Retain Top Talent

I liked this article. It addresses the proverbial "elephant in the room" with many of your employees. In my executive search practice, I am amazed at the sheer number of folks who are willing to talk about future opportunities because they are scared they might lose their current job through a RIF.

Some good ideas here to reinformce positive thinking. Obviously, you can't make guarantees - but you can go a long way to show people who important they are, how they matter, and how much you care.

What's your plan?

Wow - catch this quote in the article:

"Yet more than 40% of respondents say their employer does not offer an incentive/rewards program or recognize employees."

In my workshops on employee engagement (productivity) I teach that having a rigorous reward, recognition, and appreciation program is second to helping employees understand what is expected of them.

Why do so many organizations fail at appreciating their employees?

I've been spending a fair amount of time in my recent consulting with clients talking about non-monetary reward and recogition programs. Next to defining success, this is the second most important issue of driving employee engagement and productivity - showing apprecation.

Do you have a systematic and rigorous process embedding appreciation into the fabric of your culture?

As you probably know, I talk extensively about how rewards, recognition, and appreciation is the next most important element to employee engagement (productivity) after defining success for the role.

Do you have a strong peer to peer recognition as a best practice in rewards and recognition for your organization?

It's interesting to see the same issues crop up again and again related to tactics of employee engagement. Here's the quote:

"We did identify a major communication gap: only 20% of employees reported that they receive weekly feedback. So it appears that managers and employees are talking regularly about ongoing work and projects, but employees still aren’t receiving the coaching that they desire."

Why are employees not getting the coaching they want - because most managers don't know how to coach. Is it time for some remedial training for managers on coaching?

Notice the information linking to Gallup's work on employee engagement. For those of you that have seen me do my Vistage One Hour Complimentary Webinar on Managing Remotely in a Crisis - communication, setting clear expectations, and providing appropriate rewards and recognition. No brainer initiatives - what's holding you back from moving down the path of starting to do these basic fundamental initiatives that lead to high productivity.

From one of my favorite publications - Psychology Today - on the importance of employee recognition and why most companies/managers struggle with this issue. It is the number 2 element of why you're not seeing appropriate levels of productivity from your workforce - you're employees don't think you care.

Many of my clients look to me for specific language and vehicles through which they can recognize their employees - showing gratitude, appreciation, and being thankful. Geniune caring human behavior. I find that many managers struggle to show their appreciation because they have never been coached on how to do it. Secondly, I observe during this hard economic time and health care crisis, many managers have lost their caring and sensitivity. Unless your culture reinforces the need to show it, most of the time appreciation, recognition, and thanking others just falls through the cracks. Is your organization guilty of this?

Some good ideas from Insperity on rewarding, recognizing, appreciating, and showing gratitude toward the employees working remotely. Although many of these ideas represent the foundation of good employee recognition programs, I am still amazed at how many organizations are not practicing these basic fundamentals.

Key points in this article about keeping it personal and not micro-managing. Unfortunately, we seem to violate both ideas.

While folks are working from home, many managers appear to have slipped into a mode of only talking about tasks and activities, and have forgotten how to show empathy, appreciation, caring, and sensitivity for their team members. Maybe it's time for some remedial managerial training on empathy.

Do your employees feel underappreciated? Are you aware of your practices around the elements listed in this article. Is it time to take a hard look at whether your culture is one of appreciation, gratitude, and thankfulness?

Nice infographic regarding non-monetary rewards and recognition to stimulate employee engagement. Lacking a rigorous process for appreciation, recognition, and gratitude is the number two reason why so few of your employees are engaged, motivated, and productive. The number one reason is a lack of helping your employees understand what's expected of them in clear precise language.

How rigorous is your reward and recognition process. Shoot me a note and I'll send you the matrix we've created that allows you to gain a quick snapshot of where you stand on the spectrum of having an effective process in place.

In my workshops and consulting on employee engagement, I spend a lot of time focusing on saying thank you - showing appreciation, gratitude, thankfulness. Most companies suffer greatly from not doing this enough.

The problem is that most individuals in management lack enough empathy and sensitivity to say thank you when appropriate. Is it time for some management/supervisor training on when it's appropriate, what to say, and the vehicle/medium for presenting the thank you?

Most companies I come across in my executive search and consulting practice claim they have a great culture - but they lack a core element of appreciation, gratitude, recognition, and thankfulness. How do your managers execute on a daily basis around showing appreciation? Is it time for some remedial training of your management team around this critical element of an outstanding culture.

Although many of my clients are finding great value in bonus.ly as a platform for managing employee recognition and rewards, the article pinpoints some of the issues leadership might be focused on in why should we invest in employee recognition and rewards at a significant level.

Many of my clients struggle to think about strategies and tactics to engage frontline employees. Here is a good article on how to engage those frontline folks. How many of these tactics are you using in your organization?

Here's one of the key points I've been advocating in my workshop for Vistate Groups - Managing Remotely in a Crisis!

Here's the quote that grabbed me in the article:

Three out of five employees believe employee recognition and appreciation is more important while working from home, yet only one out of five employees (26%) say their company has implemented new ways to reward and recognize them since the current pandemic started"

One of the most powerful elements to drive motivation, engagement, and productivity is showing appreciation, recognition, gratitude. It's shameful not to have a strong recognition program.

This issue of recognition is the second most important element behind defining expectations (employees understanding what their immediate boss expects of them). The goal is to drive higher levels of employee engagement (translated into productivity). Most stuides show 50-70% of your workforce is not engaged - primarlily around not defining expectations and not providing enough recognition.

Something to think about - your working parents - whether they will continue to work from home or come into the office now that restrictions are being eliminated.

Are you setting your organization up as a great place to work because of your sensitivity, empathy, caring toward family issues, and parents struggling with at-home issues?

The great part of working for an entrepreneurial company is the flexibility and family style atmosphere  - is that really the case in your actions as we cycle through this Crisis? 

I've been suggesting this idea in the last 8 weeks of doing my Managing Remotely in a Crisis zoom webinar - send everyone company swag. This article reinforces that idea - and breaks down some different recommendations. The big question is whether swag is an effective reinforcement of positive experiences when folks are separated and isolated from being together?

Great list of employee reward/recognition ideas broken down in key categories. Are you testing any of these ideas in your company?

Some really good suggestions and ideas - simple to implement to bolster engagement and strengthen your culture with remote workers. How many of the items on this list are you currently working on?