Kristin Geer is trying to add to her current staff some senior software developers who would be tasked with helping Bleachr LLC add some new features to its mobile apps in 2019, but she’s finding the job market a challenge.
Unemployment remains low and her 25-employee company is competing with the likes of Target Corp. for talent.
“The market is dry out there,” says Geer, CEO. “It’s really tough. There is so much need right now. Every company is trying to up their game in the mobile space. … It’s challenging and highly competitive.”
So, when she does find talented employees, she doesn’t want to lose them. She doesn’t claim to have all the answers when it comes to retention, but she has found some worthwhile tactics.
It helps, Geer says, that the company makes “really cool stuff” that helps naturally attract creative people who enjoy sports and want to combine that interest with a career in technology. Once employees are on board, Bleachr does attempt to be competitive in benefits and compensation. And the company offers equity-like participation in the form of LLC membership units, which are like stock options — a perk Geer says aligns with long-term business goals.
“It’s meaningful to the employees. They realize they are working hard to develop something that is going to benefit them, not just in the short-term, but in the long-term,” she says. “That has really been a key for us.”
Communication, culture make a difference
But it’s not just about compensation. Geer spends significant time listening to her employees to find out what’s important to them. When the company outgrew its first office near Target Field, Geer surveyed her team on what would be important to them in a new space and tried to meet the wants and needs of a staff with widely varying preferences.
When requests came in for remote work time, Geer found that allowing everyone to work outside the office every day inhibited collaboration. But staff has been given the opportunity to work outside the office one day per week.
When employees suggested a hackathon, Geer initially was worried about the time that would be spent away from immediate client priorities. As it turned out, the creative time helped develop two new features that will become part of the company’s app going forward.
While a well-stocked break room refrigerator and competitive compensation help, Geer adds that communication and spending time together, not just for work but socially in an effort to build a team-like atmosphere. So, now, there are monthly happy hours or casino nights or other activities designed just for that.
“It really helps to bond, to get to know people outside of work, which is so important,” she says, adding that she knows she doesn’t have all the answers yet. “Culture is really important. We have not figured it out, but we’re giving it our best try.”
Turnover happens, but keep the good ones
Professor Connie Wanberg, industrial relations faculty excellence chair in the Work and Organizations Department at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, reminds business owners that not all turnover is avoidable nor is it always bad.
“Some individuals leave for issues such as illness, to follow a spouse, or other issues that are difficult to control,” she says. “And some turnover is very functional. It is good to have fresh ideas in house and to have people who fit less well into a role leave for a new job.”
That said, with unemployment low, hiring and retention are on business owners’ minds. And, Wanberg adds, it is vital to do what is possible to keep key, valuable employees. That often comes down to factors such as the management and leadership within an organization, co-workers, and characteristics of the day-to-day work and culture.
“Business owners can do a lot to influence turnover decisions of valuable employees,” Wanberg says. “Ensuring that managers have the proper training to lead employees is very helpful.”
Team building activities, giving individuals task variety and making sure there is some fun mixed in can help, too. “When employees take true pride in their work and how they serve customers, they want to go to work every day,” she says.
Ping pong and advancement opportunities
BKBM Engineers tries to mitigate some retention-related challenges as early as its hiring process. Matt Ricker heads the company’s structural group, which makes up more than three-quarters of its employee count.
“We tend to try to hire most of our people right out of school,” he says. “If you go and grab somebody from another company and entice them with some money or something upfront, what’s to say that person isn’t going to go for the next best offer somewhere else later. It’s our theory. I don’t know if it’s right or wrong, but we’re starting with a different person.”
During his four-plus years with the company, fewer than 10 colleagues have left, while the employee count has grown from around 30 during the recession to more than 60.
The company works to keep people happy. BKBM moved into a newly renovated building in late 2017. Before the move, management surveyed staff to learn what their preferences would be for a new space, many of which were provided. Other perks include weekly massages and a lounge area with a ping pong table. Company President Ronald LaMere, Ricker says, once strongly suggested that everyone take a break from work to participate in a tournament.
BKBM covers the cost of continuing education opportunities and helps those going back to school with tuition reimbursement. That is important, Ricker says, particularly in a day and age when younger workers care as much or more about feedback and chances for advancement than about the size of their paychecks. He emphasizes the advancement opportunities within BKBM while interviewing candidates and, during reviews, managers discuss with employees their career goals, so everyone is on the same page.
“We don’t want people to be stagnant,” Ricker says. “We want them to continue to develop.”
