 Hey, good afternoon everybody time Stuart here. I'm with Liz Trotter our guest today as Kevin Conkel. This is smart business moves How are you? How are you today Kevin? I'm wonderful. I'm wonderful. How are you all? Awesome This one has it Kevin has a big lag Right. Is that just me is it? Yeah, it's I don't know. We'll see It's uh, it's the internet up there in Somerville, I guess Well, I am looking forward to hey Denean, I'm looking forward to hearing from Kevin today Because the last time he was on I couldn't be here and I was really bummed out. I've heard all you what happened I don't remember I had Pitchett Matt Matt came in and and helped us that day last minute something happened Was it last I don't think it was last minute I think that was when I was in texas Oh, I think it's when I was in texas. Yeah Last minute would be something like your cat would drag your computer in the floor or something Not that that would ever Oh my gosh I don't know what i'm talking about where would you come up with such a thing tom You're crazy. You're just crazy Oh, so good to see you denit, uh, I was on a call with denit yesterday On a strategic success call and I kind of beat her up a little bit. So I hope you're doing okay today denit She's she's tough cookie. I'm sure she is I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm hurting for you denit. I know what it feels like No, you don't Tom You mean it gets worse Yes, yes, it does. Yes But see look she still showed up. So we're good What do you got in the background there kevin? You got some cool stuff back there What do I have in the background? Well, that's a little of my uh, my first life my career, um Which was the united states navy. I was a submarine road nuclear submarines for about 10 years and Did that I'm out of here and scotland and vane and out there where you're from bremerton washington So it's a little time out there as well Yeah, cool 10 years. That's a long time. That's I don't want to be some of that memorabilia back there. Yeah Yeah, that was back you guys You guys were that was back in the day you were fighting communist aggression, right? Yeah, there's no one is the cold war Oh Yeah, gosh that's ringing a bell. We actually we actually call it Yeah, we actually qualify for uh veteran status If you have this little pin with patrol pin, so Yeah, so anyway, I can tell you about that is I was never there and it never happened. Yeah And if he tells us anymore, he'll have to kill us even no not me I'm not gonna wouldn't don't tell me anymore. Yeah, and if you have to know. Well, I'm not going there I'm letting that one go Tom Okay Anything going on out in the world that we need to talk about we will that would be another yeah Another call Okay, we'll we'll have you back in town Oh, all right. It was a I had a busy call right before this so Okay, gotta relax cool off a little bit here I don't know. Is there anything house kovat doing Tom? Oh, the numbers are getting a little bit better on a national level from what I understand Uh, you know depends what part of the country you're in I think it's uh Up north it's getting a little bit worse down here in a south is getting better It's still bad relative to most parts of the country, but I mean the trends are going a good direction That's good I know one of our um success members Uh lives uh up in virginia and they're like one of the top five Bad cities right now. So that's not fun. That's kind of scary Okay Yeah, I've seen some of those numbers, you know the the number of positive cases per hundred thousand people I was uh From virginia myself originally and I'll get these things showing up on my facebook Feed every once in a while about how bad it is and then I actually look at the numbers compared to what they are down You know, South Carolina. I'm They don't know what bad is yet, but oh really? No Oh Hopefully it won't get uh get too much worse Yeah There you go. What are you talking about today? Kevin, what are we talking about today? Well, we're gonna talk about Something that's been on your minds all month long And all of your other presenters have talked about I think that subject's been employee retention And has I've gone through and listened to The episodes this month um I thought we could talk about Align how important And how important alignment is um to this topic And I use this term a call to action because um We use that term or we see that term a lot in marketing advertising retail Uh call us, right? And how people try to get our attention or create capacity so The one thing is we need to have a call to action for ourselves because If we're gonna talk about employee retention We still have to start with the end in mind And the end in mind really is what our vision is So we have to make sure we're clearly Identifying what our vision is And that we're clearly and competently communicating that vision To our employees to our workforce, right? Yeah, so if we do that We can come back and we can begin Our alignment we can start Building that road if if that's what we need to do or we can start modifying making improvements to And so that's where I start I like to start with the end in mind and then kind of move forward And see where you know, we we end up So we've heard a little bit about this um throughout the month and workplace identity and personal identity Are becoming more and more entwined And I kind of heard that theme throughout the different different presentations this month Maybe not couch this way but If you look at millennials and gen Xers They really want to have their personal identity Be recognized and be a part of the workforce They don't want that to be something separate You know So it's not only the employer who wants that cultural alignment It's the employee, isn't it? Absolutely. I totally agree with that. I love I love this verbiage right here. It's super simple Simple but not easy. You know, I think if we Trying to get my