Are too many of your employees falling down on the job?

 

And yes, we mean that literally. Do you know how much businesses spend a year on costs associated with occupational injuries and illnesses? One estimate is about $170 billion. That’s billion with a “b.” And every dollar of those expenditures is directly related to the bottom line of a company’s profitability – or lack thereof.

 

It’s no secret that job related injuries increase operational expenses (think absenteeism, re-training and defective parts for starters). Employee morale also suffers, as well as productivity.

 

Safe work environments attract better talent. Better talent produces better products. Better products produce more sales. And more sales produce . . . well, you get the picture.

 

Strong safety and health programs are proven profit boosters. A Fortune Five company increased productivity by 13%, while a small, 50-person plant decreased defective parts and saved more than $265,000.* Those are real, tangible savings for very little investment.

 

Don’t just tell your employees safety is key, show them. Let them know you recognize they are the best assets your company has. A safe workplace is a better workplace for everyone. We can help you spread the word with a professionally produced custom safety video that expressly addresses your company’s unique situation.

 

*data from OSHA

Finally a new video... Our new card signing video Signing Your Rights Away continues to work well for our clients. Some have an urgent use for it, while others are using it as part of their orientation process. And freshness creates awareness. We just had a new client run Signing Your Rights Away in a facility that has had previous issues. The employees were excited that the company had invested in a new card signing video so they didn’t have to watch “that old one” (which we didn’t produce, by the way) that had been used for years. (Proving again that employees do indeed pay attention and like open communications.)   We believe it is important to explain to your associates the risk involved with signing a union card, not only to the associate, but to the long time survival of the company as well.

Are Your Employees Engaging?

More to the point, are you engaging your employees?

How often do you ask your employees for their input? We’re not talking about just a suggestion box outside the HR office (although there’s nothing wrong with that). We mean how often do you ask them face to face for their thoughts, ideas, observations . . . anything that might improve the workplace as well as the products you produce?

Do you know where the next big idea for your business is coming from? Research and development? Well, maybe. But more and more, traditional sources are being usurped by – you guessed it – employees, as well as customers and suppliers and everybody else in the company food chain.

It really just stands to reason. Engaged employees like what they do, like the company they work for, and want to see it succeed. Moving the organization forward moves them forward too.

Those employees who aren’t engaged are either just putting in the time or plain just flat out don’t care. Unfortunately, the unhappy ones can poison the well for even the best ones. And that’s a recipe for disaster.

What label would you assign to your employees? It doesn’t take great brainpower to determine that engaged employees are going to be the happiest and the most productive. Not only that, they would certainly be the least likely to entertain the thought of a third-party coming in and upsetting the situation.

Creating an atmosphere of involvement means making sure employees know where to go with their ideas. Telling a friend at work is one thing – and a good thing – but knowing exactly where to go to share their insight in the management hierarchy is even more important. Eliminating barriers, whether physical or mental, opens the door to conversation, discussion and inventiveness.

Recognizing input is also key. It can be monetary, but it doesn’t have to be. Internally communicating the suggestions and results made by employees not only has an extremely positive effect on those making the suggestions, but can spur others on to speak up and keep the ideas coming.

Every company welcomes new ideas. But have you created an atmosphere where those ideas are encouraged and acted upon? Engaged employees are generally happy employees. And happy employees can have a ripple effect throughout your workplace.

Want some suggestions? Talk to us. We’ve seen the good, and the not-so-good. Take advantage of our perspective.

 

Sincerely,

 

Matt French

First Cut Communications, LLC.

Is Your Company The Next Target?

January 2013 In this Issue The next target for the union is... New Videos! First Cut produced 8 new generic videos for our sister company AGTS. The instant best seller is our card signing video named Signing Your Rights Away (it is now available in union specific version), Contract Negotiations and Conversation Starters, six short videos designed to get people talking in group meetings during a campaign. Plus we just started working on several new interactive courses. If you have a request for an interactive course or a new DVD title please email me. We are always looking to produce new videos! We look forward to being of service!

Do you know who the new Steelworkers are? The Union does. A recent report showed that, in 2012, the most frequently targeted industries were “Business Services, Health Services, Passenger Transportation, Construction and Electric, and Gas & Sanitary Services.• Not a Steelworker among them. Nor an Autoworker, nor any other representative in the manufacturing sector.” Of the approximately 2000 NLRB petitions filed in 2012, 335 were from Business services alone. Health services accounted for 265, and Local and suburban transit & interurban passenger transportation had 149. Virtually every state was hit. In the words of Bob Dylan, “The times they are a’changing.”  Actually, the times have been changing for quite awhile now, but sometimes it takes cold hard facts for all of us to realize that. The move toward service sector jobs and away from manufacturing started slowly but is now at full throttle. What’s that mean to you? Basically, everyone is a target. The Teamsters, the SEIU and all unions have a lot of Administrative salaries and perks to pay. Dwindling manufacturing membership has forced them to try and organize anybody and everybody they can. Often, employees in the service industries have little perception, positive or negative, of what it means to have a union in their workplace. The unions are more than happy to provide their version of utopia. We suggest you counter such activity before it starts. That doesn't mean union bashing. It means union education. The basics, like union rules, lack of flexibility, dues, negotiations, etc. Couple that information with the positive aspects of current company wages, benefits and other policies. That way, if and when the union comes calling, employees are prepared to make legitimate comparisons. Who’s next on the “hit” list? Who’s got a target painted on their back? You might as well open a Business Directory and just point to a random name. Hunting season is open and everything is fair game. Don’t wait until a union has you in their sites. Take preventive action now, communicate to your employees. *Information Source Susan Connelly, PTI Labor Research 1/16/13

Are your employees job hunting?

Are your employees job hunting? USA TODAY reports that employee morale and loyalty are at three-year lows - but there's also growing optimism that a better job is out there. Consequently, four-in-ten employees are beginning to job hunt.

Based on data from 384 metros in all states, Ronald Leopold, VP of MetLife's U.S. adds: "Businesses are understandably focused on expenses, but they're taking their eye off the ball with human capital issues, notably what drives employee satisfaction and loyalty."

With 4 in 10 workers confident that they can soon find a better job, now is the time to show, in inexpensive ways, that your company values and appreciates its employees. One of the most efficient ways is to train your company's supervisors to help deliver that message.

I hope you'll check out First Cut Communications website - for proven custom videos or AGTS-web.com for off-the-shelf training or call me personally (706-882-5581) - that can help you retain experienced employees and make them glad they didn't leave.

Remember to communicate. People appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Matt French
First Cut Communications, LLC

AGTS, Inc.
301 West Broome Street
Suite 100
LaGrange, GA 30240
706-882-5581

What’s Next

I hope everyone is ready for spring and something new. I know I am. It seems like everything is up in the air, and no one knows what is going to happen next. The weather in Georgia goes from 75 degrees to snowing the next day to back to the 70s and back to cool weather. We think EFCA is moving; then, it seems to slow down, and then it's back again. Nothing these days seems to be predictable.

Are you being predictable to your employees? Hopefully, you are being somewhat predictable and/or reliable. You see all these articles about what to watch out for if your company is about to lay off or do something unusual. Some of the signs they point out are a lot of closed door meetings with executives, travel and other company budgets being squeezed too tightly, key personnel leaving suddenly. You can slow the rumor mill and correct it by communicating to your employees. It makes them feel important and wanted. It could also save your company that key client that is hearing rumors about your organization from its inside source.

So, as always, communicate to people--people appreciate it.