ENGAGING EMPLOYEES

In today's workplace a high performance culture requires high maintenance and people issues are at the top of most CEO's to-do lists. But what does it take to build a utopia?

A large number of my friends and peers look puzzled when I volunteer that I love my job. I don't just look forward to returning to work on Monday mornings, it's more than that. I am inspired by the people, committed to the organisation and connected to my role; I am an engaged employee. In HR speak I apply discretionary effort, and when this happens everyone's happy. Happy people equal happy profits - and in a nutshell that's what they teach you at business school now.

The same friends then go into total shock when they find out that I turned down another role paying nearly $20k a year more for the one I have now. So what did my current employer do to woo me? How did their employer brand get me?

Employee engagement, what just a few years ago was conference lingo and a phrase bandied around by hip CEOs has fast become the holy grail of organisational success. What use is are a strategy and a plan without the right group of motivated people to get you there?

Engaged employees mean high performance. In an age where perception is reality; engaged employees are around three times more likely to believe that they can have a positive impact on product quality, customer service and costs. The emotional bonds that an engaged workforce develops means 'above and beyond', the discretionary effort the HR boffins refer to, becominges part and parcel of every working day. The pay-offs are mutual; work becomes pleasurable, more productive and more profitable.

In turn our willingness to recommend our employer as a place company to do business with regardless of what it sells or does, or as a great place to work sky-rockets.

What conditions do we need to become and remain engaged?

Firstly, is a flexible and friendly environment that caters for your demographic. This might mean work from home for those that prefer peace and quiet for a couple of days a week or have childcare commitments, hours to suit (within the context of the businesses' needs of course) and an at-work environment with break-out areas and even a Wii or PSP if you're high on the GenY count.

Second is the right resources to get the job the done; not everyone wants the same desk, chair, or PC, so where budgets and health and safety will allow, letting your people create their home away from home, and provide opportunities for everyone to give feedback as to what's stopping them at work. Big problems needn't always cost big bucks. I'm reminded of the story where management consultants were drafted into a logistics firm to work out why so many deliveries were made late or going to the wrong address. They discovered that the printer printing running off the delivery notes wasn't powerful enough to penetrate the multi-layer delivery notes sheets and the driver's copy was barely legible, so i. It pays to talk to your people.

Third is inspiring leadership and individual autonomy - the two can and should go hand in hand. Empowered people inspired by the organisation's vision embodied by the CEO and leadership team create their own high performance culture.

Fourth is a fair financial package; you don't have to be the best payer on the block in the same way that your product doesn't have to be the cheapest. We'll happily pay more for a pleasurable brand experience at the shops and will happily earn less for a pleasurable work experience. In the war for talent ; anything goes to attract and retain great people. Google now lets its workforce spend 20% of their time doing anything they want - which has in turn led to the development of projects like AdSense and Google News. St George offers employees the opportunity to work for four years and take year five off with an income.

Non-monetary benefits including evermore innovative reward and recognition programs are an increasingly important part of an employer's armoury to get the right people into the right seats and keep them there. There is also a growing bank of evidence to show that non-cash incentive programs improve performance more effectively. John Anderson, CEO of Gorman's Business Interiors in Detroit, created Gormanopoly, a monopoly like game that incentivized just about everything and awarded points to teams; at the end of the first year all three teams had enough points to send every member of staff and a guest on a Caribbean cruise costing over $32,000USD. "Not only was it good for the organization, it got us good PR without a lot of promotion, customers got engaged in it and learned about our culture, and it was a great recruiting tool too," reports Anderson. A recent study by the University of Chicago reported increases in productivity of over 38% against cash based incentive programs mediocre 14.6%.

What keeps me in my seat? It's culture more than anything else.

Getting the best return on investment from your employer brand budget is not an easy task and personalizing rewards and recognition is even harder.

Investing in culture is achievable by investing in relationships. Shared experiences produce relationships, they generate conversations, create memories and build emotional bonds; t, they are the currency of making dreams come true.An employer that makes dreams come true.....we might not all become millionaires but a few hundred dollars on an experience of a lifetime is definitely one more good reason to stay.