Can You Afford Employees Who Are Unmotivated and Incompetent? Motivated and Engaged Employees Generate Powerful Results 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 DefinitionOur 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. |
Important Workforce DatesEmployee Appreciation Day (March 4) Employee recognition is a powerful motivator. This is a day set aside to remind employees of how much they are appreciated.April Fools’ Day/Humor at Work (April 1) Levity on the job can help build rapport, but humor should never be mean-spirited or at the expense of others. National Employee Benefits Day (April 4) Administrative Professionals’ Week (April 24-30) Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work (April 28) Sign Up For Greg’s Free Weekly Leadership Tips https://www.chartcourse.com/freebusinesstips.html 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 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 Cost: $1950 https://www.chartcourse.com/disc_certification_training.html More information Simple Employee Appreciation Tips and Techniques The Talking Stick Management by Fooling Around Man (Person) Overboard Award Choose Your Own Reward Tech Engineering Bucks After Dinner Phone Call Source: Dynamic Ideas to Reward, Energize and Motivate Your Teams |
TOOLS, PRODUCTS & RESOURCESWorkplace Motivation Individual AssessmentThe Workplace Motivators report helps clarify the six inner drives people bring to the job. What motivates employees to sell, manage, service or connect with customers the way they do? What prompts an employee’s enthusiastic response—a happy customer, a big sale, a tough problem solved? Why do they differ? How can you place the right people in the right jobs and motivate them to achieve more for the organization? The answers to these questions are all based on values. Values are the drivers behind our behavior; what motivates our actions. With the knowledge of values, we can encourage employees in a way that satisfies their inner drive. We can determine if their position will be rewarding, based on the values they hold. This report helps illuminate these motivating factors and attitudes and enables you to understand the driving forces behind their decisions. https://www.chartcourse.com/Assessment_Center.html Leadership Development We’re introducing Vital Online 2.0, a technology that will save your organization both time and money. Our user-friendly online campus begins with 12 programs from the Vital Learning Leadership Series™. Your participants can work at their own pace, and we also offer a blended approach (classroom and online classes) that maximizes social networking tools. We can also easily create a branded portal campus especially for your organization. And, with our special introductory pricing, your savings are greater than ever. Vital Learning’s online courses start with the 12 core programs, the Leadership Essentials, and 23 additional courses in leadership, customer service, sales and productivity. We invite you to take a few minutes to experience our free demo today. For more information: Tall Ships Raise your team’s effectiveness with Tall Ships, the fast-paced simulation that challenges teams to race against the clock — and others teams — to build the tallest ship mast at the lowest cost. Participants learn about and practice the 7 skills critical to effective team performance: Clarity, Capability, Collaboration, Commitment, Communication, Continuous Improvement, and Creativity. |