The Hiring and Retention Edge Over Your Competition

The other day I was talking to a young CEO/President of a very successful local business. The day before, I had met him at a gathering of businessmen and women. I arranged to talk with him on the phone to discuss his business and achievements.

After covering the good things about him and his business, I asked, what was his greatest challenge. He told me frankly, attracting and retaining employees at the $20,000 to $30,000 level. In other words, $10 to $14 per hour. He explained that the job market in Utah is so good the lower wage earners have their pick of jobs within that range. It seemed to take up a lot of his brain juice, trying to get that figured out. It was important to him, but sometimes you just don’t know what you don’t know.

This conversation reminded me of a book I read, Bridges Out of Poverty, by Payne, DeVol, Smith. It’s a pretty cool book giving some great insights into how people in the three economic levels think.

Three Economic Classes and How They Think

People in the upper economic rung think, “Whom do I know?”. In other words, when they want to get a job for themselves, their significant other, or a child, they contact someone they know who can open that door.

The middle-class rung, people ask, “What are my goals?”. These people set goals and work to achieve them – education, marriage, career, and retirement. Their focus in on what can I do today to accomplish want I want tomorrow, next year or 20 years from now.

Those in the lower economic rung ask a much simpler question, “Where am I going to sleep tonight?”. People at this level have a much more immediate and pressing need each day, which is, “How do I survive through the day?”

The CEO I was talking to was frustrated that these workers in the bottom rung will leave working for him to work somewhere else for twenty-five cents more an hour. That made no sense to him! And why should it? Not to be critical, what’s twenty-five cents to someone who is making a nice six-figure income? But for the man or woman in that lower economic rung, eight hours of twenty-five more cents is two bucks. That’ll buy you a coke and a hamburger.

Sometimes We Don’t Recognize What We are Seeing

My CEO friend had not wrapped his head around the idea that twenty-five more cents an hour buys you lunch. But there is an even bigger miss here. The bigger miss is not being able to see the distinction between people who will remain stuck in the lower economic tier and those looking for a way out.

How could anyone see that difference?

It may not be seeable. However, it is detectable if you know what to ask and look for.

Stuck people, in any kind of rut, think in particular ways. Conversely, people who are looking for a way out of the rut, think differently. A mouse finding its way through a maze may not seem like it is doing much. But hook its brain up to a meter, and wow! There is tremendous brain activity going on.

My point? Unless you know what you are looking for and how to find it, you will probably miss it.

Knowing how to identify someone in the lower economic rung who wants out may take more skill and insight than a cursory outward evaluation.

Asking for a Clarity of Thought Trajectory

The first way to begin to discover if someone is stuck or is seeking a way out is by asking. Sure, you can ask if they plan to stay with the company once hired, but, seriously, what are they going to say? They need a job.

On the other hand, if you ask about where they are going in life. That is, ask about their history, their present situation, and their future in terms of plans and goals. As well, observing how authentic they come across. These observations can give you great insight, too.

For instance, someone tells you they have always dreamed of going to Europe. You respond, “Hey, that’s great! Where do you want to go?” Instead of giving specific places, the person shrugs their shoulders and says, “I dunno.”

Is this person likely to be going to Europe? Do they even have a passion for going to Europe? Probably not. No trajectory of thought from past, present, and into the future about Europe here!

Same principle. If the person has no trajectory of thought in terms of making plans and implementing them, they probably will stay stuck in “Where do I sleep tonight?” mode. On the flip side, the applicant who is engaged in a thinking and planning process projecting into the future with plans and real intention, communicated with credibility, maybe opening the door of opportunity for both of you.

Incentivizing, Delaying Gratification – Skills Out of Poverty

The next step is to set up a series of incentives tied to delayed gratification. The delayed gratification can be working a week with a bonus of $10 or a gift card of $10 given at the end of the week. Granted, this is a small payoff for consistency. However, it begins the sorting process for much more important and significant things for everyone involved.

Next, move to bigger incentives and payoffs. As an example, work every day for a month, on time, the whole day, there is a $60 incentive. Over time, you increase the number of days showing up consistently with bigger payoffs - from one month to two months to three months, six months…and then one year. How about that! It sounds like an annual bonus, doesn’t it? This process is what it looks like moving an employee from “Where do I sleep tonight?” to “What are my goals today, this week, this month, this quarter, this year?”

Why bother?

A couple of reasons. How much does it cost your business to have a revolving door with workers at this level? (Think of all the time, trouble, and money of retraining new employees!) A bigger question: how much does it cost you not to find and develop employees who have great potential, who want and are willing to work for a better life, but just don’t know how to tap into it – how to take that next step? How many lives could you change as well as grow a better and more competitive company? Maybe for you, it would just be about developing a better company. At the same time, consider the core values your company would then stand for in your community, in your industry, and business.

This approach is not for every business. There are always more employees, right? Oh, wait a minute. Not so much in an excellent economy like ours. Rethink time?

Now Here’s the Bigger Challenge – Your Organization

As human beings, we operate by expectations pretty much on everything. These expectations include the people in your organization. If there has been a history of the lower wage earners coming and leaving, that cycle has become habituated into an expectation. More than that, it has habituated, and perhaps hardened, though unconscious, into an attitude towards this class of hires.

This attitude can look something like this, “They’re not going to stay, so let’s not put ourselves out there ‘too much.’” That’s an understandable attitude. Nobody’s fault, until you realize it can be holding back the company and its development with new people.

Now, I am not saying that the employees who are involved with the on-boarding of these low-income hires are rude or critical. If they are professionals, they will be warm, welcoming, and encouraging. However, there is a distinction between a “welcoming attitude” and a “belonging attitude.”

What I mean is, if you have been in an organization for some time, most generally, you feel you “belong.” You are part of the group. With that belonging in the group, there is safety, comfort, camaraderie, and a future. (Emphasis on “future.”) When you are a new hire, all of that is an unknown, of course. But I am not talking about that only.

I am referring to unconscious bias or prejudice against lower-economic workers who may not stick around. Now, this is not racial, ethnic, or cultural discrimination, per se. No one means to be this way. It is a prejudice that comes from repeated experiences, and not reading the signs of possibility and potential of new employees who are ready to engage in upward mobility. It is a kind of ignorance on our part, the people who are already in the organization, and “belong.” It is not willful ignorance. It is just something we don’t usually think or talk about because we are so busy getting through the day. Besides, we have a place to sleep at the end of the day.

There are people at all levels of any organization who are not going to change. At the same time, some people are eager for a chance to change and improve themselves who, if we can and will recognize them, could make a significant difference in our organizations. To that point, as an organization, along with its employees, is willing to learn to employ a different kind of expectation, a more open-minded hope, there can be a renewed anticipation for greater possibilities and successes on many levels. This attitude could be the real advantage many companies are seeking to get that edge over their competition in attracting and retaining these kinds of candidates.