In an era of heightened corporate transparency, greater workforce mobility, and severe skills shortages, culture, engagement, and retention have emerged as top issues for business leaders. – Deloitte University Press
According to Deloitte’s 2015 Global Human Capital Trends survey, employee engagement and culture issues are now the no. 1 challenge companies face around the world.
Culture drives many outcomes in organizations, perhaps most prominently, employee engagement and retention. That can spell bad news for a lot of companies. More than half of respondents say their organizations have either a poor program or no program to measure and improve engagement. Explore the missing links in the culture-engagement connection and potential ways to close the gaps.
Want happy employees? It’s more than the occasional catered office lunch. It’s providing an environment where employees can be productive, collaborate with colleagues and find creative ways to power through their to-do lists. Mobile devices play a primary role in this movement, but so have the widespread adoption of public and private cloud applications, which have provided workers access to their files, and each other, anywhere, anytime and from any device.
According to research by Softchoice, an IT and managed services provider, technology – specifically, access to and use of cloud apps – makes employees happier at work, more satisfied with their work-life balance and more willing to stay with their current employers.
Softchoice research reveals that 74 percent of employees who use up to five cloud apps say they are happy at work, compared to just 19 percent of non-app users, and that 85 percent of employees who use six or more cloud apps for work feel that they have an optimal work-life balance, compared to 59 percent of non-app users.
Happiness isn’t the only factor positively influenced by cloud app adoption. According to Softchoice, employee productivity, job excitement and business success each trend up with increased app use. Only 30 percent of non-apps users claim to get excited about going to work, compared to more than 80 percent of staff using six or more apps, says Softchoice. Overall, says Softchoice, with more freedom over when meetings happen and where they can be attended from, staff members have a greater ability to tailor the daily grind to match their individual professional and personal responsibilities.
Freedom of choice, however, has its limits. IT departments need to provide a construct from which employees can access their apps in a safe and compliant environment. When popular consumer apps don’t live up to enterprise security standards, IT should strive to offer approved alternatives that offer a similar experience.
And of course, green-lighting more consumer-driven apps like Google Drive or Dropbox for corporate use (especially in data sensitive industries) would be a reckless extreme. Instead, letting employees choose from a variety of IT-approved enterprise app alternatives – used within the construct of a safe and compliant environment – still bestows a positive sense of control and inclusivity. Francis Li, Vice President of IT at Softchoice, explains more:
Not everyone comes into work with the same level of engagement, motivation, and passion each day. But if more than a few of your employees are making a habit out of being tired, stressed, and unmotivated, you might have a problem on your hands.
According to Bersin by Deloitte, “employee engagement has become the top issue on the minds of business leaders, directing us to an entirely new model of management”. But what does employee engagement even mean?
Few business buzzwords are more ubiquitous, yet the exact definition of employee engagement remains elusive. This becomes even more problematic when you consider Gallup’s seemingly ambiguous subcategories of not engaged, and actively disengaged.
I like to define employee engagement as proactively and passionately adding value while aligning with the company mission. This can be hard to quantify, but an engaged employee wears it on their face, demonstrates it in their work and in their workplace communication. Kind of like how former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart defined obscenity: “I know it when i see it”.
Once we know what we are looking for, we need to be able to measure it, and more importantly create more of it. Here are 7 engagement trends for the coming year, and advice for you to create a more engaged workforce in 2016:
1. Engagement will go up (but just a little).
According to Gallup’s latest poll: employee engagement has been pretty stagnant. Only 32% of U.S. workers were engaged in their jobs in 2015, compared to 31.5% the previous year. Given the other trends below, and the fact that engagement has risen from 29% in 2011, we can expect to see the needle move in 2016. But probably not more than a point or two.
2. Millennials will (still) provide a challenge.
In 2015, millennials became the largest generation in the US workforce. That number is expected to rise dramatically as more boomers retire and more graduates start their careers. Some predictions are as high as 75% of the workforce by 2030! (Although that myth was debunked in this Wall Street Journal post. It’s actually more like 44%).
Whatever the specific number, Generation Y is now the majority. Businesses seeking to engage employees in their work will now have to tailor their approaches to this group. Research suggests that they are driven by open communication, a great company culture, involvement with causes, and achieving purpose and fulfillment.
