Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) -- Senior management respect for worker contribution has been found to be the top leadership factor promoting engagement, according to a global survey of 28,000 employees in 15 countries by Right Management. Other senior leadership behaviors that correlate highest with employee engagement include implementing and communicating organization strategy. Right Management is the talent and career management expert within Manpower, the global leader in employment services.

Right Management analyzed dozens of leadership practices and behaviors in order to determine which are most strongly related to employee engagement. Those with the highest correlations are:

1.    Senior leaders value employees
2.    Senior leaders have the capability to make my organization successful
3.    Senior leaders effectively implement my organization's strategy
4.    Senior leaders effectively communicate my organization's strategy to employees

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Tags: employee engagement, leadership, talent management, career development

Categories: News | Research

There’s no doubt about it: the past year or so has been a lean time for most companies. And while there’s hope that the worst (economically speaking) might be behind us, we aren’t out of the woods yet. The dark days of the recession have spawned a troubling new issue, one that could cripple organizations even as we head into recovery. The looming problem? A widespread loss of employee engagement. 

“Even if companies haven’t literally lost their employees, many have lost them psychologically,” warns Jon Gordon, speaker, consultant, and author of the new book The Shark and the Goldfish: Positive Ways to Thrive During Waves of Change. “Too many Americans are beaten down, burned out, and completely de-motivated. And if leaders don’t strive to change that—to create a positive culture that energizes people—there will be dire consequences.” 

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Tags: new economy, employee engagement, morale, leadership

Categories: The Economy

The silver lining in a lousy economy is employee retention, but as economic prospects brighten, most firms are thinking about ways to retain talent, according to the latest study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) on the subject of organizational turnover and engagement. But that doesn’t necessarily translate into big raises for most employees, who have seen few pay raises of late.

In this down economy, the study, the full results of which are now available to i4cp members in both standard and interactive form, found that higher market performing companies are more than twice as likely to offer pay raises to keep key talent from walking out the door than are lower performers.

The study showed that 18% of high-performing organizations have already taken the step of increasing compensation levels to reduce turnover, compared to 7% of lower performers. Over the next six to 12 months, the same ratio of high performers (18%) plan to implement pay raises, while almost a quarter (24%) of lower performers have plans to do so.

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Tags: new economy, research, employee retention, employee engagement, turnover, performance

Categories: Research | The Economy

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Employees report their bosses use threats and intimidation during the financial crisis, according to a national study of leadership funded by the University of Phoenix. “Questions get you written up and/or fired,” one worker said. The study’s results also showed employees increasing distrust what their bosses say.

Belligerent behavior and eroding employee trust are disturbing leadership trends in the financial crisis, according to Dr. Ruby Rouse and Dr. Richard Schuttler. Employees repeatedly described threatening communication:

• “Be thankful you have a job.”
• “You can be replaced.”
• “There are lots of qualified people on the street who would love your job.”

Such statements remind workers their jobs are on the “chopping block.” According to Rouse, some supervisors seem to foster a “culture of fear” to maintain control during the financial crisis.

Despite significant economic changes, leaders reportedly have not changed the way they communicate with employees.

• 64% of supervisors use a “business as usual” mentality
• 82% of employees expressed frustration with supervisors’ lack of adaptation
• Senior leaders were significantly less concerned about employee issues, such as layoffs and downsizing, than front line workers.

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Tags: employee engagement, economic downturn, leaders, trust, morale, communication, managers

Categories: News | Research

• Had no room to advance (32% of those who said their jobs are stagnant vs. 18% who said they aren’t)
• Are less likely to be asked to do more (14% vs. 27%)
• Are given fewer exciting challenges (3% vs. 26%)

Tags: employee engagement, morale, productivity

Categories: News

Minneapolis, MN (PRWEB) -- Although economic recovery in the U.S. remains uncertain and is far from complete, Modern Survey's measurement of the U.S. workforce shows that employee engagement has risen steadily during the last twelve months. The level of employee engagement recorded in late August is now back to where it was in August of 2007 (before the recession became apparent), following a precipitous decline from August 2007 to August 2008.

