Sharlyn J. Lauby's Blog, page 135

Quick Shots for #Recruiting and #HR Pros – Google Hire Edition

In case you missed it, Google has introduced a new product called Hire. As the name implies, it’s focused on recruitment. I heard people talking about it during the TAtech Spring Congress as well as the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Talent Management Conference. It’s still very new, but worth keeping your eye on.

Personally, I’m always a little torn when I hear about new offerings from Google. And this is no exception.

There’s been very few specifics released about Google Hire. I did find a couple of articles like this one from Mashable “Google tests Google Hire, its own jobs tool”.

Workology put together a round-up of information titled “What You Need to Know About Google Hire“.

If you Google the term Google Hire, you’ll discover that the launch had a bit of a challenge. This article from Fortune “Relax—Google Won’t Share Your Browsing History with Employers” explains what happened.

My hesitation with Google is their tendency to abandon projects. Computer World put together a list of products and services that have gone to the Google “Graveyard”. I believe recruiters want to build long-term sources. Searching for a new talent source takes time and resources. Short-term sources are fine, but it’s important for organizations to establish a clear sense of brand.

That being said, I don’t want to be a complete downer. There are some definite advantages. Let’s face it, Google is already in the search and advertising business. Not to mention, candidates start their job search on Google.

It could also be helpful to understand how Google Hire will impact the recruitment industry.

In the end, it’s possible that Google is going to use Hire as a way to share resources. Similar to their blog re:Work. I found this article on Inc. Magazine further emphasizing Google’s willingness to share information – “Here Are All the Documents You Need to Hire Like Google (for Free)”.

It’s no secret that recruiting is a challenge. New companies are going to enter the market. Existing companies – like Google – are going to offer their services. Regardless of our feelings, we have to do our research and possibly give them a try. They could be exactly what we’re looking for.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby during the SHRM Annual Conference in Washington, DC

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Nursing Professionals Want Engagement and Work Life Balance

(Editor’s Note: Today’s post is brought to you by our friends at Kronos, a leading provider of workforce management and human capital management cloud solutions. For the third consecutive year, Forbes has named Kronos one of America’s . Congratulations to Kronos! Enjoy the post.)

While this blog tends to talk about employees in general, we have shared in the past some insights about specific industries such as restaurants and public service. Today we’re going to talk about health care. Specifically, nursing. Because nursing affects everyone.

Earlier this month was National Nurses Week, which we’ve written about before. Kronos recently conducted a survey of nursing professionals titled “Employee Engagement in Nursing” to find out how they handle the on-the-job stress. The results are interesting and noteworthy.

Nurses are Committed to Their Profession

The survey results indicated that 90 percent of nurses are satisfied with the work they do. That’s really good news. I think we all realize nursing is a difficult job. And keep in mind there are two types of nursing jobs. The first is the one we traditionally think of in hospitals and doctor’s offices. The other is in corporate settings and other non-hospital employers.

The downside of a nurse’s tremendous commitment to their work is stress and burnout. The survey shared a few of the reasons that nurses are fatigued on the job:

Increased shifts and workload (60%)
Skipping meals and breaks (42%)
Not being able to leave work on time (21%)

Add to those findings that 44 percent of nurses say their manager doesn’t know how tired they are and 43 percent hide how tired they are from their managers. Not good. Managers aren’t able to help alleviate stress and fatigue when they don’t know it exists.

This dynamic of managers not knowing that their employees are tired and stressed should make hospitals very concerned. More than eighty percent (80%) of registered nurses would consider jobs outside of a hospital because it offers better work-life balance.

Four Ways Organizations Can Engage Nurses

Organizations that employ nurses need to consider adding programs and policies that will reduce stress and fatigue in the workplace. Four suggestions that surfaced in the survey are:

Improved Scheduling. This includes shift swaps, self-scheduling, and flexible shift lengths between eight and 12 hours. More than half (55 percent) of nurses surveyed said that gaining more control over their schedules would be the top factor to reducing work fatigue.

