Create an Engagement Culture Mission, Relationships, and Impact


By Adriane Harrison, Human Relations Specialist, Printing Industries of America


Every business owner knows that building and maintaining a great team is an important part of a successful business. For awhile, turnover was looked at as a way to freshen the workforce— bring in new energy and ideas through workers who were excited to have


The Magazine 8 5.2017


a new job while saying goodbye to the veteran workers who were burned out and uninspired. And while some of that reasoning holds true, the value of retaining well-trained, committed employees who are invested in their jobs and the company cannot be overstated. So how do we create an environment where employees feel valued and inspired rather than burned out and detached? How do we create a culture of engagement?


Engagement is a constellation of characteristics that result in an employee feeling like they are genuinely a part of a company—not just a cog in a wheel but a person who has an integral role in creating the product and a presence and a voice that is acknowledged and appreciated by management. Engagement is charac- terized by an employee’s:


• Persistence to overcome obstacles and find solutions rather than giving up


• Motivation to do well in their job and to excel in their role and beyond


• Attachment to the company with a desire for the company to succeed and to help with that success by working hard and providing ideas and feedback


Why should employee engagement become a prior- ity for business owners? Because the cost of disen- gagement can be very high. Measuring the benefit


of engagement and harm of disengagement can be difficult. Gallup has calculated the annual cost of dis- engagement in the United States at $450–550 billion, primarily resulting from lost productivity such as inef- ficiency, increased employee sick time, costly mistakes, and a higher probability of separation. Add the cost of elevated injury rates, unfilled positions, recruitment, and training of new employees along with the time necessary for new employees to reach peak proficiency. Additional metrics relate to business performance and can be measured with customer satisfaction and increased market share. Considering these factors, the financial impact of employee engagement becomes evident, even if companies cannot assign hard num- bers to these metrics.


Engaged workers have at least double the odds of suc- cess in their jobs. Yet, according to Gallup, only 33% of workers are engaged. At the other end of the spectrum, 51% report being “simply disengaged” while 16% are “actively disengaged.” Actively disengaged workers


MISSION (Create values and standards for the company) • Mission can be based on quality standards and client and employee interests.


• Mission is motivating and it provides a unifying bond between employees and management.


• Working toward and achieving a mission provides intrinsic rewards that affirm employees’ impact on an organization.


• Mission requires collaboration and communication, which also play roles in Relationships and Impact—the other essential elements of employee engagement.


SOLUTIONS


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