There’s an Employee Appreciation Day?

Did you know last Friday, March 2 was Employee Appreciation Day?  Yep, just one day on a random Friday that I guess probably went unnoticed by your boss or at your office.  And thank goodness it did.  Can you imagine celebrating Employee Appreciation Day when your company doesn’t appreciate employees in general – makes for an uncomfortable pizza or cake party?  Reminds me of a client meeting last year when it was mentioned that “Administrative Professionals Day” was coming up and they all quickly grabbed their phones and made a note of it. It’s like grandparents day too.  If it takes a day for you to recognize and thank your employees or assistant (or even your grandparents)…you might be dealing with a bigger problem. 

Why does it take a publicized day to remind you to thank those who make your life better (assuming your employees, assistant and grandparents actually make your life easier)?  In theory we understand the statement that companies don’t function without their employees is true but sometimes theory and practice couldn’t be farther apart.  You, and every boss or leader at your company should be showing your appreciation to employees often and for reasons that matter.   So what are the reasons that matter?  Here’s a bright idea…ask them.  Those employees can be quite clever and they typically know what matters to them in terms being recognized because they are appreciated.  I’ll give you a few ideas to get started when recognition and appreciation is needed…taking on a stretch project no matter the outcome, going above and beyond the “typical” work load, coaching or mentoring another employee, dealing with a  difficult client, trying to stay focused on work when dealing with a personal issue…and there are so many more. 

Also, don’t show appreciation for just showing up – that is hollow and meaningless.  One of the greatest ways to show appreciation is to thank your employees individually for their contribution and explaining how their contribution matters to the company.  Make the connection to how they matter to the work they do, to the company’s clients and the company overall.  When you are able to consistently show your appreciation you’ll never think twice about a throwing an awkward pizza party on some random Friday in March to remind your employees you care and they matter.

Culture vs Strategy…Who Wins

So what is more important, culture or strategy?  You know you need both but which is more important? If you’ve ever heard one of my employee engagement or generational diversity presentation you know what the answer is and you know why.  As said best by Peter Drucker: 

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Research abounds regarding how culture impacts the success of a company – its profitability, its ability to innovate, and gain market share.  I recently read Derek Irvine’s blog post on TLNT “4 Reasons Why Culture is More Important than Strategy.” In the post Derek highlights recent research from Booz & Co. which adds more data and statistics to the “culture vs. strategy” debate.  Booz & Co. reports “that companies with unsupportive cultures and poor strategic alignment significantly under perform their competitors…. In fact, companies with both highly aligned cultures and highly aligned innovation strategies have 30% higher enterprise value growth and 17% higher profit growth than companies with low degrees of alignment.” [Read the article, Why Culture is Key in Strategy +Business.] 

I wonder how many business leaders, CFOs and board chairmen and chairwomen read those stats and actually believe them.  Do they think the P&L or expansion plans are the only facets of the business that matter?  I mean matter enough to garner a healthy dose of their attention?  I’m sure some thought is given to the office atmosphere but culture is more than that.

Culture can be defined in many ways (as the research abounds so do the books on the topic). A consultant and friend defined culture once as “…how we treat our co-workers.” But at the heart of it culture sets the tone of how the company operates and functions.  Culture manifests itself in seemingly everyday ways – like how the office is decorated, the stories employees share (especially to new employees), and the informal communication style.  And culture manifests itself in larger ways – like the values (and unwritten rules) the employees embrace and live out and the type of person (a hero) employees look up to.

The research supports it, the management gurus speak to it and past experiences prove it’s worth (ask anyone of the risk taking culture embedded at Enron)…is your leader on board?  Are you?

Employee Engagement Wish

My wish this holiday season is not very simple. I wish that every employee enjoyed going to work. That doesn’t mean every day is a holiday but when asked if you enjoy what you do you would be able to honestly answer “Yes.”

Research shows you are engaged to a job, career or the work you do in three ways…

1. To your individual job – the function of your work, having resources and clear direction

2. To your manager – trust in your manager, quality time

3. To the company overall – the direction of the company, how decisions are made, comp & benefits

When one of the three falls out of alignment an employee becomes less engaged, less committed, less satisfied and most importantly…less productive.  The reason I started Randall Research (formerly SBR Consulting, LLC) is to help companies create work environments where employees want to come to work.  We spend a majority of our time working so it should at the very least be enjoyable and fulfilling, right?

