If you want to have happier employees, you first need to find out what makes them feel unhappy or dissatisfied while at work. Most business owners and managers turn to employee satisfaction surveys to understand this dynamic. It does make sense that the best way to learn about what makes employees happy or unhappy is…
Some employees view employee engagement surveys with a mixture of irritation and skepticism. Employees must take time from their busy days to answer survey questions, but research shows that many employees in the United States feel disconnected from their managers and company mission statements. They are concerned that their responses won’t make a difference in…
It is important for a company to pay attention to both employee satisfaction and employee engagement in order to retain and grow its employee base. While there is some crossover between these two areas, it is important to recognize how they differ. If you want to know what an employee is getting out of their job,…
A toxic company culture will erode an organization from its core by paralyzing its workforce, diminishing its productivity, halting virtually all innovation and curtailing its enthusiasm for serving customers. A stifled, oppressive atmosphere is possibly the most powerful signal of a toxic culture, as well as the presence of aggressive behavior and negativity. Aggressive behaviors…
Many times, employees won’t air their complaints, grievances, or suggestions for improvement. There are several reasons for this, but the reason cited most is fear of reprisal. Some employees may also feel that bosses aren’t going to listen, so there’s no reason to bother providing feedback or constructive comments. Whatever your culture, nothing should deter…
Most companies realize that their employees are their most important asset. Employee attitude, employee engagement and employee satisfaction are directly related to customer satisfaction. Employers use town hall meetings, roundtable discussions, and of course, employee surveys – the tool that is most likely to paint a true picture of employee attitudes, opinions and beliefs in…
Employee satisfaction must exist before employee engagement is possible. Employees who feel vested in the success of their company are committed to their own advancement and productivity in the workplace. Consider implementing these employee satisfaction measures to help ensure employee engagement. Share the knowledge Strive to be more transparent about company profits and losses. There…
All business consultants agree that clear communication within an organization is one of the keys to success. Managers need effective organizational communication to interact with staff and give understandable instructions. Staff members need to understand terminology and concepts to properly communicate with customers and clients. Effective communication is so critical to the efficient functioning of…
To what extent should executives concerned with fiscal “bottom-lines” focus on employee satisfaction and employee engagement? According to extensive research by Harter et al. (2001), it seems the answer is “a great deal.” Satisfied employees lead to better performers, who, in turn, increase both customer satisfaction and loyalty, driving financial profitability even higher. This series…
Finding good employees is never easy. First you recruit and train them, and then you hope they perform as well as their resume says they will. It’s no wonder that decreasing turnover is a top goal for businesses. When you find that perfect-match employee, you want to do everything you can to make them want…
You know you need to conduct employee surveys to obtain the information you need to keep your employees happy and decrease turnover. But it doesn’t stop there. You will be missing out on the key information you need to make real changes if you don’t have your employee survey properly analyzed. ClearPath Analytics takes your employee…
Conducting a customer or employee survey sounds simple enough, but the questions are often written and answers analyzed with little to no understanding of the way people interact and form relationships with organizations. Organizational psychologists are trained to design survey questions to elicit meaningful responses, and these professionals have the skills to interpret the results…
Organizational management and efficiency are critical to running a successful, high-powered company. A type of employee survey known as an organizational assessment allows companies to monitor, quantify, and adjust certain dynamics that drive organizational performance and employee satisfaction. This type of employee survey is very powerful and can be used to outperform competitors. Here are…
A recent workplace study quantified the link between an employee’s engagement and their productivity level. In fact, the study revealed businesses lost more than $300 billion last year due to a lack of engagement, which reduced productivity. A good way to ensure employees are engaged with their jobs is to conduct an employee engagement survey.…
Growing businesses attribute their large and rapid growth to innovative ideas, savvy business deals, and loyalty to core philosophies. As a company’s products become cash cows and consecutive, profitable economic quarters stack up, no company believes that six months, five years, or even two decades from now it will stop growing or fail altogether. It…
You’ve done everything by the book, and you’re confident you have a team of highly engaged and productive employees. Except, all of your new hires, who were so optimistic and energized before, have faded. They are sluggish, their out-put has decreased, and their great attitudes have disappeared. How could the attitudes and engagement levels of…
