The world of work has changed. And the only certainty is that it will continue to change as technology such as AI, changing population patterns and economics impact on how we work, where we work and what work itself looks like. This has led to a situation where only 10% of UK employees (11% in Ireland) feel engaged in their workplace (Gallup). However, maintaining loyal employees must be a top priority for businesses as the cost of recruiting new hires averages at £11,000 per employee when loss in productivity, training time, advertising, new equipment, and agency fees are included (Centric HR). So how can business maintain employee engagement against an ever-changing backdrop of change? In the article below I posit that the needs of employees are changing, and I also introduce a system that we have created to monitor these needs and why this could be game changing for businesses these days. It’s about a 10-minute read and could put your business in the leading lane in terms of managing employee (dis) engagement. Read on.
You may have heard about the rise of ‘quiet quitting’, or the post lockdown phenomenon dubbed ‘The Great resignation’. ‘Resentee-ism’ is another one. All buzz words for a workforce that in general, just isn’t loving being at work and is deciding to take matters into its own hands. Surely this has always been the way. Well, changing jobs is a healthy part of the workplace but it’s the rate at which people are changing and the fact that some people are just “opting out” that is alarming.
As a young undergraduate in DCU, I remember being told about these mega offices in Japan where employees every whim was granted. Free breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A gym on site, a room to play music and a room to chill out. They even talked about how these “cool” offices had pods where people could sleep. “Sleep? Whilst at work! How we all laughed”. Although this was in the mid-90s I do remember our lecturer at the time telling us that these companies didn’t do this out of pure altruism, they did it so people would feel loved and stay at work longer. Always a catch! Of course, fast forward to 30 years later (well that’s a little unsettling) and these hyper offices are commonplace in cities like London, Leeds, Dublin, and all over Europe. Even older offices will make some attempt by sticking in a PlayStation or chill out room. Has it worked? No. The facts are that employees continue to leave their jobs, even these companies. You can drink the Kool aid at Google or just move to LinkedIn where the Kool aid is a different flavour. It seems that once we reach a certain level of stuff then we want more. Maybe that old wise guy, Maslow, was on to something.
Let’s take a quick minute to remind ourselves of his famous Hierarchy of needs.
Basically, feed me, heat me, homeostasis me (no, I don’t know what it means either, but it wounds painful) before you make me feel secure, befriend me, build my confidence, and finally help me create. A nice, neat pyramid that has stood the test of time.
I would argue that due to the proliferation of professional organisations across the Western world, all reading the same marketing textbook that I read in 1995, a separate ‘Hierarchy of work needs’ needs to be created.
(Source: Wiki)
Step 1 – Reward me
Employees expect to be rewarded and reward appropriately for their skills, commitment to their education, hours spent doing interviews and psychographic tests. I say appropriately because in an age where most people compare themselves constantly to others through social media as well as reality TV and have a much more open attitude to talking about money than previous generations, people need to feel that they are not being conned. It’s at the bottom of the pyramid for a reason. It’s also not just about paying a decent wage, that ship has sailed. Nowadays, as people devote so much of their time to work, they expect their work to be part of this lifestyle. Hence the pizza nights on Thursdays or meet and greet events with lunch, dinner, open bars (non-alcoholic drinks available for those who want them) and a myriad of other social events that pressurised HR managers and PAs and EAs need to convene on a frequent basis. And this is only step one on the pyramid – strap yourselves in.
Step 2 – Manage me
Step two occurs once both parties have agreed that the “reward me” promise has been fulfilled and now the employee is happy to donate their time to your organisation. I don’t mean that to sound as flippant as it may sound. I have been very fortunate to employ some amazing employees over the years in Spark and LifeStars. They know their worth and that is a good thing. Step two is the employee saying, “I know I am worth how you are rewarding me; I have worked bloody hard for it – now what have you got for me?” This is where the organisation needs to step up and provide above all else, structure. This is borne out in 121 meetings, setting employee objectives, quarterly, bi-annual, and annual reviews. All documented. Structured weeks with regular check ins, even more important in a hybrid workplace where many hours can be spent working from home. Creating smaller teams within teams so employees have allies as well as line managers.
