Tag Archives: Employee Survey

Action Plan or New Year’s Resolution?

31 Jan

As I was reviewing employee engagement survey results with a client recently the question came up: “How do we take this great data and turn it into action?”

There’s a tendency by some to look at all the ills revealed in the survey data and put together a comprehensive plan with subsections and footnotes and “we do this, but only on Tuesday’s– whew! These plans, which look a lot like those New Year’s Resolutions lists, rarely bring any results. Like those resolution lists they are long on intention and short on action.

I tend to recommend the organization pick one or two key goals that all managers in the company should work on, and then let each manager pick one additional goal that would be germaine to their department. This allows the senior leadership to set the overall tone for the company, while still allowing each manager some latitude to address something that is important in her/his department. By the way, goals can be set to build on strengths as well as remediate weaknesses– something perhaps to discuss in a later post.

Ready to set aside resolutions and get down to something that will produce real results? Good luck.

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“We’re One Big Family”

29 Jan

We used to live in a neighborhood that was, in a word, special. The kids in the hood grew up together, walked in and out of each home on the street like it was their own– relationships that have stood the test of time and distance. We used to throw our money together and have the biggest Fourth of July fireworks blowout in the county. We were neighbors. We were friends. We were, in a word, family.

I’m taking you down this memory lane trip because that feeling– family– is an element of highly engaged workplaces. When we study the survey comments at highly engaged companies that theme– “we’re one big family”– emerges frequently. At poorly engaged companies– “family”– and the neighborly, positive sense that goes with it, is absent. Coincidence? I think not.

Although many of us didn’t have the best “family” experience growing up, we can certainly hope for the best of what family can mean– care, trust, acceptance. This is exactly what employees at great workplaces are talking about! We didn’t tell them to say “this place feels like family”– they chose those words to describe what their work experience feels like. Importantly, it’s that feeling that fuels engagement, which we know leads to more productivity, employee retention and customer loyalty.

Consider:

  • Do our employees feel this way about our workplace?
  • If they don’t, what’s getting in the way from them doing so?
  • Given the current economic crisis, what can we do right now to start building that sense of family, knowing it can help get us through the difficult times ahead?

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“Good Enough” Isn’t Good Enough Anymore

22 Jan

Five years ago I was working with a client, reviewing their employee survey results. The data indicated that many employees were unfavorable to the employee benefits offerings. In discussing what should be done the CEO said to me: “I wish our benefits could be better, but I think they’re good enough. I know it might be a thorn for some of our staff, but I don’t think people are disengaging and leaving over this.”

At that time, this CEO could have been right. Our studies then indicated that benefits were a moderate driver of engagement. Fast forwarding five years to today I can tell you employee perceptions about benefits have risen much higher as a driver. In fact, we now see it as one of the six most important drivers that an employer must address.

  • Are your benefits “just good enough”?
  • What could you do to help employees know that you genuinely care about their well being, now that we know it is a more significant driver?
  • What low cost, or no cost, actions can be taken, given our current economic challenges?

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When Perception Trumps Reality

21 Jan

In a consultation about a year ago with a company about their employee survey results, the CEO voiced to me concerns about employee perceptions of company benefits, particularly their 401(k). He complained: “We have a great plan, but many of our staff came from a company we closely partner with that has a pension. We don’t have a pension, so they think they’re losing out even though their overall net retirement benefit is much better.”

We concluded that the company needed to do a better job of helping employees get clear about the benefits of their current plan. They launched a communication iniative they called “Do you want a pension or do you want a retirement?” In this initiative they presented models that showed employees how much better their retirement would be under the 401(k) plan.

I’m pleased to report that a year later those survey results are much higher– changing perceptions helped change the reality for those employees.

  • What perceptions do you need to address regarding benefits, or anything else for that matter?
  • Would this communication be even more important right now with our current economic situation likely making our staff even more nervous about these “security” issues?

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The Defintion of Insanity…

20 Jan

In an earlier post I mentioned that my colleague Leigh Branham and I are now seeing that health and well-being is a significant driver of employee engagement, taking on far more importance now than five years ago. Why has it risen in the priority ranking in terms of differentiating between low and high levels of employee engagement?

One answer may lie in a study reported in the January, 2009 edition of HR Focus. The study indicates that although wages have increased 14.5% from 2000 to 2007, family health care coverage rose 78.3%, a average increase 5.4 times faster than the medium wage– yikes!

In a focus group interview I recently conducted on behalf of a client this concern came through loud and clear. Several employees said: “The good news is I was very productive last year and got a nice raise. The bad news is I gave it all back in increased health care premiums!”

Is this the experience at your place of work? Many employers keep the same approach to health care, and don’t get any better results… insanity, right? Over the coming weeks I’ll be discussing some ideas we’ve found that may work to stem this tide– would love to get your thoughts…

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