Forging Employee Experience

Jason is a global speaker author and employee engagement expert. He helps companies adapt workplace culture and Performance Management strategies. A former corporate human resource executive himself, Jason has dedicated his career to helping leaders build organizations that are good for both people and profits.

In this episode we digest what employee engagement means and the term "Discretionary Effort." We delve into practical ways that companies can increase retention and employee happiness.

Enjoy this in depth conversation with Jason Lauritsen.

Trying to understand the workforce is not a new endeavor. For decades organizations have been accumulating and analyzing data on why employees lose steam at their job. In our most recent podcast, we sat down with Fraser Marlow, head of workplace research at Energage and had a great time talking about the dynamics of understanding the workforce. As the coauthor of the Engagement Equation and with a background steeped in leadership development and organizational improvement, Fraser had a lot to add to the conversation on empowering employees.

Organizations nationwide are starting to pay more attention to how well their employees feel meaningfully engaged at work. One of the main issues facing employees is that they often feel like they don’t have tools or resources necessary to get their job done. Many employees strive to give their best at their respective companies only to fall short do to external factors preventing them from excelling. After a few cycles of this type of failure, employees quickly stop trying as hard.

Marlow describes four main factors that his research considers vital to enhance employee engagement. Firstly, organizations must direct people towards a common purpose. Secondly, leadership must help people to feel connected, like a community, by developing a coaching mindset. Thirdly, managers must realize that investing time in helping employees is crucial to the organization’s success. And finally, effectiveness, companies need to cut the red tape that creates so many inefficiencies within the workplace. Fraser noted that this effectiveness component is the most crucial, as it allows the remaining pieces to be effective. However, all of these adjusts requires total shift in mindset. Simply instituting new policies in an attempt to fix the mechanics will not work. It is not about “workplace perks” but a strategic running of an organization with employees at the center, that can be aided by data-driven HR supervision.

Employees deserve to be understood. Listen to the full podcast to see how organizations benefit tremendously when they listen and act on the improvement’s employees ask to see. By focusing on the four key areas that Fraser explained, will drastically change the look and feel of an organization’s inner workings. Employees will feel empowered to get their work done and achieve that sense of satisfaction that only comes with success. You are the start of change at your organization.

We want to give a big shout out and thank you to Fraser. We encourage everyone to go out and get his book Engagement Equation and check www.engergage.com. You can follow Fraser on twitter at @frasermarlow.

Debra Corey is an Author, speaker, and employee engagement rebel. She is the Global Head of Engagement at Reward Gateway. She’s an expert at understanding and applying effective and practical engagement techniques and practices. Her most recent book, Build It is an amazon #1 best seller in Human Resources and has received praise from Dan Pink, Margaret Heffernan, and Patty McCord.

In this episode we dive into what it means to be a rebel in the HR space and how to cultivate a winning culture. You'll get to feel of her energy and enthusiasm as we build a bridge based on proven principles to make a difference at work and give employees the flexibility they need in order to feel happy and fulfilled at work.

Enjoy!

Every year, businesses are spending almost $700 billion dollars in an effort to improve employee engagement, yet you’ll get wildly inconsistent answers if you ask business leaders what that means. Researchers, consultants, and leaders have been struggling to define employee engagement for decades. These definitions range from the simple idea of “discretionary effort” (which we'll get into) to the truly insane “complex nomological network encompassing trait, state, and behavioral constructs”.

This causes a large problem in the industry because there are still signs that engagement (whatever it is) needs to be clearly defined in order to gain the necessary results. In a Gallup survey, for instance, organizations whose employees reported high engagement had 25% to 65% less attrition than their peers (depending on the national average for low to high turnover organizations). They also performed well in productivity and customer satisfaction.

So defining engagement in a clear and precise way isn’t just a philosophical practice. It has bottom-line benefits.

This first episode helps paint the picture of employee engagement on the canvas of people analytics in the attempt to not only achieve more results, but to create a culture where employees thrive and are ultimately happy.

Join us on further episodes where we meet with industry experts, HR data scientists, and cutting-edge leaders to get to the bottom of what, truly, is employee engagement.