mind back around what this looks like Um I think that you know where I and as you'll see where I'm going with this You know, we have to make sure That we're digging in and we're engaging With these people who come on board And people already in our workforce To find out Is our vision Are our core values Aligning With what some of their personal values are Now I'm not suggesting that we sacrifice You know our core values And things like that we we have to you know maintain some semblance of organization But I think we have to become more and more sensitive to what These two upcoming generations that are now a big part of our workforce Of the way they think and what they expect absolutely So when you achieve this alignment All your employees from entry level to leadership Share and act on the vision of the organization So if if you can visualize for a moment that You know you went from roadblocks detours accidents Huge potholes you can't get through around Um to now thing aligned You know the road is now newly paved Um We have nice on ramps and off ramps We're actually now everybody in the same direction To accomplish the vision So again, you know there are words on paper, but we have to Get in the mode of of living this sort of thing And the first thing we have to do is figure out How do we reach the alignment? How do we get into the alignment because I'm afraid what everybody falls a victim to Is we have a tendency to put band-aids on things And we throw something out there that may suffice what we think is a lot or a couple months A half a year And then we drift away from it again And our our alignment then is misaligned And then we're back to revisiting that same issue again I know that this has happened to me So I don't know if you follow Yeah, and And you know we we sometimes is as leaders as business owners as managers that We're doing the right thing by Let's just use this maybe putting an incentive in place, right? And It works for a little while That if our incentive Did not align with what our goals are Then Is it really meaningful? Does it align with what the individual employee was thinking do they think that what they're doing is important? Do they have something in the end that they gain? Or is it just the opportunity to you know get a gift card or something? So we've got to make sure we have an alignment and we have to make sure that it aligns with Arcade eyes our goals our vision and with the individual And that that takes some discussion that's back to the engagement I think that's a new A newer way of thinking that more people are recognizing now than they have in the past also that It's not just about what you want If you're not engaging your team with what they care about and what's important to them as well that You're just gonna You're gonna keep finding yourself back in the same exact vote Not not being able to have enough people working for you It sounds like you're describing Something that could be called a negotiation where as a company. This is what we want and you know as Employees as a workforce. Let's find out what you want and let's see if we can find some common ground where You know, everybody can get some of what it is that they want Usually it's difficult for everybody to get everything that they want but it's Something more than a negotiation where maybe the old school thinking would be well, this is us. This is our company. This is These are objectives and mission and vision and core values and if you don't like it then You know, you need to go get a job somewhere else or are you saying that You know that that that may or may not have worked in the past. I don't know, but it's less likely to work now than ever I think that when you look at the research The survey are being done by gallup by Harvard business review You know the folks that are in that in that business. I think gallup did a survey In january 2021 and of all of their respondents 30 percent indicated That flexibility scheduling um Was very important to them The other thing that they indicated was I think lis brought this up a couple of weeks ago or a couple of sessions ago Was maslow's um hierarchy of needs The other thing was security and safe financial security health and safety Those were the other things with scheduling flexibility that was important To people today So if it's important to them today Then certainly that's going to be important to them, you know moving forward Um, and so going back, you know to tom's comment You know, yes, what we need to try to gain is what's always been known as a win-win You know, we're we're back in here kind of using some sales strategies with our employees To get to a win-win, maybe it's not all or one, but if we can get some kind of consensus And you know consensus building is is big And if you can get consensus among your workforce That's tremendous Because if you think about all the varying personalities and behaviors that you have If you can reach some common consensus You're probably going to be able to reach this alignment that you're looking for Okay Yeah, that makes sense to me yeah so What is really going to drive this whole thing And you can go, you know to that next slide if you want tom You know Is engagement employees who are engaged? You know, they're likely to stay with their organization And you know back to slide tom. This is You you can go back one. Yeah Okay There we go so Yeah, right We have and it's not about once in a while It's not about, you know throwing a Yeah, an anonymous survey out there It's about getting in front of our folks And you know when I say in front of them too, we have so many opportunities tom talks about this, you know a lot um, I agree you know Have all of this everybody's carrying a computer all out of phone But we have capability To constantly stay in touch Um, and our employees to stay in touch with us So, you know, we've got to learn how to make sure employees understand how