Kinsa Group Blog

If you’ve watched the news lately, or followed the markets, you’ve probably found the economic data as puzzling and disconcerting as I have.  Up one day, way down the next.  One economic analyst talks about a slow recovery, the other warns us of the next recession.  The roller coaster we’re on isn’t showing any signs of smoothing out, thus leaving companies – and employees – wondering what’s next.

The honest answer is that nobody knows.  And for the people who work in your organization, that may be the most stressful part.  Uncertainty breeds fear.  And fear breeds discontent.  When people are unsure of their futures, they fill their minds (and waste their time) with irrational fears and “what ifs.”

During hard times, companies rely on their employees to help pull them through.  But unfortunately, that’s precisely when top performers are most likely to quit.  Watching others get laid off, chronic overwork and nagging uncertainty can all drive your best people out the door.

When your staff is worried, it’s up to you to control the outcome.  Now is the time to motivate, retain and even re-recruit your top employees, using the following ideas:

• Be honest. When times are tough, there’s a natural tendency to buckle down, work harder and avoid others.  This is a deadly mistake.  Without good information from you, your employees will draw their own (possible incorrect) conclusions.  In general, it’s far better to be forthcoming – even about bad news – than to withhold information.
• Involve top performers in developing solutions. Talk about the problems facing your organization and challenge your best employees to help create the solutions.  With a vested interest in the company’s success, and control over the ways problems are tackled, your staff will be more likely to stay through difficult times.
• Invest in one-to-one management. Layoffs, customer attrition and other sources of bad news tend to create a turbulent workplace.  Calm the waters by scheduling one-on-ones with each of your key team members.  Review the improvement plans being enacted, as well as the challenges and opportunities ahead.  Outline clear expectations for each employee’s performance and the outcome that will occur if that performance is achieved.  If layoffs are likely, clearly delineate the situation that will trigger the cuts and what must occur to avoid them.
• Offer market pay. While this may not be the ideal time to consider increasing personnel expenses, don’t short-change yourself by under-compensating your staff.  Evaluate your pay and benefits package to ensure it’s competitive.  While money alone typically won’t drive high performance, a compensation package that is perceived as being unfair will create resentment – and drive employees out the door.
• Actively re-recruit top performers. Your company surely invests in marketing to existing clients.  Why?  Because it costs five times more to get a new customer than to retain an existing one.  The same is true of employees.  Top performers are incredibly expensive to replace.  Rather than take chances, be proactive about keeping them satisfied.
  Ask your employees to help keep the team together, by identifying those they feel are at risk of leaving.  Tell your employees how much you value them – regularly.  Find out what frustrates your best employees and develop ways to alleviate the sources.  Help top performers define career paths within your organization.  Bottom line, do whatever you can to keep your best and brightest inspired to continue working for you.

During times of crisis and uncertainty, true leaders emerge.  Get out of your office and go invest in your biggest asset – your people.  Let them know that they are more than just survivors; they are the champions who will create your company’s future success.

Contact Kinsa today to find out how our 8-Step Recruiting Process for food & beverage executives and professionals can deliver the high performers you need to thrive in this tough economy.

U.S. workers are working longer – and retiring later.  Why?

According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s Retirement Confidence Survey (as reported by Workforce.com):

• about 36 percent of respondents cite the poor economy;
• 16 percent say their lack of faith in Social Security is forcing them to postpone retirement;
• 13 percent claim they simply can’t afford to stop working.

As a result, workers say they are more than twice as likely to work up to age 70 or older – a 25 percent increase from just a decade ago.

Rising numbers of older individuals remaining in the workforce creates both challenges and potential benefits for employers.  On the one hand, workers delaying retirement adds pressure to companies already struggling to reduce payroll as profit dwindles.  A glut of older workers also threatens to clog the talent pipeline for organizations who want to bring in new employees – at lower salary levels.

On the other hand, companies for which knowledge loss is a concern stand to gain a welcome benefit from a more mature workforce – less “brain drain.”  Key managers have more time to plan for the departure of older workers, and therefore can be more strategic in retraining or transferring institutional knowledge.

