Creating a Connection to Your Company

As 2011 compensation planning swings into full gear, fallout from the recession and actions taken in 2009 remain a critical factor of consideration. While many employees still feel like they're walking a tightrope, compensation professionals are navigating decisions to restore salary levels, increase wages, determine the rational for those increases, etc. – all balanced with the opportunity costs of those actions: the ability to hire more workers, rebalance workloads, increase benefits investment to balance rising healthcare costs. I could go on.

One topic often not top-of-mind when discussing the hard-core dollars and cents of compensation planning is employee engagement. I argue, it should be. If the point of compensation is to pay employees fairly for work rendered, then doesn’t it makes sense to pursue efforts that increase discretionary performance above and beyond compensation?

Recent Gallup research reiterates that it’s no surprise that employee engagement is still rocked by actions taken during the recession. Gallup surveyed nearly 7,000 employees in 2008 and again in 2009, dividing respondents into two groups – those who had experienced layoffs in their organizations and those who hadn’t. Interestingly, within each group, engagement levels remained fairly static from 2008 to 2009. But employees who worked at companies that had not conducted downsizing events were consistently 10% more engaged than peers at companies that had conducted layoffs.

Is this surprising? Perhaps not, though Gallup does point out “…organizations with more engaged employees tend to perform better financially than their competitors, so they were less likely to lay people off in the time between the surveys.” (This is a topic Gallup dives into in greater detail in other research from September.)

More interesting to me are the recommendations Gallup gives to overcome the latent fear, disengagement and consequentially worse performance that is evident in organizations that conducted layoffs during the recession.

1) Give employees the opportunity to do what they do best.

Often the “survivors” after a layoff assumed the work of former colleagues. Too frequently, this work may not have been distributed according to what the employee enjoys doing and does best.

As you’re beginning compensation planning for 2011, take the opportunity to also look at load balancing. Encourage managers to view their team members through a fresh eye and reapportion workloads according to tasks they are most suited for. This will go a long way to alleviating anxiety and disengagement.

2) Give employees a connection to the company.

Among workers who were in organizations that conducted layoffs, Gallup found a significant decrease in employees who agreed with the statement: “The mission or purpose of my organization makes me feel my job is important.” Gallup ascribed this to employee disillusionment. I wonder if the reason has more to do with confusion.

The recession forced many companies to evaluate their mission and strategies for achieving that mission. In the midst of that, employees were let go or shuffled into new roles. Often, changing strategies and how employees contribute to achieving them were never effectively communicated, adding to the confusion.

One of the most effective (and positive) ways to overcome this is by formally and frequently recognizing employees when they contribute to the mission or purpose. Not only does this help the company mission come alive for employees, it helps them see how they personally contribute to the company’s success. This awareness gives employees that vital connection to the company that helps increase their engagement, regardless of the company’s history of layoffs or other drastic measures.

What will you do to help your employees connect with the company and your mission?

Derek Irvine is Vice President of Client Strategy and Consulting for Globoforce, helping global companies set a higher ambition for global strategic employee recognition by leading workshops, strategy meetings and industry sessions around the world. Along with Globoforce CEO, Eric Mosley, Derek recently authored “Winning with a Culture of Recognition: Recognition Strategies at the World’s Most Admired Companies,” available through Amazon.com. Follow Derek on Twitter at @globoforce.

Comments

[Kevin Trokey]

I agree completely with the importance of addressing employee engagement.

Employers who overlook this issue are missing one of their greatest opportunities to have a positive impact on their organization, both culturally and financially.

The actions (mostly necessary) taken by business to survive the recession are rapidly becoming obstacles as they look to move beyond survival mode and start to set their sights on becoming a thriving organization once again.

It's time to be honest about the obstacles that have been created and to develop solid strategies to make sure those obstacles are eliminated.

[Laura Schroeder]

First of all I love the picture! But I also like how you boiled it down to two actionable points, i.e., play to people's strengths and help people feel like what they do matters. If every company would do JUST these two things I think we'd see a big difference in survey results.

[Derek Irvine, Globoforce]

Kevin, you are correct, indeed, that necessary actions are now becoming obstacles. I recently read research that historically, companies who lay off employees take much longer to regain their place in the market and some never do.

Laura, thanks! Exactly. This is a topic that's easy to make complicated. But we shouldn't.