3. More compassionate leadership.
People don’t quit their jobs, they quit their bosses. It turns out that the opposite is true too. An inspiring manager creates more engaged teams. According to research by leadership development experts Dr. Brad Shuck and Maryanne Honeycutt-Elliott, “higher levels of engagement come from employees who work for a compassionate leader—one who is authentic, present, has a sense of dignity, holds others accountable, leads with integrity and shows empathy”.
4. More employee feedback more often.
We conducted an employee engagement study in 2014 and found that the vast majority of employees who received little or no feedback were actively disengaged. Engagement went up dramatically when employees received feedback about their weaknesses, and even more so when they received feedback about strengths.
Data is always nice to have, but the feedback/engagement connection is also intuitive. How much more engaged are you in any relationship, when you are having open and honest conversation about what matters most?
Try 15Five for free to automate a quick and powerful weekly check-in with everyone in your company. Learn more.
5. Work/Life Balance will become Work/Life Blend.
The Society for Human Resource Management, found that the best companies are embracing flexibility. For many job-functions there is no longer any good reason to require people to come into the office every day, or for work to be done between the hours of 9am and 5pm. (I am writing this from my kitchen table at 7:30 at night). More companies will continue on this path as long as the numbers prove it’s working.
6. People analytics will grow.
In his article published in Harvard Business Review last month, Sean Graber argues that it’s important to look at employees’ perceptions and behaviors and their impact on performance. Managers can then decide how to shift things to increase engagement. In Sean’s consulting, he melds analytics with qualitative feedback by looking at aggregated data from surveys as well as self-reported behaviors:
Over time, organizations can track how their employees’ engagement changes and how it relates to key performance indicators (KPIs), such as sales, customer satisfaction, and attrition.
Josh Bersin also chimes in with his article, The Geeks Arrive In HR: People Analytics Is Here. According to Bersin the shift towards “big data in HR” began in 2011 and exploded rapidly. He predicts that people analytics will be its own department that will look at productivity, turnover, and the people-issues that drive customer retention and satisfaction. In the coming years businesses will rely on hard data to pre-empt disaster by determining when engagement will suffer or when people are considering leaving.
7. Technology will focus on the employee.
Bersin (I love this guy!) explains that the HR technology market moves in 5-7 year cycles of rolling-out, implementing, and replacing tech. We are now in a transitional phase between two cycles.
One of the biggest trends we are seeing is the arrival of a “new breed of pulse tools, feedback apps, and anonymous social networking tools”. These advanced methods for having regular check-ins with employees to understand where they are being challenged will eventually replace annual performance reviews.
Business is a living, breathing entity. It undergoes change, grows and recedes, gets broken and heals. The people are the individual cells that work together to ensure that the entity is healthy, productive, and thriving. In 2016, the brain (leadership) will have more tools at its disposal to predict and improve employee engagement. Maybe in 2017 Gallup’s survey will report a positive radical shift in how people show up to work.
Ahh-choo! If your phone is ringing off the hook these days with employees calling in sick, you should know that the outbreak of influenza that’s wreaking havoc across America will by no means prove as undermining to your organization’s productivity as the epidemic of employee dissatisfaction that took hold in business long before this flu season began.
How bad is it?
After checking the vital signs of U.S. workers late last year, prominent research organizations declared an outright crisis.
Specialists at the Conference Board calculated that over half the U.S. population now hates their job. And the diagnosis from Gallup is just as dire: Fewer than 3 in 10 workers admit to having their hearts in their jobs. This lack of employee engagement will cost business upwards of $300 billion this year alone.
What’s now fully understood is that traditional remedies to disengagement no longer are effective. Where once the promise of greater pay could quickly restore spirits, workers have grown more immune to its influence.
The common prognosis now is that employee satisfaction and commitment cannot be restored to full health until leaders adopt more supportive management practices. The cure lies in fundamentally changing how we lead people.
The question now is, how?
The Great Place to Work Institute in November named analytics software giant SAS as the world’s best multinational workplace.
While it’s long been debated whether “happy” workers are indeed more engaged and productive than their discontented comrades, and whether organizations that invest themselves in more generous practices get rewarded with greater profitability, SAS’s performance provides irrefutable proof that it does. They’ve had 37 consecutive years of record earnings—$2.8 billion in 2012.
But dig well below the surface of generous perks and benefits that characterize SAS (and most other perennial “Best Companies To Work”), and you’ll discover its management team operates with uncommon philosophies, methods, and intentions.
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They’ve discovered that feelings and emotions are the true drivers of employee loyalty, innovation, and productivity, and purposely have made workforce happiness one of their primary missions.
