To attract and retain the best people, organizations must become more employee centric than ever before. Simultaneously, to survive and thrive in the new free market global economy, employers must be more sensitive to remaining competitive than ever before. Here’s how to balance the two.

It’s only a matter of time before the same forces that caused the downfall of the American steel and automotive industries affect you. If you want to get the best employees possible, you should aim high and develop a people strategy that directly supports your business strategy. Whom do you serve and how?

While both are retailers, Wal-Mart and Nordstrom have very different employment strategies because they have very different business strategies. One offers low prices in a self-service environment, the other is service-intensive, selling designer and private-label clothing. Wal-Mart’s model depends on hiring people with fewer skills, so it offers less generous financial rewards while maintaining a good employee recognition program.

Although employees feel entitled to earn more than those doing the same job elsewhere in the world, your communication must reconcile those expectations and stress increased productivity as the key to increased compensation. Employee training must emphasize that the key to both earning more and the company remaining in business rests on employees and their increasing productivity.

A recent survey by Towers Perrin showed how important it is to grant financial rewards based on performance, not just tenure. The survey indicated that most employees were dissatisfied with tenure compensation and become de-motivated. Financial rewards and recognition must be in alignment with training programs, be fair and recognize productivity. De-motivation leads to productivity loss and productivity loss always leads to disaster.

To impassion employees to be engaged and motivated, the workplace and the work they are doing must be in alignment with their personal values. What are your organizations values?

One of the most important values of Ritz-Carlton hotels is putting the customer’s needs first. Everyone is expected to drop whatever they are doing if a guest needs something. An employee who personally values finishing every task before starting the next will not fit with Ritz-Carlton but thrive with a different employer that shares their values.

To impassion employees, you must attract people who can live by your company’s values. Many people value personal integrity and, if their company’s values are consistent, feel affirmed when they tell a customer the truth, even if they lose a sale. If the company’s values are inconsistent, they might stretch the truth and win the sale but feel let down because their personal values were violated. Lack of motivation results with lower productivity to follow.

By appealing to employees’ values you create the emotional link that leads to high loyalty, low turnover, and the willingness to go beyond the call of duty. You must carefully define your organizations values, communicate them and hire only people who have the same.

To grow employees to become more capable and fulfilled, organizations must go beyond impassioning them. A well “grown” employee is trained that in order to get the most for themselves, they must participate by improving the company’s performance and productivity both today and in the future.

Growth strategies include training that offers a wide array of educational programs that may range from handling customer service to completing time records. Many organizations invest in cycling people through a variety of jobs, mentoring programs, and even executive coaching.

Employers today face the challenge of balancing the needs and expectations of both the organization and its employees. The common theme that runs thru all successful organizations is that for people to earn more the company must stay healthy. To do so, training must increase productivity by properly rewarding, impassioning and growing your people.

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