More rest breaks. Organizations need to make sure that they are properly staffed so nurses can take breaks. In addition, managers need to make sure that employees actually take their breaks. It might not seem like a 10- or 15- minute break is much, but research has shown taking breaks makes employees happier and more productive.

Wellness programs. Employee wellness is a business issue. Today’s wellness programs include features like nap rooms, Uber/Lyft rides when employees work late, and counseling. And if you’re wondering about the return-on-investment, a Mercer study cites a correlation between wellness programs and bottom-line performance.

Better employee-manager relations. Managers touch each of the first three things – scheduling, breaks, and wellness. While we’re not implying that managers are to blame, organizations need to create an environment where managers are empowered to handle these issues without question.

It’s Time to Care for Caregivers

The good news is that nurses are satisfied and inspired by their career choice. Given today’s labor market, organizations understand the challenge in recruiting and retaining such dedication.

We need to care for our caregivers!Click To Tweet

Susan Reese, DNP, MBA, RN, CPHIMS, director of Kronos’ healthcare practice group, summed the survey findings up perfectly. “What this survey shows us is that it’s time to care for the caregivers. It also confirms what we instinctively know – nurses are compassionate, hardworking professionals who love what they do. This is the crux of employee engagement and it’s hard to achieve if employees are fatigued. Nurses today want more control over their schedules along with additional breaks, health and wellness programs, and better overtime management. These benefits will ultimately help nurses, patients, and hospitals.”

Hospitals and health systems need to invest more in nurturing and retaining nurses. It’s time to engage them by increasing their emotional commitment toward their employers’ goals. Because when nurses are engaged and healthy, everyone wins.

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Remembering the Importance of Memorial Day

Tomorrow is Memorial Day in the United States. Memorial Day commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in military service. I’d like to think that almost every country has their own version of Memorial Day, even if they don’t recognize it this weekend.

For Americans, this long weekend will probably be involving grilling, watching the basketball playoffs, and hanging out with friends. Mr. Bartender and I are going to check out the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. But during the course of our time off, please join us and take a moment to reflect on the significance of this national holiday.

The United States exists because our ancestors were willing to go to battle for our independence.  And, we are able to openly complain express our views about our economy, our government, etc. because people have and continue to defend our basic freedoms.

Regardless of your political opinions, Memorial Day is about honoring and paying our respects to the people who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

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Logic Is Not Always Linear – Friday Distraction

(Editor’s Note: Today’s post is brought to you by our friends at Kronos , a leading provider of workforce management and human capital management cloud solutions. The company was named of the . Congrats to the Kronos team! Enjoy the post.)

I like to think of myself as a logical person. One of the definitions of logical is “(of an action, development, decision, etc.) natural or sensible given the circumstances.” Notice it didn’t include linear. Something can be logical and not necessarily linear.

An example is PowerPoint versus Prezi. Both provide users with the ability to create digital presentations. PowerPoint does it in a linear fashion. Prezi in a non-linear one. But that doesn’t mean a presentation created on Prezi isn’t logical.

I was reminded of the importance of logic when I saw today’s Time Well Spent from our friends at Kronos. Going from Point A to Point B isn’t always linear.

When organizations are trying to connect the dots, they have several tools at their disposal.

People. Sometimes we need to step away from challenges to see the logic or the connection. Sometimes we need co-workers to help us see the pattern or a different way of thinking. Each of us must be willing to say, “I don’t see it.” Or “Help me see it.” It takes self-awareness and trusting relationships with the rest of the team.

Technology. This is one of those moments where technology can be our best friend. Technology is about logic. Organizations need to be willing to use technology to help them see trends and themes. However, I would add that technology needs people to recognize the need for tech and to use it effectively. Great technology used badly isn’t going to provide accuracy and efficiency.

Data. Speaking of accuracy and efficiency, for technology to play its role, it needs good data. We’ve all heard that old phrase “garbage in, garbage out”. It applies here too. People need to know good data when they see it. Otherwise, they could make decisions based on false assumptions. And that’s not logical.