to use that technology And how can we use that to better engage our You know, so that engagement life happens to people Life happens to all of us So how do we stay on top of that? You know, I I've heard through the the several Previous episodes of you know specific examples of You know people's family members falling ill people falling into you know needing Food items or just basic items um You know, we have to know that because sometimes people walk up and they're like well They didn't show up today. They didn't show up to work the next day But sometimes we have no idea why that was We may think oh, they were disgruntled with the job But maybe not Maybe they felt that They had something else more pressing they needed to take care of And they didn't feel that They could trust to tell us that And you know, we really have to work to develop that because Trust seems to be the common threat that runs throughout that I heard everybody talk about so far And yeah trust is a huge word Trust doesn't just happen And trust is something again that has to has to live and breathe And you know, you really have to work on developing that and You know, I I throw this in Tom knows what's going to be seen it enough, but You know the first time I meet somebody and I come in with a In I introduce them to a little dove chocolate Now why do I that it's not just the chocolate it's a gesture and You didn't I appreciate your time Or I appreciate what you're doing And and I really got into the habit of that when when my head was staying with us He was sick And up until he passed away and we would take him, you know to appointments and cancer and the surgery and And you know, I would always take this with me and provide it to the caregivers to the nurses and to the docs and You know to the people who are coming in to clean the room housekeeping And I would just tell them, you know what you folks deserve a lot more, but you know, here's a little appreciation and You know what most of the time those people somebody was complaining to them about something No one was giving them appreciation So, you know, my dad would say hey, they want to know next time you're coming. You're the guy with the chocolate, you know But you know that I wasn't gonna They also knew I wasn't going to be complaining about something And so I think we we have to kind of do a lot of that in our workforce You know to make sure that we're giving and coming across that that we do care Now we have to make that real, you know, somebody's, you know, misbehaving or non conforming and You know, we have to make adjustments to that. We have to let them know we have to try to correct that But I think we also have to let them know that we appreciate what they do because Not everybody sees what they do You know as being important work But but you know, Kevin, I mean You know, Kevin, you know the healthcare Sector is you know perfection is something that that that you know as a concept, but It's hard to find and I bet because you were building trust and showing appreciation When you had the opportunity If your dad needed some Consideration that maybe he wasn't getting and if you like made the request I bet it was given a lot more consideration than what, you know, the average Request would get because of the trusted And in appreciation that that you showed throughout the process And I think that if you utilize that thought as a byproduct Not as the means of why you do it Then it's good because it certainly can be a byproduct and If you do it right, it can be a byproduct But I would I would also caution that it shouldn't be the main reason why you would do it So yes, well, I like to I like to think in terms So there's a there's a couple of different things that people will say that you hear And one of them is that you you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar And then on the opposing side of that you'll also hear That the squeaky wheel gets the grease, right? So these are kind of opposing ideas and Both say hey Be a witch and you'll get what you want and the other one is hey be nice and you'll get what you want But I think the difference there is yeah, you'll get what you want from both maybe But if you give the honey or in your case the chocolate the people are gonna want to give you What what you're looking for They're going to be on your side giving you what what you need and what you want because it's coming from them From themselves from internally that they want to do it the other people might give you what you want But they're going to resent it And and they're not going to want to give it to you and you you might have to keep on squeak in that wheel over and over and over again which You know that that's just a hard a hard road to hoe there It's the difference between commitment and compliance Yeah Yeah, very good counts. Nice and easy way of saying that. Yeah, correct Yeah Yeah And you know that that speaks down the road as I as I you know kind of move through this You know, you know, it's so important that You know, we're you know, you know the building the trust and some techniques to go about that Um, but you know, we really want our employees To be advocates for us at some point You know If they're committed to us Klee to be that advocate for us If they're just begrudgingly doing it Not so much So that that that is very important. I think the commitment is is very important So, yeah, they'll feel a stronger bond of the organization. I think if they're engaged Emission um in the purpose Make them more effective And they can make them more effective brand ambassadors for us, which is what we're we're trying to strive to as well That's one of those byproducts And again, they have to know too that What they're doing matters And that you know, that kind of speaks to Liz's uh three ms, right? um You know that part of that's important that they understand that Um, and we have to let them know through that those