when they feel that their jobs are meaningful. You can help employees see the meaning of their jobs by showing the connection between their contributions and your company’s vision and goals. You can make the jobs more meaningful for employees when you match the job tasks with their intrinsic values. For example, employees in the healthcare industry find their jobs meaningful because they help save lives. Janitors or housekeepers at Joie de Vivre don’t see their jobs as just cleaning the toilets or setting the beds, but as providing joy to their hotel guests.

Show respect. Before we start the class, our instructor acknowledged students’ coming to class on a busy day and take time to practice. At the end of our practice, students rolled up their mats, picked up their props and put them back in the proper place. These are small guestures. But these guestures show the instructor’s respect for the students’ commitment to practicing yoga; and the students’ respect for the instructor and space by cleaning up after practice.

At work, leaders and employees can show respect by truly listening to each other. Say “good morning” or “how are you?” when you walk by an employee. Acknowledge employees’ contributions. Praise their good work in addition to giving constructive feedback. We have seen numerous employee comments that tell stories of rude behaviors of their supervisors that deteriorate employee morale. You don’t have to be part of that story.

Conclusions

Engaging employees is a continual process. Just like practicing yoga, you can always get better, go deeper. Likewise, leaders, managers, and employees can always go a step farther to foster a work environment that is respectful. Leaders and employees can have regular discussions and craft jobs that are meaningful for both employees and the organization. Last but not least, pay competitively, and provide the necessary resources to help employees do their best work.

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Image by Fellowship of the Rich via Flickr

This is an article I wrote two years ago, it’s still relevant today!

Times are tough these days. But there are a few things you can do to engage your employees and prepare your company for future growth when the economy recovers.  A key factor in maintaining or improving your employee engagement is through effective employee communication.

Our employee research shows that employees want to feel valued by their company. Employees want to be involved in their work and want to understand their company’s direction, mission, and vision. In addition, employees want to have the necessary information to do their work, such as operational processes and product information, in a timely manner. For example, customer care employees need to know the launch of a new product before their customers learn about it from promotion materials.

You can increase employee engagement at your organization through these action steps:

Listen to employees and take action on employee feedback.
Conducting regular employee surveys is like taking the pulse of the health of your organization. Through anonymous employee surveys, employees can provide valuable suggestions for ways to improve communications and operations.  Management can gain insights from employee feedback and make changes that help the company grow. A great majority of the companies that are on The 100 Best Companies to Work For list conduct annual employee surveys, these companies enjoy better employee engagement scores and higher profitability.

Provide positive feedback in addition to constructive criticism.
Managers and supervisors play a key role in improving employee engagement through their interactions with employees. Research by Gallup and the Corporate Leadership Council found that employees who received positive feedback from their supervisors were more engaged and had better future performance than employees who received feedback for “room for improvement.” These studies show that focusing on employees’ strengths, rather than their weaknesses, can improve employee performance and engagement.

Be consistent in your message and communicate with employees regularly.
For companies that are going through significant changes, their employees often tell us that they are confused either because they receive inconsistent information from their direct managers and senior management, or that they don’t receive enough information about the company’s new direction. Howard Behar, former president of Starbucks and author of It’s Not About the Coffee, advises senior leaders to be consistent when communicating with their employees about their company’s mission, vision, and values. Behar said, “It’s so important to not get bored with your own message.” For thirty years, Behar had given the same speech about its company’s values and what it means to work at Starbucks to its employees, but he would do it in thousands different ways using different stories. While a company’s business strategy and company direction can change to meet changing business demands, it is imperative that management continues to rally their employees behind a common vision and mission during times of change.

Include employees who work offsite or on shifts.
Employees who work offsite or who work evening, night, or weekend shifts often are frustrated with a feeling of “disconnect” or being under-valued. These employees usually do not get to attend meetings with senior management, which typically are held during “normal” office hours. In addition, some second or third shift employees are frustrated with a lack of proper documentation of process changes that happened during an earlier shift. This leaves employees hunting for the critical information and essentially decreases their productivity. Creating a documentation process, knowledge database, or wiki where critical information is deposited and can be accessed by all employees can help improve communications with these employees.

