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Beware, today is April 1st. Better known as April Fools’ Day, it is a day when people play practical jokes and hoaxes on each other.1
Unfortunately, at most companies, almost every day is April Fools’ Day.
How many times have you heard this statement? “Our employees are our greatest asset.” How many times did you believe this was the case?
“HR leaders around the world appear to agree on one thing: Lack of employee engagement is a problem for their organizations, and they feel ill-equipped to remedy it.
Eighty-seven percent of the 3,300 HR and business leaders from 106 countries polled by Deloitte say lack of employee engagement is a top concern, up from 79 percent last year, according to the professional-services firm’s third annual Global Human Capital Trends 2015: Leading in the New World of Work report.
The number of respondents who cited engagement as being “very important” doubled from 26 percent last year to 50 percent this year. However, 60 percent of the HR and business leaders said they don’t have an adequate program in place for measuring and improving engagement.”2
There are companies that believe that an engagement survey and action plans based on the feedback constitute a program. Some focus on employee giving campaigns and community volunteer projects as engagement tools. Others center their efforts on HiPo (High Potential) programs, leadership development programs, wellbeing programs, or in-office perks like video games and ping pong tables. There could be benefits to all of these approaches but a more basic method would be to focus on those areas that continually surface in employee engagement surveys:
Manager – Employee Relationship
Each of these areas offers a wealth of opportunities to begin to engage your employees. Visit the links for suggestions. Let’s put an end to this constant April Fools’ deception and develop a program that once and for all proves that employees ARE your greatest asset.
Fellow Agents, what are your thoughts on this April Fools’ Day comparison? How does your company perpetuate or disprove this thought?
1 “April Fools’ Day.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools’_Day>.
2 McIlvaine, Albert. “Thinking Differently on Engagement.” Www.HREOnline.com. LRP Publications, 26 Mar. 2015. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. <http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/view/story.jhtml?id=534358520>.
Let’s Engage!
I’m Agent in Engagement Simpson…Gregory F Simpson.
Employee engagement is a critical mission. I hope I can count on your help! Subscribe to the RSS Feed to receive the latest intelligence/insights and/or register to make entries in the comments log.
You can follow me @agtinengagement.
Email me at g…@a…t.com.
Learn more about me at www.gregoryfsimpson.com.
P.S. First contact? Welcome to the Agent In Engagement community. Explore and join fellow employee engagement operatives in targeting a known thief – alias: Disengagement. Together we can bring this thief to justice and make the world a better place for all companies and their employees.
Other recent Agent in Engagement data/reports by Agent Gregory F Simpson:
- Employee Engagement Intelligence Briefing: 2015.03.23 – 2015.03.27
- Veteran Employee Engagement Operative Insights: 03.16 – 2015.03.20
- Employee Engagement March Madness Sweet 16
- The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace
- In the News— Employee Engagement Connotations
- The Wheel of Employee Engagement: Opportunity for Advancement
- The Wheel of Employee Engagement: Growth & Development
