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Engaging Your Workforce in Today's Economic Uncertainty
October 13, 2009
By James Sharpe
"Shouldn't my employees just be happy they still have a job?" This is what many employers are thinking. But is it the right approach?
Late last year media outlets began reporting layoffs in record numbers. And while there are signs the economy is slowly starting to turn, nearly everyone has friends and family members who were let go from their job due to the recession.
The staff that survive a reduction often feel guilty they still are employed while their co-workers are gone, fearful of losing their jobs in a future reduction, and anxious about the extra workload and responsibility they now have. Managers need to remember that while these left-behind employees may be happy they have a paycheck, that doesn't mean they are committed to their job.
This is where employee engagement—the relationship between an employee and employer—can and should play an essential role. Taking this a step further, true employee engagement often largely depends on the relationship fostered between a manager and employee.
But why does employee engagement matter? Engaged employees tend to have their companies' best interests at heart. These employees also are more confident to take on new challenges, more productive, and more likely to stick with a company once the economy turns, which helps a company get through difficult economic times and prepare for future successes.
Employee Engagement Today: Is it Possible?
Employee engagement is easier said than done. It is particularly challenging given the economic downturn companies are going through. However, with signs of an upswing, employee engagement is more important than ever.
Many people believe employees leave their jobs because of pay. However, most employees leave their jobs because they don't "like" their manager. And "not liking" often is a result of poor communication. For example, managers often don't have ongoing discussions about future goals and objectives with employees except during an annual required review. As a result, employees only hear what they need to improve on and end up feeling undervalued and resentful.
Successful companies will take a step back and develop a planned and holistic framework that focuses on employee engagement as a top priority and foundational element. These companies take the time to identify the most cost-effective ways to bring employee engagement programs into reality within their organizations. Then, underlying both the framework and the tactical programs, companies should leverage different communication channels as they deliver this information to their employees.
Step 1: Leaders Teaching Leaders Framework
While companies may have had a good process for employee engagement a year ago, times have changed, and many of these programs have fallen to the back burner. With many companies offering cautiously optimistic outlooks, they need to find ways to bring appropriate programs back. For example, before the recession many organizations used external educational experts, yet no longer have the budgets to bring in an outside firm. There is a simple solution for today's world: turn to the experts to create an employee engagement framework, and then leverage internal leaders to contextualize the model and adapt to specific business needs.
Once an expert develops such a framework, companies should have the right resources to bring this program into reality within their organization by training managers and creating an action-specific program to roll out to staff.
Step 2: Shift to Actionable, Informal Learning
Once the framework is in place, informal learning opportunities should be a key component. Most industry experts agree that only 10 percent of employee training happens via formal training courses, with 20 percent through coaching and the remaining 70 percent of learning occurring informally "on-the-job" by trial and error. Companies cannot and should not rely only on traditional formal learning initiatives.
Smart companies will put more actionable, informal learning opportunities into their broader employee engagement programs. Leaders should be trained on the types of tools and training programs available. These tools also should be available via "on-the-job training" since "on-the-job training" is proven to be more effective, while also making employee development conversations more ongoing, and no longer a once-a-year topic.
For example, one way companies are leveraging such an idea is through compelling short online training courses that cover pertinent topics such as maintaining morale through change.
Take a large health-care provider my company, PDI Ninth House, works with. Already recognized for high-quality patient care, this hospital wanted to elevate its practices. It knew its nurses played an essential role, and while they did their jobs satisfactorily, some nurses appeared more engaged and connected with patients. Working with PDI Ninth House, the hospital decided to create online learning vignettes showing two different scenarios. In one scenario, the nurse performed his/her job, but was focused on the functional tasks, checking the patients' vital signs and cleaning the room. In the second scenario, the nurse performed the job in the same manner, but also added a personal element. After the nurses viewed the vignettes, hospital leaders brought them into small group discussions to talk about the scenarios so everyone had a better understanding of why scenario two was preferable.
The result: The nurses doing a satisfactory job got a much clearer and consistent understanding of hospital management's expectation of quality patient care. Once all nurses saw the vignettes and talked about them in small groups, hospital management saw a noticeable difference among previously "satisfactory" nurses. They became more helpful to patients and more engaged. Before the vignettes, the hospital didn't have a good way to bring up patient care conversations, because it wasn't as if the satisfactory nurses weren't doing their jobs. But with this model, the conversations were brought up in a non-controversial way, and the hospital was able to seed the conversation and truly improve patient care.
Multi-Delivery Approach
Finally, for employee engagement to work, leaders also must understand that employees communicate via many different channels, and the best employee engagement programs will leverage a multi-pronged approach. No longer can a manager rely on one face-to-face meeting to enhance engagement, but a manager also can't rely only on daily e-mail check-in's, either. Through a blended learning approach, communication needs to be ongoing and frequent. Managers need to be comfortable to conduct it via one-on-one meetings and group discussions, and in person, by e-mail or by instant messaging.
Leaders also should consider this multi-channel approach as they continuously look to improve their programs. For example, micro-sites that allow leaders to connect and share stories and best practices can provide invaluable information.
Or, going back to the hospital example, the hospital used online videos as the initial training, and then followed up with in-person focus group sessions to discuss. After these sessions, the hospital e-mailed best practice tips on a regular basis to continue giving feedback to nurses and to keep the learning top of mind.
Employee Engagement for Today and the Future
As companies emerge from the recession, they remain cautious and focused on financial stability. While finances must continue to be a strong focus, many companies have pushed employee relations too far down the list. There are simple and cost effective approaches, however, that companies can use to bring employee engagement practices back into their businesses, so they have the staff to get them through today's challenges and ready for expansion when the economy turns.
James Sharpe is vice president of strategic learning at PDI Ninth House.
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