In a recent study by Gallup on the State of the American Workforce, Gallup estimated that “disengaged employees cost the USA between $483 billion and $605 billion each year in lost productivity.” This quantum of lost productivity would be relative on a pro-rata basis to all western economies. $605 billion is a staggering amount in anyone’s language, especially when it equates to $4,800 per full-time employee, but the great news is that it can be reduced; and it is not that hard to start.
So how do we improve employee engagement and reduce the lost productivity from disengaged employees?
The first and most effective, place to start is by improving the leadership and maximising leadership potential within your organization and moving to a productive culture of “Purpose”.
Organizations have started exploring ways to become more collaborative. These include tearing down departmental walls, moving to open plan “hot desk” work environments and looking for ways to stimulate organizational communication that will result in increased productivity. Although many of these initiatives are an effective way to improve collaboration, they aren’t necessarily providing an effective environment that promotes day-to-day performance management and leadership development.
What is lacking is the ongoing feedback and coaching that all employees not only need, but want. And by employees we mean all employees, which includes supervisors and managers. The formal once a year performance reviews and employee engagement surveys have been criticized for a while now. It is very clear that management teams need more information on a regular basis to effectively manage and motivate their employees. Employees need to be in an environment of trust and support to thrive and managers need to motivate and develop their team members.
One of the key statistics in Gallup’s study was that four out of every five employees, a staggering 80%, do not believe their leaders are setting a good direction for their organization. This prompts the question… “Do business leaders feel they have the support and leadership skills to drive their organizations in the right direction?”
Leaders need to change the way they manage their people and look at ways to become better and more effective coaches. Leaders need to empower their employees by allowing them to provide feedback in all areas of the organization. Gone are the days of managers telling employees to do something and expecting this approach to yield fantastic results, the old do as I say not as I do idiom does not work. Employees, especially Millennials, need to feel like they have purpose in their organization, they need to feel like their actions are having a direct impact on the “Economic Health” of their company.
At MultiRater Surveys we firmly believe that in order to improve employee engagement you need to start with the leadership team. By increasing leadership capability at all levels you will increase employee engagement which in turn increases revenue, profitability and customer service levels. It is no surprise that highly engaged teams directly impact the sales performance of any organization.
According to Gallup, engaged employees make up only 33% of the workforce and it is only this smaller group that are driving the business outcomes. The real goal of improving employee engagement is to empower employees to “contribute to the economic health of their company.” Employees who reach this goal feel like they have purpose in the organization and therefore have higher retention rates.
All of this improvement needs to start with regular employee feedback to ensure everyone understands their responsibilities and the expectations of management and for all managers with leadership responsibilities to recognize and develop their people management skills. The traditional costs of training, survey development and external consulting costs mean that the majority of managers miss out on the development they need.
These cost restrictions have now been removed !
MultiRater Surveys has disrupted the employee and customer survey space by reducing the costs and streamlining performance and development surveys. This unlimited cloud-based survey platform enables individuals, managers and leaders to receive the crucial and regular feedback they need from their direct reports, peers, managers, executive team, customers, etc. The results from these surveys can clearly define the strengths and development areas for individuals against the company’s unique competencies.
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