Just last week, I traveled to SAS’s American headquarters in Cary, N.C., where I spent the day with employees, senior managers, and the founder and CEO, Dr. Jim Goodnight. What I learned in my visit should prove invaluable to any CEO, senior leader, or workplace manager seeking to sustainably reinspire its people.
More than anything, SAS has found that by being an especially benevolent and respectful organization, they consistently produce the most optimal workplace performance. Their highly nontraditional insight is that workers instinctively and positively respond to an organization that routinely demonstrates that they matter and are individually valued.
This understanding alone could provide the antidote to this country’s long-enduring employee engagement ailment.
Here are four of the unique leadership values that have made SAS an especially great and productive place to work—across the globe:
Value People Above All Else
In the fall of 2008, at the onset of the Great Recession, SAS customers suddenly stopped buying its products. Fears of a long downturn influenced businesses to dramatically cut spending, and the entire analytics software industry was directly affected.
Several of SAS’s competitors soon announced massive layoffs, and SAS’s own workforce immediately grew worried that job cuts would be forthcoming in order to prop up the bottom line.
But in early January 2009, Goodnight held a global webcast and announced that none of its 13,000 worldwide employees would lose their job. He simply asked them all to be vigilant with spending and to help the firm endure the storm.
“By making it very clear that no one was going to be laid off,” Goodnight told me, “suddenly we cut out huge amounts of chatter, concern, and worry—and people got back to work.” What likely will be astonishing to many is that SAS had record profits in 2009 even though Goodnight was perfectly willing to let his then-33-year track record of increased profit come to an end.
At 70 years old, Goodnight holds the conviction that “what makes his organization work are the new ideas that come out of his employee’s brains.” He therefore holds his employees in the highest esteem. So while he fully anticipated that the recession would constrain the firm’s short-term revenues, he instinctively knew that his team would produce breakthrough products while his competitors were cutting costs.
And even four years later, his commitment to his people has paid off handsomely. Said Goodnight, “new stuff we’re rolling out this year is going to take the market by storm.”
To Give Is To Get
It’s widely known that SAS’s munificence toward its workers is virtually incomparable in business, with the exception of Google—an early emulator of SAS’s practices and now the best place to work in the U.S. for 2013.
SAS employees, and their families, have free access to a massive gymnasium featuring tennis and basketball courts, a weight room, and a heated pool. An on-site health care clinic, staffed by physicians, nutritionists, physical therapists, and psychologists also is entirely free. Deeply discounted child care is available, in addition to no-cost “work-life” counseling which helps employees more effectively manage the stresses of everyday life. And, of course, common work areas are routinely filled with snacks and treats.
If you’re at all inclined to judge the company’s generosity as either extravagant or unnecessary, SAS has reconfirmed what’s routinely forgotten in business: You reap what you sow.
Keeping in mind that SAS just as easily could give people more pay and forgo all the unique programs and benefits, Goodnight long ago figured out that perks are symbolic representations of how he and his company values its people. The whole assortment of benefits exists to constantly remind workers that they’re important and greatly matter to the success of the firm. According to Jack Poll, a 28-year SAS employee and director of recreation and employee services, “when people are treated as if they’re important and truly make a difference, their loyalty and engagement soar.”
It soars so high that the highly skilled and talented workers SAS needs to remain competitive and innovative rarely leave. The company experiences annual turnover in the range of 2-3% compared to an industry average of 22%. And monies the firm otherwise would spend on headhunters, training, and restoring lost productivity are effectively diverted to further enhancing the work-life experience of employees.
Tens of thousands of people apply for the few hundred openings available at SAS every year. “What this proves, said Poll, is that “people want a life with money, not money without a life.”
Trust Above All Things
The foundation of employee happiness at SAS, Goodnight believes, is its culture of trust. By ensuring that workers consistently respect the organization’s management, he knows that they will put forth their greatest commitment and contribution.
The company therefore goes to great lengths to measure worker sentiment, and engages the Great Place to Work Institute to independently evaluate the standing of its entire leadership team every year.
SAS workers are surveyed on the characteristics of trust proven to be most influential on engagement: open communication, respect from fellow employees, transparency into career-paths, and being treated as a human being.
To earn trust, the firm gives employees tremendous freedom on the hours they work and when they use any of the campus services. It’s not uncommon to see people in the gym long after the traditional lunch hour. Goodnight recently had his hair cut on campus at 3 in the afternoon.
