Keeping Your Keepers
Keeping Your Keepers: 50 Engaging Ideas for Employees
The following list includes 50 ideas to engage and energize your staff that I’ve pulled from a variety of sources over the years – personal experience, clients, books, magazines, web articles, you name it. The “Top 5” that are capitalized and highlighted yellow are ones I consider to be not optional. The others are for your reference. You may want to circulate a condensed version of this list and see which resonate with your people. Alternatively, you could “surprise” them with a new initiative and see how it goes. Whatever you decide, know that “engagement” isn’t something that just happens.
Like exercise, you get out of it what you put in it. For an electronic copy of this document, please visit www.ProfessionalStudio365.com/YPO .
- Emily Bennington
THE FOUNDATION
1. DEVELOP INDIVIDUAL CAREER PLANS.
You must work with your employees to create a series of professional (and personal if you choose) objectives and have a system in place to provide regular feedback and support as they accomplish them. Sample individual career plan online at www.ProfessionalStudio365.com/YPO .
2. IMPLEMENT A FORMAL ONBOARDING PROGRAM. The retention gains from onboarding are in the neighborhood of 2-6%, making this on par with management initiatives like Toyota
Lean and Six Sigma.
3. SHARE YOUR GOALS AND STRATEGY. Really take the time to articulate and explain your company’s overall strategy and objectives to your employees. How do you expect them to serve as ambassadors of the business to clients and each other if they have no idea where you’re going?
4. SHARE YOUR NUMBERS.
At NGK Spark Plug, the company’s financials are posted clearly on the wall for everyone to see. VP of US Operations Robert Pepper says this transparency strengthens the team, which was especially needed through the auto crisis of 2008-2009.
Incidentally, during that time, Pepper and the management at NGK held monthly “town hall” meetings where employee attendance was mandatory. Pepper says these meetings were critical to “squashing the rumor mill” and keeping everyone on the same page during a very bumpy ride.
5. CONDUCT A CULTURAL AUDIT.
Anonymously survey your entire staff annually. Have them rate a variety of typically “unspoken” issues, e.g. is their compensation and benefits package fair, does their manager listen and respond, how is the teamwork at your organization, etc? But more th an just asking, really prove you’re listening by implementing new ideas (and getting rid of things that aren’t working.) Note: Your audit survey could look very similar to the 6-Month New Employee Survey posted online at www.ProfessionalStudio365.com/YPO .
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Keeping Your Keepers
Ideas for YOU
6. Report YOUR Progress to Them.
Every week, send your staff a Friday Update that outlines your accomplishments and goals for the week ahead. This is a simple bulleted email that will take you about 15 minutes to create, but has a multitude of benefits including keeping staff
“in sync” with your priorities and giving you an outstanding way to lead by example.
7. Hold their managers accountable.
One of the best ways (by far) to keep your most talented people is to make sure their managers are well-trained and effective, are empowering them, and giving them the tools and flexibility to be effective in their jobs. For a simple way to get started, Google “Gallup Q12” and survey them using those questions.
8. Make them “prove they’re worth it.” I asked for a promotion I wasn’t ready for once. (I thought I was ready but, in hindsight, not so much). However, rather than just say “no”, my boss at the time gave me a list of 15 tasks, e.g. read and report back to the team on a classic business book, identify and propose solutions that would help the office be more efficient, develop a SWOT to analyze a client service issue, etc. I could pick ten and, once complete, he would open the discussion about my raise. He provided feedback on my development throughout the process and, nine months later, I got the promotion. This was a brilliant management tool.
9. Invite Them to Breakfast / Lunch. At Allen & Gerritsen, a Boston-based advertising agency recently named Ad Age magazine’s “#1 Best Place to Work”, CEO Eric Leist hosts a monthly
“three martini lunch” at his office. Lunch is served in martini glasses and employees get to ask Leist anything they want. (Note: If you have a lot of employees, take a page from Cisco
CEO John Chambers and break it into monthly hour-long birthday breakfasts. Only employees with a birthday that month are invited to attend.)
10. Find out what they collect. The CEO of Southwest Airlines keeps track of items company employees collect (a database of over 8,000) and sends new pieces to people he wants to recognize.
11. Give them an opportunity to represent you.
Ask them to serve in a panel discussion or otherwise represent the company on your behalf.