Essentially, creating an ecosystem that the employee can thrive in and thus fulfil the promise you are rewarding them for. I know it may be tempting to be what you perceive as the cool organisation where everyone finds their way, but the reality is that you won’t grow your business this way – it will remain “boutique” and your employees will leave when they want more, and you are not able or willing to provide it.
Step 3 – Listen to me
Step 3 occurs when the employee has their feet under the table and understands their role. They are working hard and may even have direct reports and are edging towards a seat at one of the top tables of the business. The relationship is moving from dependent to interdependent. Stephen Covey writes a lot about this in his renowned “7 habits of Highly effective people”. This book had a big impact on my own personal view of relationships and how we show up in various situations – it’s worth a read. This is the employee saying, “I have ideas and I want to contribute those for everyone’s benefit including my own”. The responsibility here for the business is to provide this space for the right employees at the right time. Everyone who has led a business knows that great ideas can come from anywhere – not just the senior exec team. So, it’s not just a case of having a regular forum where those who are expected to lead the business can show up and do just that; it’s about creating an environment of constant learning and open feedback and contribution.
I realise, on writing that, that this may sound like it applies to white collar professional services only. And whilst, I admit that this is the environment with which I am most familiar, this is also relevant for other industries also. I once ran a toy shop (lots of fun except at Christmas where it was like selling pickaxes during a gold rush). People needed to be paid and rewarded appropriately, they needed structure they could believe and excel in, and they needed to be able to voice their opinions on the challenges and opportunities that mattered to them. That may be that they had an idea for a window display or that they had seen a new range we should consider selling – every idea deserves to be acknowledged and processed accordingly. In large organisations this is about creating a mechanism for regular feedback. More on that later – if you have it well done, and I hope it is working. If not, don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.
Step 4 – Appreciate me
Step 4 is where we start to bring in the feels, all of them. We all want to feel appreciated. When push comes to shove one of the main “liming beliefs” of many employees (and people but that’s a different article) is that they “are not good enough”. There are deep seated reasons for this – usually involving their childhood and how that panned out but essentially many of us walk through our everyday with a feeling that we should be better. Or that we “are getting away with it” and someday we will be found out and who knows what will happen next!
Of course, in a business there are simple ways to tell people that they are appreciated. Many employers might argue “I pay them is that not enough”. Please refer them to the newly constructed Healy’s Hierarchy of Employee needs – no it is not enough. Reward is just you spitting in your virtual hand and saying “Yep – we got a deal. You do your bit, and I’ll reward you”. It’s basic. I do X and you do Y. Appreciation is about going above and beyond to notice those who have stepped up and made a difference. Be that to your bottom line, staff morale, the culture of your business or a business process. Maybe it’s that big. Or perhaps, they just did something that you have been coaching them to do for months and they have had a breakthrough. Boss: “I need you to be more proactive and visible online” Introverted employee: “I’ll do my best (but I’m not like you and not wired that way)”. Then they make 1 post on LinkedIn and it’s relevant and clever (as you knew they would be). It’s time to bang the appreciation anvil and laud that employee. Look, I know. It’s Pavlovian but how does that employee feel? If it’s done appropriately (the employee above would favour a quiet word over a public thank you) then everyone wins. The employee feels appreciated and is more loyal to your business as a result.
It is at this stage, when we move towards the more emotional aspects of the hierarchy that we must question ourselves over our motivations. My own belief is a simple one. If we do right by your people, they will do right by your business. It may be naïve but that doesn’t bother me. I figure that employees would rather stay put and build a career than constantly jump around between companies. And the ones that want to move for the sake of it then they are not for me. So, by being true to a system that rewards, manages, listens, appreciates and helps employees grow we can create enterprises that are authentic, led by leaders not managers, driven by passionate believers and attractive to similar clients/ customers. Does this help the bottom line? Yes of course, but I have long since learned that chasing the bottom line for the sake of it is a very short path to employee disengagement. We all need a higher purpose.
