Improving Employee Engagement: Using the Job Scenario Tool

Transcription

1 Improving Employee Engagement: Using the Job Scenario Tool

2 Contents Introduction... 3 Job Relevancy... 5 Job Scenario Tool - Example... 5 Example 2: Accounts Payable Workbook... 13

3 3 Introduction Employee engagement has become an increasingly popular topic with companies today. What is it and why is it so important? Although different definitions of employee engagement exist, most generally state that engagement goes beyond job satisfaction. An engaged employee is committed to the organization and demonstrates this commitment through discretionary output. That is, engaged employees will go above and beyond what is asked of them and put forth their best effort to further the mission or vision of the organization. This is why employers care so much about engagement. Employers want to get the most out of every single worker. What s the difference between employee satisfaction and employee engagement? Aren t they the same thing? No. Employee satisfaction is a component of employee engagement, but the concepts are not synonymous. Happy (satisfied) employees may have high retention or low absenteeism but they may not demonstrate their commitment to the organization through any discretionary output. For example, let s consider a highly satisfied employee working in an outbound call center, responsible for calling potential customers and selling them the company s product. The employee works from 9AM to 5PM. Because the employee likes his job, he consistently shows up from work on time and is rarely ever calls in sick. Despite the employee s good attendance, the fact that the employee is satisfied may not tell you how well he performs his job or how much effort he puts into his work. The satisfied employee sees that it is 4:45 PM and almost time to leave. He finishes up any last minute documentation and prepares to go home. The engaged employee sees that is it is 15 minutes from the end of the day and thinks he can get a couple of more calls in before the shift ends to try to sell more product. Consider another example: A salaried IT project manager is working on a project scheduled to go-live within the next week. Due to the tight time, she volunteers to come in on the weekend to ensure all quality assurance testing is complete and there are no outstanding issues before the launch. She voluntarily comes in on her day off because she is engaged. She is putting in discretionary effort to ensure the success of the project. If she was merely satisfied, but not engaged, she may not put in the extra effort but still be quite happy with her job. Can you see the difference in the examples above? Just because an employee is very satisfied doesn t necessarily mean they will go the extra mile or even put forth their best effort. Engagement is superior to satisfaction in terms of the value an organization receives from its employees.

4 4 Who is engaged? According to a 2015 Gallup poll, only 32% of US workers are engaged, which is almost the same as the previous year. In fact, over the past 15 years of Gallup polls, employee engagement is consistently below 33%. 1 Specifically, 32% of employees are considered engaged in their jobs. These employees are enthusiastic about their jobs and committed to the organization. 51% of employees are not engaged. These employees are not disruptive or destructive to the company; they are just not putting forth their best effort. They may be clocking in or occupying workspace for a required number of hours per day but not achieving their full potential. 17% of employees are actively disengaged. These employees are dangerous in the sense that they may be undermining the efforts of others or preventing others achieving success. Their attitude may be bringing others down with them. What makes up engagement? Before we can create engagement with employees we need to understand the components or factors that influence engagement. There are a number of studies and research that attempt to uncover the key drivers of engagement. Based on this research, some of the factors that impact engagement include: Job relevancy Understanding job role and expectations Advancement opportunities Regular, positive feedback from managers Empowerment to participate in the decision-making process Relationships with co-workers Reputation ethical standards of the organization Although this is not an all-encompassing list, it is easy to see that there are many contributing factors when it comes to employee engagement. Although it is recommended that leaders take a holistic approach, job relevancy is an important, but often overlooked, component that can help employees feel engaged. 1 Adkins, Amy. Employee Engagement in U.S. Stagnant in Gallup. January 13,