12. Forget email – send videos. Rather than the usual email updates to your staff, send them a link to a video instead. You’ll make the same points, but they’ll feel more connected with you and the message. (This is especially helpful for info related to #2 and #3 above.) Also, the technology is not intimidating here: You can easily film the video on an iPad, upload straight to You Tube, and make it private so only those who have the link can watch. Thank you,
Steve Jobs.
13. Consider stay interviews.
When w e ask people why they’re leaving, typically it’s after they’ve submitted a resignation. Stay interviews reverse this process by discovering what actually keeps employees in place . This doesn’t have to be a complex or formal initiative.
Simply schedule short, individual meetings with team members occasionally and ask three questions. 1.) What do you like most about working here? 2.) Is there anything we could / should do to lengthe n your employment? 3.) Are there any additional resources you’d like to have in your position?
14. STOP and listen.
Every once in a while, schedule a meeting with team members just to
“check the pulse.” For a list of starter questions to generate discussion, see the document entitled “Supervisor Survey” at www.ProfessionalStudio365.com/YPO . Also – when you’re in the office and people need you – even if you don’t think you have time, know you can’t
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Keeping Your Keepers completely solve their problem, wouldn’t possibly adjust your processes, or simply don’t want to implement the idea - just letting employees know that you’re genuinely paying attention to their needs is critical to keeping them around.
Ideas for Your Executive Leadership Team / Human Resources
15. Create the “Rallying Cry”. If people are motivated by Mastery, Autonomy, and Purpose
(MAP), sum up the purpose of your organization in one sentence that becomes a “rallying cry” for your staff. One of the best examples of this comes from the Ritz, i.e. “Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.” Every business has a purpose beyond making mo ney… think about the opportunities you provide your people and the problems you solve for your customers. Your company’s “rallying cry” is in one of those two things.
16. Hire a Chief People Officer / Team. Call them the “Talent Development Directors” if you wish, but the idea is the same. This is the person / team directly responsible for managing initiatives such as onboarding, mentoring, career plans, and rewards. This is how you proactively manage something even as seemingly “obscure” as company culture.
17. Start a Values Committee. This committee is your “Culture Club” and should be made up of
4-8 members from all levels who rotate semi-regularly. The committee would be responsible for monitoring how the company is “living up” to your stated values and make recommendations for improvements as needed. This serves the benefit of giving all staff the opportunity for a leadership role as well as deepening buy-in for value-based performance.
(Your Values Committee could also serve as interviewers for future staff as well.)
18. Start an internal leadership development program.
Will Sutton, Executive Vice-President of BB&T, studied retention levels over a five year period and found that graduates of the bank’s internal Leadership Development Program had a retention rate of 76%. Notably, this is 45% higher than the average retention rate for new employees who do not come through the program. BB&T’s LDP is full-time learning for ten months at BB&T University in Winston-
Salem. The curriculum is broken down into leadership skills, core competencies around commercial, retail, or corporate banking, and in the final phase, all participants are brought together and given the opportunity to run their own bank through an online simulation.
19. Start (or improve) your mentor program.
Jodi Davidson, Sodexo’s Director of Diversity &
Inclusion Initiatives, says for every one dollar invested in the mentoring program, the company gets two dollars back in things like reduced turnover, increased productivity, increased customer satisfaction, and more efficient management overall. To streamline the process, Sodexo pairs everyone at once, then has the mentoring implementation team checkin at the two month mark just to see how things are going. If it’s a ‘red-flag’, the team will step in with additional coaching and a bit more follow-up. If the relationship is progressing and set goals are being met, the mentoring implementation team will reach out again with email surveys at six months, twelve months, and six months after the program is complete.
Sodexo also hosts webinars at the four and eight month mark for additional training on communication and strategic leadership. Davidson says the program helps mentees achieve their goals and gain self-confidence, while mentors are honing their communication and leadership skills, and have the opportunity to give back.
20. Squelch negativity before it starts.
Post a rule that your organization is a “No Negative
Zone.” Make a part of your core competencies that all employees are to maintain and encourage a positive work environment through specific actions such as responding constructively when others offer ideas, listening to colleagues even when suggestions may
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Keeping Your Keepers seem off the mark, requiring that anyone who comes with a problem must come with potential a solution, etc.
