Posts tagged Employee

Is Employee Disengagement Killing Your Business?

By admin on November 24, 2011

One of the biggest problems facing managers and business owners is the effects of employee disengagement. Many managers simply do not grasp the concept that simply having bodies in place to do the job is not enough. By understanding exactly what disengagement can do to your business and what steps can be taken to create a team of happy and committed employees, you can improve your business practices and, in turn, increase your profits.

Employee engagement is one of the most crucial factors in the success of a business. When employees commit themselves to their jobs and act in the best interest of the company, the workplace is a more positive place to be, jobs get done well, and profitability will grow. This is an ideal situation, but most companies don’t have this level of engagement organically. It must be worked for by both the company and its employees.

When employees disengage from their jobs, the workplace may become a place with a negative attitude and getting tasks completed is more of a challenge.

Naturally, this means for less productive work hours, wasted payroll dollars, and potentially unsatisfied customers. Problems like this can be a death sentence in some industries.

If you have many employees who are simply coasting along through their workday and are not giving their all on the job, you need to take steps to remedy the situation. Though it may seem harsh to tell a longtime employee to shape up or ship out, if their level of engagement is not at a place where it is benefiting the company, it may be in both of your best interest to do so. Everyone has a bad day now and then, but constant complacency and discontent is harmful to everyone within the organization.

Take a look around your business and search for signs of employee disengagement.

Though it may look as if the job is getting done, in reality, things might not be going as well as you think. By dealing with disengaged employees and increasing the morale in the workplace, you may be able to prevent the demise of your company from a lackluster performance.

This entry is filed under Human Resources and tagged , , , .

Employee Engagement – Call Centre Solution

By admin on November 21, 2011

Senior management focus on ensuring the company strategy will give them the competitive edge. But for that strategy to be successful, the workforce must be aligned and engaged. Recent research conducted by Towers Perrin (Global Workforce Study 2007) indicated that employees are aligned but not engaged. They understand what they should be doing, but don’t do it with any enthusiasm or energy.

In the UK, only 14% of the workforce is engaged – imagine the impact on your business if 86% of your workforce is disengaged. Research clearly shows the link between engagement and the bottom line. Over a 12 month period companies taking part in the research performed as follows: Those with engaged staff saw an average of 19.2% increase in operating income Those with disengaged staff saw a 32.7% fall in operating income

So, if there is such a strong link between employee engagement and a profitable organization, what can be done to increase engagement?

The secret to greater profits and improved performance is to actively promote the call centre staff to engage with the customer.

By understanding how our employees are engaged enables us to directly effect how the customer feels about our products and services. The more highly engaged the call centre agent is, the more likely that the customers stay with you.

Better employee engagement would see a drop in staff attrition and absenteeism. As all HR Managers and call centre Managers are aware this is not just extremely costly in terms of training and recruitment but also that agents may not become profitable until they have been working for at least six months. What if the agents leave shortly before or after this point? The result is more money being spent on the next trainees, most of who will leave if not properly engaged.

Added to this bad news is the effect on the customers who are on the receiving end of even more poor service.

“Ownership” of work is a major concern for call centre Managers and to improve this would be a great indicator towards how the employee engagement is developing. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see call centre teams taking it upon themselves to drive the improvements needed to hit their targets. Escalation rates would drop and Managers would be able to lead their teams instead of dragging them kicking and screaming.

Today’s market place is constantly changing and as a result the call centre environment is busier than ever. Managers don’t have time to sit back and over analyse or re-engineer the teams and their operating procedures. So whatever process that is needed to measure staff and customer engagement must be simple and quick to use. Time is money and the process or system must deliver noticeable results within a few weeks. This discounts many complex systems as they are too time consuming and often difficult to understand.

What about better training? Many managers report that training doesn’t maintain any momentum in engagement or performance improvement. Once the “feel-good factor” has gone, the old culture creeps back in and targets start being missed.

But what if teams have a simple feedback tool which is used on a weekly cycle and addresses both the employee and customer engagement together? If the feedback tool is used consistently and we allow Team Leaders and team members to make the necessary changes to improve engagement and performance without having to escalate any issues to senior management, this helps develop better “ownership”. It also shows the team members that their opinions and hard work really do matter and they can help change the company for the better.

The results of following this approach have enabled companies such as National Australia Group Europe to win the coveted Contact Centre World – Best Call Centre 2006 and the Call Centre Association “People and Innovation” award. Winning the hearts and minds of the employees has a huge impact after all.

