Appreciate your people & they will appreciate you

Being appreciated is one of the most basic human desires. Recognition, praise and appreciation are some of the best employee engagement investments that you can make and are certainly the easiest and cheapest ways to cultivate higher engagement in your people. When people are criticised, productivity and performance improves 19 per cent. If employees are praised, performance and productivity increases, on average, 71 per cent, but can improve by as much as 87 per cent (Source: How full is my bucket? Rath & Clifton).

"Praise is the greatest tool in behaviour modification ... it goads us to better performance and encourages us." B.F Skinner, Behavioural psychologist

Receiving gratitude, feeling respected and being valued are some of the most under-utilised and best return-on-investment business tools available because they're free. Employees simply look for a "thank you" to feel appreciated for their work. If they don't get it they can begin to feel taken for granted. In most cases recognition is psychologically worth more to employees than a pay rise.

The smallest comments can make the biggest differences for people. Try to be as specific as possible when expressing appreciation. Instead of saying: "Nice job with the new client last week," try: "I liked the way you went to the client's office to deliver the product in person. That really positioned us as part of their success team."

Here are some starters for you:

"One of your achievements that I'm most proud of is ....."
"You really made a difference by ..."
"I'm impressed by your ..."
"I admire you for ..."

Possible actions

• Get rid of the old-school management focus on improving weaknesses and instead concentrate on expanding people's strengths
• Gossip about the good work and behaviours you hear about others
• Whenever possible, try to be at the scene to witness and applaud people's achievements as they occur
• Make "thank you" part of your common language
• Learn to accept praise and compliments graciously yourself, otherwise it may not spread as quickly
• Put praise into writing as documentation delivers longer lasting benefits
• Applaud people in public (but give constructive feedback in private)

Engagement through information

There are many factors that affect employee engagement, but almost all issues fall into seven key engagement drivers. The first driver is Leadership. This is where leadership keeps people informed and appreciated through trust and integrity.

An essential part of what employees become is how we communicate with them.
Communication is vital to keep employees informed and feeling like they are an ‘insider'. One of the key engagement drivers that managers can control is sharing the key business issues and the aims of the business as much as possible.

In 90 per cent of cases people in Best Employer companies are clear about the purpose and direction of the business and the common benefits. In other companies, only 75 per cent of the people in the company have a clear vision that they can support. The reason is that best practice businesses communicate with employees almost twice as regularly as other companies. They use meetings, one-on-ones, lunch sessions, email and other forms of internal communication around 31 times a year.

Virtually everyone wants to be part of a winning team. So engagement can be further increased with authentic success stories about business wins, what the organisation is doing and how it is having an impact on the greater community.

The Internal Communications & Engagement Link
Internal communication has a direct link to employee engagement. In today's businesses, in order to keep employees engaged and motivated, there cannot be a lack of effective, consistent and employee-relevant communication in the workplace.

Here are some thought starters to get you going:

• The CEO or a senior manager launching an employee engagement initiative such as work life balance or a flexibility policy
• Present updates at meetings and events
• Newsletter or email
• Lunchtime seminars or breakfast information sessions
• Ten-minute CEO/manager meetings
• Welcome letter from CEO on joining
• Induction flyer on employee benefits from CEO/management
• Monthly emails and updates
• Prizes for best internal communication idea

How to give your people a 10% pay rise without the money

Stressed employees are not productive employees. Responsible, forward thinking organisations want their people to not only be in control of their life and work, but also their finances.

Think about it, it makes sense, the less stressed and more in control of their life employees are, the better they will perform at work. Companies that have people with low financial anxiety benefit from greater performance and morale. But unfortunately most employees spend as much as 25 hours a month worrying about their financial situation. For a company of 100 employees, that can mean close to 30,000 unproductive working hours or 750 lost working weeks per year.

Almost 97% of employees say they experience financial stress, yet only around 3% take responsibility (self-leadership) to create something as simple as a cashflow for their own life. So "How do you give your employees a 10% pay rise without giving them anymore money"? Answer: Help them take more control of their cashflow with tools and training. Research shows that more awareness of your cashflow can increase your financial situation by around 10% per year.

So there can be huge benefits in providing your people with tools and resources to be able to take better control of their financial situation. Recently one of our clients paid all their people an extra one hour to allow them to go and do their personal cashflow program on employee engagement system meCentral.com

The philosophy for helping employees take more control of their cashflow and other financial issues is exactly the same approach when applied to other key areas such as career development, work life balance and life goals.

Where have we gone wrong with Employee Engagement?

True employee engagement is achieved when employees know what is important to them, a new innovative approach which somewhat turns current thinking on its head through a self-leadership philosophy now known as "self-driven employee engagement".

In search of this elusive ‘engagement', many companies have mistakenly indulged in a range of employee benefits that act merely as a ‘band-aid' to the symptoms of disengagement rather than address the core drivers behind what really engages individuals. Many employee engagement solutions have offered an ineffective mixture of employee benefits and commonly creating an ‘entitlement' or ‘whinge' culture.