21. Give them short-term help when needed. Global consulting firm Booz & Co. created a talent bank of former Booz consultants whom they call on for short-term projects and can tap when employees need temporary assistance.
22. Groom ‘em before you need to.
At the San Diego Marina Marriott Hotel, the executive team meets every six months to complete a human capital plan to predict which positions they feel may open up in the next 6-12 months. In these meetings, the team proactively discusses who would fit the position, and how that person can improve and prepare for the position before it even comes available.
23. Consider PTO for volunteer work. Employees (especially GenY) like to feel their organization is giving back in some way. Consider giving your staff two paid hours per month to volunteer for a charitable organization of their choice and hold them accountable for this in performance reviews / career plans.
24. Volunteer together.
Make some volunteer projects a team effort. Build a Habitat house, walk a 5K for charity, host a clothing drive for Dress for Success, mentor for College Summit, serve at a local food bank - whatever you choose, do it together . A lot of companies talk about this (i.e. plan to do it “someday”). Start right now. Put it in the calendar and commit.
25. Pay them to quit. Zappos offers new hires $2,000 to quit within ninety days after training if new employees don’t think they are a match for the company’s corporate culture. This may sound extreme but it’s actually a classic example of “pay now or pay later.”
26. Reward effort as well as success. Even if their ideas sometimes fail, you want employees to keep producing them. The CEO of Calgon, for example, created an annual award for 'the best idea that didn't work', which is presented via a trophy cup at the annual awards dinner.
The idea is to encourage innovation and positive behavior, not just 'winning.'
27. Applaud their efforts — literally.
If someone has done something really worthwhile, have your entire staff give them a standing ovation at the next meeting. Makes your employees feel great – at no charge.
28. Pass the bucks . Associates at BankAtlantic are given an allocation of “WOW! Bucks” they can give to colleagues who've done something outstanding. WOW! Bucks are branded coupons (created internally) that can be redeemed for gifts and other goodies.
29. Encourage employees to “catch” each other.
Similarly, you could also give everyone in your organization a series a small value gift cards to give to another employee when they
“catch” him or her doing something right.
30. Share the rewards. Take a cue from IBM where all employees, not just executives, are eligible for a performance-based bonus program. For a bonus structure template and language , see Part Two of the “Sample Individual Career Plan” document posted online at www.ProfessionalStudio365.com/YPO .
31. Give them a paid sabbatical.
College Summit, a national nonprofit based in Washington
D.C. offers employees one month of paid time off for every five years of service.
32. Start a PTO Incentive Program. HometownQuotes, an online service that matches consumers with local insurance agents, created an incentive rewards program called Q
Points which recognizes employees for doing things like maintaining high customer satisfaction and keeping a keen eye on details. Each week, employees throughout the company submit Q Point nominations to the 3-5 member Q Points committee. When an
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Keeping Your Keepers employee receives 20 points, he or she may turn them in for a paid vacation day (employees can also “cash in” 10 points for a half-day).
33. Elect them to the “Wall of Fame.” Set aside a public space in your company for fun photos of employees who've accomplished something truly special, along with the details of what they did to earn their place on the wall. Rotate monthly.
34. Remember the spouses. At the annual meeting of Ferguson Enterprises, when a branch wins an award, the spouse gets a present too. (Note: This works better if it’s something pretty nice, e.g. Tiffany pendant, money clip, etc.)
35. Make your leadership team get “in the trenches.” Hilton Worldwide has a program where executives are required to leave their offices for 3-4 day immersion programs in various properties. Each night on the employee web portal, the participants report back to the rest of the staff through blog posts and photos.
36. Promote your promotions. When an employee is being promoted, publically acknowledge it (e.g. global email, personal letter, gift, etc.) but also use it as an opportunity to inspire and motivate others. In other words, the usual emailed “Please join me in congratulating Julie on her promotion to…..”, is boring and will get tuned out. Instead, talk about the specific behaviors Julie demonstrated that earned her the new position. Also, take a page from
Zappos and launch “ambush promotions” – this is similar to a surprise birthday party, but it comes with a new title.
37. Give them part-ownership in the company. Want your best employees to start thinking like owners? Consider letting them buy in to a share of the business.
