By
Tim Newnham
In HR, we talk a lot about employee engagement, how to keep our people engaged with the company and how doing so will improve our bottom line. But—and this is a big but—are we doing the right things to truly engage and inspire our teams? Sure, we may have the employee fun days, a spectacular lounge and company-paid perks like massages, gym memberships and so on. But do these added benefits really do it?
I recently sat with a good friend who took a proofreading job in his early retirement. We talked about his experiences of late. He explained how his new company has an awesome, subsidized cafeteria, along with subsidized soda machines and so much more.
He also said he was hired on the spot and asked to start work that day. No interview, no C.V. review—he was basically brought aboard based on a recommendation. My friend was somewhat puzzled by the unique hiring process, but ended up accepting the job.
So, is this the “right” job and place for him?
He has 30 years’ experience as an editor for a major newspaper, so he is certainly qualified. However, his new employer made little effort to determine his true fit for the job, and the company as a whole. Besides the lack of interviews, there were no elaborate onboarding or engaging orientation programs. No team-building exercises to get him excited about the company and his new coworkers. Just, “Let’s get started.”
When I mentioned my idea for this article on employee engagement, my friend told me: “I have been here 4 weeks and nobody has given me any objectives or expectations. I know nobody in the company except who I met on my own. The only feedback I have received is, ‘This is wrong, you messed this up and we need to do better.’”
Does this sound like the ideal workplace, the kind of “Best Company” you hear and read about? This is not a tucked-away, small-town mom and pop shop. It is a well-known, international company, with ratings on peer-review sites such as Glassdoor. But hearing from my friend what it is really like inside, it sounds like the company lacks true engagement. The employees work there, but they do not seem inspired.
So what can we learn from my friend’s all-too-real scenario, and what can this company (and others like it) do to make a change?
I recently attended a conference hosted by a company that excels in creating great workplace culture that inspires people. As part of the conference, I enjoyed a 1-hour keynote by world-renowned speaker and expert on employee engagement, Chester Elton. Below are my top 10 takeaways from his talk, in no particular order. Some of these are great tips for engaging our teams, and others will make us think differently about how we think (or do not think) about our employees.
- Praise: Do it now, do it often, be specific, be sincere. General praise has no impact on people.
- Appreciation is the #1 driver for employee engagement.
- Much like you can’t hear “I love you” too much in your personal life, you can’t receive too much appreciation at work. Hearing “Thank You” once a year just isn’t enough.
- Show appreciation when it happens because it’s most important and impactful in the moment.
- Highly engaged workers are 150% more likely to have a happy life.
- Everyone on the team matters.
- You learn who your real friends are during the bad times, not the good times. In business, how does your team respond to loss?
- Are your employees proud to wear your logo?
- How do people feel when they see your logo? That feeling directly impacts your recruiting, employee engagement and retention.
- It’s harder to get a job as a baggage handler at WestJet than it is to get into the Harvard Business School. Everybody wants to join the team. That’s the power of great culture.
If you want to know who hosted the event, it was
Ultimate Software. In my mind, they have embraced this concept of engagement to a T. Walking the halls, talking with attendees, and sitting in on sessions, it was abundantly clear this is one of the most engaged teams I have ever met—from the top down.
And it is clear this companywide engagement has translated into some very satisfied customers (who I also met at the conference), as well as some exceptional growth for Ultimate. They just celebrated their fourth financial “championship” by surpassing $600 million in annual revenue, and they are on track to make $1 billion by 2018.
Simply put: Engagement matters. It is key to success for HR and for business. Happy employees makes for satisfied customers which makes for satisfying results.
Ultimate Software has more than 3,000 happy, engaged, and inspired employees. After attending
Ultimate’s Connections conference and spending time getting to know the company and its people, I can think of at least one more person who would want to join their team.
Time to go meet with my friend.