Organizations should use their people, technology, and data to make sensible decisions. Logical decisions. Because logical decisions are easy to explain and understand. When everyone is on the same page, and working toward the same goal, the company is able to accomplish its strategy.

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How to Find Bottlenecks In Your Talent Acquisition Process

Being able to deal with constraints is an important part of business. Constraints are stages of a process that causes the entire process to slow down, be less effective, or stop completely. In the book “The Goal”, Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt outlines The Theory of Constraints as well as how to identify and manage them successfully. It’s a good read that HR pros should have in their library.

A logical first step in successfully dealing with constraints is identifying them. We know in problem-solving that, if you only deal with a symptom then you never really fix the problem. Same applies here. It’s about getting to the root cause of the constraint. Take talent acquisition as an example. When the talent acquisition process is broken, everybody knows it. And in my experience, everyone blames everything on recruiting being broken.

“We can’t finish the project on time because we don’t have enough employees.”

“We can’t deliver good customer service because we don’t have the right employees.”

 “I really need to fire Leonard, but if I do I’ll never find his replacement.”

Problems (or constraints, bottlenecks etc.) in recruiting isn’t something to ignore because finding top talent is essential to the business. The question becomes, how do you identify the constraint?

Let’s continue using the recruitment example and focus specifically on resumes and applications. Since talent acquisition is a process that involves multiple people: human resources, hiring manager, payroll, and possibly other individuals, we can start with an analysis of how the process works. Does your organization who is responsible for each part? When it comes to  resumes and applications:

Who should spend the most time reviewing resumes? Should it be the hiring manager? Or HR?
What does each person involved in the hiring process actually do with a candidate’s resume? More importantly, what should they be doing?
Does each person know their role and responsibility? Do they know what the other members of the recruiting team are responsible for?
Is each person capable of successfully completing their role in the process?

In order to identify the potential constraint with applications and resumes, these questions must be answered. Organizations need to know that the process they’ve designed on a white board is the process that actually happens. They need to know that each person involved in the process knows their role and is capable of doing it. And that each person knows their role in the context of the other people involved in the process.

To minimize constraints, organizations might want to consider making investments in developing high-performance recruiting teams. Many companies invest in team building for departments. Sometimes in team development for project teams. According to Dr. Eduardo Salas, companies that invest in team training can see as much as a 20 percent increase in team performance. Recruiting teams are the group tasked with  identifying and selecting the individuals who will service customers, create the next company innovation, and become the future leadership. It only makes sense to create a development initiative for this team.

Find the bottlenecks in your talent acquisition processClick To Tweet

Which brings us back to constraints. Is it possible that, if a company asked themselves those four questions, they would find the source of their constraint? Once the constraint is identified, then it can be appropriately managed. Here are three action steps that could correct the bottleneck:

Role reinforcement. Make sure each person who has a role in the process knows their tasks and accepts responsibility for their completion.
Training. Any individual who needs skill development should be provided the opportunity to become proficient.
Process communication. To make sure that steps in the process are not being duplicated or accidently forgotten, the process can be communicated to all stakeholders.

If organizations want to hire the best talent, they have to create effective processes and troubleshoot those processes to keep them the best they can possibly be. It starts with the recruiting team.

Image of Sharlyn Lauby captured while speaking at the Flora Icelandic HR Management Conference in Reykjavik, Iceland

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Employee Engagement Surveys: 4 Planning and Execution Must-Haves

(Editor’s Note: Today’s post is brought to you  by Readex Research , which provides expert survey services to help businesses understand their internal and external customers. Their services include employee experience surveys. Enjoy the post!)

Two important pieces of any organizational initiative are planning and execution. Planning helps set the foundation for any project. We use planning time to allocate resources, set expectations, and establish milestones for completion.

When it comes to execution, I’m reminded of the book “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done” by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. Particularly, that execution involves continuous improvement. If organizations want to get really good at execution, they should try to find what works well and include some sort of regularity to their efforts.

