We’ve all heard (and experienced) that companies today are asking employees to ‘do more with less’. But, exactly how
are we supposed to go about this? Increased workplace pressures often lead to employee frustration, overload, burnout and increased rates of turnover. Given the pressures and restrictions of “doing more with less”, shouldn’t we all be asking, “How can we maximize productivity and performance in the workplace?”
The answer could be as simple (and elusive) as ‘increasing employee engagement’.
Can employee engagement really make a difference to the bottom line? In a word: YES. Numerous studies have shown that employee engagement directly drives corporate profitability and employee retention.
Consider the results of just a few studies on the subject:
- Retention:
- – PricewaterhouseCoopers discovered a strong link between employee retention and the quality of service reported by companies’ customers.
- – According to the Corporate Leadership Council, employees with lower engagement levels are four times more likely to leave their jobs than those who are highly engaged.
- – A recent Gallup poll showed that companies with large numbers of dissatisfied workers experience greater absenteeism and lower productivity, as well as a 51% higher employee turnover rate.
- Cost of Attrition: The cost of replacing an employee who leaves has been estimated at between 70 to 200 percent of that worker’s annual salary. Talk about expensive!
- Productivity & Profitability:
- – In a study of professional service firms, the Hay Group found that offices with engaged employees were up to 43% more productive.
- – HR strategy firm, Kenexa – an IBM Company, found that organizations with highly engaged employees achieved twice the annual net income of organizations whose employees were less engaged.
- – Fast Company reported that businesses with higher employee engagement have enjoyed a 4% higher return than the S&P 500 in recent years.
The bottom line? Employee engagement matters to your bottom line!
- “Engagement = Motivation = Performance = Productivity = Profitability”
Yet, sobering statistics show that ONLY 30% of US workers are engaged today. Are YOUR employees engaged?
We must look beyond the basics – compensation and benefits – if we are to make an impact on employee engagement. We must develop plans to impact the REAL DRIVERS of employee engagement – factors including communication, performance clarity and feedback, organizational culture, rewards and recognition, relationships with managers and peers, career development opportunities and knowledge of the organization’s goals and vision.
Here are 5 Tips to increase employee engagement in your organization:
- Give employees a vision and a voice – Provide employees with a purpose-driven mission, vision and goals. Managers should communicate with employees regarding how their department and their role fits into the larger picture to achieve the corporate goals. Build clarity, transparency and alignment in the organization. Then, give them a voice – involve employees in making suggestions to improve workplace culture and /or business processes and planning to help achieve those goals. The people closest to the work will likely have the best ideas regarding ways to make improvements. Soliciting employee input can have two beneficial results: 1.) increased employee engagement due to “feeling heard”, and 2.) actual improvements to the workplace and processes as a result of their suggestions.
- Provide regular feedback, recognition and appreciation – “Compensation is a right, recognition is a gift.” (Rosabeth Moss Kanter) Thank your employee spontaneously, by name, for their contributions. Be specific in your feedback and recognition. Identify the value that the employee brings to the team and the organization as a whole. Celebrate success and provide positive feedback on a regular basis for a job well done.
- Provide small perks at work – These are not things that break the bank, but rather, little perks that make employees know they are appreciated. Ideas include such things as: bagel mornings, a team luncheon, a gift card, flex time, working remotely when needed, discount memberships, “casual Fridays”, gift cards, break room games, etc.
- Develop a succession plan – Foster employee development and help employees understand their path for growth if they choose to stay at the company. Determine ways to help grow their career while filling key roles as they develop within the company. Provide opportunities for new training, new challenges and increased responsibility such as taking on a special project or a team leadership role. Take the time to understand your employees’ interests and career aspirations and then work closely with them to develop a plan accordingly. (Note on employee training: According to the American Society of Training & Development, organizations that invested the most in training had higher gross margins and income per employee. Now, that’s something to think about!)
- Provide meaningful work – This is imperative. One of the most important ways to keep employees engaged is to give them meaningful work! There is a big difference between value-added, meaningful work and all other kinds of work. Determine ways to increase the percentage of time your people spend doing value-added work. In turn, this will reduce turnover, while increasing motivation, performance and productivity.
A few more thoughts about #5 as it relates to your sales team: Sales reps should be selling, not doing paperwork.
- If you are in charge of a team that is marketing or selling to corporate training & HR, identify and eliminate tasks which should be moved to a sales support or administrative person. Such admin tasks include typing proposals, searching for leads, inputting leads into a CRM system, etc.
- Provide your sales reps with the tools they need to perform meaningful work – for a sales rep, meaningful work is the act of SELLING.
- Invest in a high-quality list of corporate training & HR decision makers so your reps can stop wasting their time digging for leads! (Sales people don’t like digging for leads any more than you like paying them high wages to do so!) Help your sales reps spend more time doing the real value-added work, like talking with customers.
- Provide your sales reps with meaningful, value-added work, to achieve the following:
- Increase each rep’s selling time per month
- Increase gross profit margins due to improved sales results
- Decrease absenteeism and attrition
- Improve employee engagement – sales reps want to SELL – so let’s remove barriers to selling by giving them a list of decision-makers they can call on and email TODAY!
Having been in sales for 20+ years, I can tell you that professional sales people want to sell. We don’t want to dig for leads. In my experience, there are few (if any) lead sources that can match the high level of accuracy and quality of decision maker contacts you will find in the hand-built Mentor Tech Group database. (I know because I was once an MTG client – I have personally called on and marketed to their lists and they were, by far, the best lists I have ever used!)
If you are looking for a high-quality prospect list of decision-makers in Corporate Training and HR, call or email Mentor Tech Group today. If you have never used a Mentor Tech Group list, you will be amazed at the quality and accuracy of our database. We guarantee it.
See what MTG customers are saying:
“We needed a RELIABLE list resource to provide us with accurate, up-to-date corporate training and HR decision-maker contact information. Mentor Tech Group has far surpassed our expectations, providing us with highly accurate information, four-month updates, and regular marketing tips and ideas to make best use of our list.
Our reps no longer waste time trying to hunt around to find the right contact – Mentor Tech Group has done all the hard work for us! I highly recommend their list services to anyone marketing to corporate training and HR.”
Melonia da Gama
WW Sales Enablement and Director of Product Marketing, Learning
Kenexa – an IBM Company
How our clients describe MTG lists:
- Well worth the investment.
- Perfectly targeted list.
- Exceeded expectations.
- Valuable time saver.
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MTG’s database consists of decision-maker “market intelligence” information for more than 6500 companies, resulting from a personal conversation with each and every contact in our database. This is vastly different from what a list broker will offer you. We’re here to help you achieve the success you want, with the list of Corporate Training & HR decision-makers you NEED. Call us today at (651) 457-8600.
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Wishing you much success…until next time.
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