Re: Keeping IS People (was Certification)

Glenn,

In a message dated 98-04-04 11:24:51 EST, you write:

> The  conversations seems to have shifted to the IS Market place and what
>  it takes to satisfy  IT talent today  It appears salary  alone is not the
>  driver  but  perks  such as location,  stable hours, a nice place to live
>  etc, have  been brought up.
>  
>  Now, if you  have to get you a segment of your IT group into some less than
>  desirable  project for a time what might you offer to keep their loyalty
>  and participation? 
>  
>  Obtaining & Training  new staff is costly  Vs keeping the ones  you have.

Exactly, and probably why I "went off the deep end" over people that said 10%
"wasn't enough" -- these people's employers are treating them like dirt, they
don't have the location, the stable hours, the nice place to live -- which is
why they started "looking" in the first place.  Then they seemed to be scared
off by what was available after they placed themselves on the market.  Why?

Every single company out there ought to be working to retain their IS staff if
for no other reason than your stated "Obtaining and training new staff is
costly vs. keeping the ones you have".  But employers _DON'T_!  They think
they can just "pick up someone out of the classifieds that will walk in and
magically know where everything is on the system and how their custom code
works", like they would an accountant or line foreman.  IS management knows
how this market is now, but _Corporate_ management doesn't seem to have a clue
-- a failure on _SOMEONE's_ part.

ANOTHER TRUE STORY:  The last place my former employer installed a new AS/400
before they dropped out of the Agent Program, a young man was put in charge of
the new system (who later became system administrator, operator, guru,
accounting assistant, inventory, query expert, etc.).  Our company warned the
(small) company's owner that they had darn well better give the young man a
_substantial_ raise for all of the nights and weekends he was about to work,
or he would be gone within a year.  The small company did not comply, but the
young man picked up a cool 20 G's with a major international manufacturer in
the area after six months.  The young man was happy with his position and his
company, yet doubling his salary and halving his hours with a company that's
been in business for 100+ years was impossible to resist.

If you want to retain staff (under _ANY_ conditions), I'd suggest the
following:

1.  Pay market rates, and realize that the market is going _NUTS_ right now.
This doesn't mean monthly raises, just make sure that your salary ranges for
duties performed remain within market ranges on an annual basis.

2.  Have a formal training program and pay for people that complete it, even
if you're a small shop.  Surely you can send someone to COMMON every six
months, or offer CNE or other certification that will improve an employee's
job skills should something happen to their current position?  Just make sure
you pay them to keep them _IN_ it after training.

3.  Corporate policy _BE DAMNED_.  I DON'T GIVE A FRIGGIN' HOOT that your
company doesn't allow comp time.  FIND A WAY to cover for your employees so
that they can take time off after performing critical tasks over a weekend.
Effective methods vary by company, but some are:  1) Tell everyone that
they're taking a planned vacation, then "forget" to turn in the paperwork that
consumes vacation time to human resources (another oxymoron).  2)  Inform
management that you were too busy, and employee "X" is attending a free
seminar in your stead.  3)  Employee "X" is "meeting with some vendors today".
4)  "He/She wasn't feeling well, and I told him/her to stay home instead of
making the rest of the staff ill -- you know how far behind we are already."
Use your imagination within the constraints of your own organization...

4.  See the opening of 3.  IS salaries _are not_ staying within the staid
"MIN, MEAN, and MAX" system used to determine raises in most corporations.
FIGHT for your people to get a _GOOD_ raise, if they deserve it.  If
necessary, insist on a re-write of the job descriptions and salary ranges in
your department -- they were probably established 10 or more years ago.

5.  DO SOMETHING for your employees as a group.  Take 'em out bowling,
golfing, to eat -- preferably during work hours.  Build the team.

6.  Reward personal incentive.  Even if the company won't pay for it, buy a
(LARGE) gift certificate to a posh local eatery for someone that goes "above
and beyond the call of duty" -- that's why they pay _you_ "the big bucks" as a
manager.

7.  Communicate with your people and resolve conflicts immediately, if you
possibly can.

8.  Guide your employees in personal growth.  Let them know (in a nice way)
where _YOU_ feel they are inadequate, and then suggest ways in which they can
improve.

9.  Foster greatness, eliminate mediocrity.  Nobody wants to work with a bunch
of people from whom they feel no potential for personal growth (or feel that
they have to work to cover for).  If someone's not "pulling their own weight",
get rid of them before your good people quit _because_ of them.  If someone
else is providing vital instruction, do everything you can to keep them.
Actually though, you should _WANT_ to keep _ALL_ of your employees.  If you
don't want to keep one, maybe you don't need them.

10.  Perform salary reviews _ON TIME_!  Employees feel that you don't really
care about them if you can't make the effort to execute their review when it's
due.

I could go on for days about this subject, but it really boils down to one
simple statement -- "Forget company policy, do what's right".  So what if
_YOUR_ management is intractable, that doesn't mean that you have to be so
yourself.  Yeah, 6% is the "maximum" raise you're supposed to be able to give
-- fight for _MORE_ if your employee is providing your department more value
than that.  Do the right thing for your employees, even if the same isn't
being done for you by _your_ manager.  Before all else, your employee's
primary job is to make _YOU_ look good.  If your current employees don't care
to do so, how are a bunch of new ones that don't even know your systems going
to do?

JMHO,

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-Mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"Never go to bed mad.  Stay up and fight." -- Phyllis Diller
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