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4 Ways to Prevent Stagnant Employees From Holding Your Company Back

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As we mentioned in our last post, Building the Right Team (Link HERE), surrounding yourself with the right team is crucial for any manager or business owner. With capable people in the right roles, your company can run like a well-oiled machine. Ideally, your people work well together and lift each other up — creating a team that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

But sometimes it isn’t so easy. What do you do when you make the wrong hire? We’ve all dealt with employees who get in the way of growth. The causes of these performance issues are varied, but the solution is usually the same: It’s time to part ways. But moving on from an employee isn’t always easy. So here are some tips to remember when dealing with a stagnant employee:

Remember culture comes first. CEOs love using sports analogies for a reason — your employees aren’t all that different from a sports team. Having just one “player” who disrupts the chemistry of your team can throw off interpersonal dynamics, disrupt relationships, and lead to an overall decrease in performance. So make sure you have a broad understanding of the personalities on your team — and know when hiring or firing a certain person will affect the culture.

Know that you don’t have time for toxic employees. Sometimes a toxic employee helps you make money, individually. They do their job and — in isolation — they’re driving growth. You have to look a little harder to see the harm they’re causing. They might be bringing down other employees and keeping them from doing their best work. So while your instinct might be to look at the numbers and act on those figures, it’s better to step back and take a holistic view. Moving on from this toxic employee might be much better for the long-term health of your business, even if there’s a loss in the short term.

Communicate first, act second. Maybe the expectations aren’t clear. Maybe, for instance, an employee doesn’t quite know how their performance is being measured. So before you act rashly with a low-performing employee, make sure you sit down with them and touch base. Low performance can have multi-faceted causes — and miscommunication between management and an employee is sometimes a factor.

Don’t be afraid to trust your gut. Sometimes it’s not all that complicated. Your employee knows what’s expected of them — and they just aren’t meeting expectations. If something feels “off” with an employee, trust your knowledge of your team and your company, and don’t be afraid to act. After all, sometimes someone just isn’t a good fit for your team. The sooner you act, the sooner the employee can move on to new opportunities and you can move on to filling the role with someone who will thrive.

Your employees are the lifeblood of your company. While you do everything in your power to ensure they succeed, you need to make sure they’re holding up their end of the bargain and delivering great work. So to keep your company growing, be sure to invest in high-performing employees — and don’t be afraid to move on from anyone getting in the way of that growth in any way.

Building the Right Team

With a combined 30 years of professional work experience, we have witnessed or have been a part of 100’s of teams. There is a common theme throughout these highly functional “tight” teams that guide them. That theme is derived from the values of each team member, fostered and guided by leadership, and reinforced by the daily actions of each member.

At VIA technical, one of our themes is to show-up and “get a little bit better every day” –Jim Harbaugh. We want to move the needle and improve in some form. The ultimate goal is improvement for ourselves, our company, and our clients.

In the fast-paced environment of technical recruiting, cohesion and unity of a team is essential to delivering for our clients. Companies put so much time and effort in recruiting individuals by using “perks” such as: unlimited PTO, office snacks/lunches, remote work or “cool/creative” office space. While these are nice incentives, people who really value a team atmosphere will not place as much weight in these things. In fact, we have found, through thousands of interviews, that most people in searching for new opportunities, want to be a part of a tight, hardworking team where they see their work actually making a difference. Companies who just use “perks” as their recruiting tool are actually focused on what the company can do for an individual, instead of focusing on how this individual can add value to the core of the business: the team.

It goes without saying that in growing a successful company, the most critical component is hiring the right people. One bad hire can cost you a significant amount of money (both current and future earnings), throw off the daily ‘mood’ and make you compromise on the very values that built your vision.

So what’s the first step to interviewing and building your team?

Spend some time reflecting on your values. These are a set of guiding principles you have had with you your entire life. Ask the simple question, “what do I believe”? Is it work ethic? Honesty? Compassion? Competition? Whatever it is, write it down. Then simply find people that hold most or all of the same values you do with the skill sets you’re looking for. Once you have two or more people (including yourself) you have a team. Now create your theme and whatever you do, do not compromise the values that compose it.

