Employee Engagement Rule #1 - Value them

“People don’t leave jobs, they leave managers” - Buckingham and Coffman

Employee engagement: a definition

Everyone seems to be talking about ‘employee engagement’ these days. The effects, especially, of employee engagement are fast gaining fame in boardrooms and corporate circles. Many cite boosts in productivity approaching 202%’ and retention. There’s even talk of vastly improved customer service levels. Agreed, that’s the impact, but, what is employee engagement? We like the CIPD’s definition which proposes:

"a ‘mutual gains’ employment relationship, creating a win-win for employees and their employers. It’s usually seen as an internal state of being, both physical, mental and emotional, but many also view it as encompassing behaviour and in particular work effort."

Rule #1: Value them

The percentage of UK employees who said they felt valued at work has dropped from 56% last year, to 49% this year. A recent employee survey (SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey, 2012) also revealed that relationships between staff and managers are generally not seen as positive. A third of employees asked reported they did not have a positive relationship with their managers.

Tips on how to value your employees:

• Nurture a culture of systematically recognising employee achievement
• As much as possible, recognise them ‘in the moment’ for maximum engagement impact
• There’s only one way to find out what matters to employees – ask them! The AAT asked, and learned that recognition was very high on the employees list of wants, higher even than pay
• Spend a little - When companies spend 1% or more of payroll on recognition, 85% see a positive impact on engagement.  (SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey, 2012)

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