Employee Engagement | Navigator Newsletter #176

One of the biggest issues facing many businesses is how to motivate and keep workers engaged with their jobs. Employee engagement goes hand in hand with high job satisfaction, lower employee turnover and better productivity.

Employee Engagement Definition

Our definition of employee engagement is the employee’s connection to the work, the organization, their customers, the leaders and the connections they have with their co-workers. Engaged employees stay with their employers, have higher levels of job satisfaction and make significant contributions. Employee engagement is not optional, but an essential requirement to achieve organizational results.

A 2010 survey conducted by the Conference Board showed only 45 percent of Americans are satisfied with their work. This is the lowest level ever recorded by the Conference Board in more than 22 years of research. Businesses that fail to improve job satisfaction not only risk losing their high performers when the economy improves, but it is way more expensive to keep unmotivated and no longer competent workers. A large percentage of unhappy employees are staying just for a paycheck. As a result, many organizations are hamstrung with employees who are only performing at a minimal level. Instead of taking action, they accept it as a matter-of-fact. What a pity.

When working with business owners and executives, it is sometimes useful to put a dollar figure on what disengagement is costing their business. To do this, I ask them to participate in a simple exercise. I give them a piece of paper and they draw a square with four quadrants. Then they divide and place a percentage of their workforce into each of the four quadrants.

For the sake of brevity, I will just cover the first two. The first one is the engaged and competent quadrant. We want to see a big number in that square, but rarely does that percent exceed 30%. The second quadrant is called, unmotivated and incompetent. These people were once motivated, but for some reason they changed. I then ask them to put the number/percent of their workforce in this section. Sometimes they even put names of people inside that square. The next step is to take that number and multiply it by their average salary. Now the cost of disengagement becomes a painful reality. We go through the next two quadrants asking several more questions. This is not a motivational exercise for most people, but it does create a powerful discussion.

How do we fix it? How do you transform people into engaged and competent employees? You have to spend the time to find out why. “Feel good” programs usually don’t help and can even make the problem worse. Taking the wrong action can end up costing you even more money. This is where the rubber meets the road.

Here are a few questions you can ask to determine how well your organization is engaging employees:

1. Do employees feel what they are doing is important? Are they connected to the organization’s goals and mission?

2. Do employees understand their role? Do they know what goals and objectives are required from them?

3. Are there special development programs for top performers? Are they recognized and rewarded for their actions?

4. Do employees feel as if they are advancing in their careers? Are they growing, developing and improving themselves?

5. Are employees getting frequent and regular informal feedback on their performance? Do they get it more than once a year?

6. Does the employee have a good relationship with his immediate supervisor?

7. Does the organization have strong values, a compelling vision and inspirational leadership?

8. Are employees talents matched with their jobs? Does your organization do a good job hiring the right people?

Find out how your organization ranks with our employee engagement survey tool. Call 770-860-9464 or fill out our contact form on Chartcourse.com.

National Employee Benefits Day (April 4)
This year’s observance will focus on benefits communications.

Administrative Professionals’ Week (April 24-30)
Here is an opportunity for employers to recognize and celebrate the contributions of these key front-line employer representatives.

Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work (April 28)
Employers can introduce children to the workplace of their future and encourage them to start thinking now about how their career-related dreams can be achieved.

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DISC Certification Training Webseminar

Individual DISC behavior styles and preferences have a direct impact on our interpersonal relationships at home and at the workplace. People differ from each other in fundamental ways including their values, behaviors, talents, temperaments, wants and beliefs.

Cost: $795

Two-day Master DISC Certified Behavioral Strategist Program

This is a behaviorally-based communication workshop. Participants will learn how to communicate using the DISC language as a way of understanding themselves and others. The workshop incorporates a behavioral assessment to give a more complete understanding of what DISC is and how to use it to interact with others and to appreciate others’ behavioral styles.

February 22-23
March 22-23
April 21-22

Cost: $1950

https://www.chartcourse.com/disc_certification_training.html

More information Simple Employee Appreciation Tips and Techniques

The Talking Stick
Try introducing the “talking stick” into your office. This idea originated from a Native American tradition. Each month a different person in the office receives the talking stick, which provides that person certain rights and privileges for the month. For example, the “owner” could provide fellow employees one hour a month administrative leave.

Management by Fooling Around
When Herb Kelleher was the CEO of Southwest Airlines, he combined fun and hard work into something he calls “management by fooling around.” At the nonconformist airline, everything—from the tickets and boarding passes to the casual dress and occasional costumes attendants wear— clearly demonstrates that something is different.

Man (Person) Overboard Award
CIGNA believes in rewarding employees who go above and beyond for their customers. The Man Overboard Award is a life-saving ring, which the president presents to an employee at a special ceremony. CIGNA also pays teams as high as $25,000 for implementing ideas that improve productivity.

Choose Your Own Reward
A Miami-based business owner rewards her employees with parties, expensive dinners, chauffeured shopping sprees, spa sessions and cooking lessons. She lets her employees decide what they want, and then figures out how much their package costs and also how much additional business they have to generate to cover those costs. Choose your own reward—sounds like fun!

Tech Engineering Bucks
The technicians at the Weather Channel in Atlanta created their own recognition system called Tech Bucks. All they did was Xerox a dollar bill and give five of them out at the beginning of each month. They give them to each other for doing a good job. At the end of the month they tally up who got the most and the winner gets a special prize.

After Dinner Phone Call
Even though you took time during the work day to thank the employee who went “above and beyond,” go a step further and call them at home after dinner to say thanks. You might be surprised how much this can mean.

Source: Dynamic Ideas to Reward, Energize and Motivate Your Teams

https://www.chartcourse.com/Assessment_Center.html

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Building Effective Teams

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