4Cs Blog: Happy Employees = Happy Customers

It seems that many organizations don’t recognize that employees are not “hard-wired” to be either committed or not committed to their jobs. Rather, organizations have to earn the loyalty and commitment of their workforce every day and demonstrate to employees that they should continue to invest their dedication, creativity and enthusiasm in that enterprise.

Here are few tips on how earn that trust and commitment:

1. Foster management talent – seek out employees who demonstrate natural leadership qualities and take action to develop those inherent abilities.
    
2. Expect ongoing contributions and acknowledge them – clearly show your employees why and how their efforts help your organization meet its overall goals.
    
3. Build trust, teamwork and camaraderie – be transparent about your expectations of your employees and rigorously fair in how you assess their performance without “playing favorites.”
    
4. Help manage change effectively – your employees may be naturally wary of the unknown so recognize that how they perceive changes within your organization (whether positively or negatively) has a lot to do with how those changes are communicate. This includes explaining the reasons behind what changes are being made and articulating the benefits expected from those changes.

How committed are your employees to your organization? Find out by conducting our 4Cs study. Call 866-802-8095 ext. 705 for more information about our services.

The Motivating Impact of Reward and Recognition

Our work with employee surveys has clearly shown that employee satisfaction with the level of reward and recognition at their organization often makes a critical contribution to their overall job satisfaction.

However, few organizations in the U.S. seem to realize this, as employee satisfaction with reward and recognition is not very high – in fact, based on our most recent norms study, the proportion of those who are satisfied (36%) is not much higher than those who are dissatisfied (33%)! Although reward and recognition encompasses more than compensation alone, there seems to be a general lack of knowledge within many organizations about this important issue and its critical role in attracting and retaining a talented workforce.

Having the Right Attitude Makes Happiness Happen

Lately there has been a lot of research and discussion around the subject of employee stress and the need for employers to initiate strategies to meet the needs of their employees. To succeed, however, it can’t be all one-sided as, like any relationship, it takes effort from both sides to make any relationship work.

In this way, it is important for employees to consider their own behavior and attitudes towards their work environments to ensure they aren’t sabotaging themselves. If employers and managers are making the effort, employees need to be mindful of their own feelings and how they are influencing their own opinions to ensure they are giving their work and their managers the best opportunity to be good employers. Experts agree there is a business case for being fully present and mindful of what’s going on around you. To be mindful is to be aware and intentional, in other words, “aware of what’s going on around you, aware of what’s going on inside you as a response to what’s going on around you, and being intentional about what you’re going to do next”.

This is a quite long but very informative presentation by Google on the concept and implementation of an organizational system known as OKR (Objectives and Key Results) It's useful for just about any company or person who wants to create a simple, easy-to-follow system for getting stuff done. And since getting stuff done is vital to the success of any organization, this should be required viewing for all managers.

Feeling At Home At Work

Our articles often stress the need for immediate supervisors and managers to be well trained not only in the technical aspects of their jobs but in the "people" aspects as well. We know from our annual norms study that fewer than six-in-ten employees in the U.S. are happy with their supervisors and that only half agree that their supervisor is effective at building a strong team environment, at treating them with respect and dignity and at understanding that employees need to balance their work lives with their personal responsibilites. Sustained improvement in any of these areas would likely increase satisfaction with supervisors everywhere! 

Acknowledging Contribution is the 6th 'C' of Employee Engagement

As our most recent employee norms study showed, only about half of all employees are actively engaged in and committed to their jobs. Most employees have ‘checked out’. The reality is that organizations that do a better job of engaging their employees are more productive and therefore more successful and one of the simplest and most effective ways to engage people is to demonstrate and acknowledge how others are contributing to their organizations success. When employees see that their effort matters, they are more likely to be inspired to do a good job.

The title of a recent CNN article sparks good vibes in the employment community and speaks to the state of the American economy. It reads, Good news: More people are quitting their jobs.This means if you are not engaged at work and are unhappy with your job, the time has never been better for you to go in search of the job you really want. And, when do, you will become one of millions of Americans who are voluntarily quitting their jobs at the fastest rate since 2008.A high quit rate is good news because people don’t quit ordinarily unless they are confident they will find a new job or they have already got a new job in hand. In fact, Janet Yellen, Federal Reserve Chair, has identified these quit rates as a progress marker for returning to a healthy labor market, reports Reuters.

A Solution That Could Help Keep Employees Engaged

The saying is that people don’t leave jobs or leave companies, they leave managers. And our research supports this, showing that less than 6 in 10 employees are satisfied with their immediate supervisor. Working for someone you dislike can make life miserable but it can also cause havoc with your health. Studies have shown that the strain could be severe enough to cause serious heart problems and significantly higher blood pressure (Source: Occupational and Environmental Medicine).
In a recent article by Laura Vanderkam at Fast Company, an intriguing solution to this problem is presented that proposes allowing new hires to choose the manager they want to work with. Try to imagine what that would look like!

That’s why we’ve created this simple guide – to help HR managers get their arms around the idea of turnover costs and what they might represent to their organizations. Having this information could help spur development of a meaningful employee retention strategy!

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