Research shows that engaged employees outperform their disengaged co-workers by as much as 200% and are more productive by 43% in revenue generation.  What does 43% more revenue generation mean for your company’s bottom line?

Think back to a time when you enjoyed your job (maybe that time is now for you).  How productive were you? Were you willing to go above and beyond for your team or to meet organizational goals? I believe that a small team of engaged employees can outperform, out-maneuver and out-smart a big team of partially engaged or dis-engaged employees.

I explain engagement this way…engaged employees stay for what they contribute and dis-engaged employees stay for what they get.  Which do you prefer on your team?

So my wish for 2012 is for companies to get serious about understanding what engagement means for their employees and commit to making progress.  Start with an employee engagement survey, share the results with your employees, together create a roadmap for change and hold the company accountable through metrics for moving the needle. 

Here’s to a successful and engaging 2012!

The Employee Experience…Not Just For Millennials

Our expert series continues as we look deeper at the survey results released in the Millennial Generation Today: Impact of economic environment on recruitment, retention and engagement white paper.  We are speaking with Bob Dean who is the Director of the North American business for Profiling Online, a global talent management solutions company. Bob has served as a senior executive for learning and talent management for Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton and Heidrick & Struggles. In 2006, he became one of the first ten people in the world to be certified in the models and frameworks of the The Experience Economy.  Bob uses this certification to design, develop, and deliver transformational customer and employee experiences for his clients.

Q: What are your initial thoughts on the survey results?

A: The survey covered information that is relevant today.  When you consider the financial meltdown and all that has happened in our country, and the world, information or articles on one generation from three years ago may not necessarily be as relevant today.

Q: Where or why have companies lost their way in engaging employee over the last few years?

A: Many corporate cultures have failed to adapt in the last 10 years.  Companies need to get back to their core values and what they stand for.  Companies should consider what culture they currently have and if it is the type of culture they need to sustain their businesses.  If it is a sustainable culture then the communication with employees has to change and have substance.  Communication has changed dramatically and communicating with employees is more than just an intranet or Facebook page.

Companies, especially large ones, have historically thought anything they needed to know as an organization they could find by tapping into their employees, their inside collective knowledge.  When they needed to know something they went to their employee source.  But what happens to companies when a large number of the employees leave through a layoff?  That company’s collective knowledge is now out in the market place.  And the marketplace now mirrors what the company once was in terms of knowledge. 

A company is either a closed culture or an open culture and those that are closed have lost their way and are not quick to understand the value of talent and tapping into collective knowledge. 

Q: Explain the employee experience concept?

A: Millions and billions of dollars is spent on corporate learning and development.  If you assess the retention and application of what’s covered in training sessions – it is maybe 20%.  So, much of the training has become a “check the box” activity.  Companies, spending that kind of money, need to get more out of their investment, should want to get more out of their investment.  The idea of the employee experience is to design learning experiences that deliver and make an impact.  Think about getting coffee at Starbucks versus your home.  It is the personal experience that differentiates what you remember and apply (in this case choosing to return to Starbucks).  The employee experience was adapted from The Experience Economywritten by Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore in 1999.  I was certified in this book in 2006.  The concept started with differentiating the customer experience through customization and has been adapted for the employee experience. You can learn more at www.strategichorizons.com.

Thank you Bob for your time and expertise.  I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with our readers.

Expert Interview Series: Market Movement

Our expert series continues with a Q&A with Melissa McGuire, CEO and founder of Sherpa.  Sherpa is a Charlotte-based staffing, recruiting and consulting agency focused on the fields of accounting & finance, technology and project management.  You can find them online at www.sherpallc.com. 

Q: As mentioned in our white paper (The Millennial Generation Today: The economic environment impact to recruitment, retention and engagement), there have been numerous recently released statistics regarding people looking to make a move and our research showed 70% of Millennials were considering the possibility of changing jobs. What is your reaction to these type of statistics?