points of engagement that we have um and You know and and tom and i've been discussing this with within castlekeepers Through this alignment You know through the organization from Our hiring and selection Sales our whole process of scheduling Um out to our to the training to the field supervision to the cleaning technicians, right? We have to make sure that everybody understands that they're responsible for some form of kpi They don't have to know The whole picture they have to know the vision of where we're going But if they can understand they have to meet this And they have to you know be able to clean that home within that period of time And if not to please give us feedback of why not but if everybody's set up in a line to meet certain kpis Then everybody feels that they're part of the mission They're part of the vision That what they're doing and meeting that are exceeding that is taking company where it goes, but it's telling them It's meaningful to them. They know me And because there's meaning And i'm just stealing this from liz they know what matters, right? And at the end of the day we're providing them with what? Well, we're providing them with measurement at key points in time Daily weekly monthly quarterly, right? So they know And then that's where those incentives come in so Um, so building the stronger relationship, um, you know customers helping their company sales And profitability Want, you know, we have to depend on our cleaning technicians as well to help us You know build those relationships there in front of those customers um And we've got to make sure that that they understand that also And that only comes through engagement and you know, we have to make sure that we're doing the right job of Helping them understand that So I think the point is the slide says and there it is So This whole engagement, you know, we usually have been used to talking about a lot of engagement on the customer side You know and in the past and in and in my past the business management experience You know, we would have a huge focus on our customers a huge focus And you know kind of a week and bring ourselves into into today where We um, we have to have like a At least a 50 50. Maybe it's a 60 40 Focus on our employees to customers Um We have to maintain we make sure we can maintain and sustain a viable workforce Because we can't Grow our business and keep customers if we don't So this engagement really has to be Geared up and it can't just be sometimes it can't be average It really needs to be maximum engagement and We have to make sure that Not only ourselves as leaders, but we have to communicate this situation that what our various You know throughout our our leveraged employees our field supervisors um We're all doing our part age To get that back to communicate that And to follow up And I think um What was the lady's name is her name um, martha who was on She talked about something that was Making promises you can't keep So in this engage If we're having this back and forth and we want this win win, you know, we really have to make sure that If we've Commented on something or said we'll get back with you or whatever You know that we do that because it comes back to the whole component of trust And if we're going to engage people and we're going to engage people more often Those opportunities are going to occur more often so My belief is we're going to have to be very very cautious and and really realize what we're communicating So that we don't fall into a trap Where we commit to something we didn't even think we committed to And sometimes that can be easy to do Yeah for sure You know you you mentioned something kevin about the value of a customer versus the value of a of a good employee and it's Funny that there's a whole body of work out there that you know Call customer service and customer service skills and you know providing outside outstanding service to your customers You know, you just don't hear the you know employee service or you know great employee service skills I don't think that it's uh It translates in that direction. At least it's it's part of the of the common thinking but you know, I believe what you're suggesting is We need to have those service skills and be of service to You know all stakeholders or employees being as equally invaluable as our customers From an economic standpoint, especially in the house cleaning business arguably a lot more so absolutely you know and It can be across any Any business segment, but I think especially in the In the service related business And you know in my again my background and in the in the waste and recycling business with bfi You know one thing bfi used to say was We don't need some customers And it's okay if we have to hire a customer You know because the customer is not is not fitting So, you know, I think As we find employee fit And how we help to mold an employee and get an employee going and on board and the way they want them to behave Um You know, we have customers Have to consider like that well and I'm sure you know, most people see that most business owners leaders see that Uh, but yeah, we can't forget that and I think I think There's more of a focus on that today Um with the way people's mindset is Especially the gen x and the gen z the millennials Um, you know who are right in front of us right now So if you'd like to go on to that next slide It's a lot on this one Yeah work here This one might be a little hard to see Um, so, you know, if we're going to talk about if we're going to seriously in my opinion and this is just my opinion If we're seriously going to talk about customer retention Then We need to understand This job seeker this job applicant journey And what are they seeing about us from the outside looking in so You know, what kind of awareness are we putting out there? You know what they have listed here is all the typical platforms where someone can go and Find out what