The Real Driver of Engagement

Imagine working for a company where nearly 25% of the employees hate their jobs, over half (55%) of the employees are apathetic and uninterested and do just enough to stay employed. Only the remaining 20% do their job enthusiastically and care about the company’s future. Unfortunately, you don’t have to look far to find such a company. This is the profile of a typical U.S. Company.

Why are today’s workers so disengaged? A recent global survey by Towers Perrin gives some insight. For employees, the real driver of engagement is the belief that a company cares about them. Senior management's interest in the well-being of employees is what most drives engagement, according to the survey. For many employees, "caring" translates to providing opportunities for career development.

Other key factors to employee engagement are trust in the organization's leadership and feeling a sense of pride when workers see their organization's logo.

"Appreciation is the single largest driver of a company’s caring attitude.”

But employee appreciation must be aligned with what's important to the company. Here is how you can create that culture of caring and trust. Each employee wants to see a clear vision about where the company is going and to know "my supervisor plans my work around things that matter”. It motivates the American worker.

Workers feel their bosses and companies appreciate them, according to the survey, when they…
1. Believe their companies are great at showing appreciation to those who excel.
2. Observe senior management modeling the behavior.
3. Perceive a clear connection between recognition and goals of the organization.
4. Experience recognition as timely, personal and sincere.

This is not as complex as some would have you believe. The essential element is that you want to have an enhanced culture and are willing to work toward that goal. Decide to begin the process and put into place a system to help you create your own culture of recognition that will lead you toward improved bottom line results.

Follow this link to see how your company measures up: (Then Call Me for Help)

Five Signs Your Company is Committed to Engaging Employees

Valued Employees = Engaged Employees = Business Results

Carl can be reached at 504-737-7272 or carl@recognitionsys.net

Are Your Reward & Recognition Programs on Target?

Simply put, it is crucial to identify a particular activity that is known to be a key to your success and then put a program in place to reward that behavior every time it occurs.

People tend to do things if they feel that it is in their own best interest. Organizations need to connect what employees want for themselves to overall organizational goals by rewarding behavior in a way that is meaningful to them and their own self-interest. By pointing out that a particular behavior is rewarded, you could be well on your way toward reinforcing the performance that will help achieve business goals. Moreover, people don’t walk away from companies they feel care about them, so rewarding them can stabilize your talent pool.

To help assure your recognition process is on track, consider the following factors:

• Be strategic and make sure it reinforces your company values.

• Make your approach personal. Think about what will be truly memorable for the employee.

• Be inclusive. Your program should be able to occur in all directions: top-down, peer-to-peer, etc.

• Include easy-to-use, robust tools with appropriate reporting capabilities.

• The process should be fast, requiring few approvals, so the award is closely tied to the action performed.

• Use a cross-functional team to design the process (payroll, IT, communications, HR) so it appeals to all targeted functions.

• Conduct ongoing communications to inform and encourage use.

(No Good Deed Goes Unrewarded, Scott Himelstein, HR Magazine, January, 2010. p. 27.)

When creating your program, be aware of the tendency to assume “one size fits all” and that everyone will respond positively to the same program or practice. While it may seem difficult to individualize recognition programs, there are ways to help heighten effectiveness:

• Each manager should spend time on a regular basis with each employee to determine how that employee is best motivated.

• Managers should find ways to integrate the identified type of recognition into the employee’s development plan.

• Recognition needs to be given consistently.

• Be sure there are opportunities for management to recognize everyone’s contributions.

• Clearly communicate the reason for the recognition.

• Provide opportunities for peer recognition that can result in increased productivity.

Valued Employees = Engaged Employees = Business Results

Studies prove employees need to feel valued and know the work they do on a daily basis matters. More than three-quarters of employees, 76 percent, who responded to the 2008 World of Work study published by Randstad, an Atlanta-based employment-services firm, said feeling valued was the most important factor for happiness at work, out of more than a dozen options. When asked to identify the employer attributes they valued most, the top response (67 percent) was “recognizes the value I bring to the organization.” (Length-of-Service Awards Becoming More Personal, Rebecca Hastings, SPHR, 2009 HR Trendbook, p. 46.)

Employees who feel “cared for” by employers are more likely to return the favor by paying attention to the company’s bottom line, treating customers better, and supporting the overall work community. As Allan Schweyer of the Human Capital Institute points out: Engaged employees work smarter, not harder.

The key to making recognition and rewards programs work is to target them to specific business goals and individual employee needs. Goal alignment and reward reinforcement promotes excellence and increases the likelihood of business success. At the end of the day, your organization is more likely to craft the right program by:

• Understanding the respective strengths of various rewards and recognition approaches.

  • Remembering that demographics matter—as the nature of your workforce changes, so should the nature of your approach.

  • The mix can be different for each employee. The key is to determine the mix on a case-by-case basis.

  (Finding the Right Mix, Performance Improvement Council)

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Become a More Engaging Manager

Recognize employee performance

To help motivate employees you need to show genuine appreciation for good work and recognize the improvements they make. Here are some steps you could take:

· say thank you - it is a powerful way of recognizing someone's contribution and motivating them to keep performing

· use internal publications, a note sent to the team or a poster to celebrate an individual's success and to show employees their commitment and effort are appreciated

· if you have an intranet create a bulletin board or forum so employees can thank colleagues for their efforts and help with key issues

· give spot rewards for specific contributions or tasks where employees have exceeded all expectations - for example - this could be a personal reward relevant to their interests outside work

· establish an award protocol so employees can nominate colleagues for their work and the way they have helped drive the business forward

· host social events when you achieve key milestones or targets to thank your team or teams for their work

· hold celebrations for employee's personal milestones or significant life events