www.humanikaconsulting.

com

Employee Engagement
At the end of this module, you will be able to:
 List what employee engagement is and why it matters to your
business.
 Measuring Engagement with Survey and Interview
 Use best practices for engaging employees.
 Identify new ideas from Case Study

Learning Objectives

2
 Executive Summary

• Employee engagement is a critical factor in running a successful

business.
• Employee engagement has dropped significantly in the past several
years due to the economic downturn, resulting layoffs, and other
cost-cutting measures.
• Increasing your level of employee engagement will ensure the long-
term success of your business.

3
Why is it Important?

70% 6% 20% 30%

Percentage of The UK has 6% Percentage Percentage of
employees lower average below G7 employees
who do not engagement productivity actively
trust their levels than levels engaged
managers other large (International
comparison of
economies
productivity gap)
(Kennexa, 2011)
 Why is it Important?
Numerous studies show a strong correlation
between levels of employee engagement and
several business performance indicators
including:
― Retention
― Profitability
― Earnings per share (EPS)
― Operating income
― Net income
― Profit margins
― Customer satisfaction
― Sales
― Safety
Disengaged employees :
 miss an average of 3.5 more days per
year
 Are less productive
 Cost the US economy $355 billion per
year
Why is it Important?

Consider these statistics (from getfeedback.net):

―In 2006, Gallup examined 23,910 business units and compared top quartile and
bottom quartile financial performance with engagement scores. They found that
businesses with engagement scores in the top quartile averaged 12% higher
customer advocacy, 18% higher productivity, and 12% higher profitability.
―A second Gallup study in 2006 of earnings per share growth of 89 organizations
found the EPS growth rate of organizations with engagement scores in the top
quartile was 2.6 times higher than organizations with below-average
engagement scores.
―The Corporate Leadership Council reported that engaged organizations grew
profits as much as 3 times faster than their competitors.
―Hewitt reported that businesses with more than 10% profit growth, had 39%
more engaged employees, and 45% fewer disengaged employees than
businesses with less than 10% growth.
 Why is it Important?

Studies have also shown a high correlation between levels of employee

engagement and important employee statistics, such as productivity,
turnover, absences, accidents, and sick days.
– More statistics from getfeedback.net:
• Gallup found that engagement levels can be predictors of sickness absence, with
more highly engaged employees taking an average of 2.7 days per year,
compared with disengaged employees taking an average of 6.2 days per year.
• Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave the organization than the
disengaged employees.
• The cost of high turnover among disengaged employees is significant; some
estimates put the cost of replacing each employee at equal to annual salary.
– These findings emphasize what good leaders already instinctively
know: Increasing the level of employee engagement in your business
is good for business.
Imagine if 30% of lights didn’t work…
 Key Take-Aways
Employee engagement matters
HR has Engagement
critical role – levels are low
champion,
facilitator and But can be
model improved

Engagement is
Engagement
not just an
should be
“initiative” or
measured
“program”
Survey results must
be acted on
 Millennial Generation
• AKA “Generation Y”

• Birth years from the early 1980s to

around 2000.

• “Millennials are focused on making

meaning, not just making money.
This may well strike X-er managers
and HR personnel as too precious
and lofty an attitude for the real
world, but that’s the reality that
organizations have to come to grips
with.” -
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robasghar/2014/01/14/gen-x-is-from-mars-
gen-y-is-from-venus-a-primer-on-how-to-motivate-a-millennial/
THIS IS ABOUT:

Managing
Employee
Performance and
Optimizing
Human Capital
By Engaging
Employees
 Employee Engagement, What is it ?
Positive attitude, passion, commitment and discretionary effort

‘Positive attitude held by the individual towards the organisation and its
value’ (Robinson et al.,2004)

‘Employee’s willingness and ability to help their company succeed, largely by

providing discretionary effort on a sustainable basis….Engagement is
about passion and commitment – the willingness to invest oneself and
expand ones discretionary effort to help the employer to succeed’
(Perrin’s Global Workforce Survey, 2003)

‘Involvement with and enthusiasm for work’ (Gallup)

‘Employee engagement levels are measured in

various ways—from very informal “asking around”
to formal employee surveys; no matter how it is
measured, the results are quite compelling.’
 Three Categories of Engagement

Copyright © 2014 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

Employee Satisfaction vs. Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is not the same as employee satisfaction.

• Satisfied employees are merely happy or content with their jobs and the
status quo. For some, this might involve doing as little work as possible.

