The good folks over at 37Signals have just posted a great blog entry focused on the evils of building a team of work-a-holics. I’m sure a lot of us have been there, and I’m the first to put a stop to building a culture based on 14+hr days as the norm.
1. Workaholics may well say that they enjoy those 14 hour days week after week, but despite their claims, working like that all month, all the time is not going to be sustainable. When the burnout crash comes, and it will, it’ll hit all the harder and according to Murphy at the least convenient time.
2. People who are workaholics are likely to attempt to fix problems by throwing sheer hours at the problem. If you’re dealing with people working with anything creatively that’s a deadbeat way to get great work done.
3. People who always work late makes the people who don’t feel inadequate for merely working reasonable hours. That’ll lead to guilt, misery, and poor morale. Worse, it’ll lead to ass-in-seat mentality where people will “stay late” out of obligation, but not really be productive.
4. If all you do is work, your value judgements are unlikely to be sound. Making good calls on “is it worth it?” is absolutely critical to great work. Missing out on life in general to put more hours in at the office screams “misguided values”.
5. Working with interesting people is more interesting than just working. If all you got going for your life is work, work, work, the good team-gelling lunches are going to be some pretty boring straight shop talk. Yawn. I’d much rather hear more about your whittling project, your last trek, how your garden is doing, or when you’ll get your flight certificate.
In my mind, you really want your team to work normal, reasonable hours so they can go home and have lives. That balance is critical to being a well rounded human. Additionally, there are times when a little extra effort is needed and it’s those RARE times that you want your team to step up and genuinely put forth the extra effort since it is a rare thing. The best teams I’ve worked on are balanced ones.
What’s your take on work-a-holics?
Since this blog focuses a lot on finding and retaining talent, I have to agree with Seth Godin’s article about focusing HR on talent rather than the mundane.
Microsoft and Google both have a very healthy focus on finding and recruiting Talent. McDonald’s recently announced that they want to hire people who smile more. The first strategy works, the second won’t. Talent is too smart to stay long at a company that wants it to be a cog in a machine. Great companies want and need talent, but they have to work for it.
The old fashion ideas that HR is more clerical than functional and helpful are out dated. Over the last few years I’ve worked to find individuals in my HR organization who can help focus us on talent. As with anything you’ll need to think a little differently, but those who can find and retain a strong pool of talented contributers will be able to weather almost any challenge.
As you can see from my terrible lack of fresh posts, I’ve been a little busy lately. The reason I’m so busy is 100% related to the fact that business has picked up and we are growing like mad. Part and parcel of that growth is the requirement to staff up. We run a pretty lean and mean team in my organization and when we look to add individuals we take it pretty seriously. My group tends to have rather high standards and that makes it hard to find the right candidates. As a result, we rely heavily on recruiting firms. Since it’s top of mind for me right now, I thought I’d share a couple of things I’ve learned about working with recruiters and “head hunters” over the years…
Find a recruiter who gets you and your organization - This sounds like a no brainer but I know a lot of people out there using the wrong type of recruiter. Most recruiters will specialize in a small number of industry verticals. Find the best one for your vertical. Someone who can find you excellent medical technicians is probably not going to be very good at finding web developers.
Along with someone who knows your vertical, it’s also critical that you take the time to build a relationship with your new recruiter. Take the time up front to really help your recruiter understand your organization. Take them on a tour, walk them through your daily routine, have them meet and talk to other managers in your organization. A good recruiter will take the time to get a feeling for the vibe of you and your organization. This relationship should pay off long term as you continue to hire future candidates.
Negotiate a better rate - Just like anything, don’t always accept the first price a recruiting firm quotes you for their services. For those that don’t know, a recruiter gets paid on a percentage of the total salary of their placement. The higher the salary of the new hire, the larger your invoice from the recruiter. With this in mind, always ask for a better rate. It’s not uncommon for a recruiter to charge in the range of 20%, but depending on how hungry they are for the business, many will drop down into the 15% range. You may have to look at an exclusivity deal with the recruiter, or something else to encourage them to drop the price, but always ask!
Know what you are looking for before you call the recruiter - It’s simple, but if you don’t know exactly what you want in a new hire, you can’t expect a recruiter to find you the right candidates. Start with a job description and add as many details as possible. If you are looking for a person with a variety of technical skills, list and rank their desired skills based on priority. The more descriptive you can be and the better picture you can paint about your ideal candidate, the more likely you are to find that person. If you can’t speak at length and in detail about your desired candidate you’re not ready to engage a recruiter. Being ill prepared not only wastes your time looking at inappropriate candidates, but it also tends to make your recruiter less interested in filling the position.
This is by no means a definitive list, but these 3 points have helped me find a number of great people over the last few years. What other good recruiter related advise is out there? Post a comment and share!