HOW TO MAKE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT A DAILY HABIT
One of the latest business buzzwords this year is EX, or the
employee experience. Organizations are beginning to realize
that they need to create a positive employee experience in the
same way they have focused on the customer experience. In this
ever-tightening job market, it’s mission critical to keep employees
happy, fulfilled and challenged. Only then can they keep their
customers happy. Focusing on EX means evaluating an
employee’s entire life cycle with the company, from before they
even apply for a job to beyond their last day. It’s so critical that
Forbes even dubbed 2018 the Year of the Employee Experience.
What is the EX, exactly? EX is not just about what it’s like to
work day-to-day in the office, and it’s not about benefits, halfday
Fridays, sleeping pods, beer fridges in the break room and
other fun perks, though those things do enter into it. But EX is
deeper and more meaningful than that. It’s about truly engaging
employees. Employee engagement (EE) and EX are intertwined
so closely they can be called one and the same.
The Problem with EE: There’s a Disconnect
In a recent study, Dale Carnegie found that 70 percent of top
executives believe that employee engagement has a strong impact
on financial performance. In a similar study, Deloitte found that 85
percent of company leaders say EE is an important strategic
priority, but Dale Carnegie found that just 31 percent of front-line
employees and managers strongly agreed that their company is
actually making engagement a top priority.
Clearly, there’s a disconnect between what execs are saying and
what employees are feeling. That’s because there’s a piece left out
of this puzzle: the employees’ managers.
The key to aligning executive priorities with what employees are
experiencing lies in the management chain. Managers need to be
enabled and empowered to engage their teams on a daily basis. It
means getting managers the training they need to engage their
teams, by making it a strategic priority and creating a culture of
engagement. Dale Carnegie programs teach the skills managers
need and can help organizations do the right things to increase
overall employee engagement.
Ways to Increase Employee Engagement
Focus on getting managers and supervisors the skills they need.
Immediate supervisors and managers are on the front lines of
employee engagement. Leaders at all levels need to understand
that the way they interact with their employees and direct reports
matters to the company’s bottom line. Open a dialogue with
managers about EE, and listen to what they’re saying about what
works and what doesn’t, and if they’re frustrated, give them the
tools and training necessary for change. Get CEO buy-in. If your
CEO does not have employee engagement on his or her priority
list, the effort is doomed to fail. Make sure the CEO has the facts
on employee engagement, and the knowledge that it needs to start
at the top. EE needs to be treated like any other strategic priority.
Align policies with EE. You need employee-supportive policies and
procedures, such as a standard performance evaluation policy.
But it also means changing policies that are barriers to
engagement. Are there processes and procedures working at
cross-purpose with engagement efforts? If so, change them. How
are your rewards and recognition programs designed? What do
you reward and recognize? Are they making your employees feel
valued? It requires going through your policies with a critical eye,
and the willingness to change what’s not working.
Employee engagement needs to be on the top of the priority list
for top executives, managers and supervisors, and that’s no easy
task. But in this ever-tightening job market, with greener grass
just a click away on a job seeker’s app, keeping all of your
employees happy, engaged and fulfilled is the key to your
company’s competitive advantage.
Fall 2019 19