Flexibility and communication
Since David Dourgarian started running TempWorks Software as CEO in 2008, the average age of the company’s employees has gone up one year each year. Early on, he says, it resembled a Silicon Valley start-up with its early-20s culture.
Today those employees are a decade older. And TempWorks also has had to add some more experienced people to add expertise in certain areas of the business. So, the culture has changed significantly.
“Today our employees are at another stage of their lives,” he says. “They have families or they are starting families. The types of things you do for employees to engage them with the company really change as that happens.”
TempWorks has tried to keep up. A decade ago, it had happy hours and parties.
“As soon as somebody has a child, doing that stuff outside work hours becomes a chore,” Dourgarian says.
Now the company does things like service projects to build rapport. That fits well not just for employees with families, but for today’s millennial workers who, generally speaking, are motivated by knowing they agree with the company’s mission.
TempWorks also has added a human resources department that monitors the hiring process to ensure no market is being missed and meets with employees to ensure their needs are being met.
“As people’s expectations change, we have somebody in the office whose job is effectively to listen to them,” Dourgarian says.
Among the company’s priorities is offering a robust health care plan, especially important for parents with young kids. TempWorks makes available a solid retirement plan and also provides flexible work schedules or other temporary accommodations to employees starting families or facing other personal issues.
“People are going to go through periods in their lives where they need scheduling adjustments that are temporary in nature, for say 18 months out of a 10-year career with the company,” Dourgarian says. “If you don’t offer that you lose those employees because there are others who will.”
The company will lose the occasional younger employee who wants to move somewhere TempWorks doesn’t have an office or a longer-term staffer who is relocating with a spouse for work. Otherwise, “I don’t lose non-entry-level employees,” Dourgarian says. “By and large I don’t have a problem right now with my employees walking out the door because they are getting better deals.”
Flexibility also is a corporate value at Bellmont Partners.
Whether it’s the hours or location an employee wants to work or navigating the occasional maternity leave in an office where 12 of 13 employees are women, the company makes a point of treating employees like adults and trusting them to get done what must get done, says Brian Bellmont, president.
“We know that it is really important to work with our team members through whatever is important to them and whatever potential challenges they are going through,” he says. “One of those is really making sure they are welcomed back after a maternity leave in a way that works for them.”
Bellmont also allows employees to work where they want. The company built an office in Edina that incorporates a lot of glass and collaborative spaces to facilitate communication. But if an employee wants to work from home or somewhere else, that’s fine too.
“We’re going to sit down with you and figure out what works best for you to help you deliver the best work for our clients,” he says.
Bellmont says the company has sacrificed some profitability for flexibility over the years, but also has seen measured growth each year. He puts significant trust in his employees, all of whom have more than 10 years of experience. Each is a significant contributor, both to Bellmont Partners and to the community.
Health, wellness and sustainability are important to team members and Bellmont provides time for each to do volunteer projects during the work day and provide pro bono work for nonprofit clients.
Being that flexible while also being a small business, Bellmont says, simply requires two-way communication.
“We absolutely value everybody’s input, certainly not only for what our clients need, but for the direction our business is going or could be going,” Bellmont says. “Everyone is invested in what the company built and what happens going forward.”
Retention starts at hiring
Kurt Rakos, a partner with SkyWater Search Partners, has seen a lot of employees come and go at other firms and he knows his industry has a reputation for being a “revolving door” for employees.
The company wanted to be different. The effort starts, he says, by hiring people the company truly believes will be successful recruiters over the long haul. SkyWater doesn’t oversell the benefits and sets realistic expectations and reachable performance and income expectations.
SkyWater also celebrates all successes and all staff members, whether they have started yet or not. The weekend before a new hire starts, that person receives a fun, friendly email from their future co-workers welcoming them to the company.
“We take onboarding very seriously,” Rakos says. “We want our new hires to feel welcome and to have a strong sense of community when they join.”
CONTACT:
Brian Bellmont is president of Bellmont Partners: 612.255.1111; brian@bellmontpartners.com; www.bellmontpartners.com.
David Dourgarian is CEO of TempWorks Software: 651.452.0366; davidd@tempworks.com; www.tempworks.com.
Kristin Geer is CEO of Bleachr: 612.760.0806; info@bleachr.co; www.bleachr.co.
Kurt Rakos is a partner at SkyWater Search Partners: 952.767.9000; krakos@skywatersearch.com;
www.skywatersearch.com.
Matt Ricker is associate principal/structural group manager with BKBM Engineers: 763.843.0449; mricker@bkbm.com;
www.bkbm.com.
Connie Wanberg is a professor and industrial relations faculty excellence chair in the Work and Organizations Department at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management: carlsonschool.umn.edu.