• Engaged employees are motivated to do more than the bare minimum

needed in order to keep their jobs.

Employee satisfaction…
– only deals with how happy or content employees are.
– covers the basic concerns and needs of employees.
– does not address employees’ level of motivation or involvement.
 Employee Engagement Framework

An employee engagement model based on statistical analysis

and widely supported by industry research.

Engagement with Engagement with

The Organization “My Manager”
High
Performance

Strategic Alignment Competency

 Engagement with The Organization
• Measures how engaged employees are with the
organization as a whole.
• Includes employee feelings about and perceptions of
senior management.
• Key components include trust, fairness, values, and
respect - i.e. how people like to be treated by others,
both at work and outside of work.
Engagement with
“My Manager”
• A more specific measure of
how employees feel about
their direct supervisors.
• For most employees, this
factor has the largest impact
on day-to-day life at work.
• Topics include mutual
respect, feeling valued, being
treated fairly, receiving
feedback and direction, etc.
 Beyond Engagement –
Alignment & Competency
An organization needs more than just engaged
employees in order to succeed. There are two
additional areas that relate to employee performance
and that are closely linked to engagement.

Strategic alignment Competency

• Does the organization • Do managers have the
have a clear strategy and
set of goals? skills needed to get the
job done?
• Do employees
understand how the • Do managers display
work they do
contributes to the the behaviors needed to
organization's success? motivate employees?
• Strategic Alignment ensures • Competency is
that employee effort is
focused in the right measured with 360
direction. Degree Feedback.
 Employee Engagement Dynamics

Drivers of Engagement - What matters most?

Knowing whether employees are engaged or disengaged is
only the first step. You also need to understand the key
drivers of engagement.
We employ two techniques that enable you to identify
what to focus on and how to improve in those areas.
1. Priority Level - we look at the statistical patterns across all groups in your
organization to determine which items are impacting overall engagement within
each demographic group.
2. Virtual Focus Groups - next, we ask targeted follow-up questions at the end of
the survey that ask employees to provide examples of problems as well as
suggestions for how to improve. These comments often provide the detailed and
specific what, why, and how so you can take action.
 Engagement is Measured with
Employee Surveys
What do surveys measure? What do we use the information for?
The level of engagement in the
To understand employee sentiment
workforce
How engagement varies across
departments, countries, job levels, To identify best practices and ‘hot spots’
demographic groups etc.

To set priorities to guide decisions and

What issues underpin engagement
organisational change

To open a dialogue with employees to

Views and opinions on management
create engagement and focus on areas
practices and other issues
of most concern
 U.S. Statistics
• According to Gallup, Inc. (Oct. 2011):

–29% of American Employees are Engaged.

–52% of American Employees are Not Engaged.
–19% of American Employees are Disengaged.

• In other words, 71% of the U.S. workforce is either

under-performing, or is actively undermining the
work of their co-workers.
U.S. Statistics
 Power of Employee
Engagement

Profitability

Productivity
Customer scores

Safety incidents

Lost or stolen inventory

Turnover (low-turnover orgs)

Turnover (high-turnover orgs))

Absenteeism

-70% -60% -50% -40% -30% -20% -10% 0% 10% 20% 30%
Key Performance Indicators
Top- and Bottom-Quartile Work Groups
 Five-Factor Definition
of Employee Engagement

1. Believe in and support the goals and

objectives of the business
2. Feel a sense of belonging to and pride
in the company
3. Are willing to go the extra mile to
ensure that personal contributions
help the department and overall
organization to be successful
4. Find Value, Create Value, Feel Valued
5. Resilient and Change-Ready
Poll: Why Do You Care About Engagement?

 Conducted an engagement survey and we can

do better
 Going through significant change and want to
keep our employees engaged
 Want employees to be engaged in our business
strategy
 Our C-Suite Exec’s care about employee
engagement
 Honestly, I don’t think my company cares very
much about employee engagement
 Employee Engagement Data
Source : PCI Copyright 2008

Believe in Goals and Objectives

Pride and Belonging
Find, Create, Feel Valued
Go Extra Mile
Resilient and Change-Ready
13% 76% 11%

Actively “Up for Grabs” Actively

Disengaged Engaged

The Lack of Engagement Can Be Masked By

Low Turnover and Long Work Hours
 Highly Committed & Engaged
Source : PCI Copyright 2008