Hiring and retaining employees is an oft-discussed topic in HR and management circles. Keeping employees engaged and productive is essential to any business’s profitability, since disengaged employees produce lower quality work that erodes company profits. Our employee engagement surveys are designed to help you determine which factors are contributing to employee engagement in your organization,…
Incentives can heavily impact employee engagement. These incentives can be anything from comprehensive medical insurance, to pay raises, or flexible work time. Many companies believe that employees are best motivated with money, such as bonuses or raises. However, a report from Badgeville concludes that 70% of employees are motivated through non-monetary means. It makes sense…
The State of the American Workplace report, written by Gallup, showed that only 30% of workers like their job, leaving 70% of the workforce to be actively disengaged during the workday. Disengaged employees cost businesses an estimated $300 billion a year. If an employee hates their job or is actively disengaged, then that emotion manifests…
Companies can be vague about their dress code, making it difficult for new employees. For men, business attire is assumed to mean jacket, tie, and dress pants while “casual business attire” could mean anything from a button down shirt to a cotton polo shirt. With a wider range of clothing options available for women, it…
It might be a running joke in your office that company meetings are long and pointless. This is often reality, not just perception, because leaders haven’t learned how to approach their meetings with the right mindset. Meetings are meant for follow-ups or to find a collective solution to a problem. What often happens is that…
Many businesses believe that customer satisfaction alone is the primary ingredient in their company’s financial performance. They spend all their time and energy pursuing the customer’s satisfaction and loyalty through advertising, specials, and discount sales in hopes that the customer will be a repeat customer. What these businesses are missing, and what can cause failure,…
Do you know where onboarding begins and ends? Most consider it when the new hire is on-site and is going through the typical orientation routine: payroll paperwork, company tour and introductions, supply checklist, etc. Depending on the organization, it can last for a few days or a couple of weeks. In actuality, onboarding is a…
Companies, especially start-ups, have begun to establish company cultures that embody their founding principles. These companies even base hiring decisions on candidates being a fit for their culture, often placing experience and qualifications as a secondary priority. Corporate culture has become so important that it can be the reason why new hires choose to stay…
Employee satisfaction is key to employee retention, productivity, and growth. Many factors contribute to high employee satisfaction or dissatisfaction in the workplace. Though you can’t do much to impact what happens outside of your office, you can help your employees find a good work-life balance. Also, consider the three items below: What Is Your Company…
The Baby Boomers, a big part of America’s workforce, are retiring and companies are recruiting the newest generation, the Millennials, to keep business moving forward. Anyone who has been working long enough, or is involved in the hiring process, has undoubtedly noticed shifts in the recruiting process. Are the shifts caused by candidate quality issues,…
Slackers, there’s at least one in every office. If you’re having trouble thinking of who that might be in your office, then it could be you. You might actually be slacking instead of getting work done right now. Slackers come in all shapes and sizes, and popular TV shows even glorify the slacker role. Like…
Employees are not working 100% of the time they’re on the clock. It doesn’t take research to know this is true because managers in every industry witness this every day with their own eyes. Some are even enablers of unproductive behavior. Distractions are here to stay, but with a few changes to your corporate culture,…
Take It Seriously It takes some courage for an employee to ask for a raise. Most employees wouldn’t ask for more money if they didn’t believe they deserved it. Employees have done their homework and will know what value they bring to a business, and they want to receive some kind recognition of that from…
Laurie Ruettimann, writer for The Cynical Girl and Punk Rock HR, recently wrote a piece on how she overcame the depressing aspects of her job (professional speaking) to continue doing it and improving. Human resources professionals often fall into the trap of believing that successful, self-confident employees will stick with a job they excel at…
United Kingdom news outlets have been buzzing about the National Health Service (NHS), and justifiably so. A recent report has shown that there were 1,200 unnecessary deaths at the Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2008. A full investigation was launched after the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, responsible for overseeing the hospital, failed to provide…
Does your boss inspire you to come into work each day energized, enthusiastic, and ready to be productive? Chances are, your answer to that question was no. A recent survey shows that 45% of all employees are either disengaged or only partially engaged in their jobs. The survey respondents reported that the single most important…
There are many different ways to ensure that your employees are happy. One recent trend is to institute a wellness program. It’s easy to fall into poor health habits, which can compound into many physical and mental health issues. Employers across the world are stepping up to the plate to keep their employees healthy and…
