Over the past few years, abysmal employee engagement reports have driven businesses into a tizzy of analysis. Employee disengagement and low retention, we know, are costly. Improving engagement is key to improving our bottom line. But what's the recipe for high employee engagement?
Anyone who knows me knows what I think on this topic: improving your volunteer and giving programs are one path to increasing engagement. There’s no single magic bullet, but this much is beyond dispute: people like to work at companies that include them in meaningful corporate philanthropy.
That means understanding that you and your employees need to experience giving back as a joint venture. It should not be a top down order where your employees feel “voluntold,” but a shared experience that embraces everything your employees have to offer, one which helps unify your company and community.
Human capital is the most important part of capitalism. Keep that in mind as we embark upon 2015, and turn to these employee appreciation quotes for inspiration:
“Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without [integrity], you really want them to be dumb and lazy.”
― Warren Buffett
“The role of the CEO is to enable people to excel, help them discover their own wisdom, engage themselves entirely in their work, and accept responsibility for making change.”
― Vineet Nayar, Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down
“I have always believed that the way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers, and that people flourish when they are praised.”
― Sir Richard Branson
“Learning how young people work is imperative - because getting the most out of employees can be the difference between success and failure for many companies.”
― Charlie Caruso, Understanding y
“From reserved parking places to separate bathrooms, the last things managers need are extravagant status symbols that tell them that they are better than the people who work for them.”
― Dean M. Schroeder, The Idea-Driven Organization: Unlocking the Power in Bottom-Up Ideas
“Your employees' ability to take satisfying and productive steps towards career goals is directly proportionate to their self-awareness.”
― Julie Winkle Giulioni, Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want
“Encouraging employees to interact directly with the environment is just an interesting exercise until you debrief their experiences and encourage reflection.”
― Julie Winkle Giulioni, Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want
“Brand is how others see you, culture is how you see yourself.”
― Curt Coffman, Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch: The Secret of Extraordinary Results, Igniting the Passion Within
“Talent, just like gold or any other precious commodity is subject to the same demand and supply economics”
― Gyan Nagpal, Talent Economics: The Fine Line Between Winning and Losing the Global War for Talent
"The Customer Comes Second: Put Your People First and Watch 'em Kick Butt."
--Hal Rosenbluth, Rosenbluth International
"Dream more than others think practical…Expect more than others think possible."
--Howard Schultz, Starbucks Coffee
“A bad attitude from a chronic complaining employee is like a cancer; it will only spread and infect others. This can take your business down in a nanosecond. You must cut out the cancer and invite them to seek employment elsewhere. Quickly.”
― Beth Ramsay, #Networking is people looking for people looking for people
"But I like to think that a lot of managers and executives trying to solve problems miss the forest for the trees by forgetting to look at their people -- not at how much more they can get from their people or how they can more effectively manage their people. I think they need to look a little more closely at what it's like for their people to come to work there every day."
--Gordon Bethune, Continental Airlines
Also read:
New eBook Says Best Corporate Volunteerism is Skills-Based
What Businesses Should Get From Community Relations
2014 Wrap-Up: Philanthropy Ideas for the New Year