Best Companies: Highly Engaged = 24%

57% More Discretionary Effort
87% Greater Intention to Stay
11% 71% Higher Revenue (Industry Av)

Lowest Companies: = 3%

Actively Engaged
Segmentation Differences

• Size of company did not matter

• Industry did not matter
• Demographic factors (gender,
age, geography, job, tenure,
level) did not change the results
 Employee Engagement
What to do ?
Organisation: 10 things
1. Start on day one – recruitment
2. Start at the top – senior management
commitment Individual: Drivers
3. Develop two-way communication
Personal attributes
4. Give satisfactory opportunities for
development and advancement Organisational context
5. Ensure that employees have everything HR practices
they need to do their job
6. Give appropriate training
7. Have strong feedback system
8. Provide incentives
9. Build a distinctive corporate culture
10. Focus on top-performing employees

Managers: 5 things
Align efforts with strategy
Empower
Promote and encourage teamwork and
collaboration
Help people grow and develop
Provide support and recognition where
appropriate
Linkages to Employee Engagement
Organisations with higher engagement level
Outperformed the total stock market index
Posted total shareholder returns 22% higher
than average
Twice the annual net income

4.2 times more likely to deliver above average profit

15% of a store’s year on year growth can be explained by

the level of engagement

12% higher growth in sales

Companies with engagement scores in the top
quartile averaged 12% higher customer
advocacy
84% of ‘Worlds Most Admired’ Companies
stated their efforts to engage employees had
strengthened customer relationships

Higher engagement levels have lower patient mortality rates

7 percentage points difference in customer service scores

between top 10% and bottom 10%

Contracts delivered by engaged employees showed higher

customer loyalty
Engagement scores in the top quartile
averaged 18% higher productivity
71% of companies with above average
employee engagement performed above their
sector average

Engaged staff able to talk to additional 800 customers

per year

Higher sales and lower absence

59% of engaged employees say work brings
out their most creative ideas – only 3% of
disengaged employees agree
Engaged employees are more likely to search
out new methods, techniques and transform
innovative ideas

£26m of improvement opportunities

 Engagement and Innovation
Overwhelming evidence : some
examples
Empowerment:
Multiple studies linking empowerment-enhancing strategies with
improved organisational performance including innovation
performance (Spreitzer, 1995; Conway and McMackin, 1997; Read,
2000; Black and Lynch, 2004; Lynch, 2007; McLeod and Clarke,
2009; Subramony, 2009).
Spreitzer (1995) conceptualises empowerment as constituting four
dimensions ability, autonomy, impact and significance, the first
reflecting ability and the latter three reflecting opportunity
Positive relationships:
Overwhelming evidence that positive relationships and encouragement
from managers are very important elements of innovation climate
(James and James, 1989; Amabile, 1993; Anderson and West, 1998;
Shipton et al., 2006; Patterson et al., 2005; Hunter et al., 2007).
Energy and vigour:
Positive relationships also create greater levels of energy and vigour in
organisations (Spreitzer and Sutcliffe, 2007). Vigour and dynamism
are very closely linked and this allows for greater adjustment to
rapid change and innovation (Bruch and Ghoshal, 2003; Cross et al.,
2003).
Engaged employees in the UK take an average
of 2.7 sick days per year, while disengaged
staff take 6.2
Sickness absence costs the UK economy
£17 billion per year

Absence levels reduced by 26%

Higher engagement levels have lower absence levels

High levels of engagement are positively
associated with wellbeing

Strong correlation between engagement and wellbeing

Bottom 10% has 2x voluntary turnover

Bottom 10% ranked by employee engagement had almost

twice the voluntary turnover
 Engaged Employees:

Perform better, work harder, longer,

smarter

Work more vigorously, offer innovative

suggestions
 Employee Engagement:
Statistics and Case Studies

PROFIT CUSTOMER
Companies with SATISFACTION
engagement
scores in the top Companies with top
25% had twice the quartile engagement
annual net profit. scores average
REVENUE 12% higher customer
GROWTH advocacy.
Organisations in the top
quartile of engagement scores
demonstrated revenue growth
2.5 times greater than those in
the bottom quartile.
Employee Engagement:
Statistics and Case Studies

PRODUCTIVITY
Organisations in the top
quartile of employee
engagement scores had
18% higher productivity.

