“This is the most significant investment we’ve made in our partners since the introduction of Bean Stock.”
I read that statement with interest the other day. Starbucks staff, referred to as “partners,” will now be eligible to receive partial tuition for the first two years and full tuition for the final two years of college.
“We’ve always known that our partners work hard every day,” Cliff Burrows, president of Starbucks’ Americas region, said in a phone interview. “This is the best way we can serve them.”
The new model
There are two words that stood out in the above announcement: partners and serve. Starbucks calls its staff members “partners” and the leadership looks to serve them.
Here’s another example. Joe Carcello has a great job at Costco. The 59-year-old has an annual salary of $52,700, gets five weeks of vacation a year, and is looking forward to retiring on the sizable nest egg in his 401(k), which his employer augments with matching funds. After 26 years at his company, he’s not worried about layoffs. In 2009, as the recession deepened, his bosses handed out raises. “I’m just grateful to come here to work every day,” he says. This statement comes from a recent article in Businessweek about Costco.
Not your parents’ company
Both these companies have realized that the old organizational support model for employees is outdated and they are charting out a new path to support their “partners.” With a multi-generational workforce under their belts, these companies are preparing themselves for a new workforce with new expectations. This is not your parents’ organization.
In the HR space, there is constant chatter over the inner workings of Zappos, Google, Facebook and the likes. Even though these so-called glamour companies are composed of a relatively young workforce, the one thing they do understand is that to engage employees you have to treat them like partners. The old organization/employee dynamic is over. The new dynamic is about partnering and serving.
Make it come to life
The EVP (employee value proposition) rings hollow if leaders don’t follow through with what they say. Regardless of what Starbucks or Costco says publicly, it is the company’s actions that bring it to life.
With this change in the workforce, to compete for talent you will have to offer more than just a job. Organizations can stop losing employees by aligning with better opportunities and reaching out beyond the paycheck. If that paycheck is all you are offering, you will not be able to compete for talent.
A new dawn
A new employee/partner dynamic has emerged in the last few years. Let’s call it the Costco/Starbucks lesson in employee engagement. Over the last few years, Nordstrom, the Container Store, Sephora and Whole Foods have gained a reputation for treating employees well. By engaging beyond the paycheck, these companies have outpaced rivals. It takes happy employees to build a successful company.
While lots of today’s companies may not be where they want to be financially in order to offer added incentives, they all must reconsider the marriage of the organization and the employee. This critical relationship makes the difference between long-term success and failure. There is no way around it.
Failure is an option
While your company may not be able to offer college tuition or stock offerings, you have to move beyond just the offer of a paycheck. If you do not make changes to the way your company recruits and retains employees, you will be losing mind share, market share and talent share. You will lose.
Organizations today are going to have to experiment with new organizational structures where leadership is held accountable to employees and their focus has to be on reigniting their partners. This is not HR’s responsibility. This responsibility belongs to the company’s executive team.
You can hold as many strategy meetings as you like, but if you’re not focused on your employees you will be wasting your time. In this new era of accountability, it is the organization that partners with its workforce that will have the competitive advantage. This pairing will allow your company to withstand the winds of competition.
Your organization has the ability to change how it does business with its own people.
Written by Ron Thomas
Source: Ceo.com
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