The Value of Co-Workers in Engaging and Retaining Talent White Paper

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1 The Value of Co-Workers in Engaging and Retaining Talent White Paper TalentKeepers is celebrating 15 years as a leader in talent management research, awardwinning solutions and proven results in increasing organizational performance. We provide employee engagement solutions, leader development programs, on-boarding processes and standardized or customized surveys, and other key talent management services to address critical business issues and enhance stakeholder value. TalentKeepers helps clients respond to industry and market factors that create uncertainty and organization exposure. Let us help you build a culture that keeps your best talent, boosts productivity and delivers outstanding performance. Please direct questions, comments, and press inquiries to solutions@talentkeepers.com, please access our website at or call Copyright TalentKeepers, Inc. All rights reserved. No reproduction of this report in whole or in part is allowed without prior written approval of TalentKeepers. TalentKeepers and the TalentKeepers logo are trademarks of TalentKeepers, Inc. Page 1

2 The Value of Co-workers in Engaging and Retaining Talent n the traditional corporation of the past, commitment was a matter of the I bond between an employee and the company, and people felt a loyalty to their employers. There was an implicit commitment from the employee as long as the company took care of them. But gone are the days that companies are able to offer the job security they once were. As a result, the new organization is characterized by less of an attachment to a company and stronger attachment to one s own job or a team. Employees today take their sense of worth from their projects, opportunities, and affiliation with others rather than a bond with a particular company. What is driving this change? Research shows that people pull together when they are faced with some kind of threat that is common to everyone. The economic conditions in the last decade have caused employees to have to face the perils of downsizing, takeovers, mergers, and negative reactions among team members affected by feelings of apprehension, uncertainty, and resentment. Employees who previously may have been a loose working group with little in common are suddenly faced with pressures they can't quite understand or manage. In these situations, new bonds form as team members unite to attack the things they can manage and what they do have in common. The "they" becomes the common enemy everyone can relate to, so they rally together to fight or endure these common threats. As a result, stronger bonds among co-workers form. Championing others is no longer limited to the role of leaders. Engagement and retention depends less on hierarchy and more on common areas of expertise and function. Based on this realization, TalentKeepers has identified three key leadership strategies to leverage the value of engaging team members with each other -- aimed at increasing employee engagement and retention: Build mutual trust and commitment Create a sense of belonging Make the workplace enjoyable and satisfying TalentKeepers. All Rights Reserved. Page 2

3 Build Mutual Trust and Commitment One of the most powerful ways to boost engagement and productivity is for leaders to show confidence in the abilities of their team members. They know that if they trust their team members then the work can and will get done, and it will. In a comprehensive TalentKeepers study focused on employee engagement and retention, over 800 organizations, representing nearly every industry (healthcare, retail, government, finance, and many others), participated in TalentKeepers study to provide valuable insight into the employee engagement and retention challenges they face and how they combat these challenges. Of the participating organizations, over 29% indicated that leader issues namely trust - were the most frequent reason employees become disengaged or leave. Armed with this information, forward-thinking leaders commit to building an environment of mutual trust and team commitment. When a group of people with different experiences and backgrounds share the same values of trustworthiness and standards of work performance, they are generally more productive and committed to putting in the extra work required. A recent global workforce study of 90,000 employees in 19 countries conducted by global professional services firm Towers Watson revealed that only 21% of the employees surveyed are engaged in their work and are willing to go the extra mile to help their companies succeed. To encourage this level of above-and-beyond commitment, keen leaders break down silos and give each team member a stake in the group s success. When more people have a stake in the collective success, everyone is more likely to collaborate on a common, successful outcome. TalentKeepers has seen evidence of these strategies positive effect while conducting an employee engagement initiative with a large and successful telecommunication company. Once engagement and team initiatives were implemented and set into action, over 65% of employees across the organization said they trusted that most of their co-workers were committed to doing quality work and would put forth extra effort to support overall organizational goals. This was one of the top engagement factors for this particular company. Trust can stimulate employee engagement. How? Team members who share similar values have a healthy respect for each other s viewpoints, and therefore engage in projects with greater enthusiasm. They listen and encourage one another and actively contribute. While they have disagreements, back-biting and other negative behaviors are less likely to emerge and tension is at a minimum. In the TalentKeepers study, when asked to weigh in on top issues impacted by turnover, employee "morale and culture" was the number one issue chosen and "team performance" was #3. TalentKeepers. All Rights Reserved. Page 3

