Way back, when I was a recruiter, I coined a term for an attitude that impacted people from senior ranks down through support staff and production workers.

I called it ego-merge and it happened when people so entwined their identity with their company’s that they took personal responsibility for its successes and failures.

Last week we looked at companies with perks designed to keep people on site, so that the company becomes their life.

Both situations are highly addictive.

Even companies with benefits designed to foster better work-life integration/balance can be considered addictive, since they are difficult to leave.

Most addictive of all are great managers, even when special perks and over-the-top benefits are missing.

Sadly, abusive companies/managers are also addictive, just as abusive homes/partners/relatives are.

So what do you do if both good and bad can be addictive?

Know yourself.

Know what’s really important to you, not to your friends or what looks cool on social media.

Make a list.

Know what holds your company has on you.

Make a list.

Compare the lists.

Revisit each list at least once a year, more often if something major happens in your life or company.

Edit them based on who you/company are, not who you/company were.

Image credit: David Prasad

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here.

From the start of my career, especially as a headhunter, AKA, recruiter, I have  done my best to drum the following mantra into the heads of both hiring managers and candidates.

Life is LARGE; career is but a small part of the whole.  A major problem is created when the adjectives (and, therefore, the attitudes) are reversed.

Most agreed, but that was then…

These days, too many companies intentionally design their perks and campus to encourage people to stay — like Facebook.

My greeter walked me to one of the complex’s main arteries from Hacker Way toward Main Street. “The campus was designed to be a cross between Disneyland and downtown Palo Alto.”

If everything is at work why leave?

Maybe to have a life?

Of course, before you can leave you need to get your work done and it’s hard to be productive with all the distractions.

“It’s no wonder people are working longer, earlier, later, on weekends, and whenever they have a spare moment,” Jason Fried writes in the new book It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work, which hits the shelves in the US today (Oct. 2). “People can’t get work done at work anymore.”

Forbes recently published a Quora response to the question What People Won’t Tell You About Working At A Top Tech Company that presents both the pros and cons of working  for a company with the main goal of arranging its perks and compensation so people won’t leave.

Not just won’t leave, but can’t leave.

It’s not just the perks, but the compensation. Even those willing to take a reduced package will find other companies hesitant to hire them. And when the downturn comes, as it always does, they will be in an even worse position.

A couple of weeks ago Ryan accepted a new position and I wrote his new company, Spatial Networks, up as a role model.

It’s proof companies don’t have to turn themselves into a field of poppies to attract and retain great talent. We’ll look at more examples next week.

Image credit: HikingArtist

If you follow Ryan’s Journal on Thursday you know that he’s been interviewing for a new position. (If you aren’t familiar with Ryan you can learn more about him here.) Last week he wrote about red flags and deciding factors.

As a Millennial and former Marine Ryan, is extremely sensitive to culture and that’s been number one on his list of wants, including challenge, learning, growing, making a difference, respect, team, etc., and all the normal stuff, such as compensation and benefits.

He has been interviewing for more than a year, both local and remote positions, and finally found it all in a local company called Spatial Networks.

The company builds geospatial intelligence products. Founded in 2000, it has survived the dot com bust and the 2008 financial meltdown, which says a lot about its management.

When Ryan called he was so excited about the company he was practically bouncing. He raved about the people, the culture and said the perks were unbelievable.

What constitutes “unbelievable” to a young married 30-something with 3.5 kids and a mortgage?

Benefits & Perks

Spatial Networks, Inc. continually invests in its employees, and nowhere is this investment more evident than in our employee benefits, development and enrichment program offerings.

Financial security

In addition to competitive pay and performance-based incentives, you’ll receive 100% company 401(k) match up to the IRS maximum (and are fully vested at eligibility), company stock options, and robust life insurance coverage (3x your annual salary).

Complete health

Spatial Networks covers 100% of medical, dental, and vision plan premiums for you and your family. We also offer short- and long-term disability, an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), 24/7 nurse line with care coordination and mental health programs, and on-site gym membership.

Life balance

We love what we do, but work isn’t everything. With flexible work hours, maternity/parental leave, and generous, tiered paid time off (PTO) and flex-time, you can devote time to the things (and people) you cherish most.

Continuous growth

At Spatial Networks, you’ll learn from some of the most talented, passionate software developers and geographers around and receive professional development and training (plus internal career growth/acceleration).

Happy workdays

Enjoy a fast-paced, fun and collaborative environment, a visible and responsive HR department, company-paid parking in downtown St. Petersburg, and all the fresh-ground coffee you can drink!

This is from a follow-up email Ryan sent.

Very profitable and they are growing. Plus the benefits are insane. I receive 4 weeks vacation to start. 100% payout of all medical premiums for me and my family (I was paying 20K annually before) and I also receive 100% match on my 401K up to the max which is $18,500 per year.

(Note Ryan’s compensation jumped $20K just based on the medical premiums he no longer pays.)

I call these adult perks, plenty of coffee, but no food. Unlike so many perks at companies such as Google and Facebook, none of these are designed to encourage people to stay at the office or build their lives around work.

Image credit: Spatial Networks

Poking through 11+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

Today’s Oldie is a lead-in to tomorrow’s post, which will consider the difference between respect and nice on culture, creativity, innovation, and success.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

Why is common sense often treated like rocket science?

If you want to increase your overall retention rate start by respecting your people.

There are too many managers who only respect their ‘stars’ and then wonder why turnover is rampant in the rest of the organization.

Then there are the legions of managers who believe that if they can’t demonstrate their respect with perks because their budget was cut there is no way to prove they value their people.

Ahem! Respect isn’t a matter of perks.