What’s Next
Here are a few questions to help you navigate through these demanding times to continue to keep your employees engaged:

• Do you know your company’s overall employee engagement score?
• Do you know your department’s employee engagement score?
• Do you foster a company culture that encourages positive feedback and rewards employee performance?
• What programs or practices do you have in place to encourage communications between departments or divisions?
• How do you keep employees who work offsite or non-traditional hours equally informed as the rest of the company?
• Do evening and night shifts employees have a chance to meet any of the senior leaders during their shifts?
• Do you conduct regular employee surveys, use a company intranet, newsletter, or wiki to promote two-way communications between employees and management?
• Do your leaders follow up on employee suggestions?

Now is a great time to review your company’s communication practice and take action to address employees’ concerns. Most importantly, senior leaders will need to commit to following up with employees’ suggestions after soliciting their input. Otherwise, employee trust will erode and employee engagement will plunge.

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Since today is 11-11-11, I thought I’d have some fun playing with 11′s. In no particular order, here are 11 people I’d like to meet, 11 places I like to visit, and 11 activities I’d do if I were not consulting.

Image by AlbinoFlea via Flickr

Eleven People I’d like to Meet:

1. Henri Matisse
2. Henry Moore
3. Alexander Calder
4. Mies van der rohe–I love his Barcelona chair although it’s mostly form and not function.
5. Alton Brown
6. Candice Olsen
7. Samantha Brown
8. Li Bai (李白）, a Chinese poet
9. Qi Bai Shi（齐白石), a Chinese painter
10. Dan Pink
11. My paternal grandfather

Image via Wikipedia

Eleven places I’d like to visit or revisit:

1. Barcelona
2. Tibet
3. Mongolia
4. Buenos Aires
5. The Swiss Alps
6. Shanghai
7. Beijing
8. Kyoto
9. Hokaido
10. The Grand Canyon
11. Yellow Stone

Chihuly exhibit 2008, photo by Pi Wen Looi

Eleven activities I’d do if I were not consulting:

1. Photography
2. Creating albums
3. Creative writing
4. Reading
5. Biking
6. Hiking
7. Dancing
8. Designing spaces
9. Decorating
10. Practicing yoga
11. Day dreaming

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Image by atconc via Flickr

A recent Technisource survey found that IT Employee Confidence Index has dropped from 56.2 to 47.3 in the third quarter of 2011.  Only 13% of IT workers believe the economy is getting stronger.  But, 32% of IT employees are still likely to look for a new job while in their current position, and their confidence in their ability to find a new job has not declined.

What does this mean to your company? Are you seeing disengaged IT workers in your organization?

Here are four ideas to retain your high-performing IT workers:

Engage them in meaningful work–help them see the big picture of how their work fits in with your company’s overall strategy and mission. Teresa Amabile of Harvard Business School and coauthor of “The Progressive Principle” found that the most important driver of employee engagement is for employees to feel that they are making progress in meaningful work. This could mean employees feel they are contributing something of real value and something they really care about to their team, their organization, or the community they live in.

Empower them to improve their skills–provide opportunities for employees to keep up with the latest knowledge and skills to keep them employable. This may sound counter-intuitive, but our survey results consistently show that employee learning and development is one of the top three key factors of employee engagement. By investing in employee development, you can reap the benefits of a better skilled workforce and higher level of employee loyalty.

Provide flexibility for employees to have a good work/life balance–many IT professionals need to work during weekends or late hours to update company systems or to ensure that the system runs smoothly. Recognize that these employees may not have the luxury of weekend time-off with their family or friends, design people practices and guidelines that enable their managers to facilitate a healthy work/life balance for these employees.

Pay equitably–design your compensation strategy such that high performers are rewarded accordingly. Best employers consistently reward their high-performers with base pay that is 3x or more compared with the average employees. Get more insights on pay equity and consistency from our friends at Compesation Cafe.

What activities or people practices do you find helpful in engaging and retaining your IT professionals? Share your feedback with us!

Related articles

• The Crisis of Meaning (charlesthrasher.wordpress.com)

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