INNOVATION EMPLOYEE TURNOVER

59% of engaged Companies with high levels of
employees said that their engagement show turnover rate
job brings out their most 40% lower than companies with low
creative ideas. levels of engagement.
Employee Engagement:
Statistics and Case Studies
EFFICIENCY
An insurance company found that teams with
higher engagement had 35% less down time
between calls – equivalent to one ‘free of charge’
employee to every eight employees.

HEALTH & SAFETY

Organisations with engagement in the bottom quartile
average 62% more accidents than those in the top.
 How to Measure Employee Engagement

• Numerous surveys and tests measure employee engagement levels. Most

high quality surveys are geared and priced for larger businesses.
• Listening to employee feedback, acting on your findings, and continually
improving is more important than a fancy survey.
• One of the most simple yet impactful surveys for measuring engagement
levels is the Gallup Q12 Index which includes 12 questions that have been
used by thousands of workgroups internationally to understand and
increase levels of engagement. You can contact Gallup to use the Q12
Index.
• The ideas on the following pages 13–14 demonstrate how a business
owner keeps his employee engagement high without a formal survey. His
supervisors informally collect data every quarter to provide the
management team a sense of employee engagement levels.
• Important Note! Do not ask for feedback or issue a survey if you are not
committed to using the responses to make positive changes. It can do more
harm than good and potentially disengage employees.
 The 12 Items that measure employee
engagement EMPLOYEE’S NEEDS

Knowing What’s Expected Focus Me

Materials and Equipment Free Me From Unnecessary Stress

Opportunity to Do Best Know Me

Recognition and Praise Help Me See My Value

Someone at Work Cares Care About Me

Someone at Work Encourages Development Help Me Grow

Opinions Count Hear Me

Connection to the Company Mission Help Me See My Importance

Committed to Quality Work Help Me Feel Proud

Best Friend at Work Help Me Build Trust

Talking About Progress Help Me Review My Contribution

Opportunities to Learn and Grow Challenge Me

 Gallup Engagement Hierarchy
®
Q12 Engagement Items:
Growth
Q12. Opportunities to learn and grow
Q11. Progress in last six months How can
we grow?

Q10. I have a best friend at work

Teamwork
Q9. Coworkers committed to quality
Q8. Mission/Purpose of organization Do I belong?

Q7. At work, my opinions seem to count

Q6. Someone encourages my development Leadership

Support
Q5. Supervisor/Someone at work cares
What do I give?
Q4. Recognition last seven days
Q3. Do what I do best every day
Basic
Q2. I have materials and equipment Needs
Q1. I know what is expected of me What do I get?
at work

Copyright © 1993-1998, 2012 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Gallup q12:
Factors that contribute to engagement

1. Knowing what’s expected of you at work.

2. Having the equipment and materials you need to do your job right.
3. Having the opportunity to do what you do best every day.
4. Having received recognition or praise within the last 7 days.
5. Your supervisor seems to care about you as a person.
6. Someone at work encourages your development.
7. At work, your opinions seem to count.
8. The mission and purpose of your organization makes you feel that your
job is important.
9. Your colleagues are committed to high-quality work.
10. You have a best friend at work.
11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to you about your
progress.
12. In the last year, you’ve had opportunities to learn and grow.
DRIVING ENGAGEMENT: Four Stages of Impact Planning

Discuss Select Plan Follow Up

 IMPACT PLANNING

PLAN
DISCUSS •Create written plan of action
STEP 1 •Q12 Items STEP 3
for each Q12 item selected
•Data results •Actions should be within
team control
•Each action should be
SELECT “owned” by someone on team
•Focus on first 6 items
STEP 2
•Consider all factors not
reflected in scores
•Consider focusing on strengths FOLLOW-UP
and opportunities STEP 4 •Review completion/
•Select a reasonable number of impact of action plan
items to work on •Make changes or additions

Copyright © 2011 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

Questions to Ask When Sharing Results

What were you

Do results on any Do the results
thinking when you
of these items reflect how you feel
answered this
surprise you? now?
particular item?

What are we doing What does our

What would a “5”
that makes this a work unit need to
look like on this
strong or weak do to improve on
particular item?
result? this item?
Workgroup Feedback and action planning

• Build trust
– Share and discuss your team’s
scorecard

• Demonstrate compassion
– Ask questions
– Listen
– Select what’s important to your team

• Create stability & hope for the future

– Make a plan
– Share responsibility
 Next Steps

• How will you share the

employee engagement
information with
employees in your
Organization?
• What actions will you
take to keep the
Organization focused on
employee engagement?
 Make Engagement personal:
One-on-One Conversations
• Which of the Q12 items is most important to you and why?
®

• Is there anything getting in the way of your engagement

around that item?