A: I believe the statistics. First of all, I believe a large percentage of all employees are considering changing jobs. Never before have I heard so many people express so much stress about their jobs. Most have worked harder than ever during the recession and have received fewer rewards: lower or no bonuses, less 401k matching, less job security, higher health care costs, etc. Additionally, because of fears of layoffs and pressure to produce results has lowered morale in many companies. I don’t track millennials because I don’t look at age when evaluating people, but those newer to the work force are likely to be disillusioned with their jobs and believe there are greener pastures. However, I do believe that most will find better times if they stay in their current jobs. But, the trust has been broken, so many will probably leave.

Q: Do you see movement of those currently employed starting to pick up or has it held steady throughout the recession?

A: I have seen people very reluctant to change jobs during the recession. Instead, they hung on to them, even if they didn’t like them. It is the increase in confidence in the economy that is creating the environment for job changing. There are more jobs to move to and there is a little less fear of being the “last one in” at a company, which is the fear that they could be the first one out if the company had layoffs.

Q: When your recruiters contact passive candidates (those currently employed) are they more willing to consider an opportunity you may be calling about than they were 2 or 3 years ago?

A: Definitely.

Thanks Melissa for taking the time to answers our questions.  We appreciate your insight and know the statistics have some of those responsible for retaining their current talent very nervous. 

As a reminder, the white paper is available for download at www.sbrconsult.com.

New Research Release: What we need to know NOW about our largest generation

The Millennial Generation Today: Impact of the economic environment on recruitment, retention and engagement white paper is available online at www.sbrconsult.com.  The white paper is available complimentary.

Almost 1,200 Millennials (21 to 30 years old) participated in the national online survey to gauge how this generation feels about working in corporate America, thoughts on future employment decisions, and changing consideration of what’s important about work and their future. 

So what did our survey find? Here are a few key highlights…

• We have entered a “flight pattern” of workers wanting to find new employment opportunities. 70% of Millennials say there is a possibility they will change jobs.
• Women are more likely than men to consider leaving.
• Top three priorities are compensation, flexible work schedule and opportunity to make a difference.
• Despite the economic reality, 70% are positive about their future in general.
• Only 41% make saving for retirement a priority.

Results include findings on Millennials and the Workplace (will they stay or go, what’s important and the continual layoff affect), the Education Debate (high cost versus ROI and does your degree work for you?) and Future Visions (retirement, entrepreneurism and CSR impact). 

Take a moment and read through the white paper and then let us know your thoughts on the results.  We look forward to engaging in conversation with you.

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Follow our blog over the next few months as we talk with experts from areas related to our findings to dig deeper into the story of our data.  Up first is Shay Prosser, author of Get It Together – The Real-World Money Guide for Graduates.  She’ll discuss her thoughts on the retirement findings and the financial impact of our new economic normal on this generation. Look for her blog interview on Monday, May 23, 2011.

Drivers of Employee Engagement

If you have not watched the 10-minute YouTube clip by Daniel Pink on motivation you need to.  It sums up what motivates workers, backed by research and replicated by scientists (which means it has the academia seal of approval).  The clip, in conjunction with RSA Animate, is titled Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us.  

Don’t have time to watch the clip?  Here is the cliff note version with a focus on three key drivers of motivation and engagement. 

Autonomy – Listen closely to part about Atlassian (an Australian software company) – once a quarter on a Thursday afternoon the company allows employees to work on whatever you want, the way you want, with whomever you want (beer and cake included) for 24 hours.  The only caveat – employees are asked to share the results of what they worked on with company at end of 24 hours (one day).  Providing freedom and autonomy has yielded amazing results for the company including new products, fixes to existing software, etc. 

Mastery – Why do highly skilled, technically sophisticated people who have paying jobs spend their limited free time doing equally or more technically sophisticated work for FREE?  Because they want and like challenges and want to master a skill like learning to play an instrument on the weekends. 

Purpose – The need is not just for work to matter but for the work to have purpose, transcendent purpose.  It makes coming to work better and attracts better talent.  “When the profit motive become unmoored from the purpose motive – bad things happen like crappy products, bad service, and sometimes illegal acts.” 