we're looking for right? Give us the advertise or post jobs on these sites their social media Um, I don't know how many folks out there, you know Interact or or do speaking engagements uh community events if Job fairs and things like that, but you know, those only are are important and and can be helpful Do people see us like that? Um, or do we rely on everything being? um You know internet-based if you will digital So we want to make sure it is there and I I Have a question. Yeah, one of our One of our guests one would like to know if uh, this presentation is is for sharing Absolutely Okay, sure if I'm happy to happy to share just uh, I guess Send me a PM if you would with with with your contact info and I can uh drop it to you in an email I guess would be the easiest thing to do Sure. Yeah, I mean any of this is you know, I'm I'm pleased to share it. So um so You know, we want to make sure that that We're reaching people and I think we have to make sure that we're reaching everybody's learning And what I mean by that is everybody Some people are stronger audio some people are stronger visual some people are stronger kinetic or hands-on You know, what kind of ads do we have out there? Do we have video ads out there? You know, there's there's some research out there suggests that You know people like visuals better Um, do we have that out there? Are we are we utilizing that and I think I've I've seen where some Business owners the cleaning business I certainly are using that um So we want to make sure that um You know consideration and evaluating it. Do we have enough information out there? We're gonna go and really find about who we are Um, you know cuts reviews employee reviews um Are we doing enough to drive those to make sure that you know, we're Uh, we have the right message out there for folks to see And What about the application? Do we have a smooth transparent process or or do we have something that's cumbersome? Do we have something where we're asking way too many questions? um Those are things we we need to look at to begin with As we talk about of retention because we're setting the stage here for someone who's going to enter our organization And I think the the next most important thing and this has been talked about Is Onboarding and training Yeah So I love that you're bringing that up. Thank you so much Kevin. What is A lot of our onboarding the job a lot of us look like Yeah, a lot of us think the job is done when we hire somebody we've we've succeeded and Yeah That's not the that's not the end of anything at best. It's just the end of the beginning Well, tell us about Okay, so, you know, I would say like the three of us here, right we her And know from where we all came from at a certain point in time generationally You put foot forward first impressions are everything right So we're hoping that that applicant coming to us is putting their best foot forward Their best appearance everything Well, are we reciprocating that in our onboarding process? Are we our best foot forward? Is this the best we have? because We're not we need to visit it. We need to make sure that that onboarding process because this is their first impression of us At least in person at least now as an organization where they're coming into it And we need to make sure that feeling that You know, I attended um one of tom's On-site trainings a few months back And it was just by chance. I went down just to do some observation And the interesting thing was there were four young ladies in there who attended And One of the young ladies had worked for another cleaning company and then she had done some commercial cleaning And she used this term she said I have to say I have never felt this vibe anywhere else I've been Like wow That's big She's felt this vibe out of this training Out of what's been going on and what people have been saying And that's big now, you know, that's intangible. Okay But that turns into tangible stuff down the road so we have to really make sure that You know, we're delivering that You know, if we think we're having a gonna have a bad day and we're not feeling it Maybe somebody else should do the training that day You know, it's okay. I mean, I know we get stretched for people. It's easy for me to sit here and say that but You know, if we're getting people to feel that vibe and to feel good During that process then we've really looked something So I think it has to come with when we're doing it. We have to be enthusiastic We have to talk about expectations We have to talk about Making sure what are their needs? You know, we haven't left anything out up to that point Again that we're between that consensus with us that we're giving them off in the right direction from that Because if we're not Then we're we're not setting ourselves up for a good outcome So, you know, what what your onboarding process looks like and everybody's is probably a you know, a little bit a little bit different but we need to make sure that we are allowing for consistency because I believe that no matter what we have our customers want us to be consistent in how we clean their home Oh, yeah So do employees want to have consistency in their workplace You know, we need to make sure That we're following a consistent process with this whole onboarding Um, you know, we're not jumping all around from here to there that you know, they know where they're at And they can view us as saying hey this company these folks really got it together I like this This this me I'm looking down the road coming on board with these people You know, things are going to be together for me moving forward So And and I think with that, you know comes the whole the whole piece with the clear expectations too And and the during the onboarding is the time that you start laying that out We talk a lot about setting those expectations and then meeting those expectations That's just so critical um And not just with employees