Culture or qualifications?

Hiring is by far one of the most difficult tasks any manager is faced with. Hire the wrong person, and you find yourself investing as much time in remedying the situation as you did interviewing the candidates. In the worst case scenario, the person leaves the company and you have to start the hiring process all over again. Hire the right person, and the business starts to run more smoothly and your load is lightened. Then, the challenge is maintaining a positive, productive work force that includes this new hire. And that’s easier said than done.

One of the ways to preemptively help maintain employee morale is by hiring someone who’s a good fit for your company culture and gets along well with existing staff members. Bringing someone on board who, in the process of getting their job done, disrupts or makes other employees uncomfortable, will upset the balance and bring morale down.

But how do you make sure that the person you’re hiring is the right fit? Advice abounds on how to hire the right person for the job, but one of the most common suggestions I’ve heard is, “Hire for personality, not skill.” That’s to say, a passionate, positive person who is motivated to learn how to do the job well can be more desirable than a person with a bad attitude who is already proficient in those areas. Don’t be afraid to have the job candidate interview with a few of the people he or she would be working with directly to gauge whether or not the person would be a solid addition to the team.

In this month’s cover story, Leslie Halleck takes a look at what needs to happen after you’ve got a team in place to keep employees happy and motivated. While it may surprise you, salary is not the most important factor in employee satisfaction. Business owners who pay employees well, but limit their ability to grow professionally or treat them with disrespect, will find many of them headed for the door. Not everyone is motivated by the same incentives, so take some time to find out what will work best at your greenhouse. Turn to page 14 to find out how to create a more positive company culture, build employees up and reduce turnover by increasing employee morale.

What are you doing in your growing operation to develop loyalty and a team spirit among your staff? What incentives are you offering employees to boost them up in stressful times? Drop me a line to share those ideas that have worked well, and even those that didn’t quite go as planned, at kvarga@gie.net

As the days get longer and the season begins to slow, may you and your employees be happy, healthy and motivated.

Karen E. Varga, Editor

kvarga@gie.net

216-393-0290 | Twitter: @Karen_GIE