5 solutions to mitigate the impact of staff turnover on your Smart O&M
Staff turnover is the number one cause of system usage problems for our clients
The 2022 Siveco China Customer Satisfaction Survey Report (April 2023) revealed that “staff turnover or management changes have a major impact on [system] usage and [customer] satisfaction (that can be mitigated by communication and training)”. A summary of the survey report was published in our newsletter and the full report was sent to all clients.
Indeed, a detailed analysis of the results showed that virtually all “strongly disagree” responses emanated from companies subject to recent turnover! As a result, either the goals of the Smart O&M project, the established usage processes, or in some cases the existence of the system itself, were forgotten. This phenomenon is not uncommon in China, where a top-down management culture with lower echelons awaiting management instructions is still common.
As the report stated: “As part of the ISO 55000-driven approach advocated by Siveco China, alignment between management and end-users, between strategic goals and execution, is essential.”
It is our opinion and experience that, once this problem is understood by clients, it can be prevented or mitigated by simple and highly cost-effective measures.
This article results from an action listed in the survey report, the decision to run an information campaign on: awareness of the impact of staff and management turnover on Smart O&M usage and how to mitigate it.
Analysis and advice by our Customer Service team
Since an operational management system heavily relies on people for daily use, staff turnover can have a significant impact on its effectiveness. Based on past experiences and collaborations with various clients, this article authored by Siveco China’s Customer Service Director Sunny Wang, aims to summarize the effects of staff turnover across different levels of operation in the long-term maintenance process of the system, and to suggest our recommended solutions to address these challenges.
Top management
Typically, top management do not directly use the O&M system, but they receive analytical reports from the system that inform them of the equipment’s operation on-site. These reports allow them to track and analyze data and provide management suggestions. Therefore, when turnover happens, if the new management people don’t know the system and the related reports timely, there may be a lack of decision-making basis for management. Top management has a great influence on the system’s effects. Moreover, new top management may have new objectives, which call for improvements or updates of the system. Failure to communicate these needs with the system supplier in time could result in a misunderstanding that the system and management requirements do not align. Therefore, when there is a top management turnover, it is recommended to obtain core model documents timely and communicate with us for addressing the new needs.
Middle management
In this context, middle management includes maintenance managers, maintenance supervisors, engineering managers, equipment supervisors, etc. The O&M Management System is their key management tool for daily work, and they must be proficient in its use to align it with their management needs. Consequently, for new middle management, we give suggestions as below:
- Complete the system training of 1-2 days to understand its capabilities and the necessary data for monthly reporting.
- Acquire all core project documents.
- After using the system, please communicate with us to make necessary adjustments to tailor it to current management needs.
Administrator
System administrators play a crucial role as they act as the main users and the bridge between us and clients. Their proficiency in utilizing the system can significantly impact the system’s effectiveness and the enthusiasm of other users. Therefore, we recommend that clients provide a 4-day training for new administrators after turnover. Training will cover everything the new administrator needs to know, to fully understand the system, including adding, deleting and updating master data, managing transactions, user and user group permission and system configurations. Certainly, we always provide user manuals and help documents during the project delivery. We could also provide online videos and replays of public coursesfor self-learning to the clietns under support (efficiency may be lower). Usually, users share feedback primarily with administrators. If the administrator lacks essential knowledge, issues may could not get timely solved. The lack of administrators may result in a weakened system effect and failure to resolve the problems in time. Inadequate administrator training can impact work effectiveness and user experience.
Other key users
Other users, such as production and operation departments which need to report failures, must also receive proper guidance after staff turnover, or it will impact the execution of the standard workflow and result in untimely and non-standard feedback on failures. Without timely training and system-using tips, the new engineers may struggle with work order feedback and regular maintenance plan updates, resulting in lower report accuracy. Similarly, new technicians who lack training will have lower efficiency and do irregular work orders, which can impact the workload of the engineers and the accuracy of data analysis. Administrators can conduct training for these users.
