Engaging, Enabling and Rewarding Employees

Keeping productive and innovative employees is vital for businesses to maintain a strong competitive edge. New-hires, according to the HayGroup, cost business 100%-150% of the cost of the employee’s salary. The HayGroup’s excellent presentation to the NCHRA Tri-Valley Chapter November 10 at ADP on the business advantages of “Engaging, Enabling and Rewarding Employees” developed some significant conclusions to apply to an employee engagement action plan. Here are some key research-based, data points to consider.

The center of the engagement discussion begins with these definitions:

(1) Engaging Employees

·  The commitment employees feel toward their organization and

·  The employees’ discretionary effort... their willingness to go the extra mile for the organization

(2) Enabling Employees

·  An empowered work environment where there is no fear to speak up, to offer suggests and to dream of innovations

(3) Rewards

·  Short-term tangible rewards

·  Long-term intangible rewards

The results of the HayGroup normative global study comparing Engagement Only vs. Engagement + Enablement revealed a strong advantage for Engagement + Enablement:

·   Employee performance rose from 10% to 50% above performance expectations

·  Employee retention rates increased from 40% to 54%

·  Customer satisfaction rates increased from 71% to 89%

·  Revenue growth increased from 2.5x to 4.5x expectations

Clearly, combining Employee Enablement + Employee Engagement practices adds greatly to a business’ competitive edge.

The leading ROI advantages of combining Enablement + Engagement are impressive.  The top responses from the HayGroup corporate surveys are:

·  53% - Created a more positive work culture

·  46% - Better work collaboration and relationships

·  40% - Better customer relationships

·  40% - increased financial performance

·  38% - Created a competitive edge

·  39% - Reduced turnover

·  36% - Reduced complaints on pay fairness

Here are the complete table responses:

           

In the area of Short-Term (tangible) Rewards, employees rated rewards as of HIGH importance:

·  54% - Short-term incentives (SPIFFs) or bonus programs

·  48% - Benefits and perquisites

·  42% - Base salary increase

·  41% - Base Salary

·  32% - Long-term incentives or bonus program

·  32% - Financial recognition programs

Incentives and bonuses, benefits and perquisites are the standouts for short-term, tangible rewards for employees.

For Long-Term (intangible) Rewards, employees rated these attributes as of HIGH importance:

·  69% - The nature of the job or quality of the work (significant, gratifying work)

·  61% - Work environment or organizational climate

·  59% - Career development opportunities

·  55% - Work-life balance

·  37% - non-financial recognition programs

  

All of these long-term “reward” attributes are strong magnets to retaining top talent in any business.

Another interesting bit of research data is that current employee involvement in reward program is low. Reward program participation rates are as follows:

·   Program Design – 80% seldom or never participate

·  Program Implementation – 79% seldom or never participate

·  Program Evaluation - 79% seldom or never participate

There is lots of room here for “enabling” the employees to get involved in the rewards program design, implementation and evaluation.

In conclusion, the HayGroup has developed their Top Ten List of action items for businesses:

ORGANIZATIONAL PRIORITIES

1.    Make a business case for engaging employees

2.    Measure and monitor engagement with feedback and surveys

3.    Take action on feedback and survey results

4.    Make everyone responsible for engagement

5.    Connect people with the future

REWARDS PRIORITIES

6.    Go beyond compensation and benefits to a total rewards mindset

7.    Include employees and managers in reward design and launch

8.    Tailor total rewards to workforce segmentation

9.    Use engagement metrics in performance criteria

10. Communicate the value of your enabling, engagement and rewards environments

All diagrams and information used with copyright permission from the HayGroup.

For further information about the HayGroup study “Enabling, Engaging and Rewarding Employees,”

Contact:

Sara Wells                                                      Joe McNeal

HayGroup (San Francisco)                              HayGroup (San Francisco)     

sara.wells@haygroup.com                             joe.mcneal@haygroup.com

415-644-3718                                                  415-644-3727

Retaining Talent in the Coming Recovery

Now that many business leaders are cautiously optimistic about the US economy, some senior business leaders are starting to take steps to grow their profits and re-hire/expand their workforce. In the recent economic down turn, many businesses including the largest global Fortune 100 companies have, in my opinion, beaten their quarterly earnings expectations by reduction in workforce measures. They have maintained their profitability by cutting the work force cost rather than significantly growing their productivity and sales. I am not arguing against senior leadership’s decision to do this but rather just stating how it is. Therefore, the current cadre of employees and top talent has had to and continues to endure taking up the workload of their former colleagues. Although current employees are glad to have a job, I believe they are likely to start looking for other career opportunities because of this greater workload stress (maybe a 150% greater workload in some cases). So, who would not seek relief from their high-pressure job? Whatever the increased workload, they are ready to seek a better work-life environment. Leaving is an option, but better for everyone is to seek ways to retain them.

One tool I recently came across to retain their workforce and top talent is The Towers Watson Recovery Readiness Survey – Answers to the 25 questions every senior leader wants to know right now. The survey is a professionally designed survey composed of Towers Watson-validated questions, hosted on their secure platform. Some of the features include:

• Comparison with world-class benchmarks to provide context from other companies confronting the same challenges.
• Executive action sessions, engaging senior leaders in building a focused action plan
• An interactive results reporting tool for in-depth exploration of all results

Here are some sample questions and corrective solutions provided by Towers Watson:

I think this tool is very promising in meeting the challenge of retaining top talent as our economic recovery slowly begins. I wish you success in being ready and prepared to retain your top talent.

Source and contact information:

Towers Watson Recovery Readiness Survey” http://www.towerswatson.com/assets/pdf/1869/TowersWatson-Recovery-Readiness-2pg-v2.pdf

Adam Zuckerman adam.zuckerman@towerswatson.com +1 312 828 9725