Do you ever get frustrated by the feeling that you train and develop your key people, simply in readiness for your competitors to poach them?

We've heard it all before, "I left for a better opportunity". The research shows that more than any other single factor, people stay engaged because of opportunities to learn and be challenged. Organisations need to be opportunist and help create the right opportunities for the right people at the right time so that people are engaged enough to stay another month, another year or another five years.

Keep developing your people, or develop increased turnover, the choice is yours.
People have an innate desire to grow and develop. Almost everyone wants to enhance their strengths and take on new challenges to be the best they can be.

If employees are not being developed and growing then they are not being the best they can be. If they are not being the best they can be, then they are not being as happy as possible and therefore employee engagement can be hugely affected.

Consider this, 41 per cent of employees at organisations with poor training plan to leave within a year, versus 12 per cent of employees at companies with excellent training. (Source: American Society for Training & Development)

What sort of talent development plan do you have for yourself and others?

Growing your biggest asset
In many companies more money is spent on recruiting people than for on-going training and development. What is more important; new people or retaining and developing existing employees? One of the most effective engagement returns on investment is growing and developing your existing people.

Best Employers invest more financial resources and time into developing their people than other companies. Companies in the top quarter of training expenditure per employee per year average 24 per cent higher profit margins than companies that spend less per year. (Source: Susan J. Wells, HR Magazine)

Simply ask!

Don't jump to conclusions about what your people want (that would better engage them) as you will probably come up with the wrong solutions. Understand that everyone is different and invest time in rewarding each person based on their personal interests and motivations. If you do not know what those are, it is your job as a business leader to find out. Crazy I know, but why not ask them? Then see how many of them you can fulfill. But be careful not to over promise.

What are the rewards and benefits that glue each unique individual to the business? Because everyone is different!

It might be:

• Health and fitness initiatives
• Cash bonuses and profit shares
• Professional and personal development
• Family friendly practices
• Gifts and non-cash bonuses
• Supported flexibility policies
• Inspirational leadership
• Responsibility and challenge
• Business brand status
• Environment and proximity to home
• Career progression opportunities
• Training and development programs

Maintain a passionate fire within your people, not under them.

Possible actions:

• Ask your people what would really motivate them as far as rewards and benefits
• Have managers interview their people every six months to review personal needs
• Make employee engagement a measurable performance indicator for managers
• One of the most powerful rewards is autonomy and choice, both in work and reward options
• If providing incentives, blend a mix of short-term and long-term rewards
• If you can't pay enough money, give something else
• Never forget the power of praise, recognition and appreciation
• Encourage staff to do their own personal cashflow to take more financial control
• Keep talking and understanding your people, the quest is endless

The New Spelling for Engagement is T.I.M.E
Leaders become too busy and do not invest the time to constantly coach, get to know, review, appreciate and assist their employees, both in work and life. What sort of message does this send to your people?

Invest and make time for your people.
Do you really know what motivates your people? Do employees feel respected enough if you do not make enough time to get to know them? Managers at Best Employers are more generous with their time.

Purpose is an employees emotional salary

Individuals find it difficult to sustain their energy and be engaged when they feel their job has no real purpose beyond making money for someone else. When employees are not clear about their values and are unsure about how they serve the big picture, it can create feelings of frustration, insecurity, loss of purpose and meaning and thereby create disengagement. Employees begin to question whether they are succeeding or failing in their role. As a result, they start to question the organisation and become critical and uncommitted.

"93 per cent of engaged employees feel that the business has purpose."

(Source: Chart Your Course Workforce Retention Survey)
In 90 per cent of cases people in Best Employer companies are clear about the purpose 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.

It is therefore up the CEO and managers to help inspire and reinforce an employee's sense of purpose and meaning, or risk losing them. You may like to ask yourself these sort of questions:

• Is the purpose of the organisation clearly articulated and reinforced?
• Are our employees clear on the big picture of the business and see how they meaningfully fit into it?
• Do our people feel like they work for a great organisation that contributes to the greater good of the community and is socially responsible?

Consider
1. Communicating and telling the company's story:

• Reinforce community success stories
• Make sure everyone understands the ultimate purpose and greater good of the business
• Create a more meaningful purpose for each team and person
• Highlight any support that the company has made to a charity or the environment
• Allow people to participant in volunteer activities outside work

2. Being the change you want to see:

• Demonstrate the values of the business by doing value-driven activities every day
• If you are trying to instil work life balance, be seen going home at a respectable time
• Managers don't just say that people are important, they demonstrate it in the things they do

3. Reinforcing why an individual's work is significant and how it fits into the bigger picture:

• Give positive feedback based on the values and purpose of the business
• Reinforce the purpose in the recruiting process

4. Getting individuals clear on what would make their work more meaningful:

• Create a culture of appreciation and gratitude throughout the business
• Provide career development tools
• Do personal reviews at least twice a year
• Help individuals establish a five-year vision
• Consider days off to do pro bono work for a cause
• If not much can be improved at work, focus on meaningful outside interests

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