“While we say we have a 35-hour workweek,” says CMO Jim Davis, “I don’t know anybody who really works 35 hours. The reality is if you trust people, and you ask them to do something—and you treat them like a human being as opposed to a commodity where you try to squeeze something out—they’re going to work all sorts of hours. But they’re going to enjoy those hours as opposed to ‘slaving in the office.’”
To earn a spot anywhere in management at SAS, you must first demonstrate a natural inclination to support and help people. The primary responsibility of its leaders is to facilitate the career success of other employees, not their own. Consistently, managers who display the greatest advocacy for others get rewarded with better and better assignments.
Ensure Employees Understand The Significance Of Their Work
The first time Goodnight programmed a computer, as a college junior at North Carolina State University, he found profound joy in the accomplishment. He knew he was developing software that other people would use and benefit from, and it gave him a terrific feeling.
In that moment, Goodnight intuited that everyone thrived on doing significant things, and from knowing their work had inherent value. And ever since, he’s seen it as his role to ensure his employees take great pride of ownership in all the work they do knowing “what they produce will be used all over the world, by people all over the world.”
Securing feelings of fulfillment and meaning through one’s work has become one of the most important ambitions of people in the 21st century, and SAS goes to great lengths to ensure employees understand how they make a difference.
Software programmers get to “own” the work they produce for as long as they’re employees of the firm. Knowing that customers likely will use what they create for a decade or more inspires people to fully invest themselves in the quality of all they do.
But Goodnight wants not just his programmers, but all SAS employees to know their work matters. Landscapers employed by the firm, for example, are given dedicated acreage to care for so they come to treat it as their own.
Why More Organizations Don’t Lead Like This
If it’s crossed your mind that how SAS manages is blatantly obvious on its effects to inspire human performance in the workplace, you likely are wondering why more organizations don’t get on board. A big part of the reason, it seems, is because SAS has an advantage that many Fortune 500 companies do not. It’s a privately held company and not influenced by the short-term objectives of shareholders.
But what Wall Street, and all of corporate America, should realize, is that SAS has proven the effects of a far more abundant leadership model—one that greatly rewards all constituents. Employees are made happier, more engaged, and produce exceptional work. Customers are more loyal because products have fewer bugs, and their contacts at the firm rarely change. But company ownership is, perhaps, the most richly rewarded. According to Forbes, Goodnight is now the 47th richest man in America, with an estimated net worth of $7.3 billion.
Here are the top 10 reasons your employee’s full-time job may be hating their job:
10. They think the grass is greener someplace else. If your employee’s friends are having an amazing experience at another company, why wouldn’t they be envious? The transparency of employee benefits and perks at other companies can sometimes lead your employees to dream about working elsewhere.
Keep an eye on what other companies are doing and try to match where you can. Sure, your company’s perks aren’t going to be on par with Google, but why not try to give your employees something worth bragging about? They’ll be more motivated, eager to spread the good word, and you’ll benefit from an improved company culture.
9. Their values don’t align with the company. Dissatisfaction is bound to take place if your employees aren’t sold on the same things you are. If your company values creativity and collaboration, it’s in your best interest to make screening for these values a mandatory part of your hiring process. Regular feedback and reviews can help you stay in tune with employees’ values and how they align with what the company needs and values most.
8. They don’t feel valued. If you aren’t taking the time to pat your employees on the back, it’s bound to impact employee happiness. Recognition breeds feelings of value and loyalty. What are you doing to show your employees they’re valued members of the company? This doesn’t mean giving monetary rewards for every accomplishment—instead, regularly utilize verbal praise and offer the occasional gift or reward for awesome performance.
Lack of recognition – One of the most frustrating aspects of any job, is feeling you are not being recognised for the work you are completing. Be it a lack of correspondence with your manager, or taking on extra responsibilities that were not originally relayed to you and not being rewarded. It’s amazing how far a simple “thank you” or “well done” can go. If this is the reason you feel you want to leave a role, try and pencil in regular meetings with your manager to discuss your targets within your role – this will also enable you to highlight areas you feel you are excelling in and those that you feel you should work on.
7. Job insecurity. It’s easy to dislike your job when you’re worried whether you will still have it a few months or a year from now. If your company is going through hard times, the instability may be taking a toll on your employees. Remain transparent and work on keeping spirits high and your team engaged…or they might end up leaving you out of fear.
Job Security. Coming out of a recession with high unemployment rates, combined with dwindling pensions/retirement funding, it’s easy to see why a lack of job security is a major driver of employee dissatisfaction. A generation ago, workers could expect some level of security, and 25, 30, and even 40 years with the same employer was common. Today, workers feel little security that they will be with their employee next month, let alone next year.
