The inability to retain key workers “is a symptom of other problems in a company,” according to Joel Goldberg, president of the consulting firm Corporate Cultures, in Amherst, N.Y. Goldberg says companies that continually lose valuable employees are likely saddled with bad managers — managers the company owner should get rid of. Goldberg also thinks too many companies hire solely for skills, only to be disappointed when new hires leave, unable to adjust to co-workers or the company’s operations or policies.
Many home improvement company owners and managers agree, and are using their hiring procedures to single out applicants who fit their corporate molds. For example, it wasn’t too long ago that Statewide turned over three-quarters of its sales team annually. The company cut sales turnover in half, McCourt says, by developing a hiring system that used a specific series of questions to determine “whether a salesperson is going to make it.”
Richardson says Case needs to know three things about any applicant: Can he do the job? Will he do the job? And — most importantly — will he fit in? “Our culture is collaborative and synergistic,” he says. “We’re a team sport, and sometimes that’s not what [applicants] want.”
Richardson admits that his company’s retention batting average is all over the map: “With salespeople, you’re going to hit .700, .800; but in other jobs, it’s more like .500.”
Retention consultant Schwartz thinks more companies should put new hires through probationary periods before taking them on full-time. Full Spectrum Remodeling, a home improvement company in Eddystone, Pa., has new managers put in six to eight months of training before the company is confident they’re ready, co-owner Vic Muscarella says.
Filling in the Ranks Many home improvement company owners say their turnover rates in recent years have been low. And several pointedly note that no employee is irreplaceable, no matter how tenured or expert. When asked how many of his company’s 25 employees he considered valuable, Hank Adler, vice president and sales manager for All-Seal Home Improvement in Dayton, Ohio, says, “all of them. If a person isn’t valuable, he’s not worth keeping around.”
Gindele notes that when his company became a Renewal by Andersen franchise in early 2005, he was forced to terminate some reps and midlevel managers who couldn’t adjust to selling a higher-priced product.
Most contractors concede, however, that some positions are harder to fill than others. Klemons points to his superintendent, who has been with the company for 18 years. Muscarella says that any of Full Spectrum’s 10 project managers would be tough to replace because “they not only have carpentry experience and a high level of construction knowledge, but the brains to figure out how to get projects done.” Jeff Moeslein, co-owner and general manager of Swing Line Windows in Pittsburgh, says employees who “make the job a priority in their lives” inevitably end up being the most valuable and the hardest to replace. Other contractors also weigh value based on commitment to the company. “You need to grow with leaders and key players,” says Richardson of Case Design/Remodeling, which uses different formulas of compensation, including deferred payouts, to get senior-level managers to stay. Statewide, in Washington, places a premium on leadership training. Five years ago the company initiated a mentoring program that’s “paying dividends for us now,” McCourt says. Sales reps who qualify as mentors take the first step toward becoming assistant sales managers, thereby providing the company with a bullpen of talent to draw on as it expands.
Flexibility & Benefits Are Key More than ever, employees choose to work for companies that accommodate lifestyles and family needs. Adler, 60, once worked for a national company where he regularly logged in more than 55,000 miles of driving time per year. Since joining All-Seal in 2005, he’s home every night, which is just fine with him.
Robert Maceda Jr., president of Stanek Vinyl Window in Cuyahoga Heights, Ohio, says his company “fosters longevity” partly through a benefits package that includes a 401(k) retirement fund and health care coverage. ABC Seamless, the siding franchiser in Fargo, N.D., found out just how important benefits can be in retaining employees when it announced a decision to trim health insurance coverage last year. The announcement didn’t go over too well with some of the company’s 125 employees, and led to “fallout” in the form of resignations, says Lee Wegner, ABC’s vice president.