4 Survey Planning and Execution Strategies

The same holds true for employee engagement surveys. If you want a survey to be successful, it needs to be planned and executed well. Here are four strategies to consider when planning and executing a survey:

STRATEGY #1: The survey needs to have a vision and an objective.

Think of a survey vision like an organization’s vision. It’s that picture of what we want the organization to look like in the future. In this case, with a survey, it’s the picture of what we want the survey to look like. The objective is the target we’re trying to accomplish.

A good place to start this conversation about vision and objectives is with the purpose of the survey. What are the reasons that the survey is being conducted? And let me suggest that “because we’ve always done it” really shouldn’t be the reason. As you’re thinking about the why, start considering the “categories” or areas of information you’re trying to gather.

Relationships and Culture – How are employees interacting with others? What do they feel while on the job?
Compensation and Benefits – Reactions to pay and benefits offered.
Communication – Opinions about the dialog that happens at work. Do employees feel comfortable that they can speaking freely?
Management and the Company – Views on top leadership and the organization.
Employee Experience – What’s the overall employee experience like?

The final piece of the vision strategy is to discuss how the organization will use the survey results.  Visioning not only supports the purpose but it also helps in content design.  If you can’t see how you will use pieces of data, then ask yourself if it really needs to be in the survey.

Surveys send the message to employees that the company values their feedback and is open to making changes. It could be detrimental to the survey results to ask for employee feedback in an area that the company has no intention of changing. For instance, don’t ask questions about flexible schedules if you aren’t able (or willing) to offer them. Spending time developing a clear vision and objectives for your employee engagement surveys will drive the rest of the development and implementation.

STRATEGY #2 – The survey content should be well-crafted.

Remember that technology term, “Garbage in; garbage out” (GIGO)? When it comes to developing survey content, that’s the key. If the organization develops poorly worded content, it will get poor information and data.  This is one strategy that organizations shouldn’t skimp on. (Well, you shouldn’t skimp on any of these strategies…but if I had to pick one that HR needs to hold firm on…this is it.)

If you have been trained on proper survey development, then by all means, do this in-house. However, most of us haven’t, which is why we might want to seek professional expertise. There are two ways to design items:

Work with professionals to create good content. There are many qualified consultants and firms that can create content for your employee engagement surveys. The advantage to hiring a third party to create your survey content is that they can create unique content. The disadvantage is that this unique content can be expensive and time consuming.

Work with pre-developed content. Another option for businesses that’s more budget-friendly and faster to implement is creating a survey using content that has already been developed. Companies get the benefit of using proven content. And while it’s not unique content, organizations should ask themselves…does it really need to be?

As part of content development, it would be beneficial to reach consensus on a handful of benchmarking items. This content would appear in future surveys as a way for the organization to compare results and build a historical trend. For example, if the organization plans to experience several major changes over the next few years, it could be helpful to have a series of benchmarking items to gauge how the business changes are impacting employee engagement. A few sample benchmarking items are:

I know what is expected of me at work.
I receive adequate recognition for good work.
The work I do is important to meeting the mission of [Company].
I can speak freely to my supervisor on a variety of topics.
The information I receive from management is straightforward and honest.
My supervisor and I have a good relationship.

STRATEGY #3 – The survey should align with the organization’s brand and culture.

Even when the organization partners with an outside consultant to administer employee engagement surveys, it doesn’t change who owns the survey. It’s the company’s survey. As such, it needs to look and feel like the rest of the company’s communications.

The survey should include the company logo and images that employees associate with the company. In addition, the content needs to sound like the company. So, if the company marketing is edgy, the survey needs to have that edgy feel too.

In case anyone is wondering, having the look and feel of the survey content align with the other company communication doesn’t diminish or compromise the survey content. It fact, it actually makes employees more comfortable with taking the survey and sharing their open, honest feedback. And that’s what this is all about.

