Executives used to worry about whether
their employees had their heads in the
game because the commonly held theory was that employee focus created a competitive advantage. Now executives must win
the minds, hearts and souls of their workers
because recent research has shown that
employees who are emotionally attached to
their companies are more productive.
Achieving that level of engagement requires a
holistic management style.
According to Gallup, companies that are
adept at engaging their employees are significantly outperforming companies that don’t
engage their workers. In fact, the earnings
per share growth rate of the top performing
companies in a recent Gallup study was 2.6
times that of the companies that scored
below average in engaging their employees.
“Engagement not only improves productivity, it reduces employee absenteeism and
turnover,” says Hosetta Coleman, SPHR,
Senior Vice President of human resources at
Fifth Third Bank (Tampa Bay).
Smart Business spoke with Coleman
about how to nurture employee engagement
through a holistic management style.
How does work environment engender
engagement?
To drive engagement, it’s important to create an inclusive environment; one that elicits
employee feedback and ideas. When people
feel like they have a voice, they will become
more involved and they also feel valued. Here
at Fifth Third Bank, we have a monthly session called ‘Bagels with Brian,’ where new
and more tenured employees can participate
in a question-and-answer session with
President Brian Keenan. They have the
opportunity to ask Brian questions in an open
forum, and he gets the opportunity to share
information about our growth plan and
vision. We made adjustments to our on-thejob branch training format based upon feedback we received, and now our training is
much more effective.
What other tools encourage employee
involvement?
By giving employees a stake in the outcome, they are more likely to become involved with their work on a deeper level.
Variable compensation plans that reward
employees for business outcomes are highly
effective tools, and they don’t have to be limited to sales staff. Consider offering new business referral bonuses to everyone because
they engender ownership for results, and
they also help employees see that their individual contribution matters. Referral bonuses are another effective tool because they not
only help attract talent, but they also directly
incentivize employees by offering them a role
in furthering the company’s growth plan.
Here at Fifth Third Bank, our managers
have a round-table discussion group that
specifically focuses on work processes and
ways to make our company more productive. We not only get great ideas during these
sessions, but people feel like they have more
control over their work, and when they have
control, they think and act more like owners
than employees.
How can CEOs measure their employees’
level of engagement?
Talk to them and learn their dreams and
aspirations. Conducting employee engagement surveys through third parties, such as Gallup, allows executives to measure
employee engagement levels and benchmark
against other companies. Conducting spot
climate surveys and eliciting feedback
through online tools, such as Zoomerang,
allows executives to keep their fingers on the
pulse of the organization and initiate a continuous improvement process around
employee engagement.
Are there other techniques for improving
employee engagement?
Consider an employee action team that
specifically focuses on driving engagement.
Who better to make recommendations
about how to drive employee engagement
than the employees themselves? We have a
group here at Fifth Third Bank called the
Pride 53 Team, and they’ve made a number
of recommendations that we’ve adopted.
For example, they recommended that we
encourage our employees to become involved in the community, so they feel connected externally, not just internally. When
they represent the company in outside
events, they feel a sense of pride and ownership about the company, and it makes
them feel and act like entrepreneurs.
Also, begin the engagement process
before employees are hired and carry it
through to your on-boarding process and
beyond. Our recruiters talk to prospective
employees about what it’s like to work at
Fifth Third Bank as part of our assessment
process because we want to select employees who will be engaged by our culture.
Brian Keenan speaks to each new hire
group during orientation, and we have follow-up sessions at 30, 60 and 90 days, so
they feel bonded with the organization. I
think most of all, it’s important for executives to have talks and communication with
employees that go beyond the financial
results. To gain the hearts of employees, you
have to show that you care about them as
individuals, and you can’t do that unless you
get to know them through conversation and
by using a holistic management style.
HOSETTA COLEMAN, SPHR, is Senior Vice President of human resources at Fifth Third Bank (Tampa Bay). Reach her at (813) 306-2424 or [email protected].
