have employees who work remotely, and 45 percent of companies anticipate increasing that number. This increase in independent workers is forcing organizations to consider how best to manage both full-time and contingent workers within the same organization. Regardless of how their work is structured, organizations will continue to need workers who are engaged and dedicated to do their best to meet or exceed the needs and expectations of their jobs (I talk more about engaging contingent and other nontraditional workers in Chapters 4 and 5).
Engagement helps you retain top talent
As the U.S. economy continues to improve, and as current employees seek new job opportunities, holding on to talent will be critical, and doing so can have a major impact on the success of any organization. Engaged employees are more likely to stay longer in their jobs and bring resilience to their organizations. Top employees who are truly engaged remain more committed to staying in their organizations and are less willing to seek other opportunities. Head to Chapter 17 for more on how to better engage and retain high-potential employees.
Here are a few key terms related to employees and the workplace that you’ll see throughout this book. If you are uncertain of their definitions, read on:
Engagement: The simplest definition is tapping into employee discretionary efforts, that is, an employee’s willingness to go above and beyond in doing his or her job. A definition that’s a bit broader is offered by Wikipedia: “Employee engagement is a property of the relationship between an organization and its employees. An ‘engaged employee’ is one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organization’s reputation and interests.
Recognition: Recognition is a positive consequence provided to a person for a behavior or result. Recognition can take the form of acknowledgment, approval, or the expression of gratitude. It means appreciating someone for something he or she has done for you, your group, or your organization. You can give recognition as someone strives to achieve a certain goal or behavior or upon completion of that goal or behavior. Using recognition, organizations can build engagement and drive success for the company, including all stakeholders. Recognition comes in all shapes and sizes, but the major categories of recognition include the following:
✔ Interpersonal recognition: A personal or written thank you from one’s manager or peers.
✔ Social recognition: Acknowledgement, public praise, or thanks provided on social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.
✔ Tangible recognition: A certificate, plaque, trophy, paperweight, coffee mug, or other memento.
✔ Intangible recognition: The granting of more involvement in decision-making, autonomy, flexibility, or choice of working assignment.
Reward: Something with monetary value (but not necessarily money) that is provided for desired behavior or performance, often with accompanying recognition. A reward can be an item or an experience. Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter defines a reward as “something special – a special gain for special achievements, a treat for doing something above-and-beyond.”
Incentive: Recognition or a reward that is promised in advance for an anticipated achievement that meets certain criteria. Incentives create anticipation and excitement and thus can result in stronger, clearer motivation.
Motivation: The internal human energy available to inspire a person to act.
Motivator: Anything that increases motivational energy.
Demotivator: Anything that reduces motivational energy and/or triggers negative behaviors.
There are many factors that impact the design, rollout, and effectiveness of employee engagement efforts. Here, I present an overview of six drivers of employee engagement; in Chapter 2, I discuss specific strategies and actions that companies are taking to most improve in these areas.
Employee fit: Alignment of employee’s goals with organizational goals
The number one factor impacting employee performance and engagement is how well an individual employee’s performance (and personal) goals align with the overall organizational goals, mission, and core values. This factor is so crucial, in fact, that it might be hard for you to gain support for engagement initiatives unless they are directly tied to performance goals that drive the organization’s success and profitability. Therefore, as a manager, you have to act as a liaison to connect the organization’s strategic mission with individual values and behaviors of employees.
Having a process in place by which employees and managers agree on performance goals helps drive significant organizational performance. Top-performing companies even support managers with tools and technologies to help initiate performance and goal-setting conversations that better result in this link between individual efforts and organizational goals.
Moving toward a more engaged, accountable workforce doesn’t happen overnight. It requires continual and ongoing effort to change ingrained beliefs and behaviors about the role of employees and leaders in an organization so that employees eventually can say – and truly believe – the following:
✔ “I play a vital role in this organization and am responsible for what happens here.”
✔ “If I see a problem, it is my duty to fix it.”
✔ “My job is justified only if I make a valuable contribution.”
Employee communication
Communication is the lubricant of any well-run organization, and it’s especially vital for successful employee engagement. In my research, communication ranked highest (95 percent) of all motivational factors that employees most want in their jobs today. Communication needs to be consistent, bidirectional, involve all levels of the organization, and cover all lengths of time (here-and-now, upcoming, and long term).
Of course, managers and executives must be willing to receive and truly listen to honest and open feedback from employees regarding what they, the employees, most need to be engaged. All staff members should be informed about things critical to the company’s success and how they each can contribute to that success. Through strong communication, employees feel a sense of responsibility for the success of the organization and can better champion the organization’s mission and values, as well as its products and services.
Employee expectations
“What do you expect from me in my job?” is the starting point for all performance and engagement. Therefore, setting clear goals and expectations is vital. These expectations typically come from one’s manager. We know from research that the best goals have these characteristics:
✔ They are few in number and specific in purpose: After all, any of us can only focus on one thing at a time.
✔ They are “stretch” goals: That is, they are not too easy and are not too difficult. Instead, they have a good chance (some studies suggest about 70 percent) of being achieved with a dedicated focus by the employee.
✔ They are collaborative: They involve