• What can I do as a leader to help reduce the barrier(s)?

• What can you do for yourself to help reduce the barrier(s)?

• What does success look like?

 FOCUS ME
Q1: I KNOW WHAT IS EXPECTED OF ME AT WORK.

Ask Yourself Ask Your Team

• How do I measure the basic • What goals are you most excited about?
expectations of my faculty or staff? • How do you know if you are doing a good
• What do I hope for beyond the basics? job?
• How often do I communicate • How do you determine your priorities?
expectations? • What does our team promise to our
• How do I let people know what I students? How do your individual or
expect? classroom goals contribute to this?
• What questions do my staff come to me • What do you believe you are paid to do?
with regarding expectations? • How often should we talk about our goals?
• What metrics do I pay attention to
regarding my school’s performance?
• How do I measure my own success?

Jump-Start for Action

• Meet individually with staff to review goals and measurement.
• Begin regular meetings sharing what each person has been focusing most of
his/her energy on lately.
• Ask staff members to share what they believe each other are paid to do.
• Create a rolling update of team goals where all people can see.
• Consider connecting individual performance goals to student goals.

“My AP takes care to make “This seems like it should be an easy “It's not so much the
“Part of our role as principal is to ‘what’ that’s the difficult bit
sure that we know where question, but when I asked my staff
take the pure chaos that's going for me, because trying to
we’re heading and what they thought the community
on in the district and filter that explain what our objectives
that it aligns with where paid them for, I realized when it
out. … We're doing way too are is actually quite simple.
he thinks we should be comes to priorities, we weren’t on
many activities, we change our It's the ‘how’ bit. And I find
heading, and then I think the same page. I encouraged them
minds constantly, but we're a just to talk about the
he lets us go but just has to be clearer than they think they
buffer that can buffer our team objectives and then how the
check points along the need to be with their peers about
from that, and we can try to team are actually going to
way, so it's definitely not a what they’re focusing on, why it’s
provide focus and context of why bring that to life so that
twenty-page plan.” important, and how it leads to our
we're doing certain things. And they’ve got a stake in some
school goals.”
leave out some of the ugly details of the actions that they want
…” to follow through on.”

“What can success sound like?”

Engagement Conversations
 engagement increases
with repeated administrations of the Q12
employee engagement survey.

Teams who have intentional discussions and take simple

actions to build engagement realize the biggest gains.

59
Strengths Awareness: The 34 Talent
Themes
Achiever Activator Adaptability
Analytical Arranger Belief
Command Communication Competition
Connectedness Consistency Context
Deliberative Developer Discipline
Empathy Focus Futuristic
Harmony Ideation Includer
Individualization Input Intellection
Learner Maximizer Positivity
Relator Responsibility Restorative
Self-Assurance Significance Strategic
Woo
A case study
 A Light Bulb Moment

“Genius is one percent

inspiration, ninety-nine
percent perspiration.”

Thomas Edison
 Thomas Edison also said…

“Many of life's failures are

people who did not realize
how close they were to
success when they
gave up.”

Thomas Edison
 The Rule of David Tong

“Achieving an engaged workforce is:

• 20 percent inspiration
• 30 percent collaboration
• 50 percent perspiration”
50%
Perspiration:
 Maersk Group overview

• Operate mainly in the transport Companies of particular Strategic investments:

and energy industries strategic importance:
• Approx. 89,000 employees
• 2014 revenue: USD 47 billion TRANSPORT ENERGY Maersk Container Industry
Maersk Line Maersk Oil Höegh Autoliners
APM Terminals Maersk Drilling
APM Shipping Services

page 66
Time honoured values

Constant Care

Humbleness

Uprightness

Our Employees

Our Name

page 67
 Employee engagement trend
• A 10 year journey of progress
• Maersk Group has now reached the top quartile benchmark for engagement for
the first time since 2012
• The increase in engagement is mainly caused by an increase among blue-
collar, seafarer and offshore employees
 Strengths and concerns
• Employees’ perception of how Maersk Group upholds it’s values has improved by
4 points in 2015 and is a significant contributor to the higher engagement level
• Other strengths are survey follow-up and clarity of strategy
• Only two questions have less positive results compared to 2014 and both are
below the external benchmark
Diff to
Diff to
External
2014
Top 25%
Strengths
Company upholds the Maersk values 4% --
Confident that action will be taken as a result
2% 8%
of survey
Clear understanding of my company’s strategy 0% 3%

