Creating a Culture of Employee Engagement Brian W. Jones, DHSc, CHPCA

Objectives Describe current trends/research related to employee satisfaction. Indentify and describe key motivational theories. Discover his/her own leadership styles. Articulate how to build a culture of employee engagement.

Defining Terms… Employee Satisfaction: A measurement of an employee’s “happiness” with current job and conditions; it does not measure how much effort the employee is willing to expend. Employee Engagement: A measurement of an employee’s emotional commitment to an organization; it takes into account the amount of discretionary effort an employee expends on behalf of an organization (ADP Research Institute, 2012).

Employee Satisfaction The #1 reason people leave their jobs: They don’t feel appreciated. Bad bosses could increase the risk of stroke by 33%. 65% of Americans received no recognition in the workplace last year (How Full is Your Bucket? 2004).

Best Non-profits to Work for 2013 Flexibility and ties to mission keep employees loving their jobs (The NonProfit Times, 2013). #1 Wounded Warrior Project #50 Masonic Home of Kentucky #42 Pencil Foundation

Good News and Bad News… If you focus solely on employee satisfaction, you may get satisfied employees but not get engaged employees. However, if you focus on employee engagement, you will likely get both engaged and satisfied employees.

How important is engagement? Engaged workers are more productive, profitable, safer, healthier, and less likely to leave their employer. Yet, only 30% of the global workforce is engaged. More than 60% of the global workforce is ambivalent and emotionally disconnected with their work. It is estimated that employee disengagement costs the US economy more than $300 billion annually (Batista-Taran, Shuck, Gutierrez, & Baralt, 2009).

Help me define… Engaged employees are builders. They perform at high levels. They want to use their talents and strengths at work every day. Not engaged employees focus on accomplishing tasks. They feel their contributions are overlooked. They often do not have productive relationships with managers or co-workers (Shani, 2011).

But I thought it was money? Interestingly, money is not a big part of the equation, since meaningful work that helps us feel successful seems to be the reward itself. Moving beyond the poverty level will make you happier and less stressed, but earning more money than you need to comfortably live does not make much of a difference. Not having good work, on the other hand, can be devastating (Business Insider, December 2013).

What role do I play? Employee engagement is a direct reflection of how employees feel about their relationship with their boss. If employee’s relationship with their managers is strained, then no amount of benefits will persuade the employees to perform to the best of their abilities (Goel, Gupta, & Rastogi, 2013).

Managers agree… 94% of managers stated that work force motivation was either important or critically important to the success of the organization. 82% of managers agreed with the statement that “leaders can have a significant impact on an employee’s level of motivation and engagement.” 67% of managers believed it is getting more difficult to motivate employees effectively. 76% of managers believed that they must adjust their approach to motivating individual employees (Longenecker, 2014).

Hawthorne factory…

Theories of Motivation… Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Herzberg’s Two-factor Theory McClelland’s Acquired Needs Theory Victor H. Vroom’s Expectancy Valence Theory Skinner’s Reinforcement Theory

Interesting work… Motivational factors at work: 1.Interesting work 2.Full appreciation of work done 3.Feeling of being in on things Journal of Extension, June 1998 Luvata, 2012

Leadership Styles… Autocratic Bureaucratic Charismatic Democratic Laissez-faire Relation-oriented Servant Task-oriented Transactional Transformational

Emotional Intelligence Self-awareness Self-regulation Motivation Empathy Social skills

Practical Suggestions on Building Employee Engagement Know your people Clarify performance expectations Equip, educate, and empower Always listen and share information Foster employee development Celebrate success Provide ongoing feedback and coach, coach, coach. Practice effective formal appraisals and reviews. Deal with nonperformers in a timely and effective fashion (Longenecker, 2014).

To think about… Organizations need to develop comprehensive strategies for executives that will provide them the tools to develop the skills for building trust, sharing their vision, and creating effective relationships between employees and the organization. Leaders who apply these skills are perceived more positively by their employees (Batista-Taran, Shuck, Gutierrez, & Baralt, 2009).

How good are your motivation skills? ScoreComment 15-34Ouch. The good news is that you’ve got a great opportunity to improve the way you motivate others, and you and your team’s long term success! However, to do this, you’ve got to fundamentally improve your motivation skills You’re good at some aspects of motivating others, but there’s room for improvement elsewhere You’re probably motivating your team very effectively! Let’s take a quick test

Questions?