As a business owner, you’ve taken all the right steps to mitigate risk. Your key person is insured, the succession plan is in place and your servers are secure. All is well! Or is it? Not every risk is external. Some of the most threatening dangers are lurking within your own walls.
Disengaged Employees
When your employees don’t stick around or only put in the barest amount of effort, its costs you dearly. A Gallup report shows that disengaged employees have “37% higher absenteeism, 18% lower productivity and 15% lower profitability.” That’s a $3,400 cost to the company for every $10,000 a checked-out employee makes.
Terri Davis, founder of ProFound Talent (www.profoundtalent.com) opened her executive and professional recruitment firm to battle a growing issue.
“With a highly competitive market and a talent-tight candidate pool, businesses are becoming transactional with their hiring practices resulting in quick decisions instead of finding the right people, engaging them and keeping them,” says Davis.
The reasons employees disengage are layered but one big reason is a lack of flexibility.
“As an executive search agency owner, I can say we have been for years losing skilled talent due to a need for flexibility. I attended an event not long ago where many of the women I connected with shared they left their employer to start their own business because of a lack of work/life balance.”
As a business owner and single mom, Davis provides that needed flexibility for every member of her team. Even before the hybrid office model inspired by COVID, she set hours from 9-3 and had no issues with her team working around their kids’ hockey schedules, birthdays, special events and family time.
“I wanted my company to be inclusive, allowing my team to be able to have the best for their work, life and families. I trust my team to get their work done.”
Davis says that mandating full-time in-office employment without flexibility decreases the talent pool (aspiring entrepreneurs leave to make their own rules in the business world) and disengages employees that keep their options open for a job with better balance.
“Quiet quitting,” she continues, “is not new”. “People disengage all the time, but now that disengagement is sooner. People used to stay in a company for 10-15 years. It is down to 2-3. People are not putting up with unsuitable environments.”
How can employers avoid this risk?
“Hire the right people for the role. Don’t just hire whoever is available. A lot of employees are seeking change but not actively looking. Look for them. Find out if they are passionate about their work but not their workplace. A head-hunter is tapped into that market and does screening and due diligence, including assessments, to ensure your next hire is the perfect fit.”
She continues, “We help employers onboard people properly. This is not one week of set up and handing them a laptop. It’s about a full road map that spans three to six months – which is the risk period for losing a new hire.
“A common misunderstanding is that employees only want more money or a promotion. However, everyone wants something different. Our assessment tools tell employers what motivates a particular employee. It could be money, but it could be learning and development or even social opportunities.”
ProFound Talent also helps employers understand the risks of losing a new hire so you can proactively mitigate this through proper onboarding and engagement.
“It costs a lot to hire and train, not just to recruit. Have a succession plan for each role, not just for key persons. Crosstrain or identify people within the organization that can move up. Have a bench of talent ready to utilize.”
Davis summarizes, “A lot of employers get caught in a panic and do a quick hire. How do you avoid disengaged employees? By taking the time to hire right, the first time, followed by a focused approach to onboarding, engaging, and retaining the right person for the role.”
Downplaying Digital
Think a professional website is only for e-commerce sellers? It’s not. Paul Letourneau, CEO and director of YEG Digital (www.yegdigital.com), discusses the risk of ignoring the many advantages a digital footprint provides.
“In today’s digital age, it’s essential to meet your customers where they are – online,” says Letourneau. “A professional website allows customers to learn about your business, services and products and compare you to your competitors from anywhere in the world before even contacting you. Having a well-designed, easy-to-navigate and informative professional website makes a positive impression on potential customers and sets your business apart from competitors. This can increase trust and credibility, ultimately leading to more conversions and sales.”
A powerful strategy businesses of any size can use is SEO. Yet, too many businesses are ignoring, or are unaware of, this tool.
“SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of building trust and credibility between your website and people who use search engines to find products and services like yours,” explains Letourneau. “Search engines consider about 200 factors when determining where your website ranks in search results compared to your competitors. An experienced SEO professional works with you to research, monitor and execute a plan to increase your overall rankings over time by building up your website’s trustworthiness in search engines’ eyes. The more search engines trust your website, the higher it will rank in results for the search terms that matter most to your business.”
The risk is missing out by not leveraging digital tools. The following stats from Gitnux and Inter-growth show that:
- 68 per cent of online experiences start with a search engine
- 61 per cent of B2B marketers say SEO and organic traffic generate more leads than any other marketing tool
- 90 per cent of B2B buyers research online before making a purchase
- 73 per cent of searchers visit the business within one day
Here’s the biggest concern: 90.63 per cent of web pages get zero organic search traffic from Google. That means any website that is not properly structured or optimized has less than a 10 per cent chance of being found online. Businesses that ignore digital tools are ignoring a direct, affordable, effective line to their target markets.
“I truly believe that having a digital strategy should be an integral part of any business and should be reviewed regularly – ideally every quarter,” advises Letourneau. “In today’s world, the importance of digital strategies will only continue to increase. As more and more people turn to the internet to search for products and services, businesses must have a solid digital presence to remain competitive.”
YEG Digital can help.
“We have the privilege of working with local and international clients to help manage their strategies. Our team is dedicated to guiding businesses through every stage of the process, from initial research and planning to execution and ongoing improvements. By staying up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices in the digital world, we can provide our clients with the most effective strategies and solutions.”
Failing to Seek Legal Advice
When an employee or client has a grievance and takes legal action, the risk is self-representing without legal advice.
“Generally, lay persons do not know the ins and outs and legal processes and unless they are lawyers, they don’t have a good grasp of legal matters,” says Heidi Semkowich, Alberta Registered Paralegal & Certified Legal Coach. “By choosing to represent themselves in a legal matter, they are running the risk of not being able to provide a complete defense to the assertions in the commencement documents.”
Yet the thought of lawyering up, especially for smaller businesses or startups, is a daunting one. Semkowich provides a solution. Work with a paralegal.
“Not every legal matter requires a lawyer, which is where paralegals can help fill the access-to-justice gap,” she explains.
“A paralegal can review documents with the self-represented party and advise on what those documents say or what they allege. The paralegal can then provide detailed information on the next steps in the process, including what options the self-represented party has.
“An example would be if the business is being sued in small claims court. The paralegal can advise on the steps in the small claims process, what documents need to be completed by the business and when they need to ensure the documents are filed with the court and served on the opposing party. The paralegal can also provide assistance with completing the forms (ensuring they are in a format accepted by the court) and could provide coaching services to help the business prepare for the process.”
This is an area where Semkowich excels. She owns and operates HMS Paralegal Services (www.hmsparalegalservices.ca) and has more than 25 years of experience working in law firms and corporate legal departments.
“I primarily work in civil litigation, WCB claims (for the worker) and disability claims (for the claimant). I provide paralegal and coaching services to self-represented parties in an effort to help them navigate their legal matter. I do not provide legal advice and in the event that a matter goes outside of my professional scope, I have a team of lawyers that I work with to ensure the client receives the most professional services that can be provided,” she adds.
Businesses thrive when they identify and mitigate risks, yet a lot of time is spent on risks that are external to the organization. When building a plan for a profitable future, remember to look inside the organization as well as without for the risks that could delay success.
