Neworld, Great relationships build great brands

Following on a recent blog posted by Anita Kerr and myself, I have since come across some more interesting facts on employee engagement from an H.R. prospective. A key element to managing employees in an efficient manner is having simple, clear goals that create clarity, alignment and job satisfaction. It is important to create clarity around what needs to be accomplished and managers should revisit the goals regularly to ensure the team is moving forward.

Providing feedback is difficult to both manager and employee. However, the benefits outweigh the problems if it’s done correctly. Consider this:

• While most managers don’t enjoy giving feedback, most employees love receiving it. In fact, a high percentage of employees crave feedback regardless of whether it’s positive or negative.
• It has been proved that leaders who gave honest feedback were rated as being five times more effective than those who didn’t. Also, their employees were rated as being three times more engaged.

Other ways you can connect with employees includes showing the language of appreciation, based on Dr. Gary Chapman’s book The 5 Love Languages, to connect with employees.

• Words of Affirmation: This can be done by publicly acknowledging the efforts an individual made in an all-hands meeting/company newsletter and even sending them a hand-written note.
• Acts of Service: This could come in the form of offering to help with a stressful project, assisting with a technical issue, re-arranging plans so that others can attend to important personal matters or even something as simple as bringing someone a cup of their favourite coffee.
• Quality Time: Spending time with people to connect in a personal way could take the form of playing golf, a joint lunch or a coffee break.
• Receiving Gifts: Ask employees what their interests and likes are. Gifts associated with those interests would be a welcome surprise that creates a deeper bond with the organisation.
• Physical Touch: It’s important to be sensitive to boundaries and consider your personal connection with individuals in order to show an appropriate type of physical expression.

But what does it look like when employees feel connected to their organisations?

• Productivity improves by 20-25% in organisations with connected employees.
• Employees who exercise their strengths on a daily basis are 8% more productive and 6 times more likely to be engaged.
• High performing employees have three things in common: talent, high engagement, and 10+ years of service within the company.

According to Maslow, a person’s motivation is derived from attempting to fulfil five basic needs: physical, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization. The diagram shows a pyramid-like hierarchy of a person’s needs.

DEIRDRE O’SULLIVAN, H.R. MANAGER

Dee has been part of the Neworld family for nearly 25 years, having worked in many roles in the company she has been our HR Manager for the past 10 years and this is her favourite role so far. Dee believes our “USP” is our wonderful, talented staff and it is her job to keep them happy. Our ethos is “great relationships build great brands” and we strive to have great relationships with all members of our staff and this comes across to our clients.