When you consider the three key drivers to motivation – how does your company stack up in creating a culture that embraces giving employees autonomy to do their job, the resources to master skills and purpose in the work one does?  It’s a tall task and if it is not embedded in the culture it won’t happen overnight.  The first step is to acknowledge the current practices around these three drivers (micro-managers beware), determine where the disconnect and gaps are and then consider creating an action plan to put autonomy, mastery and purpose into your leadership’s vocabulary and then into every day practice.  

What motivates or drives you to be a contributor at work?

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As a reminder, SBR Consulting’s e² survey (employee engagement matters) measures how engaged and motivated employees are and where a company should focus their resources to have the greatest impact to engagement, retention and the bottom line.  Call me at 704.363.7151 or email me at stacey@sbrconsult.com for more information or to get started.

Freshman Today, Your Employees in 2014

February 21, 2011:  What does it mean for future employers if the self-rated emotional health of their future workforce is the lowest it has been since 1985 (when the question was first asked and tracked)?  According to The American Freshman by the HERI (Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA) there has been a decrease in the number of freshman that report high levels of emotional health and an increase in the number of freshman that report being frequently “overwhelmed by all I have to do” as high school seniors.  Even more unsettling is the difference between men and women freshman…38.8% of women felt stressed and overwhelmed as a high school senior versus 17.6% of men. 

If the stress levels continue what is the emotional state you can expect those new recruits to be in when they arrive on their first day at work?  Will adjustments be needed in the onboarding process? Will supervisors need to become sensitive (or more sensitive) to their emotional state?  Will over-coddling continue for this generation (or be the prescriptive consultants prescribe)?  I think this depends on how you value your employees.

Most companies have an EAP (employee assistance program) to help employees deal with emotional issues which are paid for by the company.  This allows the employee to see a counselor or clinician to work through their issues including addiction, stress, balance issues, etc. at no cost to the employee.  So it is safe to say that companies – to an extent – are currently aware that an employee’s emotional state impacts their productivity.  But for the most part EAPs are underutilized by employees and HR practioners will tell you their constant marketing of all the EAP has to offer falls on deaf ears. 

So what do we do?  First, new hires – especially those just out of college – need to learn about an EAP-type offering from their peers.  We all know that Millennials turn to their peers for guidance and advice on just about everything.  Second, additional soft skills training – like time management and dealing with stress – needs to be included in a new hires first year.  Finally, managers need to be clued in to recognize stress and overwhelming-type symptoms in their new hires and trained in how to deal with stress and productivity issues. 

There is no silver bullet answer but awareness of changing trends in our youngest employees is the first step to dealing with the issue and getting ahead of the issue before it derails a potential high performers.  As we all know, those high performers don’t just fall from the sky. 

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Are you 21 to 30 years old?  If so, we want your voice.  The last few years have been interesting to say the least and the Millennial Generation (Gen Y) has graduated or worked through one of the toughest economic periods in recent decades.  Take our confidential, online survey to share your thoughts on working in corporate America, future employment decisions, what’s important about work and your future.  The survey ends at midnight on March 1 so hurry up.  It’ll take less than 10 minutes to give us your opinions.  Survey link: http://bit.ly/fnN2tF.  Feel free to tweet out the link, share it with your friends and send it to your connections! 

 

Paying for Good Grades.. Future Work Implications & How Bad is it Really?

June 1, 2010:  I’m usually a few weeks (or months) late catching up on all the magazines that are delivered.  So as I was catching up on a past issue of Time magazine  the cover article (“Should Schools Bribe Kids?”) from the April 19, 2010 edition caught my attention.  The article on page 40 titled “Is Cash the Answers?” is about a Harvard professor and scientist who conducted an experiment in four cities testing the validity of using financial incentives in the classroom to motivate children to do better. 

Reading the article brought back the memory of being paid for good grades by my parents.  Oh how we loved report card day!  During my high school years (and my brother’s) my parents paid us $20 for an “A” and $10 for a “B”.  No money was paid for a “C” or lower because a “C” was not acceptable in our house.  As I read the article it hit me that I had never asked my parents why they paid us. 

