Are You a Unicorn Employer?
In the past, I have written a lot about Unicorn Employees (i.e., required tech skills for house managers, world-class service goals, leadership requirements, system-building skills, and team building).
If you Google Unicorn Employee, you’ll find numerous articles that outline the ideal candidate or employee. For example, this LinkedIn Pulse post by the founder of Hootsuite defines unicorn employees like this: “They shatter expectations, raise the bar for everyone, and are simply a joy to be around. Unicorn employees can take your business to the next level.”
Several articles are written on Unicorn Companies but focus on the company's value ($1 billion or more) rather than company culture, leadership values, or employment practices.
But, if you Google Unicorn Employer, you’ll come up with NOTHING.
Let’s change this.
Private Service Professionals all share the dream of working for a Unicorn Billionaire. This sounds like an urban myth. However, a few of my colleagues claim they work for one.
What is a Unicorn Employer?
If you employ full-time domestic staff and are reading this blog, you have elevated your unicorn status potential by 1000%. Merely asking yourself, “Am I a unicorn?” – whether you’re a billionaire, millionaire, or otherwise – gets you a gold star for effort. ⭐️
As an employer, if you’re wondering why you should care about being a unicorn employer and what you get out of this deal, here’s the list of benefits.
You’ll:
Attract better candidates by writing sustainable job descriptions and offering competitive pay and stellar benefits.
Retain loyal and happy staff by treating them fairly, recognizing their extra efforts, and appreciating their talents by saying Thank you and asking, “How can I help you do your job better?”
Reduce staff turnover and the turmoil new staff creates in your home.
Lower your costs for advertising, vetting, hiring, onboarding, and training new staff.
Let’s address what it takes to claim your Unicorn Employer status
I am referring to a principal employer who embraces the well-being of their staff, recognizes them, pays them well, and treats them with as much respect as (or more than) they do their business partners, family, and spouse.
They adopt a “No bullying” policy, meaning anyone known to be verbally abusive, gaslighting, or disrespectfully speaking to staff (this includes your family office staff, house managers, and consultants) will suffer consequences.
They hire the best of the best and then ask them, “What do you need to succeed” – and then they get out of the way.
They regularly meet with their staff, keep appointments and reviews, and recognize and reward extraordinary service.
They respect their employees' time and allow boundaries for staff’s goals and schedules.
They provide additional training opportunities for personal growth and enhanced business knowledge.
They know and adhere to employment law (including proper compensation, breaks, and timekeeping).
Here are some very subtle indicators that you are NOT a Unicorn Employer
Realize that unicorn employees smartly recognize opportunities for failure and step away from roles when they know they cannot succeed – no matter how much money you offer them.
Here are 9 Red Flags:
You wish to hire a unicorn staff, yet you drag your feet on hiring them.
You offer a hybrid role requiring a candidate to have a college degree; years of serving UHNW families; and tech, financial management, and leadership skills – and then demand that they make beds, run errands, and clean up after guests.
You use vague language in your job description, such as: “At the owner’s discretion,” “24/7 service as needed”, or “No job too big or too small.” These are all so vague that they open the employee up for abusive and overreaching interpretation that ultimately makes everyone unhappy.
You refuse to cover relocation costs.
You understaff your household, frequently require overtime, and pay everyone on your staff as “salary” to avoid paying overtime.
You aren’t clear about what pleases or displeases you, so your household staff needs to guess what you want. Are you sharing your dissatisfaction with your family office, letting them do the dirty work?
You hire top-tier candidates but aren’t providing an adequate budget for them to please you.
You aren’t allowing staff enough time to do their best work.
You hire subpar housekeeping staff, provide zero training, and then don’t allow the house manager to hire and fire.
Know that Unicorn Candidates will walk away from these types of opportunities because you’ve already shown them they will not be valued in this relationship.
Taking time to see where you are on the above lists will help you gauge how close you are to achieving ⭐️Top-Tier Unicorn Employer Status⭐️.
Remember, the sooner you start climbing the Unicorn Employer ladder, the faster you’ll reap the benefits of better candidates, longer staff retention, and world-class service from those committed to serving you and your family.
