Articles tagged 'Engagement'

HR’s Talent Management Dilemma: Balancing the Hourglass Workforce

by Tony Morrison on May 1, 2012, 10:35 AM | 4 Comments

Over the next 20 years, 81 million Baby Boomers will be exiting the workforce.

Their retirement will leave a void in many organizations. Their skills and experience cannot be replaced easily by the 46 million Gen Xers that will succeed them. Can this looming skills gap be filled by the 85 million hungry Millennials anxious to make their mark in the world?

The Millennial generation (also known as Generation Y) is poised to take on the challenge of a new job, and, with their affinity for technology and networking, they are more adept at developing their career path to getting noticed by employers. However, this energetic, tech savvy age group arguably still lacks valuable work experience necessary to fill the big shoes of the more experienced workers who are fast approaching retirement. Read more…

Rewards & Recognition, Talent Management

Recognition’s Impact on Productivity: It’s More Than Employee of the Month

by Derek Irvine on Apr 30, 2012, 8:42 AM | 1 comment

One of the major outcomes of the Great Recession is a dramatic increase in employee productivity. This is not surprising, as the employees who survived round after round of layoffs naturally picked up the work of their former colleagues.

Now the question becomes how sustainable is that increased productivity over time?

Sure, employees who feared they might be next on the layoff list willing worked at a breakneck pace on far more projects than was typical. But that pace cannot be sustained over the long term. Read more…

HR News & Trends

Weekly Wrap: Lack of Communication is Top Management Mistake

by John Hollon on Apr 27, 2012, 10:45 AM | 1 comment

This will not exactly come as a big shock: a new survey has found that a lack of communication — keeping employees in the dark — is the top mistake most managers make.

The findings come courtesy of Accountemps. They asked chief financial officers (CFOs), “What one mistake do companies make most in managing their employees?” Their responses:

Lack of communication between staff and management – 41 percent;
Lack of recognition and praise – 28 percent;
Lack of training, development and/or educational opportunities – 11 percent; Read more…

HR Insights, Talent Management

How to Get Things Done If You Think You’re the Smartest One in the Room

by Patty Azzarello on Apr 25, 2012, 7:20 AM | Comments Off

Being the smartest one in the room is not easy.

Really smart people who get to the answer before everyone else get frustrated because:

No one wants to listen to you.
No one gets why you are right.
Everyone seems to WANT to go slower (and it is infuriating).
You resent having to make the effort of “bringing people along.” Read more…

HR Management, Talent Management

4 Steps to Make Sure You Aren’t Making Engagement Optional

by Jason Lauritsen on Apr 24, 2012, 9:32 AM | 7 Comments

Employee engagement is big business.

In fact, the recent research done by the Society for Human Resources Management and reported on here at TLNT revealed that employee engagement is the number one concern among HR professionals. Clearly, we have become convinced that employee engagement should be a primary outcome of our management and leadership practices at our organizations.

When you ask most of the experts to define employee engagement, some part of the definition will include the application of discretionary effort by the employee. Translated to normal language, that means that employees are so into their jobs that they are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty on a regular basis. Read more…

Culture, HR Insights

How Retention is Like Gardening: At Times, You Need to Change the Soil

by Ron Thomas on Apr 23, 2012, 7:37 AM | 1 comment

“What time did you get in last night,” I asked my daughter.

“Around 3 am,” she answered. It was now 5:45 am and I was leaving the house. As I walked downstairs from her room, I shook my head in wonderment. My question was this: how can you continue working people all these hours?

Everyone has a breaking point. Read more…

Rewards & Recognition

Retaining Employees: Research Shows It’s All About Recognition Done Right

by Derek Irvine on Apr 19, 2012, 7:37 AM | 3 Comments

This seems to be research reporting week for me. Following on the heels of SHRM/Globoforce research on the bottom-line ROI of employee recognition, is this research from Office Team: “Recognize Results: Drive Success through Employee Recognition.”

Surveying office administrative personnel, the survey revealed:

66 percent would leave their current position if not shown appreciation by their manager.
67 percent say receiving recognition greatly or somewhat improves their performance. Read more…

Benefits, HR News & Trends

Benefits Trends Survey Digs Deep Into What Employees Really Want

by John Hollon on Apr 17, 2012, 12:10 PM | 1 comment

Every year, the Metlife Study of Employee Benefit Trends cracks open a window into what employees really want from their job and employer.

The 2012 survey — MetLife’s 10th annual — is no different, and as the introduction to this year’s report notes, “Year-over-year, the Study shows what strategies are working and with what results – highlighting how employers might want to shift strategies in light of the findings and enabling them to make informed decisions.”

Yes, how employers might change their strategy is certainly important, but for me, the really critical information in this research is the the insight it gives into what your workforce is thinking, needing, and wanting. For example, this year’s MetLife Employee Benefit Trends report says that your workers are: Read more…

HR Management

How Can You Get the Best People on Your Team, and Keep Them?

by David Casullo on Apr 17, 2012, 7:37 AM | 3 Comments

In today’s post-recession environment, businesses are operating with pared-back workforces.

Picked to the bone, the burden is placed more than ever on the best-of-the-best people who remain. A focus on results in the best cases — or simply survival in other cases — has burned out many leaders.

In places that have misidentified their leadership talent and thus have an inordinate amount of mediocre performers leading that lean workforce, the burden on the elite few is even greater. These leaders are swimming upstream against a rapid and rising current. Read more…

HR News & Trends

SHRM Survey Finds Employee Engagement Is a Key HR Challenge

by John Zappe on Apr 13, 2012, 7:29 AM | No comments yet

Employee engagement ranks high on the list of human resource challenges, yet fewer than half the companies in a SHRM survey said they track it.

Of those that do, more of their HR professionals say workers are rewarded according to their performance, that managers are effective in acknowledging and appreciating employees, and employees are satisfied with the level of recognition they get.

These are some of the findings of a twice-yearly survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, and funded by employee recognition vendor, Globoforce. The most recent survey looked at: Read more…