Tag Archives: Employee Satisfaction

“Will Corporate Giving Suffer In The Crunch?”

19 Feb

 charity1

The Times Online asks this important question, one which I hope all employers are carefully considering. I may be more sensistive to this as a former nonprofit executive, who knows how important corporate giving is to providing needed services in a community. Cadbury is featured in the article as one company that is holding firm:

These are uncertain times for charities dependent on corporate giving but Cadbury – associated with philanthropy since its Quaker founders created the Bourn-ville workers’ village in 1895 – insists that it, for one, will continue to give in the recession.

“It’s part of our heritage,” said Cheryl Phillips at Cadbury. “It brings a sense of cohesion to the company, increases employee engagement and develops our people.” my emphasis)

The article also points out another factor that should be considered– employee engagement– which is the theme of this blog. I know of many employers who have seen these same benefits of corporate social responsibility (CSR)– connections in the community, growth in skills, helping the brand image, a sense of satisfaction for employees involved in charitable work– these can bring a nice ROI to a company that is genuinely committed to giving back.

I certainly understand that times are tough and cutbacks may be necessary, but I encourage all employers to add employee views into the mix before making any significant changes to corporate giving.

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A Writer Goes Retail– A Lesson In Liking Your Job

17 Feb

 cash-register1

I encourage you to read the column written in the New York Times by Caitlin Kelly. The author is a freelance writer, who recently took a part-time job at a department store. In the course of her time she learns about her profession of journalism, about the store that apparently does a good job of creating a friendly, productive environment and, most importantly, something about herself. She concludes her column:

My retail co-workers have chosen this job for many reasons. Some are college students, some already work at two other jobs, and for top managers, it’s a well-paid full-time career. It offers flexible scheduling, can be a lot of fun and — in an economy forcing millions to redefine themselves professionally — its expectations are manageable and clear.

With so many media companies struggling, hundreds of my peers are losing their handsome titles and well-paid jobs. Some of them, too, may have to redefine themselves, temporarily and part time, or permanently. Right now, at our store and for this company, I play on a winning team. It feels good.

“Are you still there?” my friends ask me, month after month. Luckily, I am.

Many of us will need to rethink careers in the midst of this crisis. One thing we should keep in mind is that liking what you do and who you work is important. Ms. Kelly’s journey can be a good guide for the rest of us.

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Hard At Work???

13 Feb

I’m pretty sure one of the principles of employee engagement has to be the desire/ability to stay awake…have a nice weekend!

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“Happy Hospitals Make Happy Patients”…

11 Feb

happy-cookies

… Or says a study recently published in Science Daily. The research, conducted by University of Michigan Professor John Griffith, concludes:

In a newly published report, Griffith examined the attributes of 34 community hospitals in nine states that have earned the Health Care Sector Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, a nationally recognized quality benchmark for various industries.

Griffith’s findings suggest that the single-biggest factor in patient satisfaction is hospital employee morale, which starts with outside-the-box thinking at the very top management levels.

These community hospitals had the happiest patients and caregivers, but only because these hospitals departed radically from traditional hospital management, Griffith says.

My co-author Leigh Branham and I conducted a study of the employee engagement in over 100 hospitals, and came to the same conclusion– there is a direct link between employee engagement  and patient satisfaction. Moreover, employee at hospitals with very low engagement results were far more likely to report patient safety and other complaince-related problems, something no hospital wants. Perhaps one way to deal with our health care crisis is to create more engaged workplaces like these honored today.

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Think You Know What Your Employees Are Thinking Right Now? Think Again.

9 Feb

listen

Salary.Com Inc. has conducted a survey of employee and employer perceptions about employee job satisfaction and intent-to-stay. The study, reviewed at Occupational Safety & Health Online reports:

According to the survey, employee satisfaction levels are often overestimated by employers. A set of questions new to this year’s survey found that the current economic climate was less of a deterrent to job seeking than employers anticipated, while variables such as income, job level, industry and age remained consistent factors that affect job satisfaction year-over-year.