You’re people aren’t stupid, they know the score, so tell them the truth and build trust.

Provide what tangible proof you can to show that you value your workers, from health care to chocolate, but don’t insult them by saying the company can’t afford something when it obviously can.

Respect isn’t about benefits and benefits, no matter how exotic, don’t give you the right to disrespect them.

Nor will benefits underwrite bad management—you don’t get to micromanage, insult, play favorites, or bully your people just because the company offers health insurance.

The bottom line is simple—if you treat your people as replaceable don’t be surprised when you have the opportunity to do so.

Flickr image credit: Martin Abegglen

There are two attitudes when it comes to investing in people.

The common one considers it a cost that should be minimized.

The more astute believe it provides significant ROI.

Providing benefits can raise productivity and reduce turnover no matter the size or type of business.

Training is just as important (in England it can even stave off a corporate manslaughter charge).

It’s a well-documented fact that attitude/cultural fit are the most crucial factors when hiring, so where’s the sense in dumping people who are not only good cultural fits, but also possess institutional knowledge?

The graphic elegantly sums up the fear of the cost minimizers and the pragmatism of the astute.

One boss lesson that really needs to sink in is the true cost of replacing people.

• A decade ago replacing cost 2-6 times the annual salary and although the dollar amount has risen I’m sure the multipliers haven’t gone down—they’ve probably gone up, too.
• Losing the wrong person at the wrong time has the potential of crippling or even destroying the company.

As to ROI, look no further than Frederick Reichheld, founder of Bain & Company’s Loyalty Practice and author of Loyalty Rules!, and other loyalty books, whose carefully researched studies that a 5% improvement in employee retention translates to a 25%-100% gain in earnings.

That is one hell of a return for creating a culture that does the right thing by investing in its people.

Flickr image credit: Peter Baeklund

Last month we looked at the economic dichotomy of having a consumer-based economy while simultaneously reducing wages.

Henry Ford understood that paying higher wages was good business.

Ford astonished the world in 1914 by offering a $5 per day wage ($110 today), which more than doubled the rate of most of his workers. (…) The move proved extremely profitable; instead of constant turnover of employees, the best mechanics in Detroit flocked to Ford, bringing their human capital and expertise, raising productivity, and lowering training costs.

Not to mention that a good part of that disposable income was used to buy Ford cars.

Business counters that idea by pointing to all the costs that didn’t exist in 1914 as justification for relentlessly cutting wages and benefits.

But nothing justifies the current minimum wage in many states.

Speaking of a hundred years, it took that long for new research by Zeynep Ton, a business professor at M.I.T.’s Sloan School of Management and author of “The Good Jobs Strategy,” to prove Ford was correct.

For every dollar of increased wages, one retailer that was studied by Fisher brought in $10 more in revenue. For more-understaffed stores in the study, the boost was as high as $28.

Not only doe it affect employees, but apparently higher wages has a halo effect on stock.

Costco pays its workers about $21 an hour; Walmart is just about $13. Yet Costco’s stock performance has thoroughly walloped Walmart’s for a decade.

Ton’s work is of major competitive importance whether you’re a boss in a small business or head up a giant enterprise.

Flickr image credit: ping.fm

Why is common sense often treated like rocket science?

If you want to increase your overall retention rate start by respecting your people.

There are too many managers who only respect their ‘stars’ and then wonder why turnover is rampant in the rest of the organization.

Then there are the legions of managers who believe that if they can’t demonstrate their respect with perks because their budget was cut there is no way to prove they value their people.

Ahem! Respect isn’t a matter of perks.

You’re people aren’t stupid, they know the score, so tell them the truth and build trust.

Provide what tangible proof you can to show that you value your workers, from health care to chocolate, but don’t insult them by saying the company can’t afford something when it obviously can.

Respect isn’t about benefits and benefits, no matter how exotic, don’t give you the right to disrespect them.

Nor will benefits underwrite bad management—you don’t get to micromanage, insult, play favorites, or bully your people just because the company offers health insurance.

The bottom line is simple—if you treat your people as replaceable don’t be surprised when you have the opportunity to do so.

Flickr image credit: Martin Abegglen

When it comes to company success there is much talk about leading and influencing, visions and inspiration, but when the subject of benefits comes up then it’s all about the bottom line.

Did you know that no benefits (other than those negotiated by a union) are actually required by law for any worker, full or part-time?

So why should companies have benefits? Just think about how much better their bottom line would be without them. Wow!

Then think about how demotivated, unproductive and disinterested their employees would be. Double wow!

The smartest employers (AKA good leaders) offer all the benefits they’re able to offer to the people who work for them, even part-timers. Sure, they’re limited by financial consideration, but they do as much as they can.

• A startup CEO told me that he had insisted on good insurance coverage in spite of his investors’ gripes. Why? Because, he said, his people were more willing to put in 80 hour weeks when they didn’t have to worry about their families. Interestingly enough, his company also offered slightly below market pay and far more modest stock options and still filled their openings with top talent (this was during a boom period, too).
• Another small biz owner I know, with sales of less than $2 million, offers Aflac, exceptional working flexibility, including working from home, and just added a 401K, although many similar-sized companies just moan about how they can’t afford anything.
• My friend, who owns a tiny, neighborhood restaurant, gives her waiters their birthday off with pay—and has almost no turnover.

Part of the problem in large companies is that Wall Street penalizes companies that do take care of their people (Costco) and lauds those that use every trick to avoid spending that money (Wal-Mart).

But make no mistake—taking the best care possible of your people will yield a high return in the form of lower turnover, higher productivity and more creativity.

Your comments—priceless

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Image credit: ZedBee|Zoë Power on flickr