All five components of Modern Survey's Employee Engagement Index show further improvement since the February 2009 measurement, resulting in statistically significant gains on all components since August of 2008. The most dramatic improvement is in the number of employees who say they intend to stay with their company, which rose by 11 percentage points, from a low of 52% in August '08, to 57% by February '09, and now stands at 63%.

Such encouraging figures in the face of continued economic hardship may well indicate a fundamental change in the psychology of the American worker.

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Tags: new economy, research, employee engagement

Categories: Research | The Economy

Ah, the power of syndication. Last week I ran across a story about employee engagement, written by Marcia Heroux Pounds. I was excited by it because in her story Pounds quoted Julie Staub,the VP of HR for AutoNation the nation's largest auto retailer, who was speaking to a local ASTD chapter about the pride employees take when their company takes a leadership role. The ASTD reference was at the top of the story:

"'I think our people are proud to be part of a company taking a leadership role,' Staub recently told local chapter members of the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD).'"

Pounds used the Cash for Clunkers program as her hook and that approach apparently intrigued papers across the country. I've found no less than 14 outlets that have picked up the story in the last few days. From the Baltimore Sun to the Fresno Bee, the story has received some good coverage. And that is good news for ASTD chapters everywhere!

Tags: chapters, employee engagement, leadership, astd

Categories: ASTD in the News

While the recession has been tough on U.S. workers in a variety of ways, it hasn't damaged relationships in the workplace.

A new survey reveals that 87 percent of professionals have good relationships with their bosses, and 95 percent get along well with their coworkers. The results of the survey, developed by the financial staffing firm Accountemps, were approximately the same as those in 2005, when the economy was much healthier.

"People make work relationships a priority in good times and bad," says Katherine Spencer Lee, a district president for Robert Half International, the parent company of Accountemps. "In the current economy, we see people pulling together, empathizing with the work and personal challenges their colleagues are facing, and doing what they can to help."

Tags: employee engagement, economic downturn, workplace relationships, morale

Categories: The Economy

An engaged workforce is more important now than ever. But in the current economy organizations may feel their options are limited.

“Even while cutting costs, our research shows companies can still engage their employees through soft dollar investments made by their leaders and managers,” notes William Werhane, Hay Group Insight’s global managing director. “Our research shows that even during the downturn, companies that have focused on maintaining open and honest communication with employees, ensuring that strategic directions are clear, fostering trust and confidence in senior leaders are seeing positive returns on their investments.”

New data from Hay Group Insight reveal that companies that have remained focused on employee engagement in the current economic downturn have succeeded in maintaining and even increasing motivation levels. But harnessing and channelling that motivation is also critical to deliver superior financial results, customer satisfaction, and employee performance.

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Tags: economic downturn, employee engagement, workforce, retention

Categories: The Economy

(San Francisco Chronicle) When Netflix hit the wall trying to improve the accuracy of its movie recommendation software, a key way to get customers to keep renting movies, the Los Gatos company turned its challenge into a contest.

In 2006, Netflix launched a competition to see who could improve the precision of its system by 10 percent. Since then, more than 51,000 researchers, computer scientists, engineers and programmers from 186 countries answered the call. In a few weeks, Netflix will announce the winner of the $1 million award.

"That's a pretty modest investment for that caliber of expertise we got from around the world," Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey said.

Netflix's contest is part of a trend among businesses and nonprofits to offer cash prizes in exchange for solutions for complex and seemingly unsolvable problems.

Organizations have found contests to be a cost-effective method that allows them to tap into the vast intellectual resources outside their walls. Depending on the size of the prize, it can also generate publicity.

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Tags: innovation, employee engagement, human capital

Categories: News