Small Business - IN BOX - How to draw talent to a little company
Dear Karen: How can my company compete for talent with corporations that offer better benefits and bigger salaries?
Answer: Small companies have competitive advantages you can emphasize when hiring.
An up-and-coming firm can offer promising career paths to young workers looking to advance quickly. "People in small companies are rewarded for talent, not time served," said Brad Sugars, chief executive of online consulting firm ActionCOACH.
Let potential employees know they'll have direct access to you and other key executives, while in a large corporation they'll be lucky to meet the CEO.
"With a smaller company, you get a ringside seat at everything from new-product launches to sales meetings and strategy sessions from the get-go," Sugars said.
Though your firm's salaries may be lower initially, think about offering stock options or performance bonuses as your company grows. Major corporations have strict bonus and incentive policies; smaller companies have greater flexibility to reward excellence.
Finally, emphasize your firm's family atmosphere. Being an anonymous cog in an impersonal workplace isn't very appealing. Being one valued employee in a dynamic group of 10, 50 or even 100 can be much more satisfying.
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No upside to keeping a bad hire
Dear Karen: I have a new hire who's not working out. How much time should I give him to get his act together?
Answer: A new employee should be experienced enough to fit in quickly or teachable enough to improve with training.
If your new hire is neither, you're better off ending his employment now. Continuing to pay a bad hire hurts your bottom line and alienates other employees.
"When in doubt, terminate," said Ray Gallo of law firm Gallo & Associates in Los Angeles. "A client of mine once put it to me this way: 'Every time I thought about firing someone and didn't, I regretted it.' "
It's also easier emotionally -- and legally -- to remedy a bad decision quickly. Write down performance-related reasons for the termination and keep them on file.
"The only impermissible reasons for terminating an employee are race, color, sex, religion, nationality, ethnicity or what we'll call whistle-blowing," Gallo said. " 'I have misgivings about this person's honesty and reliability' or 'This guy listens or follows instructions poorly and seems unmotivated' are perfectly legal and acceptable reasons to discharge someone."