5 5 Job Relevancy Job relevancy refers to the perception employees have about the importance of their job to the organization. Employees want to know where they fit in the big picture. Employees want to feel valued. They want to know that whatever they as part of their job matters to the organization. To illustrate this point, take the case of Sears Roebuck & Co. In the early 1990 s they launched the Total Performance Indicators which were metrics used to evaluate how the company was performing in the eyes of its employees, customers, and vendors. The company learned that when employees understood how their job tied to the company s strategic objectives, job performance improved. Additionally, how employees felt about their job greatly impacted loyalty and customer service. 2 The lesson here is simple: Leaders need to create a line of sight between the employee s job and the company s vision, mission, or goals and objectives. If employees understand the importance of what they do then they are more likely to be engaged. Job Scenario Tool - Example How can leaders create that sense of importance in their employees? One simple method is the Job Scenario Tool. The Job Scenario Tool looks at an individual s job role and ties it to the overall company objectives by looking at scenarios when they perform their job exceptionally well and when they fail to meet individual objectives. The consequences of those scenarios are then expanded to understand what the impacts would be to the team or department and then ultimately to the entire business. 2 Crim, Dan, Gerard H. Seijts. What Engages Employees the Most OR, the Ten C s of Employee Engagement. Ivey Business Journal. March/April 2006.

6 6 As a first step, leaders should ensure that the company level goals have been translated down through department, business unit, or team goals to individual performance goals. Many organizations go through this exercise as part of their annual strategic planning process. As an example, we can consider the case of a customer call center employee. The company level goals trickle down to the individual goals to create a link from top to bottom.

7 7 In the next step, the manager should define employee scenarios that reflect whether the individual performance goals are exceeded or if the goals are missed. These scenarios should be described in generic terms and not directed at any specific employee. The scenarios should describe a hypothetical situation in real-world terms. It should answer the questions: What is the best case scenario if employee goals are exceeded? What is the worst case scenario if employee goals are not met? In the case of the Customer Contact Center, a manager may answer the questions as follows: What is the best case scenario? o A customer contact rep efficiently answers customer inquiries, answering their questions without needing to transfer the customer or put them on hold to research the answer. The rep is courteous and polite and responds to the customer in such a way that the customer is happy with the transaction and will tell others about the great service they received. What is the worst case scenario? o A customer contact rep keeps customers waiting and doesn t have the knowledge to answer the customer s questions. The rep then bounces the customer back and forth between other reps or has to put the customer on hold for long periods. The rep is rude in their responsive which upsets the customer and causes the customer to complain about the service. Now we can expand on the employee scenarios and create a department or team scenario. The questions the manager should now answer is what would happen if everyone or the majority of the people on the team or in the department behaved in the same manner. What is the best case scenario for the department of team? o The Customer Contact Center consistently exceeds customer expectations, reducing handling time, resolving issues on first contact, and providing great service so that customers never complain and are delighted with their experience. Because the handling time is so efficient, the contact center does not have to increase staff to handle additional call volume. The team gets a reputation as a reliable, well run operation that helps increase employees pride in their job and increases retention. What is the worst case scenario for the department or team? o The Customer Contact Center consistently fails to meet its goals, causing customer complaints to rise due to being placed on hold for long periods and reps lacking knowledge to answer queries. Reps are rude to customers and managers have to hire more reps to keep up with the volume or replace reps causing issues. Reps get frustrated with the constant complaints and leave the group.

8 8 Lastly, the impact of the department or team performance should be viewed from a macro, company level perspective. What is the best case scenario for the company? o The company becomes known for its exceptional customer service. Company reviews for its service are so high that it becomes a competitive advantage for the business. New customers begin to leave competitors and sales increase driving revenue. Customer Contact Center representatives are so efficient that operating costs remain low. Employees take pride in the positive feedback their company receives, feel part of a great team, and want to stay with the company. What is the worst case scenario for the company? o The company begins to get a reputation for poor customer service. Online reviews and social media is filled with poor reviews due to the behavior of the Customer Contact Center reps. Customers start going to competitors that offer better service. New sales are more difficult because potential customers are aware of the company s reputation. Revenue is negatively impacted. The negative reputation impacts how employees feel about the company and they start leaving to competitors as well. The example outlined above it s easy to see the impact the reps ultimately have on the company goals. However, the details of the scenarios only provide a suggestion of what leaders can create. Leaders can work with their employees in a workshop setting to brainstorm outcomes to the scenarios. The more elaborate the scenario, the better (in most cases).