Speaking of open, honest feedback, organizations need to consider offering their employee engagement surveys in the languages that employees are most comfortable communicating in. I can tell you from my own experience with surveys, we received much richer information from employees when they were able to share feedback in their preferred language – even if the employee spent the majority of their working day speaking English. It’s about creating a survey environment that is accommodating to the way employees want to share their thoughts.

Which leads me to my last point. Organizations need to think about the different mediums that are available to conduct their employee engagement surveys. I know we spend a lot of time here on HR Bartender talking about the growing numbers of people with smartphones and tablets…and all of that is true. But everyone does not have access to the same technology or internet. So, it’s important to provide options. The most common survey mediums include online using a mobile responsive website, interactive voice responsive (IVR), and of course, paper and pen with a sealed envelope.

Oh, and I would encourage companies not to knock the good old-fashioned pen and paper option. I realize that technology makes surveys very accessible. And technology would be a preferred option. But, for employees who spend hours on planes and in remote locations, the pen/paper option could be a perfect place to complete a survey in peace and quiet.

STRATEGY #4 – The survey should create an inviting process.

Participation is important in any kind of survey. The way to get participation is by making employees feel their feedback is welcome and respected.

Organizations should announce the survey to all employees, including an outline of the process. If the company is using an outside firm to administer the survey, the announcement should include an introduction to the survey company.

Employees want to know that the organization they are sharing personal information with is credible. They want to trust the company they are giving feedback to. By defining the process and people involved with the process, it brings credibility to the survey and the survey results.

The other piece that increases participation is respecting participant’s time. I think we’ve become a society where shorter is better. According to Readex CEO Jack Semler, 25 – 30 items is a good range for employee engagement surveys. “All of us in survey research know this: Without willing participants, we have nothing. This is why it is vitally important to be aware of and respectful of the time it takes to complete a survey. The fact is that survey participation depends on many things. For example, customers will be more likely to fill out a survey than non-customers. However, this wouldn’t give the sponsoring company the license to ask 100 questions! Keep surveys focused and limited to what you need to know. Leave out questions that are merely nice to know.”

Employee Engagement Surveys: Here's Your BlueprintClick To Tweet

Finally, as much as the survey will be a priority for HR and consume their time, it will not have the same priority for everyone. Plan on a few reminders during the survey window. That’s the great thing about technology, you can schedule those in advance. That being said, you might want to consider telling employees that in the initial survey announcement. So, they don’t get a reminder that think the company doesn’t have their survey responses. (smile.)

Bookmark This! It’s Your Survey Blueprint

Employee engagement surveys are important – to the employee and the company. But they are only as good as the information you get from them. Proper planning and execution will yield good information.

Readex has created an excellent downloadable one-page reminder titled “6 Guidelines for Successful Survey Content and Design”. You might want to bookmark it for future reference.

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INTERVIEW: Dave Ulrich on How To Win the War for Talent

The term “war for talent” was first used in 2001 in a Harvard Business Press book by the same name. It refers to a competitive landscape in recruiting and retention. Given the recent shift to a candidate-driven market and other indicators like low unemployment, the use of war for talent seems very appropriate.

Dave Ulrich and his colleagues have a new book out on the topic titled “Victory Through Organization: Why the War for Talent is Failing Your Company and What You Can Do About It”. I feel like he needs no introduction in the HR world. But that just wouldn’t be proper. Dr. Ulrich is the Rensis Likert Professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and a partner at The RBL Group, a consulting firm focused on helping organizations and leaders deliver value.

I had the chance to chat with him a few years ago about the future of the HR profession. And I’m delighted he agreed to talk with me about his new book and the war for talent.

Dr. Ulrich, the very first sentence in your new book says, “HR is not about HR. HR begins and ends with the business.” On one level, I get it. But isn’t that just another ‘seat at the table’ reference?

[Ulrich] The metaphor of ‘getting a seat at the table’ is about HR having access to and influence on business results. This aspiration becomes somewhat trite unless and until HR actually contributes to business results. In our research with 32,000 people in 1,400 businesses (with 22 global regional partners), we found that the competencies required to get to the table are different from the competencies required to deliver real business value.