Concerns
My job allows me a healthy work-life balance -3% -2%
My job makes good use of my abilities -1% -3%
A program to build long-term capability

Recorded training modules

Open Q&A ‘surgeries’ to take
Available for HR Business questions and discuss
partners and line managers solutions

HR Business partners are challenged to „Know

your Managers‟
- providing the support where it is needed most
‘Manage the tail’ – support for
managers

Low High

Engagement Level
 Know your Prioritise to
manager focus effort

8 ways HR Communi
cate Begin with quick
can help results wins
managers first
start to Help them Deep-dive on
take get in front of complexity
their team
action
Delegate to Be creative –
share the load make it
personal
Not just a program – get engagement
into the culture
1:1 talks Team meetings Role model PDP
Check-in with Keep engagement on Required
Goals and Targets
individuals agenda behaviours/values
• Are you clear what is - EES update • Do you check in on • Use survey results
expected from you? - Refer to key results in yourself from time- to set personal goals
• How are things decisions to-time?
going since the last - Ask how people are • Do you ‘live the
time we met? feeling? values’?
Lessons from the Maersk Group
 Stick at it – engagement is a long-term game
 Strong leadership – upholding values and clarifying strategy
and direction

 Build capability – invest in your long-term programme

through HRBPs and Line Managers

 Manage the tail – focus support where it will deliver

 HR - know your managers
 Managers – make engagement personal for your team
30%
Collaboration
Four collaborative steps to turn data into action

1 2 3 4

Understand Conduct Develop

your Follow up
feedback action plans
results and
meetings
manage

Discuss Transparen Delegated Communicate

with t sharing of teamwork progress
trusted results
colleagues Using
Discuss collaborative
implications technology
Deep-dive on
complex
issues
 What happens when you do not
follow these steps?
100%
89%
90%
82%
80% % Favourable Engagement

Engagem 70%
62%

ent falls if 60%

50% 47%
people 40%
think you 30%
32%

will do 20%

nothing 10%

0%
Very unconfident Unconfident Unsure about Confident in Very confident in
about survey about survey survey follow-up survey follow-up survey follow-up
follow-up follow-up (N=10627)
follow-up (N=25808)
follow-up (N=12439)
(N=2748) (N=4680)
Collaboration through Connections is Changing
the Way we Work
Engagement
Community

Engagem
ent
Commu
nity
20% Inspiration
 Back to Thomas Edison

“Negative results are just what I

want. They’re just as valuable to
me as positive results.”

Thomas Edison
 FMCG company attends to subtle messages
Situation:
• Global FMCG company with a long-standing emphasis on
creativity and entrepreneurship was moving away from private
ownership via share offering
• New performance-based psychological contract – more
centralised, market-disciplined, measured
• Survey showed confidence in leadership, but a 2% decline in
perceptions of innovation – this was treated as a red flag

Response:
• They did not ignore this signal
• Deep-dive on innovation – where are concerns concentrated?
• Consultation on obstacles to innovation
• Crowdsourcing initiative launched - in specific categories
• Communication of innovation as key response to survey – a
commitment to traditional company value of entrepreneurship
Inspiration from social listening
Five products presented in a
Social Listening dashboard
that provides more in-depth
and regular insights about
your organisation
IBM’s Employee Daily
Listening platform pulse

Social
JAMS
pulse

Social
Mini
analyti
pulse
cs
Case Study: Leo Burnett Worldwide

Questions about HumanKind added to the Leo Burnett Worldwide

employee survey:

• These questions reinforced the importance of the initiative, and

• Generated measures of impact, giving managers a data point to move
forward from
Leo Burnett – Inspiring by ‘Making a
Difference’
Perceptions of Offices fostering Turnover rates
8.2% lower in
HumanKind an innovative offices with highest
emerged as the and challenging engagement levels
best predictor of environment are
Best Agency 2.2 x more likely
score – judged to meet margin
on financial and goals
creative metrics

$
Lessons –
helping you
build better
engagement
The lessons for your engagement program
 Stick at it – engagement is a long game
 Gain leadership buy-in
Perspiration

