It’s a fact that we don’t get so many letters these days. But when we do, make sure you hang on to the envelope. The humble envelope might be your key to improving employee engagement!
A recent Gallup survey showed that companies with higher employee engagement see over 20% higher productivity than their competition.
So, can you put a price on engagement? Let’s assume a 10% drop in productivity for the disengaged:
For a company of 200 people, if 15% are FULLY engaged, it means that 170 people lack some level of engagement.
If your average company salary is $75,000, you will be losing $7,500p.a. for each of those disengaged employees.
You would be losing $1.275m annually.
But what if we fill our glass-half-full for a second? Instead of losing >$1m per year, can we gain >$1m through higher engagement? The answer is yes. This is where the envelope comes in.
It’s Monday morning at 8am, and one of your employees, Frank, knocks on your door. You look up from behind a pile of paperwork and silently groan “here we go…”
“Boss, I’ve got a great idea! Been thinking about it at the BBQ on Saturday and even in the shower this morning!”
Wiping the thought of Frank in the shower from your mind, you have two choices; burst Frank’s balloon, or find a way of maintaining his (potentially misguided) enthusiasm.
Many managers would instinctively exercise the classic ‘fob-off’ with comments such as “we don’t have the money”, “talk to your team leader” etc, without entertaining the idea.
But a wise Manager will take the time to sit with Frank and explore the detail on the back of the envelope.
The act of guiding Frank through the simple steps of…
-
- Defining the problem
- Estimating the impact of the current loss (Money, time, morale etc)
- Proposed idea,
- Estimating a ball-pack cost of Frank’s big idea, and
- Calculating a rough Return on Investment [ROI]
…will be enough to retain, and possibly increase, Frank’s engagement whether his idea is implemented or not?
Try it! It really works.
If the idea makes sense, you can then apply a more vigorous investigation. If the payback is 30yrs, then Frank should accept the decision and maybe refine it to something more feasible, armed with the knowledge that:
- He will get a good hearing, and
- He now knows how to do a rough ROI.
By adopting this behaviour, you will nurture a culture of innovation and trust, ultimately leading to a more highly engaged workforce and more profit!
So, hang on to those old envelopes; they might just improve your results by over 10%.
David Newland; Operations Manager QLD
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