The ‘Inside Out Approach'
Psychologically most people know what they don't want. However, few really know what they do want. If employees don't know what truly engages them in work and life, it is virtually impossible to sustainably engage them. The key is helping employees take responsibility for driving their own engagement (self-driven employee engagement) by getting clarity around what they want both inside and outside of work.

Almost everyone wants more control over their lives. Self-leadership is the philosophy of putting individuals back in control by giving them the thinking, tools and personal responsibility to get clear on what they want in work, life and personal finances.

By providing the tools, environment and solutions by which employees can get greater clarity around what they want, what motivates them and what is important to them, both inside and outside of work, organisations can create a sustainable win-win culture, thereby building a workforce that is engaged, productive and performing to its highest potential.

If you can't measure it - you can't manage it

Thanks for your kind emails and further questions. Due to the great response from a recent "Engaging People" Newsletter we have been asked to spell out some key question that you must know in a little more detail.

To make any meaningful change you must first know what you are trying to change. So read this newsletter, then print it out and take 2 minutes exploring your answers.

If you can't measure it - you can't manage it

1. MEASUREMENT:
To what degree do we conduct staff satisfaction surveys / engagement surveys?

• Never
• Informally
• Formally Yearly
• More Than Yearly
• Formally Sporadically

2. IMPLEMENTATION:
How quickly do you implement the findings of these surveys?

• Most within 6 months
• Most within 12 months
• A few within 6 months
• A few within 12 months
• We rarely implement anything

3. ISSUES:
What are the top 3 real reasons for your people leaving or staying?

Leaving: 1._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Staying: 1._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

4. FINANCIAL IMPACT:
What is the financial cost to the business of losing just one employee? If you are unsure go to the Engagement Economics section of www.LifebyDesign.com.au

$ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ to $ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

5. TURNOVER RATES:
What is your turnover rate? How does it compare for your industry?

Our company turnover rate: _ _ _ _ _ _% Our industry turnover rate: _ _ _ _ _ _ _%

6. FOCUS:
Do you put more effort into recruiting new people or engaging your existing people?

Attraction of new employee:

Mthly Hrs _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Mthly Cost $ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Engagement of existing team: Mthly Hrs _ _ _ _ _ Mthly Cost $ _ _ _ _ _

6. POSSIBLE ACTIONS:
What key 3 things need to change to improve in employee engagement in your organisation?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The key is; talk to and research your employees. Involve senior management; create a plan and invest more time in your people both formally and informally. The future of your organisation will be in direct proportion to how much time and effort you choose to invest into employee engagement.

The 80/20 Rule of Engagement Employee engagement benchmarking is useful, but the findings provide you with just the 20% starting point. Successful employee engagement results from the remaining 80% - the commitment to strategic and effective implementation.

Disengaged from the first day or just conditioned that way over time?

On average, 80 per cent of employees are not engaged or actively disengaged.

Do we, as leaders, hire them disengaged or do we condition them that way?

The clearest driver that differentiates Best Employers is leadership. Most employees do not leave jobs or companies - they leave managers. Leaders need to keep their people informed and appreciated. Australia has one of the highest management avoidance styles in the world. Any cultural change should start from the top down and employee engagement is no exception. When it comes to making your company a great place to work, management practices are vital.

ISSUE: Become the change we want to see in our people and organisation

Want to make CEO's see HR as a profit centre?

Even though most CEOs say "our employees are our most important assets", modern accounting is virtually devoid of employee engagement measurement. The balance sheet has traditionally had no allocation line for human assets. Engagement has not so much been about numbers, but it is about performance. An increase in productivity performance can result in increased profitability.

Companies with an engagement score of 60 per cent or higher have an average five-year shareholder return of more than 20 per cent, while companies with engagement scores of less than 40 per cent usually have a negative return of 10 per cent to shareholders.

Alarmingly, Australia has some of the lowest engagement levels in the world with 82 per cent of workers either not engaged or disengaged. Disengaged employees cost the Australian economy about $31.5 billion a year through loss of productivity, sick leave and even sabotage.

ENGAGEMENT ECONOMICS

Turnover is increasingly becoming one of the primary expenses for businesses due to additional hiring, lost productivity and retraining costs. Many researchers suggest turnover costs companies between one and two times an employee's salary in lost productivity. For an organisation of 1000 employees with an average salary of $60,000 and 22 per cent turnover, this equates to around $15,800,000 annually in lost productivity. Reduce turnover by just 2 per cent by engaging people and you could save your business over $1.4 million p.a.

ISSUE: Employee engagement can now be illustrated by HR as a profit centre

For more information go to Engagement Economics or Frequently Asked Questions

Do you really know why your people leave?

The key thing to be aware of is that, there are rarely talent shortages in great workplaces. It is the case that organisations short on talent usually deserve to be!"

There are many reasons why people leave, but almost all issues fall into these seven key areas:

1. POOR LEADERSHIP
Management that doesn't keep employees informed or show them appreciation and where there is a lack of respect, trust and integrity.

2. LACK OF PURPOSE
The organisation lacks a meaningful purpose that makes a real difference and isn't aligned with the values of the individual employee.

