Employee Engagement: See their future
What people do today is largely motivated by where they think it will take them in the future. It’s as true on the job as it was for every employee dreaming of a future career when he or she was in school. Companies that are deliberate about helping employees chart that future get those people’s best work.
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What are the New Rules of Engagement?
The New Rules of Engagement℠ are, put simply, a diagnostic tool. They act as levers to help managers with improving the commitment and performance of their employees and give managers the ability to look at employee engagement in a different way, conducive to the conditions of today’s dynamic workforce.
In the first segment of this series, we talked about how to build a foundation to drive commitment and performance among employees.
What comes next in strengthening employee commitment and performance?
What people do today is largely motivated by where they think it will take them in the future. It’s as true on the job as it was for every employee dreaming of a future career when he or she was in school. Companies that are deliberate about helping employees chart that future get those people’s best work.
Would you be able to stay committed to performing well at a job for a company you couldn’t see a future for? Probably not. Would you be able to stay committed to performing well at a company you could see moving on to great things without you? Again, probably not.
People need to be able to see promise (a future), for both the company they work for and their own prospects at that company. Seeing little future is too depressing to bear for long, and understandably so; why wouldn’t someone look for the best path forward?
How can a company ‘see the future’ for its employees?
In order for employees to feel the company they work for sees their future, they need to be able to say:
- I know what my next career step will be at this organization
- I am optimistic about my future at my current organization
- My career will advance as this organization grows
Where does Canada fit in?
Data from a recent (2014) survey BI WORLDWIDE conducted shows that in Canada, ‘See their future’ is ordered 3rd most important in driving commitment among employees and8th of the 12 rules in driving performance.
Interestingly enough, for Canada (and the US), employees think about the future in isolation, meaning planning for the future might be somewhat separated from what’s going on today and regardless of today’s situation, tomorrow has the potential of being different.
Less than half of Canadian respondents agreed to the statements: I know what my next career step will be at this organization and I am optimistic about my future at my current organization.
Not quite 40% of respondents agreed to the statement: My career will advance as this organization grows.
The take away? Canadian employers could improve upon helping their employees realize a future with their company if they want them to stick around for any length of time.
The New Rules of Engagement are the subject of a book called Widgets: The 12 New Rules for Managing Your Employees As If They’re Real People.
To learn more about how we can help your company with employee engagement or the New Rules of Engagement survey, we welcome you to get in touch at: canada@biworldwide.com.
If you are new to BI WORLDWIDE Canada’s perspective on employee engagement, click here to check out our first post of this series.