As older workers continue to delay retirement, HR needs to respond by reevaluating the way they manage human capital.  Instead of paying older workers to retire, HR should look for creative ways to take advantage of the shift in workforce demographics:

• Create cross-mentoring relationships. In a traditional mentor relationship, older, more experienced workers share knowledge with their less experienced counterparts.  When it comes to technology, however, younger employees are often more savvy.  Organizations can foster reverse mentorships, in which younger workers share their knowledge in areas like online social networking.
• Find new ways to attract younger workers. In a time when career advancement is likely to become more difficult, organizations should focus on new ways to bring top performers on board.  When HR can’t necessarily offer rapid upward mobility to new talent, they can offer lateral movement.  Lateral moves can help younger employees broaden their knowledge bases, become more valuable to the employer (increasing job security) and become more marketable overall.

Kinsa Group can help your organization proactively manage its professional and executive human capital needs as our workforce changes.  We provide recruiting and professional placement services with a specific focus on the food & beverage industry.  Serving companies throughout the United States since 1985, we are able to recruit and assess candidates for positions in:

• Executive Management
• General Management
• Sales
• Marketing
• Operations & Plant Production Management
• Research & Development
• Food Science
• Quality Assurance
• Food Safety
• Human Resources
• Engineering
• Maintenance
• Supply Chain and Purchasing
• Warehouse Management
• Finance & Accounting

How will your food & beverage organization address the shifts in workforce demographics?  We at Kinsa would like to know.  Please leave your comments below.

The following food & beverage industry professionals are experienced, motivated and ready to perform for your organization:

VICE PRESIDENT OF R & D

CN: 68378

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE: Accomplished innovation leader with 20 years of solid marketing and R&D results at an industry-leading Fortune 400 food company and a $3 billion frozen food manufacturer.

Key accomplishments, skills and experience:

• Demonstrated track record of delivering growth through new product innovation. New product net sales reached nearly 6% per year and more than 18% on a rolling 36-month basis. Additionally the innovation pipeline value tripled in five years.
• Led marketing execution in the transformation of a commodity fresh meat business into a portfolio of consumer-desired products delivering a 150% increase in profit margins.
• Influential leader on executive teams tasked with creating a transformational corporate strategic plan and implementing best-in-class employee engagement program.
• Motivational team leader who built a culture of innovation in which R&D employee engagement improved at twice the rate of overall company growth.
• Proven ability to recruit, mentor and build strong leaders. Team members frequently selected for promotion out of R&D and for inclusion in corporate leadership academy.
• Strong analytical skills and vast experience with implementing best practices. Introduced best-in-class portfolio management system and spearheaded the new product process.
• Goal – lead food industry technical teams in delivering new product innovation through an R&D culture of collaboration, accountability and influence.

Expertise in:

• Team leadership (worked with teams ranging from 5 to > 100)
• Strategic plan development and execution
• Brand management (6 years in marketing at Hormel)
• Strong technical expertise with all forms of meat products
• General technical expertise with dairy / dough / entrees
• Extensive communication skills
• Employee engagement
• Stage-Gate / Accolade

EDUCATION: Ph.D. Meat Science in 1987 from Iowa State University

DESIRED SALARY: $150,000+/year

CONTACT: Please contact Laurie Hyllberg at 414.367.5505 or e-mail Laurie.

__________________________________________________________

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT FOOD SCIENTIST

CN: 107429

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE: Passionate Food Scientist with great product development experience in food.  After recently losing her position of 10 years with a major food manufacturer as Food Scientist – Biscuit & Snacks division, this seasoned professional is looking to bring her outstanding creativity in developing new ideas and flavors to your organization.

She is certainly a top talent with her experience, knowledge and education.  She has worked product development from bench top to pilot plant through to commercialization.  Has cross functional HACCP, labeling and quality experience through working closely with these areas of the company.