Getting invited to business discussions (seat at the table metaphor) comes when HR professionals are credible activists. But, once invited, HR professionals have to deliver value to key stakeholders both inside (employees, line managers) and outside (customers, investors) the company. Stakeholder value to those outside the company increases when HR professionals are strategic positioners. Then, to deliver real business value, HR professionals need to be paradox navigators. Gaining the seat is not necessarily delivering once in the dialogue.

Who should own the war for talent and why?

[Ulrich] We are quite clear that line managers are the ‘owners’ of talent. They are ultimately responsible and accountable. Qualified HR professionals are architects who create the systems and anthropologists who recognize the context. (Editor’s note: I wholeheartedly agree that HR pros are the architects of work).

The book shares an HR competency model with three core drivers: credible activist, strategic positioner, and paradox navigator. Over the years, we’ve both seen all the articles about “this is what HR needs to do”, etc. How do HR professionals know the best advice to follow?

[Ulrich] In the HR field (like other fields), there are a lot of opinions, generally based on good intent and personal experience.  While each person’s experience is unique and valuable, it is useful to rely on large data sets to see trends individuals might miss. HR pros recognize and accept data based decision making to ensure that their personal experiences culminate in real success.  In addition, we are convinced that it is NOT just the HR competencies, but their impact on key outcomes of personal effectiveness, stakeholder value, and business results. HR pros should use their personal judgment as informed by rigorous theory and research.

Where do you see the role of technology in human resources?

[Ulrich] We have identified four stages of HR technology in delivering value. We have proposed an HR technology audit as each of these stages enables HR to use technology to increase value.

Stage 1 is efficiency and technology enables more cost efficiency delivery of HR services.
Stage 2 is innovation and HR technology allows for innovation in staffing, training, performance management, rewards, and communication. Much of the machine learning, automation, and robotics exists to create such innovation.
Stage 3 is information and technology helps organizations source and act on external data that informs choices.
Stage 4 is connection and technology connects people to each other inside and suppliers, customers, and investors outside and connects people to their organizations.



Dave Ulrich: how to win the war for talentClick To Tweet

IMHO, the challenges of finding and keeping talent aren’t going away anytime soon. If HR could only do one thing that would have the fastest impact, what would it be?

[Ulrich] Talent continues to be a real challenge for organizations. We have seen that many organizations have learned where and how to source talent, bring talent on board, reward and motivate talent, and retain the best talent.

We believe that many of the top employees have enormous choice over where they work, and leading organizations are working to help employees find meaning and purpose from work (see Why of Work). In addition, our research convincingly found that the quality of the organization (however labeled … the systems, teams, processes, or capabilities) has 4 times the impact on business results as talent! This means that HR professionals should be at least as concerned about the technical competencies of the individuals as the social and cultural fit in the organization. Talent matters, but organization matters more.

My thanks to Dr. Ulrich for giving us a sneak peek into his new book, “Victory Through Organization”. If you want to read more, download chapter one (FREE!)

It’s no surprise that attracting, engaging, and retaining talent is a key initiative for organizations. This challenge – the war for talent – places a lot of pressure on human resources. We need to be tech-savvy, process-driven coaches for the business. While it’s a tall order, it’s also a great opportunity for HR to bring business value to the organization.

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What Do Employees Want – Friday Distraction

The title of today’s post is a question I hear all the time. “What do our employees want?”

The first answer that comes to mind is “If you don’t know, ask them.” But I do realize that’s easier said than done. It’s hard to survey employees. Organizations could be apprehensive to ask a direct question for fear of what employees might say. The last thing anyone wants to do is ask, “What would make you happier working here?” and then not be able to deliver.

So, sometimes we look to surveys as a starting point. And that’s okay. Surveys and reports can get conversations started.

I wanted to share with you a couple of new surveys that you can use to start the “what employees want” conversation in your organization. The first survey is a Harvard Business Review article titled, “The Most Desirable Employee Benefits”. What I like about the results is that the respondents were workers aged 18 – 81. It represents everyone in the workplace, not just a small cross-section of a generation.