This entry is filed under Management and tagged , , , , .

Employee Engagement – A Leading Indicator of Employee Retention

By admin on November 20, 2011

A June 2008 Employee Engagement Survey by HR Solutions of Chicago revealed that employees were more engaged with their work when they felt:

Supported by their manager when making suggestions to correct work place problems.
Valued and recognized as an important part of the team.
Their manager was helpful and friendly towards them.

So what can happen if your employees are disengaged?

According to the study, business leaders will experience a lower level of productivity from team members. And based on the research done by Marcus Buckingham in First Break all the Rules, employees who don’t feel valued are more likely to leave in search of an employer who does value and recognize them for their accomplishments.  Low employee engagement can also lead to lower profits and levels of customer satisfaction.

It is the employee’s manager or even the CEO who is the key driver in employee engagement.

They are the ones who directly influence employee opinions and attitudes.

What is your company’s level of employee engagement and how do you measure it?

For most companies an employee satisfaction survey provides anonymity to employees, providing them with a platform to be open and honest with their feedback. However, for smaller, emerging growth companies a survey may be overkill. Personal interviews using an outside consultant can also provide honest feedback.

Once you’ve received feedback, then it is time to develop an action plan to increase employee engagement. Although you may find that your employees are highly engaged, even companies with high levels of engagement can improve their employee engagement level.

Results of your survey or personal interviews may show a systemic problem across your organization or may show intermittent problems.

Therefore, now is the time to take action!  With increased competition for knowledge workers, this is not the time to shelve the survey or personal interview results until your next budget season.

What should be the key steps in your action plan?

First, identify those areas that could have the biggest impact on improving future survey results. Concentrate on only one or two areas to improve and identify those leaders that need to be involved with implementing the improvements. For instance, your survey may show that recognition for a job well done is not done in a timely fashion.  If this is the case, identify what processes can be implemented to improve the recognition process and then provide the necessary training for the managers who will be involved with implementing the changes. Next, determine ways of measuring the effectiveness of the changes because you don’t want to find out in your next survey that the changes made had no effect in solving the problem of untimely recognition.

Remember that results of the survey and your committed action steps for improvement also need to be communicated to employees in a timely fashion. This is critical to the ongoing process of honest employee feedback and for increasing employee engagement levels.

By implementing an employee engagement action plan, your employees will be more engaged with their work, will truly feel valued, and will know they will be recognized for their accomplishments. Company loyalty and employee retention will rise. Furthermore, engaged employees contribute to higher levels of customer satisfaction and more importantly, increased profits.

This entry is filed under Management and tagged , , , , .

Information Regarding Recruitment News And Employee Candidates

By admin on November 19, 2011

Recruitment is one of the difficult tasks that an employer has to undertake because the decision to hire this person or that is crucial in the determination of your business’ success or failure. Whenever you venture into any kind of business, paramount consideration must be placed in your human resources because they are your foundation. You should remember that recruitment is a two-way street; you must be clear on who you want to hire and have a sufficient background of your applicants. Choose the right personnel and they will do the job well.

When discussing recruitment news there are many different approaches that are used depending on what you are looking for. As a rule, this involves identifying and engaging the most qualified person possible for a position. It may be paying or non-paying but you will want only the best candidate for the job.

At the current time any business or group looking for a qualified person has a wide latitude of opportunity available. Many people who were formerly employed in very important positions are now looking for employment. Many of these people are well educated, experienced and eager to be given a chance to re-enter the work force.

Recruiting is done by a number of different methods. One of the most commonly used today is the Internet. The company or group looking for a good candidate should list the job, the requirements regarding experience, where the job is located, if it is permanent, temporary, part or full time and any other pertinent information.

If such a position is on a farm, for example, information should also be included regarding housing and specific duties. This is especially important when the position is located in a remote area. If a family is also going to be accommodated that should also be noted.

You can also find people from employment agencies. They have a wealth of information regarding qualified people and can often offer a great deal of information before any personal contact is made. They will be able to set up a time and place for interviews with a number of available candidates. If looking for someone for a non-paying position, the Internet is still a good bet as well as Senior Citizen Centers and the newspaper.

People answering such an ad should be able to immediately furnish personal and former employer references. It is always in your best interest to follow up with phone calls to the people listed to find out if there were any problems with their previous employment. Recruitment news reveals that there is someone out there who will fit in perfectly with your needs and become a good employee, volunteer or whomever you are seeking.

This entry is filed under Human Resources and tagged , , , , , .

Older Entries »