Retain Top Talent

Interesting perspective on employee engagement in a manufacturing environment. Gallup shows this group to be a little tougher to engage.

Although the article stays at a superficial level with recommending specific tactics, it does raise some good challenges to think about if you're in a manufacturing company.

Most companies on-boarding consists of filling out paperwork in HR. Here's an interesting take on getting employees off on the right foot and staying passionate. A Great on-boarding program is the start of ensuring high employee engagement.

There is a strong link between performance management and employee engagement - particularly around the idea of defining clear expectations.

Why do so many companies ignore this fundamental element of both performance management and employee engagement? Is it too hard? Do they not know where to start? Do they not care?

Great infographic around employee engagement, happiness, and satisfaction. The free food one was a surprise - not sure I buy into that being important criteria - but the other items - right ON!

How can you begin an engagement program right now to stop your employees from thinking about "Is the grass greener somewhere else?"

The author (whom I follow and respect) infers that this is a Google original idea. It's not! Furthermore, figuring this out in an interview is NOT a five-minute issue as the article headline proclaims. It takes hours to understand a manager/leaders ability to hire and retain a high performing team. There is NO simple solution or answer to get at it.

This is the core of the work that Gallup did and then published in their book "First Break All the Rules" (if you are in management this should be required reading - right after my book on hiring)

Almost all of the work in  HR, employee engagement, and retention stems from this groundbreaking research that Gallup did a number of years ago.

One of the most important elements of that entire research was the idea that employees want to know what is expected of them in measurable terms.

Would you say that every employee in your organization has clear, objective, measurable results, outcomes, metrics, deliverables that are written and agreed to by both the employee and their immediate manager?

This is interesting research out of HBS linking gratitude and dishonesty. So many of my clients ask how to measure honesty in the interview. Perhaps, instead of focusing on honesty, we should focus on what people want to feel gratitude and appreciated.

Biggest issue regarding employee voluntary turnover - 

Not knowing how to talk about job satisfaction

Are you training your managers how to have this discussion with their team?

Interesting article on building trust with your team. The article dicusses 3 tactics to build trust - counter-intuitive to most managers regarding understanding team member personal lives.

One of the most important elements of employee engagement and retention is the quality of the manager. An enormous part of that relationship hinges on trust. Are your managers using these tactics to build trust?

One of the key elements to employee engagement is recognition and appreciation. How many different ways does your company help build employee engagement? The article has 15 different ideas - which ones are doing and do you have a team looking in to the other suggestions?

In the next few years, it's going to be tough to keep your best peope from being poached unless you're doing most of these!

The evidence of employee engagement is overwhelming when looking at metrics of improved customer satisfaction, net promoter scores, lower turnover, and fewer employees trying to see if the grass is greener somewhere else.

What's holding you back from implementing best practics in employee engagement - such as better definitions of success in jobs, non-monetary reward/recognition programs, and better performance management feedback?

The vast majority of your employees just don't care about their job, the company, or their teams. They are just coping with getting by each day doing the absolute minimum of work that you'll tolerate to allow them to keep their jobs.

This FORTUNE article is consistent with the primary research from Gallup on employee engagement, and most other studies.

What are you doing to combat this apathy, low productivity, and terrible attitude? Do you have a specific written engagement and retention plan to dramatically boost productivity, engagement, and employee satisfaction (remember - there is a direct correlation with employee engagement and productivity/customer satisfaction)?

Is now the time to start moving the bulk of your employees from the category of "I don't care" to "I care deeply?"

Good articulation of the key elements of leadership, a nice review of good/bad traits, and tools to help improve the development of leadership qualities.

It's bordering on comical when CEOs and executives say "why should I invest in training when I'm just preparing them for a job in another company".

Is this your philosophy about training and development? Or is your organization up on a pedestal for your investments in training and developing people? Have you done any formal survey work to discover why people join your organization or leave? How much is related to developing, training, coaching, and helping people realize their dreams?

Loved the quote from Drucker about Culture Eating Strategy.

Do you have a defined culture? What are the 3-5 key elements of initiatives that reinforce that culture - whether it be praise and gratitude tactics or healthcare/wellness plans?

No culture - or one that your employees make up - is a real problem in being able to attract and keep better people.

71 percent of employees indicating they would leave their current employer for a better job?

The author suggests you need a employee engagement strategy to prevent your best employees from leaving. The vast majority of companies I work with have NO process, structure, plan, or strategy to deal with employee engagement.

The approach of most companies appears to be "if employees show up for work, they must enjoy (be engaged) with their jobs.

What's your strategy?