Resources

Anyone who has worked in the restaurant industry knows it is not always a picnic. I speak from experience! At the age of 14, I had to get a job and start paying all of my bills, minus room and board (thankfully, the bills were few because $5.25 an hour only goes so far). Surprisingly enough, running up and down a food line adding more lettuce and pickles was not as fun as it sounds. To succeed in such an industry takes many things, but one you simply cannot leave behind is enthusiasm.

Every successful company knows the key to employee retention is engagement, yet according to a study by Dale Carnegie & Associates, 71 percent of all employees are not fully engaged. That means nearly three-quarters of the workforce are not performing to their best ability, which negatively affects revenue and morale.

If you’re like me then you are a Fantasy Football gamer. Your Sundays are consumed with NFL RedZone, checking your phone for score updates, watching the injury report and monitoring for the latest potential waiver wire pickups. But as you are probably also aware, Fantasy Football bleeds over into the workweek, creating a source of comradery between coworkers but ultimately costing employers big bucks.

Are your employees struggling to stay motivated? Are they longing to be outside, on the beach? Are they lacking in engagement and productivity because the only thing on their mind is the warm summer breeze? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, chances are your employees are experiencing the Summer Time Blues.

A simple smile, an act of gratitude and supporting others all go a long way in the workplace. In fact, these attributes help to build an atmosphere of positivity. The human mind is the most powerful tool in the world; within this device lives an arena of positive and negative thoughts battling for control of your psyche. Each mindset is contagious, so which would you rather have ruling your office? My bet is on positivity, because with it, your team has more potential to accomplish its goals, develop resiliency and improve psychological prosperity.

Sustainable engagement is an ongoing process. You may be thinking, “Well, of course it is, so what’s your point?” Although the concept may seem obvious, it is something with which businesses constantly struggle. Engagement is a continuous process, not a one-and-done kind of initiative – a valuable lesson learned from shopping at warehouse retail stores.

It’s always tough to lose a good employee especially when it’s a member of your executive leadership team. However, over the next five years losing top talent will become nearly impossible to avoid as 20 percent or more of senior leaders will be eligible for retirement. So how do businesses move forward and what can be done to hang on to these valuable employees, even if it’s only for a little while longer?

Do you know what your employees really want from your organization? You should, and it pays to find out. A 2013 Gallup study shows that companies in the top quartile for employee engagement outperform their bottom 25% competitors with: 147% higher earnings per share (no, that’s not a typo), 22% higher profitability, 21% higher productivity and 41% fewer quality defects.

Creating an employee value proposition (EVP) can be daunting. After all, most companies struggle with the recruiting workload they already have; there is no time or budget to sit down and figure out what an EVP would have to look like to be successful. Add to this the pressure of getting left behind while everyone else is waving from the employee branding train, and it’s enough to make a talent-acquisition pro throw up his or her hands.

The modern-day workplace is much different than just a few years ago, and so are its people. Because new requirements have popped up and workers’ expectations have evolved, motivational models should be reconstructed to reflect these changes.

Being the best in a NFL is a tough feat, because a lot of “greats” exist in the league. Players work their entire careers trying to be faster, stronger and better-equipped than their competition. When entire teams play with the same inherent motivation, winners are made and championships are secured.

With the economy strengthening, businesses need to review their talent management practices or risk losing workers. According to a Career Builder survey, “21 percent of full-time employees plan to change jobs in 2014, the largest amount in the post-recession era and up from 17 percent in 2013." Regardless of your notion about the economy’s growth, the numbers suggest a positive outlook and companies should be cautious.