1 Stop HR

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How Engaged are YOUR Employees?

In a 2015 study of 3,300 businesses and HR leaders from 106 countries completed by Deloitte, engagement and culture was classified as the number one challenge facing global companies.

How is your employee engagement and culture? Have you measured it? How do you know where it lies? Deloitte also found that 29% of workers in North America report to be disengaged. As well, only 7% of respondents rated themselves as “excellent” at measuring, driving and improving engagement and retention.

If your company is struggling in this area as many are, here are some tips and tricks to help boost your efforts toward improving employee engagement:

  1. If you utilize annual or semi annual performance reviews – they tend to be backward thinking – that is that they measure past performance. Look to add elements like goal setting, linking your company mission and vision and goals into the review.

 

  1. Meet with your employees more often. I like to call these “check-ins”. These can be formal or informal – but they are scheduled chats to sit regularly – maybe once per month to talk about employee performance, any issues, or general discussion topics. This gives the employee a more regular “touch base” session with their manager, increases satisfaction and understanding of job duties and goals.

 

  1. Make employee engagement a corporate priority. Measure and evaluate it regularly. Report on it.

 

  1. Ensure your leaders are engaging in coaching and providing effective feedback to their people. Ensure they work to show their employees how meaningful their contributions are.

 

  1. Ensure to look at where the gaps are within your employee engagement – ensure to work some of these “must haves” into your interview questions and hiring strategy.

 

  1. Invest in learning and development programs for your employees.

 

  1. Listen. Listen to your employees – probably one of the most important point. Then respond, the next important. Their needs and what they value will give you a good indicator of how to improve your engagement and build additional layers of satisfaction.

 

Engagement stems from the top. If this is an issue in your company, ensure to recognize it, talk about it, plan, put plans in motion and prioritize. You will see the results of your efforts in your people, their output, the retention and your business success.

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EEEK! My star employee just walked out the door!

So, one of your best employees just handed you their resignation letter and you have literally begged them to stay with no avail. Where did you go wrong?   Don’t let this happen to you!

Losing a great employee can have a major impact on the bottom line, employee morale and your clients! So what do you do? The key is to put steps in place BEFORE your star employees start looking at other opportunities.

Here are some tips:

Career plans:   Have you ever asked your employees what their career goals and aspirations are? Do it! You don’t have to promise them that they will have that particular position/career in the company, but you can support them in their desires to grow. Sit down with them annually to discuss their thoughts, help them plan, touch base with them now and then to see how they are doing and watch for opportunities to mentor, guide and provide them with additional projects that might assist with their plans. Don’t get me wrong, the employee runs this show…you are just there to touch base and see if you can assist them along the way, in turn they see that you are interested in their success, growth and future.

Ask, Listen and Act: Ask your employees for feedback on how they are doing, suggestions for improvements around the office, have regular check-ins with them, gather feedback. When they are giving you feedback, LISTEN. It is extremely important that people feel heard, that they were not interrupted or “shot down” for their thoughts, ideas, and comments. Then…ACT. If there are items that need to be addressed, act upon them. Your action shows commitment and that you care and value their feedback. When you don’t act, especially when you say you will…it speaks volumes and not in a positive way.

Praise: No, I am not talking about bowing at their feet every day and kissing the ground that they walk upon, but when your employees accomplish something notable, ensure to recognize it. Note it in the employee newsletter, at your team or company meeting, send them an email, get them a gift card or a card. Notice their accomplishments.

Mentor, Coach and Look for Learning Opportunities: If there are opportunities to provide mentoring or coaching to your people, ensure you offer this. Look for these types of opportunities to spread knowledge and guide your people to learn and grow.

Special Projects: Is there a pretty cool project coming up? Put your star employees on this project. Show them that you believe and trust them!

Don’t Micro-manage: This is important, by micro-managing you are “squashing” creativity, growth and the ability to learn from mistakes. Let them flourish, reign them in when you need to but allow them to make some decisions and have some autonomy.

Compensation: If you want to keep your good employees, ensure you are paying them well and even look at paying them slightly above your competition – though salary isn’t everything, it certainly is part of the package. Don’t wait for their resignation then try to pay them more at that point. Even if they accept the offer – they will probably not stay long as something compelled them to look elsewhere – it could have been money, but in most cases there is more to the story. If you are willing to pay them more when they are on their way out the door, why can’t you pay them more now?

Know your people, be in tune with their needs, act on their concerns where appropriate, engage and grow your stars and you should help secure their future with your company. They are indeed your most important asset.

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5 Interview Tips for Answering Interview Questions

Many candidates dread the interview process and become a pile of nerves as soon as their name is called.  Ok, maybe even way before their name is called – like when the call comes in to book the interview!  We get it!!  Interviewers know this and are used to this.  We know that for most people, the interview is an uncomfortable time. It is always good to do your homework ahead of time and to ensure you prepare by reviewing interview tips and tricks, etc.

Looking for some quick interview tips to help you with answering the questions?  Check  out 5 below:

  1. Do your preparation ahead of time. Look for the common interview questions and have lots of answers prepared.
  2. Ensure to work your top accomplishments and impressive items into your answers.
  3. Stick to the point. Often we see interview candidates go off on tangents and even ask to have the question repeated after they have been talking for a solid 5 minutes.
  4. Don’t hog the interview, if the interviewer has stopped making notes, they probably have what they are looking for – they will ask you for more examples if they need them.
  5. Wrap up your answers. Think about your answer like a very short story.  A story starts with a quick intro, the points and then wraps up by rounding off the question.

Think about being on the other side of the table.  You are there to find out if the candidate is indeed the best fit for the role.  You want to have a positive experience with the candidate, be engaged and see a natural fit.  Ensure you now -as the candidate- show the interviewer that you are this fit through your thoughtful detailed answers.

Practice, practice, practice.  Be positive, smile when you answer and give eye contact.  You can do it!

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Does your Learning and Development Environment Need an Overhaul?

Here is a recent article from our Monthly Newsletter:

Hearing a lot of talk about “growth opportunities” when you are interviewing candidates?  Are you talking about it to your employees?  Let me guess, you think you provide great growth opportunities within your working environment, but do you really?

Here are a few things to ponder…

Do your managers work with their employees to talk about career planning?

Do your managers help your employees create a plan to support employee career paths?

Do you have an education policy that assists with continuing education costs?  And do you encourage your employees to make use of it?

Do you have an onsite “library” with an abundance of material that could enhance knowledge?

Do you provide lunch and learn sessions?

Do you have subject matter experts that come into the office from time to time to share knowledge?

Do you have a peer mentoring program set up?

Do you allow and encourage internal applications to available positions?

Do you have a succession management plan in place?

Do managers touch base with their employees to discuss training needs, gaps or desires?

Do you set learning goals and reward successful achievement of the goals?

This is just a start, but if you find that you do most of these, you are heading in the right direction.  I would then ask you “What more could you do?”  And, “Where can you gain an edge over your competitors when it comes to this subject and attracting/retaining your people?”

If you are shaking your head “no” then you my friend have some work to do.  The majority of employees or job seekers are looking to grow their skill set.  They are looking for employers that support and encourage this.  Employers that do well are ones that recognize this, that value the increase in knowledge of their people and are actively looking to encourage and support learning and development.

Email us with your thoughts or questions.

What can you do today that will impact tomorrow?

Learn More About US

1 STOP HR was founded by Christie Ferguson, CHRP CHRL Christie is a certified Human Resources Professional & Leader with many years of hands on HR expertise.

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Tel: 226-750-3160
Email: info@1stophrconsulting.com

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