Nittany Embroidery & ScreenPrinting, based in Centre County, Pa. has been marketing custom embroidery, screen printing, and advertising specialty items for Penn State University and other clients for 10 years. Owner Erin G. O’Leary-Rallis tells IncTechnology that human resource software helped the company retain employees and foster a team environment.
Elizabeth Wasserman: What type of problems were you trying to resolve in your business by opting for human resources software?
Erin G. O’Leary-Rallis: Our industry is very fast paced and as small business owners my husband and I often wear many different hats from sales consultants to managers to cashiers and Internet designers at times. We tend to have very personal relationships with our 25-35 employees but we had to streamline the review process because we simply found we did not personally have time to evaluate everyone thoroughly, nor do we actively work side-by-side anymore with many employees. But being a grass roots company, our employees have come to expect personal attention and we do not want to give the impression that we are ever getting too big to be involved and acknowledge individual inputs. We needed a solution that would incorporate what we as owners need our employees to recognize as core cultural values within our company like integrity, reliability, and quality; however, we needed to tailor specific competencies which vary by job role. In addition we needed to carve out goals which were mutually agreed upon and monitored on a real time basis that would further allow our employees to align their work habits with our expectations. Through SuccessFactors, we found our solution.
Wasserman: Why did you choose this particular software and how does it help?
O’Leary-Rallis: We tried the “off the shelf” solutions for several years and they were fine for a quick review in a crisis situation but they did not allow us to really track progress and grow with it. Further, we wanted a single place to record both encouraging milestones by employee and reprimands so that when review time came around we would have specific examples to draw upon. I searched on the Internet for a solution that would be easily accessible for employees from multiple locations and was less paper intensive. When I found SuccessFactors and gave it a “test drive” I found it to be the HR solution that we were seeking. It is Web-based so it does not rely on a single server, and it is very scalable, and will grow as our business grows using the same footprint but allowing maximum customization and personalization. We also found a feature that we never even realized we needed which is the 360-degree peer review which has been a valuable concept incorporated into our everyday work. Being reviewed by your co-workers, you are forced to recognize that we all have blind-spots and areas we could improve upon — including my husband and I as owners. It has opened up our eyes and our employees eyes to recognize that in order to succeed as a team, you need not just impress the boss, but you also need to humbly recognize weaknesses and frustrations that others may have when working with you and we all must diligently work toward improvement in those areas.
Wasserman: What have the results been? What can you do now that you weren’t able to do before?
O’Leary-Rallis: Ultimately, employee reviews used to be a high anxiety activity for me and consequently I would put them off. They were only done sporadically and I recognize that approach was not good for morale. Further, it is difficult to promote a team atmosphere, then give a less than stellar review – sporadically — when an employee did not recognize the specific “weighting” of variables in the same way the I did. For instance, I had a long term employee who was reliable and honest. I could trust him making bank deposits and with confidential information. However, he was not motivated and I often wondered what he contributed during his work time. His lack of motivation was contagious and caused many other employees to become lax in their work habits, using him as precedent. Giving him negative reviews year after year was difficult for me because I could not seem to relay to him my disappointment until we began our current system. With our new HR management system, we are able to “weight” core competencies and expectations like reliability and honesty but through the addition of additional role-specific competencies. You are not guaranteed a raise — or a positive review — by just showing up and being trustworthy. With expectations laid out in advance and a clear rating system, standards are set and employees have a better idea of how their performance will be rated.
Wasserman: How have the peer reviews worked out?
O’Leary-Rallis: The 360-degree reviews require accountability on multiple dimensions so that evaluations are not based on one person’s perception or perceived bias. The employee used as an example above is no longer in our employ due to the results of a 360-degree review. He did not agree with constructive criticism and inputs of multiple co-workers and ultimately moved on. In the end, we grew as a company. Our overall employee turn over has gone down by 25 percent in the last year since we began making organizational changes including this new HR management system. I believe we are retaining the right type of employee for our organization, and we are poised and expecting 30 percent growth this year.
