People Positive Culture

In the ebb and flow, supply and demand world of creative services and the economy, the pendulum is swinging, or has swung, back to candidates/employees in certain areas such as interactive/new media design, motion graphics and development

When trying to hire these folks, or anyone else for that matter, if you find the need to increase salary offers, pay more than you want, more than the position has historically earned, and generally throw money at people to hire them, you have problems. But your problems are not purely monetary.

Your company is not a desirable place to work. And in the war for talent, that is a dangerous place to be.

Your culture may be broken. You may be in a undesirable location. Your firm may have a bad reputation on the street. The work you do may not be considered top notch. Whatever the reason, companies need to set out improving them immediately or risk being marginalized and left behind.

The goal is to create and develop an organization where people are pounding the doors to come work for you. And when they are, you know that salary and pay is not the driving factor; it becomes a secondary discussion. You can pay well of course, but the complete picture is such that people get more than money. And that’s really what the good employees want. The want a vibrant culture, opportunities for growth, a supportive management team and the chance to do great work and get rewarded for it.

You’re on your way to a people positive culture.

Usually we hear stories of interviews gone bad from the employer’s point of view. This summer has been one story after another of people relating the boorish behavior of employers. Not good when you are competing for talent every day. Unless you just don’t care who you hire.  Or how you treat people. But, things have a tendency to come back around in business and life.

When there is no established internal process for hiring, and no one “watching the store” all sorts of stumbles can occur. And they all reflect poorly on your recruitment brand and your company. It hurts business and you may not even know it’s occurring.

Recent examples from our travels through the employment landscape.

Candidate A goes to a web marketing/SEO agency that is growing rapidly. He has just left a web agency that was somewhat adrift. With a background in client and business management from both the agency and the client-side, he is highly qualified and has a strong Rolodex. He interviews with the agency principal and VP of business development.

During the interview, the VP of business development remains completely unengaged, sends text messages and e-mails, and when he does insert himself in the conversation, he is unclear as to what role this person was interviewing for. The agency principal does his best to keep the meeting on-track but the disconnect is clearly present. Result: no hire.

Now, the agency is thinking, well that was not the right fit for us. Fair enough. But, the individual had such a bad experience that he relates the story to others in his network. Result: people have a bad impression of the agency and the way they treat people. If one of these people in his network (one that maybe the agency does want to hire) hears his story, their initial impression of the agency is negative.

Oh, and by the way, Candidate A never heard back from the agency letting him know he was not offered the job. Naturally.

Large PR agency seeks account director. Former corporate/consumer brand manager and PR manager, candidate B, seeks new opportunity. Excellent candidate, respected agency. Candidate lives out of state….actually across the country. Agency recruiter schedules phone interviews that go extremely well. Wants the candidate to come in for a face-to-face interview with members of the executive team. Provides options on days/times. Candidate B begins to investigate flight/travel options. Waits for confirmation. Waits. Sends messages that flight needs to be booked soon to make the window of days the recruiter gave. Radio silence. Another message. Radio silence. Finally, candidate just needs to book flight and lands in town.  Still radio silence from the agency’s recruiter on confirming the interview. The candidate extends the trip to ensure they will still be in town if the recruiter finally calls.

Finally, the recruiter calls about scheduling the interview. They completely ignore all of the messages sent by the candidate and has scheduled the interview for the week after the candidate was in town, and even though she stays an extra week, it is scheduled on the one day the candidate has said they absolutely could not meet.

The agency not only looks unorganized and the recruiter has damaged their credibility. If put in a position of hiring negotiation, the candidate knows the recruiter has little internal influence. The recruiter has no respect for the candidate, but apparently is not respected in their own organization enough to get answers and scheduled interviews locked down.

The candidate may still be offered the position. And the executives in the agency have no idea of the poor treatment this person has received. Candidate B certainly cannot say anything about it. A candidate for employment is in no position to be a tattle tale.

Candidate B is left with an extremely negative opinion of the agency. If offered the job, she doubts she will accept. Worse yet, she is interviewing for corporate client side roles where one of her responsibilities will be hiring a PR agency.

Do you think she will call this agency?

No, don’t think so.

Companies….get a process, stick to it, communicate it to your staff and start building a recruitment brand. Or flounder in the war for talent and treat people like crap.

So, I read a blog post yesterday that was trying to define what makes a positive company culture. Unfortunately, like most, it missed the mark in a laughable way.

Basically, a good culture was defined as having the following aspects: A boss that is involved in the business, room for advancement, a flexible work schedule and working for a socially responsible company. I guess if you have these things, you should be happy at work content that you work in a firm with a great culture. Um, no.

While these are all positive attributes for a company to have, they could have no bearing on whether the culture is any good. Culture encompasses everything. Everything from what clothes you can wear to work, how you need to groom, to whether dishes get left in the sink, or whether people naturally pitch in to clean if needed.

But there is one key element that has to be in place before any company can even begin to think that they have a healthy culture. It’s what we look for in every potential client. Can they build or maintain a People Positive Culture?

What it is is this: Does the owner/principal/CEO-type care at all about their employees? Really care? Do they value what they provide? Or is having employees just a means to an end? The end being possibly selling the company. The financial windfall for the founders? That’s the dynamic that needs to be explored and answered before you ask whether you work in a People Positive Culture.

Without this, no amount of ping pong games, potato chips, happy hours, dog days, or whatever other perks your company provides, will fill the void and create a PPC. The culture may be fine, and you may be happy with your job, and that’s great. But you may not truly work for a company with a great culture. Could just be a mirage.

So, how might you determine whether you work for a company with a great culture? What happens when things go poorly? Are employees to blame whether deservedly or not? Does management take responsibility? How are exiting employees treated? Are they “shown the door” or are they celebrated for the contributions they made? Are people “laid off” only to have someone else replace them in a month or two? Is a former employee ever hired back? Would they ever want to come back?

Answers to some of these questions will help paint a picture on how your company really views its employees. And whether a People Positive Culture does or can exist.

This is the blog of potestio.com. We build People Positive Culture. We will try to remain positive.