Posted by Laura Sheffield on Wed, Aug 11, 2010 @ 12:39 PM
Zappos, the online shoe company that has become so much more than a shoe company, is everywhere known as the customer service company. They don't just serve customers, they try to dramatically stun them. And that, more than anything else, is the core of their business. At this point, it doesn't matter what Zappos sells.
The company could do anything and succeed. Their profits have jumped from $70 million five years ago to an estimated $1 billion this year. Zappos has created this explosive success by first cultivating employees that are fanatical about Zappos. You can't provide excellent service to customers without first having engaged employees.
How do they do it? A Harvard Business Review blog post examines one facet of Zappos culture that is part of creating an engaged workforce. It's "one small practice that offers big lessons for leaders who are serious about… filling their organization with people who are just as committed as they are."
Here's the one small practice: after a new hire’s first week of intensive work at Zappos, the new employee is offered full salary for that one week plus a $1,000 bonus to quit and walk away from the job.
The Zappos mentality? If the new employee takes the offer, good riddance. Zappos wants commitment, excitement about the job, and employees that want to work for Zappos more than they want an immediate $1,000.
If an employee will stay despite a monetary offer to quit, it's a good sign that they'll be engaged. Zappos has learned that engaged employees are better at serving customers. And when serving customers is the core of your business, it's a pretty good idea to have employees that are good at it.
Would your employees quit the job if you offered them $1000 to do it? What does that say about your company? About the design of their position? About the employee engagement level in your organization? How do you make sure your employees are committed to the business?
Posted by Tracy Maylett, Ed.D. on Thu, Apr 22, 2010 @ 07:33
In most Employee Engagement Surveys we ask employees to rate the level to which they agree to the following statement: "I clearly understand my role and responsibility within this organization." Another closely related question (statement) is, "The work I do plays an important role in the success of the organization." These are important engagement questions, as they help assess the most critical driver of employee engagement: an employee's understanding of their role within the larger picture of success for the organization.
The importance of this concept is demonstrated in the age-old parable of the stone-cutter in front of the quarry who is asked, "what are you doing?" To this question he replies, somewhat distantly, "I'm squaring up this stone." The inquisitor then goes on to ask the next person the same question, to which the reply comes "I'm helping to build a great cathedral." Clearly, the second stonecutter unmistakably understood his role in the success of the organization. He was also much more than a stonecutter-he was a part of a team that was building something much greater.
Seeing the Bigger Picture
Many employees, rather than seeing their role as that of a contributor to a greater cause, see only their piece of the process.
Recently, I took a trip with my wife to a local supermarket to purchase items for an upcoming event. At the top of the grocery list were soft drinks. To our surprise, we had one of those rare occasions where the items we were looking for were on sale-and at a great price.
"All Pepsi products 2 for $1," the display noted clearly.
Among other soft drinks, we purchased A&W Rootbeer and A&W Diet Rootbeer, which were usually priced at $1.48 each. Upon reaching the checkout counter, we watched as the bottles were scanned. Each rang up at the expected $.50 price until the checker scanned the A&W Diet Rootbeer. Never trusting the scanning process, my wife was watching carefully and caught the error. She called it to the attention of the checker, who appeared to be quite put out at my wife's insistence that it be re-scanned at the correct price. The checker stated that the sale applied only to Pepsi products, and that she wasn't sure that A&W Diet Rootbeer was a Pepsi product. I quickly pointed out that the non-diet A&W Rootbeer she had just finished ringing through was clearly noted as a Pepsi product and had been scanned at the expected $.50. Reason would have it, I explained, that the diet and non-diet version of the same product must be made by the same company. This appeared to further annoy the checker.