Step 5 – Grow me
Step 5 is probably the closest to Maslow’s stage 5- it’s all about growth. Of course, an employee should be growing at each stage of the pyramid, but this stage is about large shifts in personal growth and work satisfaction. I used to work for Unilever and one of their skills as an organisation was always knowing when an employee had hit the ceiling of step 4 and needed a new challenge at step 5. I know employees working in Unilever for 20+ years who feel like they are working there 2 years. The company, in my own personal experience, has a way of attuning itself to its employees needs. It follows many of the steps I have outlined above. Its turnover was 60 billion Euro last year – this is no coincidence.
Step 5 is about seeing the employee as standing beside you as opposed to opposite you. What does the organisation need to do to enable their growth for a more fulfilling workplace (and life). How can we navigate the future together, so it works for us all? Sometimes Step 5 will be precipitated by a life event. For instance, a colleague has a baby and wants to work fewer hours. Or another employee decides to retire but you know that the company does not want to lose their 30+ years of experience. We need to find a plan that works for both parties. If we do that, we create a true win-win situation, and our partner employee will give back to us ten-fold.
All these stages, Reward/Manage/Listen/Appreciate/Grow need one magic ingredient to help them work. The oil for the system. The oil without which the system would fail and become nothing more than platitudes and expensive brochures made to impress shareholders. That special ingredient is communication. Effective communication is the bridge to excellence. Building on the pyramid it looks like this.
(Source: Justin Healy LifeStars)
Effective communication is the one ingredient that is essential to employee engagement and creating an employee experience that will lead to loyalty, fulfilled employees and a better working environment. Doing all the rest without communicating effectively is like buying a new Porsche and jumping on the motorway but breaking down just as you see your arch nemesis because you forget to put fuel in the tank (look I may have watched too much Wacky Races as a kid). It’s futile.
The 5 pillars of effective communication are as follows:
- Clarity
- Active Listening
- Mutual Understanding
- Relevance
- Feedback
(Source: OSAM)
I’ll leave you to apply these to your own personal lives and see if you have that sorted but let’s take two mins to see what this looks like in a workplace.
Clarity – Is your message clearly understood? Does the employee know what is expected of them? Have you checked. Is there cultural/environmental noise? How can you limit this?
Active listening – have you a system in place to enable always on, active listing where employees can make their points known? If you are just consulting employees at the time of big events or scheduled reviews, then you don’t.
Mutual understanding – In Audience Collective, Spark and LifeStars we like to use a SOAP – strategy on a page. This means employees know what our goals are. What is your employee’s SOAP? What are their motivations and have these changed? More importantly, when was the last time you checked?
Relevance – Not every employee needs to know everything. As they start to move up the pyramid they will need to, and expect to, know more. Have you a system in place that enables the right level of communication with employees for their level of responsibility and requirement?
Feedback – The sage HR Director, John Lennon, said that “life is what happens when you’re busy making plans”. Nowhere is that truer than in today’s workplace. Have you a system that enables employee feedback so frequently that you don’t miss the key shifts in employee sentiment and engagement?
The truth is that most medium to large organisations will conduct regular (usually annual or bi-annual) Employee Net promoter score surveys. eNPS surveys are useful in that they act like a report card and tell the leaders of the business how they are performing re employee engagement. However, at LifeStars we believe that eNPS surveys are like the big events in an ongoing relationship between you, the employer, and the employee or as we like to call them your colleague.
All relationships require show piece moments, but they rarely survive on them alone. Think about it – a wedding is massive. Huge showpiece moment. However, I’d argue that the multiple chats, walks, arguments, and daily check-ins are the lifeforce of a marriage. Maybe that’s just the old romantic in me. Enhancing employee engagement and experience is essential to reducing employee turnover and creating thriving businesses.
We believe in this so much that we created LifeStars Team for that very purpose. LifeStars Team is an easy to implement colleague closeness system that helps employers deliver effective communication bult on the five pillars above. It is always-on colleague closeness. LifeStars Team is the curated system that is on everyday and ensures that when the necessary eNPS studies are undertaken you don’t receive any surprises. It’s proactive and essential for any business wanting to lead its employees from Reward to Growth. Oh, and it’s also a lot more cost effective than replacing your employees each time they decide enough is enough.
I would welcome the opportunity to show you how LifeStars Team works. Please get in touch and let’s start making increased employee engagement a reality based on a solid foundation of employee understanding.