 To engage your teams – first engage your managers

 To engage your managers – make them accountable
and give them the tools and support to do the job
 Understand the issues – find out what is driving
engagement
 Focus your efforts – on priority issues and priority
Collaboration

populations
Inspiration

 Bring an engaging style into your daily work

and

 Get inspiration from collaboration with colleagues

 Pay attention to the details – do not ignore subtle
messages in the data
 Inspire others by making an impact
 Engaged employees are…
• Committed to the success and the public image of DHSS and have a vested interest
in the company’s success and are both willing and motivated to perform to levels
that exceed the stated job requirements.
• Psychologically loyal - likely to stay with their organization.
• Proud of their workplace and have greater ownership of their contributions.
• Passionate about their contribution to the mission of public health.
• More likely to invest discretionary effort (time, energy and money) in their work,
eliciting employees’ highest productivity.
• Your best source of new ideas.
• More likely to conduct themselves in a safe, respectable manner and less likely to
have accidents on the job, less likely to steal, etc.
• More likely to enjoy coming to work each day.
• Open to change.
• Supportive of their colleagues.
• Focused on the big picture.
 Best Practices for Engaging Employees
• The relationship between the direct supervisor and the employee is the
point of most leverage.
• Supervisors can:
– Earn trust by being open and vulnerable (admit mistakes, listen to feedback,
encourage cross-organizational conversations, etc.)
– Have regular conversations with employees (what’s going well? what’s not?
what can I do to help you be your best?)
– Learn employees’ passions and strengths and figure out how to let employees
use them in their job (this may take creativity and expansion of job
descriptions).
– Look for developmental opportunities to give employees and support them in
their growth
– Show appreciation in meaningful ways (ask employees to find out what is
meaningful to them).
 Best Practices for Engaging Employees
• You can adjust the culture of the company to more fully engage
employees.
• Business owners can:
– Demonstrate the same behaviors recommended for supervisors with your
direct reports. A clear example will inspire your supervisors to emulate you.
– Rally your employees around a meaningful purpose. Everyone wants to know
what the real goal is and whether the goal is being accomplished.
– Communicate your current reality in simple terms. For instance, explain the
details of your profits, sales, customer service levels, and ask your employees
for help in making improvements.
– Show appreciation and create company-wide gestures of thanks. These can be
low-cost or no-cost things, such as time off, brown bag meetings with the
owner, vendor supplied education sessions, etc.
– Develop your staff throughout the year. Decide what you want to do and put
these events on your calendar at the beginning of the year. Treat these time
commitments as if they were meetings with your most important clients.
 If Times Are Tough and You Must Let
Employees Go (Slide 1 of 2)
• Communication is critical for all employees. Explain measures you have
taken to avoid letting people go, and why you now have no other choice.
• For the impacted employees:
– Give as much advance warning as possible.
– Follow these acts of goodwill that cost you very little:
• Allow for at least 2 week’s notice.
• Explain the company’s financials and express your sincere regrets.
• Offer job leads and advice, and offer letters of recommendation.
• Use them on a contractual basis (if you can), and let them know that they will be
welcomed back if things get better.
 If Times Are Tough and You Must Let
Employees Go (Slide 2 of 2)

• For the employees who remain:

– Understand that they are stressed about what has happened, and they have
worries of their own.
– Be aware that, more than likely, you are asking them to work harder for no
rewards.
– Now more than ever, they need to see and hear from you on how things are
going at a macro level and how it may impact them.
– Go out of your way to show appreciation for their efforts.
– Look for ways to improve their life/work balance.
 Times of change = opportunities for
“human” resurgence
• Now is a good time for the Department to focus on engagement,
because the people who work here are already more aware and
more attuned to their changing work environment.

• Some employees are trying to figure out how things will work from
here forward.

• Some employees are trying to figure out how to stop the change
from happening to themselves or their work group.

• Some employees are trying to effectuate and embrace as much

change as possible.

• The “walking dead” may be momentarily outnumbered.

 How to Improve Engagement
• Provide tools, resources and equipment in abundance.
• Enhance the work environment in any way possible.
• Reward and recognize the efforts of others in a way that’s meaningful to
the individual.
• Establish fair performance goals.
• Communicate clear expectations.
• Regularly clarify priorities and offer individualized feedback.
• Delegate work to engaged employees according to their interests and
talents.
• Support skill development and learn to manage talent.
• Actively help employees build meaningful long-term careers.
• Listen to employees, share your insights and experience.
• Work to increase transparency wherever possible.
• Promote core organizational values and reinforce them through
management behaviors.
 Key Drivers
• Care
• Autonomy
• Connection and interpersonal relationships
• Mastery and growth
• Shared goals and expectations
• Purpose and significance
• Play
• Inspired excellence
 Common engagement mistakes
Obsessing about objective measurements.

