I had the pleasure of speaking to human resource professionals yesterday at the Austin Human Resource Management Association annual conference.  My four hour session was titled Employee Hold’em - The Game, and was attended by about 100 folks.  I think the majority of them were there to pick up the 3.75 continuing education credits required to keep up their certification, however I like to believe they were there just to hear my feckless banter. 

During a second scheduled break in the presentation, a gentleman came up to me with a couple of questions.  He mentioned that he had been having difficulty with a new company leader, perhaps due to the fact that the new president was European, and not used to some of ways of today’s employees.  Of most concern to this h.r. manager was what was seen by many employees as a lack of concern, especially in regards to work-life balance. 

The new president took a very strict line on providing “flexibility” in schedules.  Employees, unlike before he arrived, were not allowed to come in early or work late to accommodate a personal issue.  Although this consistency in policy provided “equity” across the board, it didn’t provide the kind of flexibility that the employees, managers, and human resources desired. 

I asked the gentleman if he could show a difference in employee satisfaction “before and after” the new president came in.  More importantly, could he show differences in production, efficiency, error rates, absenteeism, revenue, profit, or anything else that could link to a change in policy.  Although he didn’t have anything like that, he mentioned the information was available and could look at the results.  I mentioned I would happy to help if he needed me.

Interestingly, my topic following that break was related to the business impact improvements in employee engagement have on business success.  One of my clients has shown significant improvement in everything from revenue, procedures, workman’s compensation claims, EBITDA, and of course, employee turnover.  Another client reduced the number of employees leaving in their first year from 46% down to 34% over the course of 18 months, while improving the engagement of their employees 10%.  Still another client has seen millions of dollars of savings per month by lowering overall turnover while at the same time lengthening the “time to fill” by doing a better job of Recruiting (finding the right talent for the right job at the right time).

These clients have proven my story for me.  Senior leaders and boards of directors no longer question the benefit of asking employees their opinion, and then acting on those comments.  Does it take a small leap of faith to initiate this discussion with your workforce?  Sure it does.  It takes a brave person (and company) to ask their employees what they really think of them.  It’s hard not to take the comments personally, especially if you are the business owner.

However the goal of these discussions is to ultimately improve the satisfaction and loyalty of customers.  By ensuring that employees are engaged in their organization, not just retained, we can guarantee that these same employees will work harder on behalf of customers, recommend the organization as both a great place to work and a great place to buy from, and stay longer because they want to, not because they feel they have to.

 At the end of my speech, the gentleman came up to me and asked whether he could use the information I presented with his boss, and of course I said yes.  You can’t manage what you don’t measure.