Compensation professionals reading this blog know that Total Rewards means just that – a blend of several different factors that, together, compensate employees for the job they do and encourage them to engage more deeply in their work. Indeed, no employee engagement effort on its own is as effective as a complementary approach. Let’s look at the three most common methods of encouraging employees to do more.
1) More Money
When the goal is to get the vast majority of employees to willingly give additional discretionary effort beyond the “job description,” then “just give them a raise” isn’t a lasting answer. The reason is straightforward – “more money” is never enough. Raises (bonuses, too) become entitlements and expectations. If this is the only tool in your engagement toolkit, you’ll constantly be seeking more money yourself to fund the raises ad nauseam.
2) More Perks
Perks – nap rooms, free snacks, foosball tables – are well and good, but they don’t help people engage more deeply in the work. They can be a component of giving employees the breaks they need to refuel their energy, but they don’t answer the question of “refuel to what end?” This Yahoo article phrases the challenge nicely:
“To get the most from a worker, scrap the jeans day, forgo the latte machines and think about what workers truly want to feel connected to their work and their company. In studying Great Places to Work, researchers found employees want to feel the work they are doing is important and to trust their managers care about them as individuals.”
3) More Purpose
And yet, having “more purpose” in your work – a better understanding of the deeper and broader value of the work you do every day – also is not a singular cure for employee disengagement. Writing on Harvard Business Review’s blog, Gallup Chief Scientists pointed out:
“People simply don’t connect with proclamations of mission or values– no matter how inspiring these might sound in the head office.”
What does work to help employees engage deeply? All of these, and more, in combination. In that HBR post, Gallup scientists go on to say:
“When employees know what is expected of them, have what they need to do their jobs, are good fits for their roles, and feel their managers have their backs, they will commit to almost anything the company is trying to accomplish. Conversely, if these basic needs are not met, even the most exalted mission may not engage them.”
The Yahoo article referenced above makes much the same point:
“Florida Power & Light Vice President Michael Kiley knows the benefits are just one component. An ongoing interest in employees’ career path and a sense of team work are what inspire discretionary effort from employees, he says. ‘They don't want to let down their peers.’
“Even financial incentives such as bonuses don't have a long-term effect on engagement, he has discovered. ‘Engagement is really about what you do every day to make employees feel part of a team. They need to know how they make that team better every day.’
An effective way of blending these approaches – and meeting the needs of employees as defined by Gallup – is social recognition. Communicate to employees what is expected of them by praising them (publicly as often as possible) when they deliver those expectations. Employees know their managers have their backs when very specific recognition is given in a timely way. Data from social recognition can be easily analyzed and graphically presented in real time to ensure the right people are in the right jobs based on the wisdom of the crowd as well as manager feedback. This allows for fast adjustment and the ability to move people into roles that play to their strengths.
What are the primary levers your organization uses to increase employee engagement? Are they used singularly or in conjunction with others? What effect does it have?
As Globoforce’s Head of Strategic Consulting, Derek Irvine is an internationally minded management professional with over 20 years of experience helping global companies set a higher ambition for global strategic employee recognition, leading workshops, strategy meetings and industry sessions around the world. His articles on fostering and managing a culture of appreciation through strategic recognition have been published in Businessweek, Workspan and HR Management. Derek splits his time between Dublin, Montreal and Boston. Follow Derek on Twitter at @DerekIrvine.
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