Here’s How To Find And Keep Top Employees

With the year-end nearly upon us, and year-end bonuses not far behind, now is the time to think about talent retention. No, I am not talking about on-air personalities, they are typically under contract. I’m talking about those talented individuals who work in many different departments, all of whom are vital to optimal and profitable operations.

Anyone tasked with replacing a star performer will tell you that they wish they could have done something before it was too late. Not only does the company lose a key asset, hiring a replacement requires considerable time and effort. On top of that, there’s the cost of lost productivity for each day the position remains open.

Rather than wishing one could turn back time, Sarah Levitt recommends an approach that can make a difference before employees begin to ask themselves, “should I stay or should I go?” She advises conducting “stay” interviews with those whose contributions you value, those you cannot afford to lose.

Levitt is a trusted sounding board to global leaders, an executive speaker and author of the forthcoming book, The Making Magnificence Project. She outlines what you can expect to accomplish from these conversations in an article appearing in the current issue of MFM’s The Financial Manager (TFM) magazine. Members and non-members can download a copy of the publication from our website for a limited time.  

Considering that many of us will be conducting performance reviews and 2017 goal setting sessions with our employees over the next few weeks, this is a great time to put her stay interview recommendations into practice. Levitt offers six reasons for taking advantage of this opportunity to “glean from all of your exemplary team members what keeps them coming through the door each day”:

• You can act in the here and now. With real-time information, you can make decisions that impact the concerns that matter most to your team, thereby using two of the most precious resources you have as a leader — time and energy — to the greatest benefit of everyone, including yourself.

• You’re likely to get more thoughtful answers. Exit interviews aren’t the best time to get the information you want. These employees have already found a new home; and they are probably no longer invested in the welfare of the organization they’re leaving.

• You’ll create opportunities to grow your employees, thereby growing your organization. Asking your most valued employees why they stay will give you insight into how you can help develop them right where they are. And, as you grow your employees, you’ll be making your organization more robust as well.

• You’ll find it easier to receive the feedback and harder to discount it if it’s given in the context of a genuine query. When someone’s on their way out the door, it’s easier to dismiss what they’re saying and never really give it consideration. Stay interviews can reveal what will motivate your employees to excel.

• You’ll generate goodwill among your team members. While you might not agree with what’s said, or can implement only a portion of the recommendations, the mere act of asking builds cohesion and trust, two essential ingredients for generating exceptional team performance and driving business outcomes.

• You’ll breathe meaning into the vision of your organization. When you ask why someone stays, you’re taking the words from your mission and vision statements which hang on a wall in your lobby and putting them into practice. That’s especially true if you extend the stay interview practice to your customers, asking each of them what you are doing well and where you can improve. These insights can help you to create a more competitive organization in the marketplace.

Branding For New Hires

While stay interviews will help to retain more of our workforce, there are still going to be times when we will need to replace a star player. Unfortunately, as Laurie Kahn, president of Media Staffing Network, recently pointed out, that job is getting harder: “Choice candidates aren’t just comparing your company with other media outlets. In many cases, your company is facing off against a large variety of different companies and industries when candidates consider their options, especially if they are not interested in relocating.”

Kahn, whose search and consulting firm focuses on media sales and management jobs, recommends that stations apply their expertise at promoting viewership of their programming toward promoting themselves as great places to work. “Not only do we need to do a better job of promoting our local community, we also need to share why our markets are a good place to live to encourage outsiders to consider moving,” she added.

Kahn provided several examples on how stations can “brand for new hires” in an article she wrote for the September-October issue of TFM, which MFM and BCCA members can find in the “Members Only” section of our website. Among them:

• Use your websites to help create your brand. A user-friendly, easy-to-read career page can make it easier to learn about your company’s culture, mission, day-to-day expectations and opportunities.

• Use social media to share employee news, such as your “employee of the month” or when employees attend a special training or industry conference.

• Host coffees, lunches or after-work events at your location to show off your facility and introduce your team to outsiders.

• Donate to large fundraising events by providing a special tour and lunch with one of your key personalities or other staff members.

• Offer your staff a pre-determined amount of time off to do community service and promote it.

• Enter your station in the local “Best Place to Work” competitions.

• Brag about low turnover, growth potential, great benefits, support and training, special employee perks or events.

• Pay attention to companies that are attracting the best job candidates and find out what they are doing to stand out.

Kahn uses the example of the GE ad campaign that features a young man talking about how his new job at GE will have a global impact to illustrate the importance of the “higher good” benefit in attracting millennials. Similarly, a station can use its on-air capabilities to promote the ways its employees are making a difference in their communities.

All of these activities are also a great way to demonstrate to our current pool of talented employees how important they are not just to our organization, but to its mission in the communities we serve. As Kahn concluded in her piece: “There’s no doubt about it: boosting your brand will make recruiting and retaining a whole lot easier.”

I hope the advice from Sarah Levitt and Laurie Kahn will help you to make the most of out the one-on-one meetings you will be having with your employees in the coming weeks.

Additionally, I’d like to mention a report released in April of this year by the Society for Human Resource Management. The report is entitled Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement: Revitalizing a Changing Workforce. Among the findings are responses to education and training — employees feel paid training and a company commitment to professional development are very important to job satisfaction, particularly among Gen X and millennial employees.

Several upcoming MFM programs not only help to anticipate the new talents that media businesses will need to acquire in order to remain competitive, they also offer companies a cost-effective way to demonstrate their commitment to training and professional development.

These programs include a Distance Learning Seminar on Dec. 8 in which Scott Lippstreu, a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP, will review the results of the firm’s 10^th annual Digital Democracy Survey; our “People to Watch” in 2017, whose profiles and advice will be featured in the January-February 2017 edition of TFM; and our 2017 MFM CFO Summit in early March, where industry leaders will come together to exchange ideas and discuss the issues facing our industry.

If there’s one thing about the New Year we can count on for certain, it is how much we will need to have our best talent engaged and ready to meet our 2017 business objectives.

Mary M. Collins is president and CEO of the Media Financial Management Association and itsBCCA subsidiary, the media industry’s credit association. She can be reached at[email protected] and via the association’s LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook sites.