Last summer, I drove by a hospital in Indiana offering $25,000 signing bonuses for nurses. When I drove by the same hospital four months later, it had increased the signing bonus to $55,000. Since the pandemic began, we have all visited restaurants with signs apologizing for a closed dining room or asking for patience with their less-than-stellar service because of staff shortages. Even Starbucks, the maker of morning coffee, has stores closed until noon because they can’t find people to work the early shift.
Finding and keeping a great team is the biggest challenge most organizations currently face. If you were to put 20 CEOs in a room and ask about their biggest concern, at least 15 would say it is finding good people. (The others would probably say the supply chain.)
There is a lot of speculation about the root cause of the staffing crisis in the United States. Some analysts say generous government benefits during the pandemic encouraged people to stay home. Other experts point to the millions of baby boomers who decided the pandemic was a good time to retire.
Regardless of the cause, leaders must find solutions for their organizations.
Most leaders’ default belief is that offering more money will attract more people. Clearly, organizations need to pay market wages; at Correct Craft, we also offer our 2,000 team members an opportunity to share in the company’s financial success through year-end bonuses. However, every significant study that has been done on hiring and retaining employees rates money low on the list of factors that motivate people.
My good friend Neal Harrel, an executive recruiter, says people looking for jobs want to work for one of four types of organizations: a winning company that has demonstrated success; a high-risk, high-reward company where there may be a future windfall through a stock offering; a higher-mission company trying to make the world a better place; or a lifestyle company that operates in an interesting industry (like boating).
With the exception of being high-risk, high-reward, all of those characterizations apply to Correct Craft. I have directed our team to promote Correct Craft as a “highly successful company in a fun industry that works hard using our platform to make life better.” It is a message that resonates with prospective employees. Most people tie their personal identity so closely to what they do for a living that they don’t want to just build widgets. They want to be part of something special. Companies that can use the insights above to create their own unique message will have an easier time finding good people.
Once you find those good people, how do you keep them? Money also plays a role in retaining employees, but research, anecdotal evidence and my personal experience all indicate that money is not the primary driver of employee retention. No one wants to make more money just to be miserable 40-plus hours a week.
In my experience, two things motivate employees to stay with an organization: feeling valued and having a higher mission.
Employees need to believe they are genuinely valued by their organization and its leaders. This includes taking a personal interest in employees, investing in their development, and providing a culture and work environment that is energizing. Most people want to do something impactful and don’t want to leave an organization where they feel important. It’s up to the organization’s leaders to appreciate and recognize the important work being done.
Employees also want to work for an organization with a higher mission. At Correct Craft, we are far from perfect, but we definitely want to use our platform for good. Our employees know that “Making Life Better” is not just a tagline; it is the paradigm through which we view everything we do. Most people not only want to have an impact personally, but they also want to work for an organization that is having an impact. People don’t want to leave an organization that is making the world a better place.
Patrick Lencioni’s excellent book The Truth About Employee Engagement adds a third item that motivates employees to stay: the ability to self-measure performance. Lencioni writes that employees are energized and more productive when they have clarity about what is expected of them, and when they can evaluate their own performance. Employees don’t like to leave that environment, either.
The staffing crisis is not going away anytime soon. The best leaders who use the best practices will navigate this crisis with much less trouble. Well executed, these practices are guaranteed to make it easier for you to recruit the best people while making your current team happier and more likely to stay.
Bill Yeargin is president and CEO of Correct Craft and author of the best-selling book Education of a CEO.