• Surveys can be helpful in identifying pockets of low or

high engagement, but they can have the unintended
effect of making employee engagement an end, rather
than a means.

• Engagement, alone, is like motivation without ability.

• Don’t confuse a tool with a strategy.

 Common engagement mistakes
Focusing on employee engagement as a stand-alone topic.

• Although engagement may be best understood, theoretically, in

isolation, it has to be embedded in the context of our daily work,
our mission and our strategic planning in order to do anything.

• HR professionals work with Department leadership teams now in

order to help ensure that adequate human resources are in place at
the right time, with the right skills to deliver our desired results. If
HR staff are mindful of workforce trends and macro-issues, as well
as the concept of employee engagement, they can be very effective
at helping to steer conversations and keep engagement in its proper
place.
 Common engagement mistakes
Thinking in terms of “buy-in.”

• By not forcing “buy-in,” there is less likelihood of

unintentionally engaging what we don’t want: opt-out
from those employees who are disengaged, or push-
back from those who are actively acting out their
disengagement.

• The most effective approaches at facilitating

engagement are those that create the conditions where
it can exist and those that somehow attempt to harness
its energy.
 Factors that inhibit improvement
• Old data. Immediate feedback is far superior.
• Compare your results to the best results, not to the average.
• Confusing or conflicting messages about what’s most
important distracts people and disturbs their focus.
• Anything that threatens or jeopardizes the anonymity of an
individual respondent.
• Disinterest among the highest levels of supervision.
• Adopting a “rules” approach to building engagement (don’t
attempt to foster it through incentives).
 Actions steps for improvement
• Set goals.
• Develop an action plan.
• Share the plan.
• Monitor, support and celebrate progress.
• Set high standards of comparison.
• Re-survey, refine and repeat the process.
• Share results (increase transparency).
 Building a Culture of Engagement

A set of accepted
organizational values,
behaviors, and practices
that promotes increasing
levels of engagement as a
cultural norm
Things to remember about employee
engagement
• It’s a personal choice, not something that can be imposed.

• It comes from an emotionally-driven decision to be loyal to

an organization.

• The work of leaders, managers and supervisors is to create

the conditions in which engagement can occur, then provide
people with the opportunity to make the engagement
choice – it’s about facilitating a culture of engagement.

• We begin by engaging leaders – senior managers from the

top-down, and peer leaders from the bottom-up. People
become “activated” and pass it on.
 Things to remember about employee
engagement
• Employee engagement is critical to the success of your business.
• Bringing out the best in each employee and appreciating employee efforts
will help keep employees engaged.
• Find out what your employees want most from you, and be creative in
giving employees what they need.

102
 Check your own level
• Are you getting satisfaction from the tasks required by your
job?
• Are you feeling valued by colleagues and supervisors?
• Have you been contributing energetically, not in isolation,
but collaboratively?
• Are you ambitious for the organization?
• Do you find yourself speaking positively about the activities
of DHSS?
• Are you planning to continue to work for the Department?
• Going beyond the stated requirements of the job and
contributing ‘discretionary effort’?

103
 Sourcing
• Dr. Kwame R. Charles, Director, Quality Consultants Limited, 2007 Inaugural
Caribbean Region Public Sector HR Conference, June 19-21, 2007
• Department of Social Protection, Ireland, Dr. Lucy Fallon-Byrne, June 2013,
engagement and innovation
• Engaging Employees, Engage your employees by following new principles and
ideas, FDIC (The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)
• Employee Engagement: 101, DHSS, Institute for Management Excellence, March
2014
• PCI (Performance Connection International), 2008, Leading for Employee
Engagement
• Anni Yakala, 2015, Employee Engagement: Inspiration or Perspiration?, IBM
BusinessConnect
• Bob Lavigna, 2014, The Power of Employee Engagement, Assistant Vice Chancellor
– HR, University of Wisconsin, [email protected]
• JerLene Mosley, 2015, Building a Great Place To Work & Learn:Principal Sessions
for Pasco COUNTY, Senior Consultant, February, Gallup
Learning and Giving for …
Better Indonesia