4 Teams that have high levels of trust and commitment are supportive due to an informal work ethic of comradeship. They are willing to let team goals rise above personal ambitions and work toward achieving shared goals. TalentKeepers Leadership Strategies for Building Mutual Trust and Commitment Demonstrate personal trustworthiness. Believe in the talents and intentions of your team member. Be open and honest in all communication. Keep confidences. Show respect for personal and company values. Be clear about team goals and objectives. Involve team members in finding solutions to business challenges. Reward both individual and team-based achievements. Create an environment that motivates decision-making. Let team members be responsible for their work. In particular, Gen Y thinks of their colleagues as valuable resources to learn from and therefore views teamwork as a way to achieve their personal goals. They are confident in their individual capabilities and appreciate team constructs. This generation is able and willing to work towards executing their role in line with common goals of the team. TalentKeepers. All Rights Reserved. Page 4

5 TalentKeepers recognizes that vital to understanding engagement and retention issues is having a full understanding of the various points in the employee life cycle when employees are at the highest risk of leaving. Create a Sense of Belonging According to the recent TalentKeepers 2015 Workplace America research, over 49% of front line employees who leave their jobs cite Job/Career Factors as their #1 reason for leaving issues that largely involve career opportunities, benefits, and culture. In fact, this was the most frequently chosen reason by all participants in the survey. Yet, when asked how effective is the organization at attacking organizational issues such as these, a mere 8% of the organizations reported being very effective, with 13% reporting as "not at all effective." True employee engagement is at the core of the organization's culture. The right kind of culture stimulates employees to engage in the work they do, take pride in how they do it, and find meaning in it. A culture that values teamwork allows individuals at all levels to develop a proud and distinct identity, which fosters pride in the group s work. An important aspect of team success is what the military refers to as unit cohesion. Unity is enjoying lunch together, pitching in when the Purposeful development of a business culture begins at the top, meaning leaders set in motion a culture of engagement going gets tough, and listening to each other s problems with genuine care and concern. As a leader, the secret is to find and implement ways to build a sense of belonging through regular team interaction. A population of workers who work well on teams is Gen Y. In fact, they don t work well without teams. Having grown up participating in multiple sports or clubs, they thrive on collaboration. If you don't let them work in teams, they'll find a way to build them anyway because they don t like making decisions by themselves, without getting five to thirty-five different opinions first. If you don't give them a team to run things by, they'll seek opinions from their peers, their partner, maybe even your boss! Creating a sense of belonging for employees begins Day One, with an effective onboarding process. How welcomed and connected new employees feel to an organization has a direct impact on individual levels of engagement and retention. A successful on-boarding process goes beyond an informative orientation session that introduces important company knowledge such as history, benefits, structure, policies, etc. Team engagement, a sense of belonging, the accessibility and involvement of a new employee s direct leader is more important than a useful set of welcome materials and electronic presentation decks chalked full of organization charts, brand differentiators, and helpful websites. TalentKeepers. All Rights Reserved. Page 5

6 TalentKeepers recognizes that one key to understanding engagement and retention issues is having a full understanding of the various points in the employee life cycle when employees are at the The effective leader highest risk of leaving. Of the organizations that understands that gaining track attrition by tenure, over 17% of organizations their team s commitment to indicated that employees tend to leave within the the organization s values first 90 days, and another 16% reported their highest increases the team s turnover to occur in the first 6 months. With performance standards as well as their engagement. early attrition at a significant increase compared to the last two years, it is important to understand just how much of this is caused by ineffective onboarding. Are employees feeling connected? Are they being set up for success? TalentKeepers Leadership Strategies for Creating a Sense of Belonging Assign team members from different functional areas to work together. Set aside team time. Eat lunch together, take road trips, arrange training opportunities, team outings, etc. Recognize and reward team accomplishments. Create team pride and spirit through epithets, themed t-shirts, code names and own language customs. Connect team member s objectives to organizational objectives. Upfront and ongoing, share with team members information such as vision, values, and goals of the organization. TalentKeepers. All Rights Reserved. Page 6

