Excel With Excited Entry Level Employees

We’ve all just come back from a fun and relaxing long weekend. And there’s more than one Synergy Merchant Services staff member walking around the office with a bit of a tan today. The awesome Victoria Day long weekend was one of warmth and sunshine and it seems like many of our team members took full advantage of it.

And that’s just fine by us. We know that a happy staff is a productive staff. Now, of course, this is nothing new to us. In fact, we’ve blogged about this topic in the past. However, as The Toronto Star’s business reporter, Emily Mathieu reports today, a McGill University study has found that this is especially true for entry-level staff members who may have just recently started their positions.

McGill University’s Jody Heymann is the Canada Research Chair in Global Health and Social Policy and founding director of the McGill Institute for Health and Social Policy. Her study, entitled Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder, outlines the benefits to businesses of having a motivated and made-to-feel-valued staff of new employees.

Says Heymann: “There are companies around the world that have recognized the value of entry-level employees and are making it an enormous competitive advantage and a central piece of their competitive strategy.”

In her report, Heymann elaborates about how companies can thrive at their lowest levels as long as their staff is healthy, well rested, well trained and motivated in their work. She insists that entry-level workers “carry volumes of institutional and practical knowledge that can streamline operations in most organizations.”

Heymann writes that with certain incentives including advancement or rewards, workers will be encouraged to be self-motivated in such a way that they help the company function more efficiently.

Without flexibility, good wages or opportunities to move up, however, “companies must expect to face high replacement and recruitment costs. When you multiply (those costs) by these extremely high turnover rates for entry level jobs you are talking very high total expenses.”

As a result, Synergy works to ensure that our staff feels that their efforts are recognized and appreciated. Continually offering new incentives and encouraging a fun working environment are just some of the ways that we attempt to motivate our staff. Knowing that this will, in turn, inspire new staff members to feel welcomed and excited about their new jobs, it is our hope to continue to have our company grow in it success.