6. There’s no room for advancement. What’s your company’s policy for promotions? Many employees end up feeling stuck when there’s no chance of advancing within their company. This often leads to job hopping. Your company may be small, but it’s important to create a plan for employees to grow with you.
5. They’re unhappy with their pay. Nothing extinguishes passion quite like the feeling of being paid less than you deserve. Evaluating the salaries of your employees can be unrealistic at certain times, but you should consider asking your employee what they feel they should be making — their honesty may surprise you.
Pay. Historically, low pay (or perceived low pay) is the top reason that workers voice dissatisfaction. But it is the perception of the pay, not the actual amount, that is the problem. A lot of this is due to feelings of inequity – many workers are unhappy because they believe that their pay is not fair compensation for their skills, effort, and dedication to the job. It is interesting to note that while U.S. worker productivity continually increases, wages (in constant dollars) have stayed level. So, there may be some basis for feelings of inequity.
4. There’s too much red tape. Rules may be ruining your team. Nothing is more frustrating than being unable to make your own decisions. Boost the autonomy of your employees by giving them room to accomplish goals. This establishes a healthy level of trust, productivity, and benefits the company as a whole.
3. They’re not being challenged. Your employees are on a constant search to advance their skills and improve through their work with you. A lack of meaningful, challenging work is certain to breed disdain. Find out whether your employees feel like they’re learning or advancing their knowledge. If they’re not becoming better, they will go someplace where they feel they can improve.
The Work Itself. Many workers are unhappy with the type of work that they do. Younger workers feel underutilized – that the low-level of work they do doesn’t adequately engage them, or fully utilize their skills. Older workers may become dissatisfied with the routine, or the lack of meaning. Oftentimes, dissatisfaction with the job is either because managers aren’t doing a good job of challenging workers, or workers settling for security over challenge.
2. The passion’s gone. There’s a huge difference between living to work and working to live. Do your employees love what they do? The current job climate has led many people to take on jobs they don’t love. Focus on hiring thoroughly passionate employees and giving them a purpose to maintain their passion throughout their time on the job.
1. Their boss sucks. Poor management can ruin even the most passionate and well-paid employees love for their job. Don’t let your awful management and leadership skills ruin the drive of your workforce. Do you micromanage and criticize? Are you a bad communicator? If you have unhappy employees, the first thing you should look at is your management habits. The next thing to do is actually talk to your employees to get to the bottom of the problem.
Lack of Social Connections. With rapid turnover, many workers do not stay with a company long enough to make strong social connections. This leads to weak organizational cultures, where people feel isolated and disconnected, and this fuels unhappiness.
#1 Bad Management
Employers are advised to have a careful look at the management style of the team leaders and supervisors within each department to determine whether they are capable of being leaders or not. Being a manager means supporting, training and managing a team of employees, therefore it is imperative to choose managers who are inspiring, motivating and determined – rather than playing favorites or going by who has been in the company for the longest period of time.
#2 Unclear Deadlines
As an employee, you have certain responsibilities and goals to fulfill on a daily basis. Failure to identify the specific expectations of each employee can result in an unproductive and demotivated team. Employers are advised to hold weekly meetings where the expectations of each employee are clearly outlined to ensure there is no miscommunication of deadlines and targets.
#3 Shifting Priorities
“Drop everything and do this now!” – sound familiar? This is the golden phrase of bad managers who have a team of unhappy employees. It is unreasonable to expect your employees to meet deadlines without providing them with the basis of their priorities and expectations. Give your team their primary tasks and then explain how you expect them to cope with extra work and tight deadline – do not be unreasonable!
#4 Lack of Feedback
Many managers overlook the importance of providing effective feedback to their employees. This is a major fall in their management style as employees are unable to progress without the knowledge of their drawbacks or strengths. Additionally, employee appraisals provide managers with the opportunity to hear out comments/complaints that the employee may be harboring within the department. Therefore it is highly recommended that employers establish an effective feedback system t ensure that all employees are aware of their progress and expectations.
#5 Poor Communication
Poor communication is usually the root of all problems within a professional environment. Whether it is employees not communicating with their colleagues, or managers not defining the goals to their team – the lack of communication can lead to an unproductive, chaotic and demotivated environment. It is advised that employers identify the channels of communication and clearly correspond with all members of the team.