In a word, regardless of the level of staff turnover, it is recommended to inform Siveco China first for obtaining the necessary information. Then, customed training should be considered depending on the employee’s role. Once the new managers get familiar with the system and designed core model, an improvement project may be necessary to meet new management needs.
Summary: 5 solutions to prevent and mitigate turnover risk
1. Maintain and use the “Core Model”
The “Core Model” document that define goals, principles and usage of the system is created during the initial project and is intended as a management tool. Keep this document up to date as part of your continuous improvement efforts. Refer to the “Core Model” as needed, use it to share knowledge of the system and to inform new managers upon joining. More generally, maintain all project and system documentaton carefully, as you would for equipment documentation or drawings. Note that, in case you have lost documents or simply cannot find them, contact your Siveco China support team: as part of our customer service, we also maintain a repository of all documents produced by us during projects.
The “Core Model” document that define goals, principles and usage of the system is created during the initial project and is intended as a management tool. Keep this document up to date as part of your continuous improvement efforts. Refer to the “Core Model” as needed, use it to share knowledge of the system and to inform new managers upon joining. More generally, maintain all project and system documentaton carefully, as you would for equipment documentation or drawings. Note that, in case you have lost documents or simply cannot find them, contact your Siveco China support team: as part of our customer service, we also maintain a repository of all documents produced by us during projects.
2. Ensure new staff are trained either internally or with Siveco China’s help
Most HR departments are not aware of this need or of the system’s existence. Most company staff do not realize that the training budget can be used for this purpose, to train new staff in using management tools and to provide refresh training for existing staff. Siveco China provides different levels of training programs for this purpose.
Most HR departments are not aware of this need or of the system’s existence. Most company staff do not realize that the training budget can be used for this purpose, to train new staff in using management tools and to provide refresh training for existing staff. Siveco China provides different levels of training programs for this purpose.
3. Talk to Siveco China whenever new management needs emerge or when your organization changes
Simply contact our support hotline, whose role is not limited to IT issues! For clients under “Enhanced Maintenance” contract, Siveco China will proactively seek new needs: please understand this is part of the service purchased by your company (note that when management turnover occur, the scope of our support contract may also be forgotten – it is of course well documented) and cooperate freely with us!
Simply contact our support hotline, whose role is not limited to IT issues! For clients under “Enhanced Maintenance” contract, Siveco China will proactively seek new needs: please understand this is part of the service purchased by your company (note that when management turnover occur, the scope of our support contract may also be forgotten – it is of course well documented) and cooperate freely with us!
4. Pay great attention to the role of “system administrator”
The system admin role is previous as many of the actions above will be under his responsibility. Regular training should be provided. The job description, training plan (upon joining and recurring) should contain information related to the Smart O&M system, so that management, including HR department, can manage this role properly.
The system admin role is previous as many of the actions above will be under his responsibility. Regular training should be provided. The job description, training plan (upon joining and recurring) should contain information related to the Smart O&M system, so that management, including HR department, can manage this role properly.
5. Kill all the birds with one stone: implement a highly visible Smart O&M solution
We emphasize using big-screen report, QR code tags, workers using mobile. By doing so, the existence of the system becomes very difficult to hide (even by “shy” team members) when new managers come onboard! The system becomes obvious to all, any newcomer will see it and enquire (often simply by looking at the screen and talking to workers using the mobile). This is one reason why “smarter” projects are more successful as explained in this previous article.
We emphasize using big-screen report, QR code tags, workers using mobile. By doing so, the existence of the system becomes very difficult to hide (even by “shy” team members) when new managers come onboard! The system becomes obvious to all, any newcomer will see it and enquire (often simply by looking at the screen and talking to workers using the mobile). This is one reason why “smarter” projects are more successful as explained in this previous article.
Do not hesitate to contact our Customer Service team to talk about implementing those actions!
Tags： smart O&M