The checker, with little apparent concern for her role in serving the customer, looked for us to concede. She quipped that she would have to call for a price check. The price check was made, a manager was summoned to enter in an override code, and five minutes later the correct price was entered in. To this checker, serving the customers in front of her, thus making the store profitable, was not part of her job. Her "job" was to scan items, collect payment, and move the customer quickly out of her line. Her inability to make decisions based on the greater cause cost this store five minutes of a checker's time, five minutes of a stock boy's time, use of a busy store manager, and ultimately a customer (not to mention those in the long line behind us)- far more than the $.98 difference in price.
Ultimately, the success of an organization is the culmination of the successes of individuals within the organization. A lack of understanding as to how an individual plays a role in the greater picture leads to lack of engagement, which leads to poor performance. In order to ensure employee engagement, ensure the individual sees the big picture.
Posted by Laura Sheffield on Mon, Apr 12, 2010 @ 12:36 PM
Managers want to fulfill their employee's needs so that they are content with their pay, hours, and level of flexibility. Managers strive for employee satisfaction. But does job satisfaction equal employee engagement?
Consider Connie. She is an assembly line employee who is satisfied with her job. Her job means steady employment. She feels satisfied with her pay (at least it's better than most of the jobs she could find down the street). She starts at 7:00 in the morning and gets off in time to pick up her seven-year-old from school. It meets her needs. However, for Connie, it's just a job. She can't say she looks forward to coming to work, and she doesn't find herself motivated to perform her best.
An employee can be satisfied with a job without being engaged in the job. Engagement is much more than being content on pay day and content with the ability to leave at 3 pm. That contentedness is merely job satisfaction, and though satisfaction is generally enough to retain employees, it's not enough to ensure productivity. On the other hand, employee engagement does promote increased productivity.
Managers must understand that an engaged employee is an employee who is deeply involved and invested in their work. This occurs when multiple job factors intersect and it is much more than job satisfaction alone. The confusion comes when we begin to use satisfaction and engagement synonymously.
Organizations with genuinely engaged employees have higher retention, productivity, customer satisfaction, innovation rates, and quality. They also require less training time, experience less illness, and have fewer accidents.
Simply put, satisfaction is not engagement-- and of the two, you want engagement.
Register for our latest webinar-"The 3 Essential Components of Employee Engagement."
Posted by Paul Warner, PhD on Mon, Feb 08, 2010 @ 11:05
A DecisionWise study of over 4,000 employees reveals that 14-15 % feel uneasy about the state of their organization and the economy, which translates into a loss of interest in one's job and looking outside the organization for other opportunities.
In the past, these employees would search for greener pastures and would leave the organization. Today, however, unemployment figures and general reductions in hiring have forced these individuals to stay with their current employer.
The 15% of employees who would be looking for other opportunities in a healthy economy end up quitting their job while staying on the job. They quit pscyhologically. When this occurs, they lose the drive, motivation, and engagement to do their work effectively. They waste their time, and ultimately, the organization's investment in their postion.
Here are two solutions to minimize the impact of those that quit and stay and increase employee engagement:
1. Identify who they are: Through formal and informal feedback an organization can assess which employees are actively engaged in their jobs. Feedback tools, such as employee engagement surveys, should be constructed to generate honest feedback from employees while minimizing the risks of individual identification. An engagement profile helps organizations identify the percentage of employees quitting and staying along with what is driving the situation.
2. Find out what makes them tick (and ticked off): Simply understanding the percentage of engaged vs. disengaged employees is not enough to facilitate change in an organization. Analyzing percieved levels of engagement and perceptions about job climate clarifies which factors enage people and which inhibit engagement on an organizational level. The key is to understand the motivations and the drivers, not just the percentage of disengaged employees.
As the economy changes in 2010, so will the employee experience. It will be critical to create valid profiles of engaged and disengaged employees unique to the organization to retain talented employees as job opportunities increase this year. Leveraging engagement profiles and employee opinions will generate change in the right people, change that is cost effective, and change with a significant return on investment.
Understanding employee engagement in 2010 will catalyze changes that curb the quit and stay mentality.
View the recorded webinar:
After the Storm: Forecasting the 2010 Employee Engagement Climate.