June 2017

“Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals. This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company. They don’t work just for a paycheck, or just for the next promotion, but work on behalf of the organization’s goals.”

– Kevin Kruse

Employee engagement is a discretionary action. This means that employees go above and beyond not because they have to, but because they care about the company.

Key Employee Engagement Stats

• 6% of American workers are engaged (Gallup 2016)
• 25% of employees are highly engaged, 40% are moderately engaged (Aon Hewitt 2016)
• 24% of employees worldwide are “actively disengaged” (Gallup 2016)
• 29% of millennials are engaged at work, 16% are actively disengaged, 55% are not engaged (Gallup 2016)

People have great potential and can accomplish great things when they have the right coaching, tools, and leadership.

The Engagement Experience

Employee satisfaction is contractual and transactional. Once it is lost, the employee is usually either fired or the employee quits the job. Employee engagement is transformational rather than transactional. Employee engagement can never be bought; it must be earned.

So, what are the benefits of an engaged employee?

1. Highly engaged employees are 38% more likely to have above-average productivity. (Workplace Research Foundation)
2. Companies with engaged employees outperform those without by 202%. (Dale Carnegie)
3. Companies who implement regular employee feedback have turnover rates that are 14.9% lower than for those which receive no feedback. (Gallup)

Disengaged employees cost the United States $450 billion dollars. These employees call in sick more often, are more prone to injury, and increase the turnover rate.

The Most Important Factor That Drives Employee Engagement

“The problem is with your managers, not your employees. If your employees are disengaged, your managers are at fault.”

-Les McKeown, author and CEO of Predictable Success

The manager leads the team or group of employees. When the manager changes, the level of engagement of the employees change, even when the employees’ roles stays the same.

Three Types of Employees

The Rowers

These employees are actively engaged; they move the company forward. They are passionate and loyal. Their loyalty is to the mission, not a bonus or a paycheck.

The Sleepers

These employees are Rowers who do not have the proper leadership to move them forward. They make up 65% of the U.S. workforce. Although disengaged, they are neither negative or positive; they are in a neutral status. They will hang on for many years. However, Sleepers can weigh down the company and cause others to join this category. Management should connect and engage with Sleepers to bring them up to Rower status.

The Sinkers

Sinkers are pretty easy to spot. They are usually unhappy at work and will act out, however they can be productive when it comes to operation and customer service. In other words, they can do their job well, so their supervisors keep them around. The problem with Sinkers is that they are actively disengaged. This means they can bring the Rowers to Sleepers, or worse, Sinkers. Sinkers can be at this level due to bad leadership in the past. If you are not able to bring them up to Rower status, they need to be removed from the company.

Focus on the WHY

Choose to focus on the WHY of your company and its tasks rather than what they do. This is what makes companies like Apple great to work for.

Listen to Simon Sinek’s talk on this (Video)

• Aim to be the manager that cares about the employees.
• Check in with your employees.
• Humanize your leaders (CEO, directors and managers).
• Fully engage your employees.
• Help your employees gain back time and work/life balance.

Great examples of companies that have amazing employee engagement include QuickenLoans Mortgage Services and Wegmans.

15 Ideas to Lift Your Boat

1. Shorten feedback loops
2. Write a note
3. Send anniversary cards
4. Create a community yearbook
5. Connect with family/pets
6. Employ “My Favorite Things”
7. 5-minute desk chats
8. Provide a lateral career map
9. Weekly motivations
10. Try “Grant-a-Wish”
11. Ditch a task
12. Trash the meeting
13. Show & tell
14. Have a month for mentoring
15. Distraction jar

BONUS: Get rid of your Sinkers!

Increasing and maintaining employee engagement is an active skill. Choose to be aware and improve this area of your company; the apartment industry needs this!

Presented by: 

Maria Lawson, CAM, VP of Training and Development
Ellis Partners in Management Solutions (EPMS)