In several previous columns I’ve talked about two indispensable business benchmarks: customer satisfaction and cash flow. Now, let’s add another - employee engagement. All three are keys to effective management and marketing.

    Most times we look for increased productivity from better automation, better work and management processes or more skilled people. But effective employee engagement may hold the greatest potential for improvement.

What’s engagement all about? Simply stated, it means engaging an employee’s interest in working for your company. Several day-to-day factors tie-in with engagement: Interesting and meaningful work, variety of responsibilities, capable and similarly committed colleagues, respectful and respected management.

    What’s the estimated engagement of America’s workforce? Robert Morison, director of research at BSG Concours and co-author of Workforce Crisis, answers, “Not high. One-fifth is really engaged; almost as many are disengaged, their goal is just to cash a paycheck. The average employee is not far above being neutral.”

Morrison adds, “What causes low engagement? No matter how we segment the workforce, the number one answer is always the same: feeling at a dead end in one's job. One-third of American workers today feel dead-ended.”

    A 2006 Gallup report confirmed “business units with actively disengaged workers experience 30 to 50 % more turnover than those with engaged employees. And those disengaged employees annually miss more work.”

The heart of activating employee engagement lies within these two facts: People are engaged when they fully accept the organization’s core values, believe in its mission and understand how to achieve it. No organization, small or large, can win over the long run without engaged employees.

    What are core values? The best definition I uncovered says, “The core values of an organization are those values we hold which form the foundation on which we perform work and conduct ourselves.  We have an entire universe of values, but some of them are so primary, so important to us that through out the changes in society, government, politics, and technology they are still the core values we will abide by.” 

    “In an ever-changing world, core values are constant.  Core values are not descriptions of the work we do or the strategies we employ to accomplish our mission.  Core values underlie our work, how to interact with each other, and which strategies we employ to fulfill our mission.  The core values are the basic elements of how we go about our work.  They are the practices we use (or should be using) every day in everything we do.” (nps.gov/training/uc/whcv.htm)

    Whole Foods Market (wholefoodsmarket.com) is the world's largest retailer of natural and organic foods, with stores throughout North America and the United Kingdom. They describe themselves; “Many people feel Whole Foods is an exciting company of which to be a part and a very special place to work. Core values are the soul of our company.”

    You can review Whole Foods complete business plan, including their core values, mission, marketing and much more. Visit wholefoodsmarket.com –select Investor Relations, then Annual Reports and download 2007 Form 10-K - the annual report required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Enjoy! It’s far more informative than most!

    Simple surveys can probe how your employees feel about engagement: the strategic direction of the company and the quality of their career opportunities. Ask questions such as: Do you believe our company has goals you fully understand, accept, and support? Do you feel the company cares about you? Are being given the opportunity to grow? Each seeks response to the key question: Are we all on the same team?

Jack G Hardy