The second survey was published by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). It’s their 2017 Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement Survey. This survey shares how certain activities can contribute to job satisfaction. It has more than simply benefits, which is nice.

One of the things I look for in surveys is some sort of trend. That could be an indicator of where to start. I don’t believe you’ll find any surprises in these surveys. Employees want to be respected by their manager and co-workers. They want to be paid a fair wage for the work they do and traditional benefits like health insurance. Finally, employees want to have flexibility in their work schedules.

The good news for employers is that this shouldn’t be a surprise. What employees want isn’t some sort of wacky, out of the ordinary request. What employees want is a positive work environment, competitive compensation and benefits, and flexible work. But they want those things consistently and they want them executed well.

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Human Resources Is the Architect of Work

Whenever people ask me what I do and I say “human resources”, their first response is … oh, you hire people. Which is true, HR often has responsibility for talent acquisition. But it’s certainly not the sum and substance of the role.

So, when I try to explain what HR does, it becomes this long list of things – benefits, compensation, safety, employee relations, etc. etc. Of course, people’s eyes begin to glaze over…human resources is a tough profession to define.

Today, when I describe what HR does, I like to say that HR is the architect of work.

Think about it. What does an architect do? They’re responsible for creating functional, safe, aesthetically pleasing, economical structures. They get their job done by not only designing but communicating their design to clients, builders, and others.

Human resources professionals are responsible for creating work that:

People will want to apply for
Pays a wage and benefits package companies can afford
Offers purpose to employees
Meets a business need within the organization

In addition, work can change, just like some buildings change over time. HR is responsible for taking a holistic approach to work and making sure any changes align with the goals of the organization.

The conversation about alignment reminds me of the funny story about someone I worked with years ago. He and his wife would go out to dinner every night. And one night they sketched out their dream home on a bar napkin. They took the bar napkin to an architect and said, “This is our dream home, draw us a blue print.” The architect looked at the napkin and asked, “Can I make one suggestion? Put a kitchen in it.” Years later, they built their dream home and, taking the architect’s suggestion, included a kitchen. They also put a sign at the kitchen entry that said, “This kitchen is for resale purposes only.” LOL!

Human Resources Is the Architect of WorkClick To Tweet

The role of human resources is to be the architect of work. To create worthwhile jobs that people want to fulfill the company’s goals and objectives.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby after speaking at the 2016 MBTI Users Conference in San Francisco, CA

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Employee Engagement Defined

If someone asked you to define employee engagement in a single sentence, what would you say?

Back in 1964, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart coined the phrase “I know it when I see it.” to describe his threshold test for obscenity. I do sometimes wonder if employee engagement is like porn. We all know what employee engagement means, right? Because “I know it when I see it.”

We see the term ”employee engagement” everywhere. There are countless articles on the subject. But if somebody asked you to describe employee engagement in one sentence, what would you say?

No disrespect to Justice Stewart, but employee engagement has become too important to completely rely on the “I know it when I see it” as the one sentence definition.  So, I challenged myself to find a concise explanation for employee engagement.

It’s not as easy as it looks. We talk about employee engagement in terms of outcomes like high productivity and better profits. We also like to mention it in relation to improved manager – employee communications. Those are all important but it really doesn’t articulate what employee engagement is. Then, thanks to BlessingWhite and this video titled, “The ‘X’ Model of Employee Engagement”, I think I found it.

I believe the video does a nice job of explaining engagement in a succinct manner. Employee engagement lies at intersection of maximum contribution for the business and maximum satisfaction for employees. It’s a sustainable level of high performance that benefits both the company and the employee.

Finally, a real definition of employee engagement.Click To Tweet

Sometimes I wonder if the reason companies are having so much difficulty with employee engagement is because they are operating with a vague definition. They know it’s important but can’t articulate it. And if organizations can’t define it, how do they know that managers “know it when they see it”? The first step to solving any challenge is being able to agree on the definition.

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