Key data points:

• Overall, the survey showed that 65 percent of employees are at least somewhat satisfied in their jobs while employers estimated that figure to be 77 percent. 
• Approximately 65 percent of employees admitted to passively or actively looking for a new job, compared to employers’ estimate of 37 percent. 
• While employers have a good sense of overall employee satisfaction, they often overestimate the degree of extremely satisfied employees nearly 2 to 1. 
• The levels of satisfaction among employees surveyed varied by job level and salary. Not surprisingly, the results of the survey suggest there is a direct link between pay and satisfaction — the higher the salary and job level, the greater the number of extremely satisfied employees. 
• Age affects job satisfaction — millennials report the lowest job satisfaction.

Perhaps this study doesn’t shock you, but it does reveal an important insight that should call us to action–the best way to find about how employees are feeling is to ask them. We need to do a much better job of listening, really hearing, what our associates are feeling right now.

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Start ups don’t have to worry about this human capital stuff, right? Wrong.

7 Feb

light-bulb

You’re a fledgling, but promising, start-up. The patents for your sassy new widget have been approved. Your carefully crafted business plan has attracted outside investment. You’ve never had to hire and manage a staff before, but how hard can that be– the heavy lifting of getting this business off the ground and on your way to the big IPO pay day is just a matter of time, right? If that’s what you’re thinking, I encourage you to reconsider your position– the success of your new venture may depend on it.

Mark Waltzoni has several outstanding posts on this question at his site Building Sustainable Ventures. One hits this question head on:

The human capital side of the investment equation has traditionally received less emphasis during the due dilligence process, except for quantative analysis of benefit plans, pension obligations, and salary costs.

I believe that determining the full value of any investment benefits from a review of the organization’s talent pipeline, ability to access external talent, potential flight risks; and leadership team gaps that could swiftly erode an organizations’ ability execute against their strategic objectives, and current human capital performance such as turnover rates, staffing metrics, employee engagement indicators, and who and when ot offer retention, development, or separation agreements.

I spoke to the Executive Director of a large angel investing organization recently and he told me that in his experience early stage companies rarely failed due to poor technology or financing, but rather a leadership team whose talent, knowledge, and execution gaps doomed it’s ability to scale to the next milestone.

In the course of reviewing business plans over the years I’ve seen too many founders ignore this advice– always to their detriment. I should note that the research database my colleague Leigh Branham and I are studying for our book Lucky To Work Here contains over 10,000 employers, a third of which are small businesses. Our studies again confirm that engaged employees make a difference in all enterprises– big and small, public and private, profit and non-profit.

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“Survivors Guilt”– Impacting Engagement & Productivity

7 Feb

There’s a very sobering article in Time Magazine about so-called “Survivors Guilt”, the feelings of those working at a company that just went through a layoff and are still working– they survived the RIF. The article describes this syndrome:

Losing your paycheck in a recession is certainly awful, and those who hold on to their jobs are no doubt better off than their fallen colleagues. But watching colleagues pack their things and go — and dealing with guilt that it wasn’t you, anxiety that you might be next, exhaustion from the extra work you must take on and even envy of those who get to leave such a sullen environment — that’s not much cause for celebration. “Companies use the word affected with people who lose their jobs — the implication being that the people who remain aren’t,” says Joel Brockner, a social psychologist and professor of management at Columbia Business School. “They’re very much affected.”

Here’s how it feels to be one of the lucky ones: “It’s depressing,” says a market researcher in New York City who recently watched an entire division of her company be jettisoned. “You walk into the office and it’s quiet, the entire atmosphere is different. When someone gets promoted you want to say, ‘That’s great,’ but then you realize they got the job because the two other people in that group got laid off; this person was cheaper. You start feeling evil. People say at least you have a job, you should be grateful. Well, I’m not sure how happy I am. And then I feel selfish about that.”

The terms psychologists toss around to describe these feelings include survivor’s guilt (why him and not me?), survivor’s envy (thinking you might be better off gone too) and emotional contagion (the tendency to pick up your laid-off colleagues’ feelings of gloom and desperation). These feelings are with us in every recession, but as layoffs spread to more industries, people in all walks of life are increasingly experiencing them.

Fellow blogger Robin Tucker at The Proper Angle offers excellent advice to assist survivors. Her counsel is similar to what Leigh Branham and I have seen in our work in Beating the Bear Market with Engaged Employees.

