Employee Engagement Today and Tomorrow

Recently the global consulting firm BlessingWhite released its annual state of the workforce research report. As we read the 2017 report, we were struck by the similarity of thoughts to Roger Herman's books Keeping Good People and The Process of Excelling as well as How to Become an Employer of Choice (Herman and Gioia). In this Herman Trend Alert, we will discuss some of the findings of the BlessingWhite study and talk about how those findings inform the future.

Sense of direction

It was Lao Tzu, the Father of Confucianism, who said "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there". People want to know what their immediate work priorities are for the next three to six months. Having higher levels of alignment with these priorities was found in 92 percent of the organizations with the highest levels of engagement. Good leaders have a direct effect on their employees' ability to achieve these priorities with the right preparation and support.

How am I doing?

Closely related to having a sense of direction is "ongoing feedback". People want to know where they stand---at all times. Unfortunately, even in the best-scoring organizations, only 80 percent of the employees said they received regular feedback from their managers. In average organizations, only 66 percent said they felt like they knew where they stood with their managers.

Creating a high-performance environment

Enlightened leaders are responsible for creating high-performance environments in which employees can thrive and grow. Among the top engaging employers, 75 percent of employees agreed that their senior leaders have created an environment where they can thrive; that's 20 points higher than the average performing employers.

Training and resource support

In Herman's book, Keeping Good People, one of the five reasons why people leave one job and go to another is: "I don't get the support that I need to get my job done". This reason corresponds to the third family of strategies, Support Strategies. Detailed Support Strategies include providing employees with the information, training, and tools and equipment they need to get their jobs done.

Other important factors

There are more factors which we do not have time to discuss in detail:

• Liking the work you do
• Feeling like your employment is "more than 'just a job'"
• Strong working relationships with managers
• Understanding how you fit into the big picture
• Identifying growth opportunities

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