A few months ago I wrote a blog with the heading “85% of your staff want to leave you” which was based on research of over 18,000 staff globally. I received some interesting comments from my clients.
Well now there is more evidence that supports this research and shows that we are not doing great with motivating and engaging our staff here in Australia.
Only 20% of employees would recommend their company as a great place to work. Yikes. Worst still a whopping 43% don’t talk positively at all about their place of work. What is going on?
I wanted to share this excellent infographic from engaged Marketing, as it points out some key areas that businesses need to work on to get better engagement. I love the research that says engaged employees are almost 3 times more loyal than those that are not. It also found that engaged employees put in almost twice as much discretionary effort (eg doing things without being asked, taking on extra tasks etc).
There are lots of benefits of having more engaged staff, which I’m sure you already know, but great to have this backed up by research. So how do you get more employee engagement?
The research identified 6 keys steps which are listed in the infographic. The steps revolve around getting staff to buy in to the company’s vision and understanding the big picture, how they fit in and how they can make a difference. It’s also about following up and providing regular feedback on how they are doing
If you read my blog last week you would have seen my tips for getting staff to offer great customer service and the tips I provided match up pretty well with what your staff are looking for to feel more engaged. Staff need to know the expectations and why these are important, and they need support and follow up. Too often I find staff receive little or no positive feedback, any feedback that do receive is negative, based on catching them doing the wrong thing. Very demotivating, particularly if overall they are doing a good job.
The ability to have engaged, motivated staff lies fairly and squarely with management. My challenge to any manager is are you doing enough to ensure your staff know where they fit in and how they are going? This is an ongoing challenge and to paraphrase Tom O’Toole, the legendary Beechworth Baker who says “we get so caught up in data and statistics we lose sight of the customer and our staff!”
So, based on the 6 key drivers of employee engagement what can you do more of to ensure your staff are in the 20%?
Hope you find the infographic useful.
Roger Simpson – CEO, The Retail Solution and Author of “The Retail Solution” With over 35 years’ industry experience, Roger Simpson is recognized as Australia’s #1 Authority on customer ROI in the retail industry and as a global expert on staff coaching, customer service and selling skills.
