Dead Wood: High Value Antiques or Dangerous Rot?
Every
organization must reckon with ‘old-timers’:
staff who have served many years but may be past their
most productive prime.
What should you do with these folks?
Firing them seems a mercenary way to run a business.
But keeping them on staff can demotivate and demoralize
others, increasing your payroll without improving profits.
A journalist recently asked me point-blank, ‘What
should companies do with their “dead wood”?’
My answer was a question; ‘Is the “dead
wood” raw material for valuable antiques, or is
it dangerous rot?’
Many long-serving staff have a wealth of experience,
customer knowledge and good ideas. They can be valuable
in training new staff, contacting and caring for customers,
spreading goodwill for the company through public relations
or community outreach programs.
Long-serving staff may not be able to master the latest
technology or move at the current pace of change, but
their knowledge and proven skills could still be harnessed
for the benefit of all. These team members are raw material
for creating treasured and high-value antiques.
One large company offered senior staff an option of
retiring early or working in new capacities as recruiters,
staff trainers or customer service personnel. Each of
these positions offered a lower level of salary but
recognized and leveraged the staff members’ years
of experience. Half of those offered the new positions
stayed on, adding new value to the organization. The
other half moved on.
Another company offered no salary at all, but provided
office facilities and a generous incentive program so
that older staff could contact former customers to help
stimulate or reactivate their accounts.
The success rate was tremendous.
Each conversation brought together a long-serving staff
member with a long-standing (but no longer active) customer.
Rapport was easily established as both sides shared
experiences and insights about the company, its services
and products. Many of these heart-to-heart conversations
resulted in reactivation of accounts, new purchases,
new profits and plenty of new ideas for the company.
From old wood came precious antiques.
But what about long-serving staff who have become cynical,
resentful and demoralized? What about those who speak
badly about the company and complain openly to customers
and other staff?
These employees are toxic and contagious. They are the
unhealthy rot that can destroy the competitiveness and
the culture of your organization. Such ‘rotten
apples’ should be excised as quickly and cleanly
as possible. To keep them around through some misguided
interpretation of loyalty is sheer lunacy.
If someone is earning money from an organization, they
owe their active loyalty to the current health and future
well-being of that organization – period.
Two points to note: (warning – may be controversial)
1. The commercial
world is changing too fast for inflexible employment
entitlements. Union agreements that arrest or retard
an industry’s ability to innovate are doing an
injustice to the industry, the companies and the countries
in which they work. Short-term gains for a few may result
in long-term losses for everyone.
2. Everyone in an organization
should add value or be released. Pay should be based
on value contributed to the organization in current
time – not on continuous recognition of value
generated in the past.
Old-timers may not be able to generate the same amount
of sales value or productivity as before, and their
compensation could be adjusted accordingly.
But given the option of working in new ways, creating
new value and earning a new (sometimes lower) income,
many staff will choose that route over leaving employment
altogether.
Key Learning Point
As
the population and workforce age, many companies can benefit
by taking an innovative approach to keeping their long-serving
members on staff. This plan for creating and delivering
new value should be initiated early so that old wood can
be transformed into beautiful and valuable antiques...before
it rots.
Action Steps
Review how your organization
currently harnesses the experience of your longest-serving
staff. Create a focus group of current and former employees,
customers and suppliers to brainstorm together. Find new
ways for old-timers to create new value for the future.
Next Article in Customer Service Culture >>
Get New Staff to 'Self-Select'
First Article in Customer Service Education >>
Education is the Star at Starbucks
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Ron Kaufman is an internationally acclaimed customer service training educator for quality service.
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