Best Business Practices Survey Highlights Changes in Employee Relations, Technology, and Operations

As Bloomberg Businessweek columnist Karen Klein recently pointed out: “There is a plethora of advice available for new business owners. But it’s wrong to assume that the hard work diminishes once entrepreneurs have established their ventures…When mature companies fail, it is often because they haven’t adapted, particularly during an economic downturn.”

In the newest Best Business Practices Survey, Michigan Business & Professional Association (MBPA) members were asked to share actions they have taken over this past year that have had positive impacts in the areas of finance, working with employees, sales, marketing/advertising, internal procedures/processes, technology, and overall advice to other business owners. This paper summarizes the survey’s most significant findings.

Employee Issues
In this post-recession economy, employer/employee relationships have changed. Workers and bosses have both gone through a lot—reduced pay and benefits, increased workloads and insecure futures. It’s no surprise that:
 

• In a June 2011 report by LeadershipIQ, 69 percent of North American workers said they are either disengaged or “underengaged.” (based on responses from 102,311 employees and managers at 130 organizations)…Leaders, as well as rank-and-file workers, are feeling less motivated…More than half of frontline supervisors report either being disengaged (8 percent) or “underengaged” (44 percent). Fully one-third of middle managers…voiced similar sentiments, as did 30 percent of executives…LeadershipIQ’s study echoes a report in January by BlessingWhite Inc…In North America, where only 33 percent of employees identified themselves as engaged. 

MBPA survey respondents noted the following as the “most important” employee actions they have done to create a “positive impact” on employees:

• Re-invested in our operation and our people.
• “For us, it’s always our vision….to work with our employees to help them achieve their personal, professional and financial goals.”
• Removed barriers to work-life balance. Do not track hours or sick days…employees can attend training during work hours….and we don’t dock them. We only ask that they let us know if they will be away from work. This has created an environment where employees and their families believe they are very important to us.
• Everyone is more flexible….very conscious of doing what it takes to get the job done.
• Monthly meetings, peer recognition, annual bonuses, “sun days” (close early, lunch/theme parties and sales team funded events).
• Providing motivational activities to promote a sense of value to the work performed by staff. In addition to several large employee events, we’ve added smaller activities like bringing in slurpees for the staff on hot days or providing “You Are Appreciated” cards allowing employees to leave work two hours early.
• Implemented a SMILE program, where individuals were rewarded….for smiling. “Happy employees make for happy customers.”
• Promotions given when performance is stellar.
• Added an incentive plan for hourly employees.
• Gave better feedback on employee performance.
• More personal involvement with sales people.
• Eliminated practical road blocks through an employee suggestion program.
• Empowered employees and managers to handle all customer complaints.
• Started new idea generation groups.
• Listen to employees closest to the customer.
• Cross trained employees which saved having to hire additional staff.
• Trained all employees to use their networks to bring in new clients.
• Offered online training as well as having local training events.
• Changed the training program and required all to participate. This created additional positive growth for all and brought encouraged competitiveness to the entire group.
• Additional time is spent on employee meetings to prepare well in advance for the “busy time of the year.” This has helped to provide a sense of company support to all staff and their roles.
• Set a clear vision connected to goals and goal planning.
• Communicate in all aspects of the business cycle.
• Used Skype for more interactive strategy calls between locations. Also videotaped messages from the president to the rest of the company and these have been much better received.
• Initiated pro-active recruiting….we now project out a year in advance of when we think we might need someone and begin recruiting for that position.
• Hire responsible people and don’t micro-manage them.
• Be HONEST!
• Be involved with the business….if you don’t, nobody else will.

Many of these thoughts are summed up well by serial entrepreneur and business author Gary Vaynerchuk, who says:
 

• Any investment you make in your employees will be safe if they believe that you really care about them and their future. Create a culture that rewards people who show they care. Seek the input of people who have shown a tendency to take risks and share big ideas. Prove that you value your employees above all else by giving them the freedom to ask for what they want, to experiment, and to be themselves.

Technology’s Impact
Technology continues to transform the business world. In fact, some business experts predict that, by 2014, social networking will replace e-mail as the primary form of communication for up to 20 percent of business users. Evidence of the impact of technology was evident in the MBPA survey with respondents noting that they:

• Were able to replace the 10-15 year old computers with a new network compatible system.
• Leveraged the latest technology to centralize data, backup, processing, maintenance and help manage costs.
• Increased server capacity, which improved processing time and was able to create more electronic publications.
• Using web-based programs that allow us to share documents with select employees or customers.
• Now have fillable forms online, signature pads at each checkout and are in the process of going paperless.
• Moved manual logging/filing functions to electronic storage/reports.
• Constantly review CAD and CAM software to make sure it meets needs.
• Created a more user friendly web site.
• Made more product offerings available online.
• Have been more active in inviting prospects to our main warehouse facility and giving them a tour that worked so well they put a video of the tour on the company website. (“This has been a huge success for us!”)
• Did more Internet marketing – Facebook, Weekly eNews, joined other search entities.
• Hired a social media person to help reach a changing demographic segment of our customer base.
• Gotten much more involved in social media to improve brand and name recognition. Updated the website to increase SEO which increased requests for quotes by 100%.
• Integrated smart-phone technology with desktops now used only for heavy research or word processing. (“The freedom, flexibility and speed is amazing.”)
• Added support for more mobile devices, which allows people to stay tighter in touch on time sensitive issues.
• Using more social media and blogs to better educate prospects.
• Skype for interactive calls between offices.
• Have stopped relying on “endpoint” anti-virus solutions that have proven to be ineffective against the latest infections that re-encrypt themselves every 12 hours. Instead, using a network wide hardware “Intrusion Prevention Device.”
• Added testimonial video clips to Facebook and the website.

With 2.1 billion Internet users  and as many as 8 trillion messages  whizzing through the Ethernet, MBPA members are clearly on the right path by keeping up with the technological changes that are transforming the world.

Revamping Operations
“Even a mature company must maintain a startup mentality, invest in innovation, and raise the bar for its products and services,” according to management consultant Mark Stevens. “If that doesn’t happen, it can face a long and painful slide into obscurity.”

MBPA members already practice innovation with financial controls and operational moves like:

• Changing to a four 10-hour day work week that forces a hard look at overtime.
• Empowering employees to find ways to improve efficiencies and the bottom line with some of the best ideas coming from the front line.
• Reviewing all products, pricing and inventory costs, then making vendor changes, product changes and pricing changes.
• Embracing change and regularly trying new/modified approaches.
• Taking Medicare-eligible employees off the company plan and using a stipend so costs are fixed and people can buy their own individual supplement plans.
• Using a business coach to help increase focus on priority items.
• Doing whatever it takes to improve company work flow and throughput.
• Eliminating some supervisory positions to increase the speed of making changes.
• Giving up less profitable client work to better focus on business development and more profitable work.
• Dropping underperforming products.
• Using credit checks on new customers and COD for the first time.
• Holding sales managers accountable for deal-making pace and quality.
• Networking and bartering.

Conclusion
In the end, the 2011 MBPA Best Practices Survey proves the importance of striking “a balance between treating employees as costs and assets…By caring for workers, being careful about how they’re managed, and providing them with a compelling overall purpose, companies are finding they can be good to their employees and to the rest of their stakeholders as well.”