Many companies plan to add new employees this year, while at the same time, employee engagement around the globe is decreasing. Highly skilled and valuable employees in your company could be tempted to jump ship if they do not feel a high level of engagement. Employers, concerned about high voluntary turnover rates, have begun adopting…
Employee Engagement has become a mainstream buzzword found in all corners of the globe. But unlike most buzzwords, the power of positive employee engagement has supporting data. We’ve depicted this data multiple times in the form of infographics, but it’s not just NBRI extolling the value of engaged employees. Many other companies have published data…
From Enron’s theft of millions to ExxonMobil’s oil spills, the 5 o’clock news makes it seem that there are more irresponsible companies in the world than there are responsible ones. Balancing the interests of the shareholders and the interests of the employees can be a corporate tightrope. Unfortunately, some companies choose excessive profits over people.…
If you think back to Chemistry 101, you may remember a property called cohesion or cohesive attraction. Basically, it is a force by which like molecules stick together to create a united mass. A water drop is a great example of this effect. The similar polarity and structure of the like molecules create an electrical…
Expectations drive businesses around the world. Customers go to a business with a need or a problem, expecting a solution. Businesses develop a new product or service with the expectation of earning a profit. Over time, your customers develop expectations about your products or services. Also, there is a set of expectations inside your business…
Countless books have been written, thousands of courses taught, and there are hundreds of conferences that expound the values of leadership and how you too can become the next great leader. Most of these training aids and courses raise a lot of good points worth following. However, they typically focus only on how to be…
The culture of a company revolves around telling employees what to do – and how that communication occurs. Communication can be a one-way street in a typical work environment, from telling employees how to correctly do the job they’re assigned to how to file specific reports. But, the best leaders understand there’s more to leading…
Everyone does their best to keep their employees happy, but some will still feel like they’re in a grind and work becomes a chore. We’ve compiled several of the most popular tips that businesses are using to keep employees engaged while they’re working – and even a couple for the sake of your productivity: Standing…
Many companies have employees scattered across departments, separate floors, or even the entire U.S. Large companies may have employees on different continents in different time zones. This separation can restrict the amount of camaraderie and trust that can be developed. Bitterness can even develop between teams. Your employees are separated into teams to improve operating…
We occasionally report on what other experts are saying about employee engagement. Here is this week’s round up of employee engagement articles: How to Build Employee Engagement Using Social Media from The Recruiters Lounge The astronomical growth of social media has created new ways for companies and candidates to connect online. In the late seventies,…
Thousands of books have been written about how to be a good – or even just an effective – manager. But the fact is there will always be as many management styles as there are managers. One trend among new managers, that shouldn’t be a part of anyone’s management style, is silence when it comes…
Unhappy employees can be damaging to your bottom line. They can cause serious damage to your business from the inside by sabotaging the customer experience or undermining the morale of fellow employees. Your first instinct will be to fire them immediately to limit the havoc they can create. But, is that the right approach? Will…
At NBRI, we talk a lot about employee engagement and employee satisfaction. A well-known, significant factor in employee satisfaction is how well the management team manages employees. Usually, we discuss all managers rather than singling out the middle managers. Recently, one of our team members was conversing with a friend who works in the insurance…
It’s impressive to see the athletes excel in their events at the Olympics. It’s up to them to perform on the floor or in the pool, but they’ll be the first to admit that there are many people behind the scenes who helped get them to the world’s greatest stage. As a business leader, supporting…
As a business, you crave happy customers. However, many businesses do not realize that it all starts with employee satisfaction. This is one of the most overlooked aspects of creating a loyal customer base. An example of a company with both happy customers and happy employees is Starbucks. This coffee dominator has succeeded because of…
Developing a strategy for improving employee engagement is imperative to your organization’s success. However, sometimes the concept can be overwhelming when initially evaluating the problem. The most important thing to remember is that fully-engaged employees tend to have a positive attitude about work, whereas disengaged employees tend to have a negative attitude about nearly every…
Employee recognition is one the many moving parts of maintaining and improving job satisfaction and employee engagement. Research has shown that employees who are recognized for their achievements and hard work are happier, more engaged, and more productive. As a manager or leader at your business, you want to recognize employees, but you’re also cost-conscious.…