So I called my dad and asked him about the decision to pay for grades and he said, “Your mother and I paid you because we felt that getting good grades was your job and it was what you were supposed to be focused on.  Remember, we discontinued the allowance with the grade payment.” (Side note – I never remember getting an allowance.)  But my parents didn’t pay for grades in college so I asked why the payments stopped thinking his answer would be that because they were paying for college.  But no, his answer was “we figured you were old enough to figure out how important grades are in college and if you couldn’t figure that out then you shouldn’t be going to college.”  He added, “We actually felt this way your senior year in high school too but decided to pay anyway.”  [For those wondering if grade payment worked my brother and I never made “C’s” and for me - I graduated high school with a small academic scholarship and graduated USC with honors.  That would be the real USC – University of South Carolina.]

At the crux of the argument for or against paying for grades (or paying to show up on time, get perfect attendance, attain a certain score on SAT, etc) is that people should derive instrintic pleasure from the task itself, not the reward that follows according to University of Rochester’s Edward Deci.  He believes that money does not work well to motivate over the long term and people work harder and perform better if they actually enjoy the work, not just the reward.  But as Amanda Ripley, the article author, states “most adults work primarily for money and in a curious way, we seem to be holding kids to a higher standard than we hold ourselves.”

Now I do agree that to truly do what you do well you need to enjoy it on some level and should feel the company you work for values and appreciates your contribution. 

But is incentivizing a sales team with a luxury trip for exceeding sales goals or the potential for an employee to receive a bonus or promotion for exceeding expectations (and in some cases just meeting them) really any different than kids being paid to make good grades?  If adults are motivated to give more at work by the allure of the dangling carrot, why would we expect kids to be any different?  It seems to be a beneficial win-win for all involved.  The company gets better performance, the employees feels recognized for their performance and the kids learn the value of cause and effect – good grades = cold, hard cash.  Through this model we are also conditioning kids to strive to do better after school when they join the workforce, but I guess that means companies will need to keep rewarding with incentives.  I’m thinking this may resonate well with employees and future employees everywhere.   

What do you think?  Please share your comments.

Career Discussions with Managers are [Still] Taking a Back Seat

April 20, 2010 – For the last two years I have been working with a client on various projects and one project that is getting more of my attention lately is taking their mentor program to the next level.  To provide some background, my client has been pairing new hires with mentors for years which put them ahead of most companies.  To complement the mentor program they even rolled out a company-wide buddy program late last year to pair younger new hires (typically those under 30) with a buddy.  The buddy serves as their “first friend” – the go-to person for simple questions that you don’t want to bother your new boss with. 

As they revamp the mentor program to include refresher training for mentors, training for mentees on how to own their career, and creating an online toolkit available to all, I am struck by new research from Right Management about the failure of employees to discuss their careers with their managers. 

Thirty-seven percent of workers never engage in career discussions with their managers, according to a survey of nearly 700 employees by Right Management. On top of that an additional 30% only discuss their careers once a year, which would lead one to assume it happens during the yearly performance review (which is the wrong time to do it but that is for another blog post). 

I am a big believer in employees owning their own career but the reality is sometimes you are so overworked it the lowest priority on your ‘to do’ list or you aren’t sure how to approach the conversation with your boss or even worse, the company doesn’t foster an environment where the conversations are welcomed and encouraged. 

According to Right Management’s press release, Melvin Scales, Senior Vice President of Global Solutions for Right Management observed that “individuals need to take responsibility for managing their own career. Unfortunately, many are not equipped with the information or opportunity to have meaningful career discussions with their managers.”

If it seems unlikely that managers will be able to take on the additional responsibility of initiating and making time to discuss an employee’s career development one option to consider is implementing a mentor or career advisor program. 

Research has shown that most employees, regardless of age, want to have an understanding of where they are headed whether they have 5 or 25 years to go in their career.  Understanding this need but being sensitive to managers who are overworked or – let’s be honest – wouldn’t be the right person to engage in this type of discussion, a mentor or career advisor program may be a solution.  Keep in mind research released last year from Adecco states 76% of American works are not satisfied about future career growth opportunities at their company.  That could be because they don’t see any growth or maybe they haven’t been exposed to someone who has taken an interest in their career.  Mentors can play a key role in the development of talent and ultimately the retention of talent. 

Creating an environment to discuss career growth and development opportunities allows for employees to be more engaged in their work and the company, leads to greater productivity and an increase in the bottom line.

 What are your thoughts?  Do you have meaningful conversations with your boss or a mentor about where you are headed?