HR Magazine, May 2014. recently quoted the following survey:
According to Gallup data, what percentage of employees are fully engaged at work?
A. 13%
B. 19%
C. 22%
D. 50%
And in another article in the same edition, they asked this question:
True or False:
Someone who starts showing up to work late, fails to return
e-mails, and takes many sick days is more likely to quit his or her job within a couple of months than other employees.
Thinking of your workplace, what would your answers be?
An Engaged Audience!
Sadly, recent Gallup data indicates that only 13 percent of employees worldwide are fully engaged with their work, and surveys of CEOs repeatedly show engagement as one of their top concerns. Employee engagement definitely correlates to retention, productivity, and financial results. My most popular speaking topic, for example, is “Spreading Contagious Enthusiasm™–Creating Workplaces of Passion, Purpose, and Productivity.” The need for employees to find purpose and meaning in their jobs is critical today.
Surprisingly, the answer to the second question is False! According to Utah State University research that drew on three studies and seven survey samples of students, managers, and other business leaders around the world, these behaviors, though often associated with quitting, were also exhibited by people who stayed. Again, these findings indicate a malaise and lack of purpose and mission in one’s work that are disturbing, both from a business and a human standpoint.
In my next few blog posts at www.barbaraglanz.com/blog/, I am going to share many very simple, no cost or low cost ideas to help boost employee engagement in any organization.
One of the most simple and yet most profound concepts I have ever discovered to share with my audiences can immediately change their perspective about the importance of their work.
When I ask people the question, “What is your work?”, I always get the very same response – either a job description or a job title. What I want everyone in my audiences to realize is this – we are all SO MUCH MORE than a job title or a job description!
When I ask, “What is your work?,” this is what I want to know: “How is what you do every day making someone’s life better?” THAT is your very important work.
It doesn’t matter whether people are emptying bed pans, carrying out the garbage, working on an assembly line, taking calls in a customer service center, or managing an entire team, they can find a way that their “work” makes someone’s life better. Think of how different that idea is from simply “having a job.”
That simple thought can dramatically change someone’s passion about what they do every single day. When one gets up in the morning and truly believes, “I am going to work to make someone’s life better today,” then their level of engagement is transformed, and it impacts the entire organization.
For more simple ideas from Barbara Glanz, the “Employee Engagement Expert,” go to www.barbaraglanz.com.
