• The first time since I have been conducting national and international research on employee loyalty, engagement and retention
• A leading indicator of deteriorating morale and retention among “worker-bee” employees in the future
• A hindrance to improving efficiency, productivity and error rate
• An impending problem that will cost businesses billions of dollars in the future

What could it be?

Bird Flu?

Global Warming?

The Never-ending Democratic Primary Season?

Nah…

Supervisors have lower levels of engagement than Individual Contributors. Let me do that again for you… Supervisors have lower levels of engagement than Individual Contributors. This time with feeling…. Supervisors have lower levels of engagement than Individual Contributors.

Now that’s gonna sell some new books.

Think about it. The folks that are responsible for squeezing “better, cheaper, faster” out of your processes and people are at their lowest levels of engagement in more than a decade. The supervisors you count on to train and develop your people are themselves halfway out the door, looking for their next job. The supervisors that are caught in that “Valley of Ambiguity” between doing “what’s right” and doing “what’s legal”. The supervisors that can make or break any human resources initiative.

Just as many supervisors pulling for your company as pushing against it (35% are Fully Engaged, 35% are Unengaged).

Their perceptions of fairness, communications, and supervision at or below the levels of Executives, Middle Managers, and Individual Contributors.

The group who is least likely to feel their organization deserves their loyalty among the various positions in the company.

The group who is most likely to disagree they are proud to work for the company or feel a strong sense of belonging to the organization.

The group who is least likely to work hard or provide enthusiastic referrals for the organization.

The group who sees their “competitive situation” (how their job stacks up against employees with similar jobs in other companies) worse than other positions as it relates to pay, benefits, their relationship with their boss, their stress level, their work-life balance, and their training and development opportunities.

In order to get the most out of your supervisors, you have to follow the following 10 commandments:

1. Realize that perception often overshadows reality

2. Train employees so they can leave, or else they’ll leave

3. Train supervisors so they can lead, or else they’ll leave

4. Do more than just talk the talk - align espoused values with actual practice
5. Manage performance every day of the year with intentional, explicit, and continual feedback
6. Practice the principle “Fire Fast Hire Slow”
7. Recognize that training is an investment, not a cost
8. Identify performance problems, and then fix them
9. Hold supervisors and managers accountable for employee-centric measures
10. Employee Quit a Boss, Not a Company