What Does It Take to Engage Employees?

Everyone seems to agree that disengaged employees cost enterprises billions of dollars in lost profits, sales, market share and opportunity. The Gallup Organization has placed the cost of disengaged employees to the US economy at $350 billion per year. (Or nearly half of the TARP bailout.)

Recent studies have shown a clear linkage between strong engagement strategies and strong financial performance. The need for value-driven, authentic and meaningful organizations, which drive their mission consistently through all layers and performance functions to provide joyous brand experiences for their consumers, had been clearly identified.

We long ago announced that the Industrial Age was over and “Long Live the Service Economy” or the “Experience Economy” or the “Thank You Economy”. Label it what you will, but this 7.0 seismic shift has rocked the business world and changed everything. Behold! We are people of conscious, living consciously, doing good by doing good! Or are we?

A national unemployment rate that hovers around 10 percent during this recovery may indicate that Industrial Era management tactics are alive and well. Actually, the employment rate of the U.S. population is just over 58 percent. In previous recoveries, the unemployment rate dropped. In this one, it flattened. When the economy slowed, most companies responded they way they always have by cutting salaries, benefits and people.

Do these Industrial Era Tactics work? Well, productivity is up because fewer workers are forced to get more done. Profits are up, not because of increased demand, but because productivity is up and worker cost is down. One of the saddest indicators of the seeming success of this tactic? The CEOs who laid off the most employees earned 42 percent more than their peers who didn’t wield the hatchet.

The real cost of Industrial Age tactics are yet to come due. Employees are stressed to the limits. They live with a constant fear of job loss, pay cuts and benefit cuts. They lose best friends and coworkers to layoffs. They worry about their spouse’s job security. They feel stuck—nearly imprisoned—as there are no promotions, room to grow or new positions at their current job and no new opportunities with other employers. These stresses create an uninspired atmosphere with actively disengaged, disgruntled and unhappy employees.

In contrast to Industrial Era tactics, what does successful employee engagement look like?

Shared Values: successful organizations create a sense of mission that employees recognize as aligned with their own personal values. This creates a sense of meaning and purpose that extends beyond working for living. It touches on working for a life.

Professional Development and Personal Growth: Organizations that recognize the needs and desires of their people to learn new skills, take on new challenges, experience trust and value will be rewarded by people who love their company and exude gratitude through their job performance. Employees value employers who value them and who design growth and development opportunities that benefit the employee first, even before the company.

Social Connectivity: The Gallup organization has identified “Having a Best Friend at Work” as one of the indicators of a company that fosters engaged employees. Great enterprises go beyond that and create a sense of community. Workplace design, events that bring people together, and open communication creates a special shared culture that fosters peak performance.

Personal Value: There is little divide today between one’s work life and personal life. Many employees check e-mail from home and on their phone at all times. People take work home and work at non-traditional times in non-traditional places. Great employers reciprocate by providing contributions to an employee’s non-work life and provide space and understanding at work to allow for a more balanced life.

Employees want to be treated like human beings. Many people think engagement is just a new buzzword or management trend of the day. Enterprise engagement is here to stay. Because it works. Here’s what employees want:

1. Full appreciation for work done
2. Feeling “in” on things
3. Sympathetic help on personal problems
4. Job security
5. Good wages
6. Interesting work
7. Promotion/growth opportunities
8. Personal loyalty to workers
9. Good working conditions
10. Tactful discipline

How new and trendy is this? This survey came out in 1946 in Foreman Facts, from the Labor Relations Institute of NY and was produced again by Lawrence Lindahl in Personnel magazine, in 1949. And it has been replicated with similar results by Ken Kovach (1980); Valerie Wilson, Achievers International (1988); Bob Nelson, Blanchard Training & Development (1991); Sheryl & Don Grimme, GHR Training Solutions (1997-2001).

Some things are just core human values and at the top of the list are to be treated as human beings—with minds, hearts, skills and individualism. When you connect people with their purpose, give them a sense of meaning and allow them to perform to their strengths, amazing prosperity is the result. This requires a conscious effort on the part of the organization. You might even call it a strategy. A strategy of engagement.

Paul Kiewiet MAS CPC is the president of BrandKiwi,LLC, a professional development and personal growth consultancy based in Chicago, IL. He provides life, business and leadership coaching as well as speaking, writing and consulting. For more information, go to www.create2bgreat.com or contact him at [email protected].