The role of leaders in engaging employees is crucial.
In fact, without leadership support and buy-in, employees cannot be engaged, and a great culture isn’t possible. However, part of that support is leaders, who see their employees as people they genuinely care about. 𝙄𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨. There are any number of ways to show employees you care: ✅ Getting to know them and building genuine relationships. ✅ Leading with honesty and transparency. ✅ Showing appreciation for their efforts. ✅ Allowing for mistakes, without employees fearing retribution. With the current job market and businesses competing for talent, doing this has never been more important. Because the days of employees being content to show-up to collect a paycheck are long gone. Now, not only do employees want meaningful work. They also want to know that their leaders genuinely care. Without it, whatever else is put in place, simply will not work long-term in engaging employees, leading to higher retention and attracting great candidates.
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Are your customer complaint numbers high?
Maybe they say it’s from dealing with unfriendly or unhelpful employees. Or maybe you have high return rates because of product defects. Have you asked your employees why this might be? Or do you work from the premise that the customer is always right, and hold employees automatically responsible for any complaints? ✅ If so, you are never going to enjoy a truly profitable, successful business. In fact, recent Zendesk research showed that customer experience has become a key competitive differentiator, and even a leading indicator of business growth. So, it’s important to first forget that old adage that “the customer is always right.” And dig deeper into what’s going on. Because frequently, poor customer experience can result from employees who are disengaged. And disengaged employees simply won’t empathize with customers or offer the best customer experience. Because they just don’t care enough about your business. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚. If your employees are engaged, the customer experience will automatically be a great one. Because engaged employees care, and they want to go above and beyond in their jobs. Richard Branson said it best: “𝘾𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙙𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩. 𝙀𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙚𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩. 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙚𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙨.” So, engage your employees and build a great culture, so that they are genuinely concerned about the company and its customers. Have you ever been promised one thing but gotten something completely different?
It’s not a nice feeling, and it leaves you distrusting the person, who gave you their word. It’s jarring too, and comparable to shift shock – the jolt you may feel when the transmission in your car changes gear. Shift Shock is also the term recently coined by the CEO of The Muse, to describe what people feel when they change jobs, only to learn that the position or company is nothing like what was promised. They surveyed more than 2,500 respondents earlier this year: 🚩 Shockingly 72% said they’ve experienced Shift Shock. Unfortunately, it’s nothing new for a candidate to be hired for a specific role, only to find that the reality of the position or organization is quite different to what was discussed. Why do companies do this? 𝙎𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙚𝙨. And COVID has majorly shifted priorities around how people live and work, so a great culture has never been more important. Plus, it’s not like the new hire isn’t going to quickly realize that things aren’t as promised. Bottom line, employees simply are not prepared to put up with things they may have in the past. And they will leave. 𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤, 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. Leaving the organization to start the hiring process all over again. ✅ Bottom line, organizations do themselves no favors by not being truthful in their postings and interviewing. Instead, engage employees and build a great culture, and scrupulously practice “truth in advertising”. The result: People will stay longer, and great candidates will be attracted to your organization. A friend called me the other day and told me about a situation at her work.
She recently applied to an open position, having been mentored and trained over the past 12 months towards this specific role, since the incumbent was retiring. She knew she did not have the required minimum years of experience in a similar role. But she has a number of transferable skills, is an excellent employee with stellar performance reviews, someone who gets along with everyone, and she is well liked. Her direct manager supported her application, encouraged her to apply, and ensured she was as prepared as possible. Aware that the position would also be posted externally, in addition to embracing the mentoring and training, she did everything right: ✅ Did not assume that just because she was an internal candidate, she was a shoe-in. ✅ Spent a number of hours on her application materials. ✅ Verified through her direct manager that her application packet was very strong. She realized that a strong applicant pool would lessen her chances, but she was hopeful of at least getting an interview. So, she applied, and waited… and waited. Nothing happened. Not an invite to an interview, not a conversation explaining where things stood. Until, eventually, her extremely upset manager told her that she had just heard that my friend was not being interviewed. No additional information was forthcoming – the manager was simply asked to pass along the message. My friend is disheartened and describes it as feeling like a slap in the face to not even have the decision explained to her, instead putting her manager in the position of breaking the bad news, with no reason provided. 𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙟𝙤𝙗 – 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙖 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙮. Of feeling like she’s not even worth a short conversation explaining why she’s not getting an interview. She places no blame whatsoever on her direct manager, who has been nothing but supportive of her development. However, she is now beginning a job search, because it’s obvious that the development of employees isn’t important at this organization. Nor is caring about employees. 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙚. Because good practice dictates that when someone internal applies for a job one of two things happen: 💠 They are interviewed. 💠 They are proactively told why they're not going to get an interview. It’s not an option to let their candidacy sit, then have the news casually broken to them, as if it’s no big deal. Unless your aim is to disengage your employees, by not showing them any empathy or respect. Think about the job search from the candidate's perspective.
Once they've decided that a job posting is of interest, typically the next thing on their mind is the salary range. Because everyone has their minimum number, yet they are still mostly forced to play the salary game. Including rules around when and how salary should be discussed. While it's true that salary by itself is not enough to engage employees, it's still extremely important that employees feel they're being fairly paid to market, and, likewise, candidates. 𝙋𝙡𝙪𝙨, 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙨𝙤 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙥𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨. Not to mention the fact that it wastes everyone's time if a candidate goes through a round or two of interviews, only to learn that the salary is not going to work for them. Although it is becoming more common to include, historically employers have been reluctant to advertise salary ranges: ✅ Maybe concerned that they'll have to pay more than a candidate is willing to accept. ✅ That existing staff will feel underpaid. ✅ That publicly posted salary ranges can be used against them by competitors. ✅ Or that potentially great candidates will be dissuaded from applying if the posted range is too low. Yet, good candidates know that employers will often try to make things work for the right person. 𝘼𝙣𝙙, 𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙣, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚. Because the chances of losing great candidates are greater if you don’t include a salary range, versus posting one. In addition to the fact that since 2018 California employers are required to provide salary information upon request from the candidate, after completion of an initial interview. And in Colorado, employers with employees or job openings in the state must post salary information in their job ads. 💠 So, providing salary information is slowly becoming compulsory. Therefore, if you don't already include your salary ranges in your job ads, it's time to start. And play your part in it becoming the norm to include this information in every job posting. To ensure that you no longer play into the salary game, and don't miss out on great people. And show candidates that transparency, one of the core tenets of employee engagement, is part of your culture. |
AuthorNia is passionate about engaging employees and cultivating compassionate cultures, a win-win for both employers and employees. Archives
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