7 While it is true that leaders are primarily responsible for ensuring employees are satisfied and engaged in their work, evidence is emerging that individual team members can also play a significant role in whether an employee chooses to stay or leave a job. Make the Workplace Enjoyable and Satisfying A recent survey by the Corporate Leadership Council reported that from a study of 50,000 employees worldwide, only 11% reported that they felt fully engaged in their current work. While many factors contribute to this staggering fact, one thing for sure is that it s difficult to motivate team member engagement if the work that your team members do is dull and boring. To overcome this retention-killer, leaders who are in tune with what makes for an engaging workplace rotate job activities, apply crosstraining, and modify the physical work environment when possible to ensure work is rewarding. A primary way that leaders ensure constant and concerted engagement is to make sure the work is meaningful and measurable. People need to see results for what they do. Work becomes meaningful to employees when their leader helps them see the connection between what they do and the success of the organization. Gen Y workers in particular need to know that their work is making a difference. They are motivated most when they are certain their contributions benefit not only their own career path, but the overall company goals, better yet -- the greater good of society. Effective leaders assign people, regardless of age, to work that they find satisfying. They begin with what they know drives individuals in terms of interests, talents, and career goals, and delegate project and work tasks accordingly. But insightful leaders also know that being on a great team can make work more fulfilling. A team that clicks tackles challenges with ease, and the diverse perspectives and skills of the individual team members inspire compelling experiences and more beneficial outcomes. These leaders find ways to make the work more attractive forming teams that can capitalize on the merits and diversity of each others experiences and perspectives. Leaders also encourage team members to coach and praise one another. While it is true that leaders are primarily responsible for ensuring employees are satisfied and engaged in their work, evidence is emerging that non-leaders can also play a significant role in whether an employee chooses to stay or leave a job. In a separate engagement survey conducted by TalentKeepers, when front line employees were asked to rank order reasons they leave jobs, team issues such as the inability to get along with peers, work as a team, or build positive relationships were one of the top five reasons chosen. TalentKeepers. All Rights Reserved. Page 7

8 The leaders of the future recognize that building, engaging, and supporting team interaction plays a major role in ensuring employees are fulfilled, productive, and satisfied. Given this perspective and what we know about how positive interpersonal relationships promote cooperation and success, aware leaders are supporting work environments that allow team members (non-leaders) to impact engagement and retention by crediting team members ideas and efforts mediating conflicts being aware of and addressing individual stress factors relieving tension with humor or other diversions empathizing with each others challenges TalentKeepers encourages leaders to make sure each employee on their team understands the consequences of turnover and to work on a daily basis to prevent it from occurring. In fact, many organizations are creating what TalentKeepers refers to as Retention Agents. Below are just a few responsibilities of a Retention Agent. Encourage and acknowledge a pitch-in spirit. Ask for input on what the employee can do and is willing to do to help engage their peers and try and reduce unwanted turnover. Encourage employees talk to their leader if pressures begin building up. Request that if a co-worker can't make it to work for some reason that an employee suggest to the co-worker to let the leader know in advance. Strongly encourage employees to encourage co-workers who are thinking about leaving, to talk to the leader about it right away. TalentKeepers Leadership Strategies for Making the Workplace Enjoyable and Satisfying Encourage fun in the workplace. Rotate job activities to stimulate interest. Provide choices for challenging new projects. Provide engrossing challenges. Create conditions for special roles and achievements. Create meaningful, interesting work opportunities. Have team members coach, reward, and train each other. Communicate the value of work in terms that are meaningful to people. TalentKeepers. All Rights Reserved. Page 8

9 Conclusion The challenge of engaging and retaining talented employees is not going away any time soon. The leaders of the future recognize that building, engaging, and supporting team interaction plays a major role in ensuring employees are fulfilled, productive, and satisfied. Since the beginning of time, affiliation with others has been a key factor in peoples decisions to join and remain in a community, on a team, in a club, a neighborhood, church, even a relationship.the same is true for jobs. Adapt these three leadership recommendations for leveraging the value of team member interaction and support in your engagement and retention strategies, and you re well on your way to stress-free, high-performing work environments. Solution Spotlight TalentKeepers has developed Team Co-Worker Connection a team/co-worker engagement tool to help co-workers better engage with each other. Our Team Coworker Connection opens doors of communication and mutual work styles helping strengthen team member relationships. Building high-performing teams helps an organization take engagement to the next level by involving employees as part of the engagement process. Organizations that value differences and diversity across all levels of employees allow everyone to appreciate the mission and vision of the organization. Team members and co-workers play a significant role in employee engagement and want to have an active role in the process. Some of the benefits your organization will experience from Team Co-worker Connection are: Improved communication Enhanced team building Resolved conflicts without leader s direction Willingness to share information Increased satisfaction at work The process identifies similarities and differences on seven (7) key drivers of co-worker engagement, including style-oriented drivers such as communication, and task-oriented drivers such as flexibility. Helping team members to understand how they are similar and different from each other on these drivers helps them work more effectively together by appreciating each other s similarities and differences while also leveraging that understanding on assignments and projects. Contact us today to learn more about how your organization can achieve a more engaged and productive workforce with TalentKeepers' solutions or Solutions@TalentKeepers.com TalentKeepers. All Rights Reserved. Page 9

10 Commit. Engage. Excel. Three words. They capture the essence of employee engagement and the intent of every engagement and retention strategy. For 15 years TalentKeepers has been helping organizations and winning awards with solutions that ignite engagement, boost retention and improve business results. Incease your impact. Energize your engagement and retention efforts. Contact us today Employee Engagement Employee Retention Onboarding Leader Training Employee Lifecycle Surveys Exit Surveys Research