Consider:

  • What can we do to make sure that departed employees are treated with dignity, so that their transition is as smooth as possible?
  • How can we work to allow “surviving” employees the communication channels they need to deal with their own feelings about this event?
  • Can we train our managers to more effectively spot employees who are not dealing well with this change?

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The ROI of Employee Engagement

5 Feb
Yet another study showing that more engaged employers enjoy financial rewards was reported by the web site Knowledge @ Wharton. The paper, which is available to download, reports:

In a paper titled, “Does the Stock Market Fully Value Intangibles? Employee Satisfaction and Equity Prices,” (Wharton finance professor Alex) Edmans examines the stock returns of companies with high employee satisfaction and compares them to various benchmarks — the broader market, peer firms in the same industry, and companies with similar characteristics. His research indicates that firms cited as good places to work earn returns that are more than double those of the overall market.

Companies on Fortune magazine’s annual list of the “100 Best Companies to Work for in America” between 1998 and 2005 returned 14% per year, compared to 6% a year for the overall market, according to Edmans. The results also hold up using an earlier version of the survey that dates back to 1984. “One might think this is an obvious relationship — that you don’t need to do a study showing that if workers are happy, the company performs better. But actually, it’s not that obvious,” says Edmans. “Traditional management theory treats workers like any other input — get as much out of them as possible and pay them as little as you can get away with.”

This study corroborates our own research, as well as twenty-seven other studies we’ve collected over the years for our book Lucky To Work Here. If you would like a copy of a bibliography of those studies, please email at markhirschfeld@gmail.com— I’d be happy to send it to you.

The evidence is now clear– there is a business imperative to creating a more engaged workplaces. Let’s get to work!

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Engaged Employees Less Worried About Personal Financial Future

3 Feb
A study out today, published by CNNMoney.Com reports that employees who are more enagaed at work have generally less anxiety about their own financial future. The authors of the report state:
This research certainly complements the studies we’ve been conducting of employee engagement in the midst of this economic crisis. Employees are very concerned, which is showing in their overall engagement.

In a survey of employee opinions, the Kenexa Research Institute (KRI) investigated the extent to which the current economic conditions cause workers to worry about their personal financial well-being as well as intentions to delay or cancel anticipated purchases. Additionally, workers in the United States were asked about their feelings toward organizational leadership and the effectiveness of business processes at work.

Results indicate employees’ feelings about their own personal financial well-being are strongly influenced by their experiences at work. Not surprisingly, an important factor influencing how employees feel about work is how effectively they feel their organizations are being led.

Workers who have unfavorable views of their leadership are much more likely to report being worried about their personal financial situation, which was found to be strongly related to stated purchasing intentions. Specifically, employees who rate their leadership unfavorably are much more likely to express concern regarding their personal financial situation compared to those who have favorable views of their leadership’s effectiveness. In addition, those who rate their leadership unfavorably are twice as likely to state that they are delaying current purchases.

This certainly complements the research we’ve conducted about employee engagement in the midst of these difficult economic times. Please review our report Beating the Bear Market with Engaged Employees

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Winning Employee Wellness and Engagement, From My Hometown

2 Feb

 Here’s a report about a group called  Simply Well from Omaha, Nebraska that is doing outstanding work in helping employees take greater responsibility for their own health and, in doing so, enjoying the benefit of increased employee engagement. The article features a local company:

The case study featured was the Greater Omaha Packing Company, Inc. (GOP). GOP has annual sales of nearly $1 billion and is ranked 5th in beef processing nationally. Since implementing simplyWell in 2001, GOP has experienced significant improvement in employee engagement as well as measurable clinical improvement.

Founder and President of simplyWell, james T. canedy, MD, attributed the group’s success to giving employees the right information at the right time as it relates to their health.

“By engaging patients in their own health and providing them the appropriate tools, they can manage their health more effectively,” said Dr. canedy. “Our studies show that a higher engagement rate in one’s health drives a trend of decreasing risk and cost. That is what simplyWell focuses on”.

This results is very much in keeping with our studies of outstanding workplaces– a committment to employee well being is a significant driver of employee engagement.

Consider:

  • Are you actively working to improve your well-care efforts?
  • What benefits could you experience with a greater emphasis on “health care”, instead of simply diagnosing and treating disease?

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