4Cs Blog: Happy Employees = Happy Customers

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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