38. Keep a “3x5” of all your people. Ferguson Enterprises recommends all managers conduct a quarterly, informal review they call a “3x5”. In the meeting, which may occur outside the office over lunch or coffee, the manager discusses the employee’s top three strengths and top three opportunities for improvement. This is a great way to offer helpful feedback between formal performance reviews.
39. Offer Behavioral Assessment Tests and Training. Whether DISC or Myers-Briggs – require your staff to take a behavioral assessment and then offer training so employees understand each other better and are subsequently able to function better as a team. (Note:
Don’t try and manage this process internally. Please contact me via email at emily@emilybennington.com for recommendations on assessment administrators who can do this for you.)
40. Support (occasional) mobile working.
In a recent study of 3,100 workers worldwide, 40% said they wanted employers to provide more flexible working conditions (Source: computerweekly.com) By the by, a full 40% percent of IBM's 400,000 global employees now work remotely.
41. Have an anonymous suggestion box. Lock it tight, bolt it down, and put it in a public place where someone could conceivably express concerns and id eas anonymously. You’ll be surprised at what you learn.
Idea for Marketing
42. Start an internal newsletter. The only way employees can be engaged with your business is if they are privy t o what’s going on. Newsletters are a great way to keep people in the loop and give you an outlet for showcasing some of the “lighter” activities of the company (e.g.
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Keeping Your Keepers volunteer work, etc.) which often go unnoticed but are so important to building your “office community.”
Ideas for Administration
43. Offer healthy snacks (and good coffee). At the HQ of Dixon Hughes Goodman (Top 15
US accounting firm) in Charlotte, NC employees take special pride in their wall-to-wall selection of Kuerig coffee cups. The company not only provides an envious selection of java, but also offers healthy snacks (such as a bowl of apples) in public locations. This not only encourages employees to eat better, but often prevents them from “running out” for a snack or beverage, which cuts into productivity.
44. Bring inspiring people to your people. Google hosts a lecture series for employees entitled “@Google” (e.g. Authors@Google, Women@Google, etc.) Even if you can’t bring in
Hilary Clinton (which Google did), you can certainly find some local people doing motivational things.
45. Send employees to an industry conference. Sure everyone does this – but here’s what they don’t do: As k them to host a Lunch ‘n Learn for the rest of the staff to report back on the experience, any new trends, and what they learned overall.
46. Reach out before day one. With some new hires, weeks or even months can go by between the time an offer letter is accepted and the actual start date. Begin engaging your recruits in this window by sending a welcome gift, inviting them to company events,
“checking in” via email or phone, beginning the individual career plan process, etc.
47. Make “development” a week-long, annual event. PricewaterhouseCoppers (PwC) hosts
“Personal Branding Week” each year to help recruits and internal staff focus on proactively building their executive presence. Each day of Personal Brand Week, employees are sent an article and worksheet on a specific action step, e.g. creating an elevator pitch, managing first impressions, online presence, etc. Current employees not only benefit from the information provided, but the buzz of Personal Brand Week has been a huge push for recruiting and landed PwC significant media coverage. See: http://www.pwc.com/us/personalbrandweek
What areas of your business could benefit from this type of attention?
48. Give them a cheat sheet. One of the more frustrating experiences for employees, especially at larger organizations, is not knowing “who to call.” Make this process easy by creating a list with contact info and posting it on your intranet. This way, your people will know who to contact for HR issues, marketing items, etc. Many times we assume staff either know this information off hand or they’ll “figure it out” eventually. Perhaps….but how much time is wasted in between?
49. Start an Exercise Club. In the Army Civilian Fitness Program, employees complete a health and physical readiness assessment, then workout together with a trainer on programs that include weight lifting, cardio and stretching. Records are kept of each session to record progress and those who have gone through the program emerge not only a bit lighter, but more bonded as a team. (Another reason to consider: According to the Wellness Council of
America, companies that institute exercise wellness programs have 16-40% fewer medical insurance claims after just a few years.)
50. Spread the love.
Ask co-workers to write something they truly like or admire about an employee on a scrap of paper, then post them in a public place like the kitchen, hallways or your lobby. (Note: A lot of the ideas above involve strategic planning, but all you have to do here is purchase a bulletin board and some note cards to get started.)
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Keeping Your Keepers
Putting It Into Practice
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