At VIA Technical we are proud of the team environment, created by the individuals that support one another while improving themselves daily.

Go Team!

David and Natalie

Filling the Hiring Gap

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Every month our Technical Recruiters are speaking with hundreds of candidates that are actively or passively looking in the San Diego tech job market. Remote work, flex hours and salary range are some of the top questions candidates have for us when determining a job change or considering a new opportunity. While salaries remained consistent from 2017 to 2018 with approximately 80% of our clients; we did see a shift upward to a much higher salary range for those same skill sets in the other 20%. In order to secure the top talent when competing with the tech giants entering the market, such as Amazon, companies need to either pay comparable salaries and/or bridge the gap with incentives not based on compensation (remote work, flex hours, etc..).

Interestingly enough the DICE 2019 Tech Salary Report/Survey came out last week and essentially stated the same thing.

You can find the link to this report below.

Some highlights include:

47% of Tech Professionals surveyed said they’d change employers to seek better working conditions (outside of better compensation) to include remote work, flex hours, training and continuing education.
San Diego ranked 3^rd out of 24 cities offering the highest tech salaries, but fell to 17^th out of 24 when these salaries were adjusted to the cost of living.
35% of Tech Professionals surveyed say they are “burnt out” from their current job. The top three factors contributing to “burn out” include lack of recognition (36%), Workload (35%), and Monotony (28%).
Aerospace and Defense continue to be the industry that offers the highest Tech salaries followed by Energy, and Banking/Finance.

Link is HERE for the full report.

Enjoy!

David Viani

4 Tips Every Hiring Manager Needs to Know

-How to hire the Developer that you really need.

1. Know that for the right person, you’ll need to move quickly. There are far too many companies in town searching for the same .NET or Java Developer as you are. Approximately 50% of our clients will be able to interview and turn an offer around in roughly 1 week. They need and want that person and they will make it happen. If your process is too slow or has a 5-8-hour coding test, chances are you could lose the opportunity to hire that person.

2. Present a salary that is commensurate to the skills of the person, not a general salary for all “senior” developers. It’s just a fact that money talks. It’s not that they generally chase money but we’ve heard so often – “If the offer came in a little higher than the others, it shows me the really want me”. It makes people feel good. It gives them an extra punch. I’m talking a couple thousand, not tens of thousands.

3. Work with only a couple good agencies. Why? There are more reasons than I could name in this article, but a good staffing agency focuses on quality and fillable positions with true partners. Partners put trust in us to deliver the person in a reasonable time. We’re not one of 10 but we are hired to get the job done and we will ensure we do – and our recruiters will bend over backwards when they know our clients are invested in us. It’s amazing what a recruiter will do when they are valued by the client.

4. When it comes to offer time, managers, pick up the phone and call the candidate. I’ve heard – “that’s your job”. Well of course it is. We will work every tactic to close the deal, but there is absolutely nothing like a personal call from the hiring manager telling that candidate that they are so excited to have them on board. Many of our placements that close have this happen. Yes, we are hired to get you the person and close the deal for you, but this person doesn’t work for VIA. They work for YOU. A personal touch goes a long way.

If you’re struggling to find the right talent, or can’t seem to “close the deal”, call us for a consultation. We would love to help you solve your problems.

clients

candidates

Unlike other firms, Natalie and her team took the time to understand my complete needs, both from a technical aspect as well as team synergy, which I find almost equally important when hiring both full time and contract workers.

The secret to filling the most in demand tech positions in San Diego is going through our process.

4 Ways to Prevent Stagnant Employees From Holding Your Company Back

Building the Right Team

Filling the Hiring Gap

4 Tips Every Hiring Manager Needs to Know

4 Tips Every Hiring Manager Needs to Know

-How to hire the Developer that you really need.

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