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Employee Engagement
ENGAGEMENT is the passion by which employees give of their discretionary effort, demonstrating “happiness at work,” exemplary performance, and willingness to follow leaders through any organizational change.
What would it be worth to your organization if 100% of your employees performed like your best employee?
How engaged is your culture?
Employees do their best work when they work for managers who care about them as people.
When Scott Carbonara led a team of 13,000 during extensive mergers, he initiated employee engagement initiatives that reduced attrition from 38% to 6.5% and saved his company millions of dollars–all by changing the way they hired, trained, and reinforced their people. At companies ranging from Fortune 5 to small facilities, we’ve helped to build cultures wherein employees voluntarily commute during blizzards to be a part of something bigger. These employees report feeling respected as individuals, each with dynamic strengths and contributions—rather than just a set of skills filling a role. They are equipped with what they need—the right tools to do their jobs and the right communication from their leaders. They want to develop in their roles and understand how their work ties to the organization’s goals and mission. And they are driven by values that live in their organization.
When working in engaged cultures, we hear statements like, “I come to work every day to serve my patients and coworkers,” “I can’t imagine working anywhere else,” and, “our leaders really care.”
Employees will not do their best work when they perceive—
- Disrespect and favoritism from their leadership
- That their opinions don’t matter
- That stellar performance goes unnoticed
- That leadership has no vision or direction
Employee Engagement is Not Soft
According to a 2018 Gallup survey, 53% of employees were not engaged and 13% were actively disengaged. That leaves 34% who were actively engaged.
Disengaged employees cost U.S. companies more than $450 billion per year, according to Gallup. That’s $4,500 per $10,000 of salary you pay. Disengaged employees cost you in…
- Absenteeism
- Attrition
- Gossip
- Taking longer to perform tasks
- Negativity and complaining
Employee engagement comes with a hard dollar cost. Are your managers equipped to build engagement in their employees? Do your leaders know what strengths to leverage in your culture to maximize engagement? Are there negative pockets in the organization—or gaps in communication or trust—that need to be shored up so you can thrive?
Consider these traits, which we often find at the root of employee engagement challenges.
- TRUST is the bedrock by which leaders can call on employees to perform. When trust erodes, performance is replaced by negativity, gossip, and sabotage. When trust is strong, employees will want to follow your leadership.
- COMMUNICATION is the often-neglected or misunderstood tool by which TRUST and ENGAGEMENT are built, and by which performance can be defined and measured. What employees need to hear–and when they need to hear it–is both an art and a science. Leaders may think they have communicated, but often a gap exists between what they say–and what is heard and acted on.
Through leadership/management training, executive coaching, focus groups, recognition programs, and strategic communications, we can help you elevate your culture. Contact us today for more or click here to learn more about our consulting process.