12-16-2011
by Laurie Kahn
With the end of the year quickly approaching, it is often a time to review, reflect and think about what can be done differently in 2012 to help your company increase revenue and in turn increase profitability. The first thing that comes to many of our minds is that we need to improve ratings and/or sell more! However, there are other areas that may need some ?massaging? as well! To run an efficient and effective operation and to increase profits means we need to do more upfront work and strategic planning.
During the economic downturn many companies laid off a good share of their workers to save money. I wonder how many of those layoffs were done in a strategic manner or how many simply took the most expensive, most senior or junior staff and cut them without really scrutinizing who could benefit the company the most, who on the team could pick up the skills of those that had departed or how they needed to realign job descriptions to make sure as Stephen Collin?s preached to us years ago, that we had the right people on the bus.
We all regularly hear about radio stations needing to find talented sellers, it is one of the top issues at every conference. However, not only do stations need to find good sellers, they need to make certain that each employee is right for the job they are doing, which may not be what they were hired to do. For a station to run efficiently and within budget constraints as many are experiencing, it is crucial that each person has a detailed job profile outlining not only what skills are needed but what they are responsible for doing on a day-to-day basis and what is expected of them overall.
All job profiles should be reviewed at least on an annual basis or more often to confirm that all aspects needed are being covered by someone on the team. Too many times it is ?assumed? that someone is covering a key area of responsibility when in reality no one is and the task is going undone. A solid job profile can also be used to review employees and develop compensation plans. It absolutely can be used to replace someone who is not meeting the standard of work expected. A detailed job description can help make sure you hire correctly which will lower your turnover, thus help with recruitment, un-employment, severance and separation issues.
When reviewing and revising job descriptions one of the problems many face is that we tend to consider who is in the job now and we build the profile around their skills vs. taking the person out of the equation to develop what the job needs. Once that is done, then is the time to consider each person to ascertain if they are right for the job that you need done. If they were hired to do one job and then due to layoffs, had other duties assigned to them, it is in the best interest of the job to review if their skills match the new profile. If you are going to run your business with fewer people, make sure it is the right people in all departments!
Laurie Kahn is Founder and President of Media Staffing Network and can be reached at 480-306-8930 or via e-mail at laurie@mediastaffingnetwork.com. Visit the Media Staffing Website www.mediastaffingnetwork.com
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