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10 10 Example 2: Accounts Payable In some cases, employees may feel disconnected (disengaged) because they work in a supporting function. Sometimes these supporting functions are referred to as a backroom process or non-core function. In the example of the Customer Contact Center it may be easy to draw a line of sight to the company goals because they are directly supporting end users or customers. However, what about in the case of an accounts payable employee working in the same company? As the example below illustrates, any job role can impact the company if a little thought is put into it. Remember that the first step is to translate company goals to department goals to individual goals. In the second step we create the best and worst case scenarios for the individual, then department, and finally, the company. In this example will take the best and worst case scenarios all the way through from individual to company level. What is the best case scenario for the AP rep? o The AP rep ensures all invoices are paid accurately and on time. Critical payments, such as utility and tax payments are always on time. Vendors never complain due to the good service and there are no escalations. No duplicate invoices paid and only the right amounts are paid. There are no keying errors; everything processed is done right the first time. Invoices are processed so efficiently that there is no backlog. What is the best scenario for the Accounts Payable Department?

11 11 o The entire AP department processes all invoices accurately and on time. Vendors never have to inquire about the status of an invoice. The invoices are processed accurately and there are no compliance issues or escalations. The volume of incoming invoices is easily handled by the AP team and there is never any overtime needed or need to hire additional people. All employees are focused on the value-added work of processing invoices and not reworking mistakes. Operating costs are kept to a minimum. What is the best scenario for the company? o All company invoices are paid on time and accurately. The company avoids a significant amount in expenses normally associated with duplicate payments or penalties in late fees. The payments are made on time not early and not late improving the company s cash flow. The payment cycle is so reliable that the purchasing department can use it as leverage to get better pricing with vendors. The company begins to offer discounted terms and captures a significant amount of savings. What is the worst case scenario for the AP rep? o Invoices are not paid on-time causing customer complaints, late fees, or being put on hold by vendors. Invoices are not paid accurately causing lost revenue through duplicate payments or overages. Invoices are keyed wrong causing them to be reworked or fixed by someone else. A backlog of invoices begins to grow to the long cycle time to process. The AP rep becomes frustrated and wants to leave the team. What is the worst scenario for the Accounts Payable Department? o The AP process is consistently late and inaccurate. The team has to hire additional people to reduce the backlog and to rework invoices that were processed incorrectly, thereby raising operating costs. Vendor complaints rise dramatically and wear on the morale of the team. Turnover increases as employees become frustrated. What is the worst scenario for the company? o Late payments to utility companies cause facilities to lose power, ruining employee productivity, or worse, shutting down manufacturing lines. Late payments to landlords cause employees to be shutout of facilities. Late payments to jurisdictions lead to heavy fines and penalties. Vendors begin to raise their prices or refuse to deal with the company due to payment issues. The company is exposed to fraud as criminals take advantage of the disorganized payment process.

12 12 In this example, the AP representative or AP department may not impact all of the company goals, but there is a link between what the rep does and revenue and operating costs. Remember that it s not necessary to tie job performance to every company goal. The intent is to create a picture that demonstrates the importance of the employee s job role to the overall success of the company. Leaders are reminded that the value of any tools or techniques is in how they are used. The Job Scenario Tool is designed to help leaders have a conversation with their employees to ensure they understand the importance of their role.

13 13 Workbook Step 1: Translate Company Goals to Individual Goals List your company s goals: What are your department or team goals? What are the goals of the individual team members?

14 14 Step 2: Creating Job Scenarios (Individual best case scenario) If an individual team member did their job exceptionally well, what would that look like? (Individual worst case scenario) If an individual team member failed to do their job well, what would that look like?

15 15 (Department or team best case scenario) If all the members of the team did their job exceptionally well, what would that look like? (Department or team worst case scenario) If all the members of the team failed to do their job well, what would that look like?

16 16 (Company best case scenario) If the team or department did their job exceptionally well, what would be the impact on the company? (Company worst case scenario) If the team or department failed to do their job well, what would be the impact on the company?