or customers. That's with families friends your kids. I mean relationships are Are built on those expectations You know bad outcomes bad quality Disappointment so much of that's just founded in Misalignment and expectations people aren't clearly on the same page in terms of what one person wants and what the other person is delivering and you know, it's The house cleaning business you see it all the time, you know, it's like somebody asking do you have fruit? Yeah, I have fruit and you show up with oranges and they wanted apples And we just aren't setting the expectations at a clear actionable level It's a lot of work getting these expectations Shared in a common way that doesn't happen easy No, it it doesn't and you know something I don't I want to leave out and and I'm talking a lot here, but You know, I'm a I'm a believer in assessment Okay, and assessment to me is not just formal assessment. Okay um, there there's some good in some of that as well And But when I'm talking about assessment and I use this a lot in the workforce development arena when I'm working with folks And they have something with that they do with Bams and counseling That's called an objective assessment summary and it's a series of questions where they identify barriers and that sort of thing But people to do is to open up And to get people to open up with them And I use the term behavioral based questioning And so it's more than a gut feeling. So this is another point for us during this onboarding to do some more assessment through behavioral based interviewing with people And you know, we can identify some more of those needs because It's helping to develop some trust early on And if we can uncover some things Of what those basic needs are that they may have We can do a big service for ourselves and a big service to them Because then that doesn't crop up We're all by the way I have this And I really need to I can't work on thursdays Or I have to be off it too or whatever the case might be. So the sooner we can identify those things You know, the more content You know, we can be you know, and the the employee can be At the same time, I think you identify behaviors at this point And those behaviors are sending up flags for us. We have to know to pull those people aside You know, we have to take a deep breath Especially in our environment today when we're looking for people to fill the role of a cleaning technician And say I just don't think that this behavior this person continues with this behavior and they're giving me too many flags We shouldn't move forward because if We make a decision Knowingly consciously to bring it wrong person We're never going to reach alignment It just it won't happen So we have to be disciplined to that Kevin we are Have about 10 minutes left And we have one question here that robin would like to know just generally What do you focus on in the first 30 days of employment to engage the employee? I think that's going to be a little bit different For everyone I would say At castle keepers and you know understand I'm working, you know as a third party I know that Very initial onboarding Very little hands-on training Very initial field training Um is done Fairly intensely There's evaluation that's collected Not only on the cleaning side, but on the behavioral side To collect information Um You know especially during uh the first from hire Through the first two weeks Now, you know, could we be doing a better job, you know, thereafter? Um, yeah, we're talking about some of those things Um So, you know, I think what you can't do is you can't forget about After this initial Period is through that engagement still needs to continue Um in in whatever form that that you would decide Uh, you know to make it happen and again, don't forget, you know, that doesn't always have to be face to face You know, we have mechanisms and and ways to text and to route and and and to stay in touch with our folks And I I think that's what the important part is even if it's only as much as asking them. How are you doing? Do you need any help with anything? You know, I don't know if that completely answers your question I mean, we could you know, we could take some time and get more specific about that So we've I know we're running low on time. So, you know through this hopefully we've created, you know, some loyalty With our customer Because again, we wanted to create, you know, that that advocacy out there that they're in that because My belief is that we have a whole another You know ambassador out there if you look at an employee and use an even number Of their network is 10 people And those 10 people are 10 the exponential effect of a good word out there For, you know gaining it referrals for new employees. That's huge And we really need to make sure we're tapping into that and we're doing a good job so that word carries out Because I know and and we need to work on that too here in charleston. Definitely So if you want to flip over to that next one We've got every day Yep, okay, so back to that call to action You know, I remember you're defining the needed actions and I'm now directly to You know this whole portion of of Retention and and the initial onboarding steps and the hiring And articulate, you know, why these actions are crucial You know, pretty much that flowchart. I just went through why are each of those steps crucial? What do we need to be doing? Why do we need to be doing them? and If need to make sure too that people are receiving the message Accordingly and I think we're not doing it. We need to make sure that we check for understanding Sometimes we put a message out there we communicate and we think people Know what we've said, but we don't bother to check for understanding And then that's where we have these misperceptions myths They do not want to get created occur So one thing that I've learned throughout my career is Is check for understanding Um when you