NEVER LOSE ANOTHER GREAT TEAM MEMBER 4Ways to Keep Your Employees Happy What does it take to build and retain a dream team? When I took over Sklar Technology Partners, I spent years asking myself this question. It took me a while to find a foolproof way of keeping great staff, and even longer to make the dream team happen. But I’m happy to say we’ve finally done it. Now, my struggle can be your gain. Retaining fantastic staff comes down to the golden rule: “Treat your employees the way you would want to be treated.” I’ve been an office worker. I know how much it sucks to feel underappreciated, overworked, and underpaid. I didn’t want anyone on my team to feel that way, so I implemented these three strategies. 1. Align with your core values — It took me a long time to figure out the value of core values. Once I did, it made the biggest difference with how we hire. We value skill but hire on character. For instance, our “Wow Clients Every Opportunity” value aligns employees with great attitudes. They are optimistic, love serving and love more than anything feeling appreciated. Pro Tip: if you want a Sklar engineer to give you amazing service for life, write a note of praise to our help desk so everyone sees it. We love feeling appreciated when we go above and beyond to help a valuable client! 2. Overpay them — GoBankingRates.com says in 2019 a household needed to make at least $53,400 per year to afford a home here in Virginia. It’s clear that the $9.50/hour state minimum wage (less than $20,000 per year) doesn’t cut it. If you want to keep good people, you have to pay a premium. You’ll save in the long term by keeping your high-performing workers happy and slashing voluntary turnover, which costs U.S. businesses a trillion dollars a year according to Gallup. 3. Offer extra vacation time — Two weeks of paid vacation is not enough! That’s hardly enough time to relax and enjoy a trip, especially if you have little kids at home. When I took the reins at Sklar, one of the first things I did was increase my team’s vacation time to five weeks. They’re happier and harder- working because of it. 4. Be the Boss You Wish You Had — I’ve never had a great boss. So, when I was an employee, I spent a lot of time thinking about what the ideal boss would be like. They wouldn’t mismanage or micromanage. They’d treat me well. They’d compliment my work. Now, I try to be that boss for my employees. I must be doing something right, because I have the most responsible, modest, hardworking team out there! I’m truly blessed. If you implement these tips, you can build and keep your dream team, too.
WHY DOES THE QUIP TOOTHBRUSH REALLY WORK?
Have you seen a toothbrush that’s always showing up in Facebook ads? If you don’t have one already, it might surprise you that quip, the company that invented it, currently has a net worth of over $1.14 billion. How did they get there? Unlike most consumer product companies, quip didn’t start with a product first. They focused on a problem first: People weren’t brushing, changing brush heads, or flossing nearly enough. Using those shortcomings as a starting point, they began to revolutionize the dental product industry. Inventing a New Design After seeing the sleek, modern design of a quip toothbrush, it won’t surprise you that two industrial designers invented it. Co-founder and CEO Simon Enever got the idea for quip toothbrushes in 2012 after a visit to the dentist in Queens, New York. His dentist mentioned that, despite electric toothbrushes working so well, people still didn’t use them enough. That day, Enever called Bill May — who’d worked for Lifetime Brands like Farberware and KitchenAid — and they started working on the company and product idea. But how do you break into a market dominated by two corporate brands? Existing electric toothbrushes worked great. But Enever, like most Americans, just couldn’t find one he wanted to use. The toothbrushes were heavy, the charging stands were clumsy, and the brush itself often felt too big, too small, or too oddly shaped. From there, Enever and May stripped down many expensive, unnecessary features that toothbrushes had while keeping the most useful features, like a buzzing timer. That led to the signature, simplistic, and familiar quip toothbrush design we know today. Creating a Worldwide Trend With a competitive, affordable price ($25) and subscription service, quip makes it easy for users to stay on top of their oral health. Quip also works directly with dentists, who offer patients free quip subscriptions if they come in for six-month checkups. With quip’s sleek, light, and convenient design, and even a Bluetooth app for tracking and rewarding customers with healthy brushing habits, it’s no wonder quip toothbrushes are a worldwide success. Enever and May’s innovation wasn’t really in the toothbrush itself, but the way they envisioned how a toothbrush can encourage people to keep brushing. We think it’s safe to assume that many other dental brands, even other health-focused brands, will take inspiration from this approach.
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