3. POOR REWARDS
There are no clear links between employee performance and business outcomes. The employee doesn't feel fairly rewarded for their contributions to the organisation's success.

4. LACK OF OPPORTUNITY
There are very few development opportunities and people have limited career advancement prospects.

5. POOR RELATIONSHIPS
Poor, negative and non-collaborative relationships exist between leaders, co-workers and within teams. Individuals don't feel like they have a community of friends at work.

6. POOR JOB FULFILLMENT
The nature of the day-to-day work is consistently unfulfilling and boring to employees and typically lacks challenge and the utilisation of their key strengths.

7. POOR WORK LIFE BALANCE
The business environment doesn't support a life outside work for employees.

Do you have more 'eager beavers' or 'complacement cows'?

I am still finding many people are unclear about the distinctions between attraction, retention and engagement. On the surface they can be seen to be very similar, especially retention and engagement, yet they are very different.

1. ATTRACTION
Attraction is about how you recruit and hire the right people into an organisation at the right time via techniques such as recruitment and employee branding strategies

ISSUE: Continually breaking in new employees is no way for your company to continue being competitive.

2. RETENTION
Retention is about making sure they stay in the company. They may stay, but not necessarily be engaged. Typically about 60-80% of your workforce will be retained.

ISSUE: Some employees quit and leave - the really bad news is others quit and stay

3. ENGAGEMENT

Engaged employees usually only make up about 20% of your team. Engagement is about making sure they not only stay but are passionate about the company and the work they do and are therefore more committed and productive. Employee engagement is the extent that employees are committed to the success of a business, believe in its values, are fulfilled and passionate, feel pride in working for their organisation and are motivated to go the extra mile.

Engagement is the heart and mind connection between employee and work. It is basically having the right people in the right place at the right time and at the right price. If you are engaged you will probably be retained. But you can be retained and not necessarily engaged. Engagement is about having an employee who is an "eager beaver" whereas retention can mean you may keep "complacent cows", who are just doing their job but not engaged.

ISSUE: Employee Engagement = Increased performance = Improved productivity = Greater profitability

The 7 drivers of employee engagement

In these times of skill shortages our No 1 customer needs to now be our people. An organisation that can engage its people will be more productive, perform better and therefore be more profitable. So in this issue of "Engaging People", we focus on the seven key drivers in engaging employees.

1. LEADERSHIP

Great leadership keeps people informed and appreciated. Be the change you want to see.

2. PURPOSE

A business with aligned values and a meaningful purpose makes a real difference. Purpose is increasingly becoming the emotional salary for many employees with 93% of engaged employees feeling that the company has a meaningful purpose.

3. REWARD

Clear links are established between employee performance and company objectives where individuals are fairly rewarded for their contributions to the company's success. Only 12% of employees leave because of money, so for most, money is not the main motivator. Our job is to find out what is.

4. OPPORTUNITY

A culture of constant learning, full of development opportunities is created where people feel positive about their future career prospects. Many people think; what if you train your people and they leave? Well worse still is; what if you don't train them and they stay?

5. RELATIONSHIPS

Good, positive, open and collaborative relationships exist between leaders, co-workers and teams. How well do you really know your people? Hobbies, interests, kids names, real motivations or life philosophy?

6. JOB FULFILMENT

The nature of the day-to-day work consistently energises people. When people love what they do, productivity and performance explode. Do you want to instantly maximise your people's job fulfilment?

7. WORK LIFE BALANCE

An environment exists where people's lives outside work are supported and encouraged. What are your teams top priorities and goals outside work? Want to create a sustainable win-win culture?

Hitting the perceived ceiling

Sometimes you may feel there is not much opportunity to increase your employees' skills and challenges to make their work more fulfilling, but do not take it for granted until you have spoken to them about it first. You might be pleasantly surprised.

There are some cases when opportunities for change do not exist in an employee's current role and we need to look at other roles inside and outside the organisation. Solutions may be:

• Redesign the current job
• A new job with more responsibility and challenges (maybe even a promotion)
• Down-scale with fewer working hours or demands
• Sideways move to another area or regional location
• Study or leave without pay

Possible actions
From day one:

• Do thorough recruiting to make sure there is a good fit in the first place
• Consider doing career development as part of the induction process
• Utilise online career development tools for your people
• Create simple but clear job descriptions

General:

• If you sense someone is not happy, move quickly to get to the bottom of it
• Do not stunt employee growth by keeping them in roles that they have outgrown
• In-house career development program
• Identify the skills individuals most love using and arrange for them to utilise these skills more in their current role
• Pay enough attention to make sure that your people are challenged appropriately
• Redesign the current job
• Increase the variety of tasks
• Create a new role with more responsibility and challenges (maybe even a promotion)
• Consider downscaling with fewer working hours or demands (especially for returning to work parents)
• Sideways move to another division or regional location
• Float the idea of taking a sabbatical, further study or leave without pay

Reviews and coaching:

• Understand or get career coaching
• Brainstorm new positive responsibilities that employees would like to undertake
• Identify people's ideal career vision for the next two to five years
• Review each employee's role every six months and see what can be done to make it more fulfilling