communicate because it's crucial Yeah Yeah, so you can throw that other one up there Okay, so yeah, we're gonna deliver that message in an effective manner Um, you know based upon those first four that I showed you but this is what's crucial We have to constantly work, you know to align The employee point of view with the company direction and mission So we have to make sure via that engage that We're That constantly That's where you know going back to tom's comment How do we keep creating that win-win? And if I've my guess is And I know that it's not a one-time thing we've got to continue to create that win-win Again That has to be ongoing that has to be living And and one thing more if I can add You know, I'm saying, you know as leaders we have to do this Don't forget We need to have used to call My leadership management experience We're champions within my business And they and and today I call people influencers So we have to have some influencers within our workforce Who carry that message and can communicate sometimes peer-to-peer? Where our message that same message might not res And we need to have that because If we find people who can be good influencers with us in the workforce The power of that and keeping that message out there and alive Is It's invaluable because the same influencer is going to bring us information back Right and we need to get that information back because Just like our calls for action We need to be here in those employees call for action And not to dismiss them Yeah, nice. I like that Kevin we've got about three more minutes left Anybody have any questions about anything? um I can run through probably that remain out Um with that time we have remaining if you'd like Certainly This is really good stuff and we can come back at a later date and kind of pick this up and do Follow up in part two as well Yeah, and and this is just this speaks now directly to only the employee employee retention And so, you know, now we're kind of synopsizing what I've talked about which is we have to recruit the right employees We've heard that throughout the month We have to create that exceptional onboarding experience We've got to build employee engagement And we've got to build that culture employees want to be a part of So again, that culture Has to be what they want to be a part of if it's something separate in a way Then that that's not serving us well And what's that next slide tom? And so this is the other important part and and and real quickly um The best way I can describe this a line incentive across all funds and drive those goals And by previous experience at bfi and i'm going to make this quick We had hauling companies and landfill companies The hauling company could haul their waste wherever they wanted to A lot of times the bfi landfill charged more than the competition So if my bonus structure as a hauling company manager was based upon You know my my ebita I was going to go ahead and haul my waste to the competition who was less because it put more money to buy bottom line But that wasn't doing the company any good So one day someone had an epiphany They said Guess what we're gonna do all bfi hauling companies will haul to bfi landfills We'll guess what happened and you'll and you'll give them the competitive rate for it Well that changed everything That that increased the company's revenues the margins It increased our shareholder value Um It increased all of our our our stock options Um, so that one shift in alignment and that's just a you know on a different scale But that goes to show the power of what something like that can do So it's big and we can't forget to manage for retention And we're out of time on that so I'll stop right there. Kevin. This is uh, this is awesome and uh, you're gonna have to come back and You know, we're kind of jammed out for the rest Of september, but we can always swing back around and there's It doesn't really matter what month it is. We can always talk about employee retention, right? Liz Well, you know, we are going to be talking about holidays coming up and you know Managing employees around the holidays and there are a lot of issues around that Not not just employees, of course But that is one of the topics that we're going to be feeling less because there's a lot to consider there. So You know Is Very important don't want to lose you lose people You know, you don't want to be short staffed over the holidays because that's kind of when you're you're the busiest, right? Well, and it's more than just retention Um, it is around the engagement of the employees around the holidays because what people need around holidays is People are crazy around the holidays y'all People need different stuff People need different things. Yeah, if you can get it, if you can get it right If you can get it right around the holidays, you've probably built a lot of uh Good will that will will carry throughout the year I read So Kevin and tom tom real real quick Yes, sir There are some resources in this Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If anybody wants If anybody wants that, you know, we can get it out to you Yeah, I just uh blew through the resources. Let me I'll just cheat and do this. Um This is cavin's uh email address. I will drop this in chat You want to get hold of cavin? And Here were a couple of links I want to Share with us real quick what these uh articles are Are Tom you better just post the links. It's three minutes after what are you doing? You're going insane right now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Tom has lost his mind. He's so excited about employee engagement I am well, you know, you're not you're not paying me I don't get overtime less Might as well go ahead and get the rest of this in I'm dropping the links for these as well. Thanks for having me Thank you. Kevin. Thank you so much Yeah, take care guys. We'll be back next monday five o'clock eastern. Bye. Bye y'all