She has worked with shelf stable bakery and snack food products such as cracker and cookies.  She has also worked with flavors: from savory flavors to flavors for confectionary, jellies and sweet goods, to liquid, dry and plated flavors.

Presently renting, can make a relocation easily.  Ideal locations are; MO, KY, GA, SC, NC, WV, VA, TN, MD, NY, & NJ.  Would be a great asset to your R&D team… Will NOT be available long!

DESIRED SALARY: $70,000/year

CONTACT: To learn more, please contact Nancy Furgason at 414.367.5512 or e-mail Nancy.

__________________________________________________________

SENIOR SALES & MARKETING MANAGER

CN: 108195

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE: Focused and driven strategic marketing and sales manager with demonstrated success in fast-paced, customer-driven and highly competitive sales environments.  Energetic multi-tasker competent in managing to budget, building and motivating high-performance sales teams, executing multi-faceted marketing programs and achieving aggressive sales results.

Possesses complementary operations management skills including:

• People Management
• Broker Management
• Financial Record Keeping
• Budgeting
• Strategic Planning
• New Business Development
• New Product Launch
• Key Account Relationship Management & Maximization
• Training & Education
• Cost Control
• Inventory Management
• Production Scheduling
• Tradeshow Planning & Execution

DESIRED SALARY: $110,000/year

CONTACT: Please contact Russ Lilly at 414.367.5513 or e-mail Russ.

Still on the fence about using social media?  Consider these statistics from the recent Cone Business in Social Media Study:

• 93 percent of Americans believe that a company should have a presence on social media sites.
• 85 percent believe that these companies should use social media to interact with consumers.
• 60 percent of Americans regularly interact with companies on social media sites.

The truth is, social media can help expand your business network, enhance your career, recruit employees and more.

According to HR expert Susan M. Heathfield, About.com Guide, HR professionals need to participate in social media for career success – and she should know.  She is a management and organization development consultant who specializes in human resources issues and in management development to create forward-thinking workplaces.  Susan is also a professional facilitator, speaker, trainer and writer.

Heathfield’s About.com article “10 Reasons Social Media Should Rock Your World” details the rationale behind making social media time investment mandatory for every HR professional:

1. Stay in touch with colleagues and friends. Social media makes it easier than ever to re-connect with former colleagues, classmates, teachers and other professional contacts.
2. Make it easy for others to find you. Maintain both individual and company profiles to make it simple and convenient for customers, employees and candidates to reach you.
   
3. Find potential job candidates. For example, you can e-mail social media contacts with job requirements and ask them for referrals.
4. Investigate potential career opportunities. If you’re interested in finding a new job, social media sites like LinkedIn can be invaluable in your search.  You can use the site to network, garner recommendations and learn about new job openings.
5. Establish your online brand. You can use social media to promote your career progress by establishing an online presence that defines who you are professionally and what you want to be known for accomplishing.
6. Join groups that share your professional interests. As a group member you can give and get information about recommended reading, industry trade shows or other professional meetings/events.
7. Develop social connections. Sites like Facebook are rapidly gaining mature professional members.  Unlike LinkedIn, Facebook is ideally suited to having fun and developing social contacts over time.  A word of caution:  carefully manage your Privacy Settings and critically examine content – before you post or upload – to make sure it’s compatible with your professional image.
8. Provide a space in which users of your products/services can interact with you. Use social media to expand your customers’ opportunities to discuss their wants and needs – with you or with other customers.
9. Build community around your products or services. The people who are the “face” of your company should leverage social media opportunities to build relationships with consumers.  Forums and blogs on your company website (and within your HR Intranet), as well as fan pages, can help you build this sense of community.
10. Finally your company, in addition to individual employees, should establish a company presence on major social media sites to stay in step with the changing interests and needs of consumers.  The Internet has opened up worldwide communication.  Why not use its social media components to make you and your company more successful?

With a presence on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, as well as a food & beverage industry-specific blog, Kinsa Group leverages social media to locate talented, experienced food & beverage professionals and C-level executives – especially those with hard-to-find skill sets.  Contact Kinsa today.