Hiring in a down economy

The government can”™t seem to get its act together and yet we, the business people of America, are being asked to return to business as usual. The question is, what is the “new” normal like?

The economy goes through cycles, of course, but this one is stranger than most. Perhaps when it is really over we will look back and gain a better understanding of what happened.

For now, many businesses have had to focus on survival first, growth second. That is not the normal we are used to.

All the while, the government expects business ”“ and even more so, small business ”“ to lift the economy out of the doldrums and drive the economic recovery.

Does hiring now amid all the economic uncertainty make sense?

Yes, hiring always makes sense.

Hiring should be a 52-week-a-year process ”“ you should always be looking for talent. When you find it you have to make decisions ”“ do I increase my payroll or use this opportunity to upgrade my team?

If you have dead wood, remove it and upgrade your talent base.  But if your people are doing a good job, bringing in high-level talent can be the key to jumpstarting your own engine. Just because average growth may be 2.2 percent doesn”™t mean you have to run an average business. Better people, and more of them, will enable you to outperform average.

That is logical. But how do you proceed toward growth in this high-risk market?

One way is to do so under a new set of compensation parameters.  Ask employees to share the risk.

For existing employees, that may be a hard sell, but you can create new compensation plans for new employees that put them more at risk. In other words, they need to perform to earn their “target” compensation. You may have to gradually shift toward an at-risk program by starting with new employees. However, if you create an upside ”“ with additional risk comes the incentive and possibility for more rewards ”“ you may be able to transition your current employee team to the new program.

Create a bonus program or commissions based on measurable attributes and show people that although there is a lower base salary, if they perform at target, they can still earn their expected overall compensation.

Every job can be measured ”“ it just takes some effort to figure out how. Once you develop the metric you are going to find that those employees who want to succeed will focus on achieving and surpassing that metric, and that business performance will improve.

The economy is chugging along slowly at best, but we cannot afford to sit here waiting for the macro economy to carry us to better business performance.

Donald J. Zinn is co-founder and managing partner of Exigent Search Partners, a search firm in Tarrytown. Reach him at dzinn@exigentsearch.com or visit his website at www.exigentsearch.com.