Tag Archives: Research

Mistrust and the Disengaged Workforce

Let’s start off with a story. And just as a heads up, it’s not necessarily a happy one.

Since 2009, Interaction Associates, a consulting firm based in Boston that advises on human resources and company leadership, has run a survey that measures how much employees trust the leaders who run their businesses. As of this year, the percentage of respondents who said they see their bosses as collaborative and trustworthy is at an all-time low.

On the broad questions, only 27% of respondents said they have a “high level of trust in management and the organization.” That's down from 39% three years ago. When asked whether their organization has effective leadership, only 31% said yes, down from 50% in 2009. On the question of whether they see their organization as highly collaborative, only 32% said yes, down from 41% in 2009. Source

Okay. Stop for a second. Digest those numbers for a second.

Now take a look around the office. Odds are at least two out of every ten employees feels like they have some reason to mistrust the organization’s leadership. Ouch.

So what does that say for employee engagement? I think we both know where that’s going to fall. Another interesting survey takes the conversation further into engagement territory.

65% of workers would choose a better boss over a raise (Source)

Let’s ignore the “raise” comment and focus just on the numbers. Two-thirds of employees want a different boss. They not only want a different one, they want a better one.

It’s difficult to quantify that desire, but I think it’s something we as HR professionals need to be thinking about. People leave managers, not companies. Here are six solid HR tips for you to pass on to your managers.

Employee trust and engagement video

(subscribers click here to view)

Must-read follow up resources

I read two great articles that got my brain jump started. Here they are if you’d like to check them out as well.

  1. The data-loving China Gorman gives us her thoughts here.
  2. Here’s another great follow up resource from the inimitable Jennifer V. Miller.

 

How to Reduce Impact from Retiring Employees

One of the topics that sometimes keeps me awake at night is knowledge. The sheer amount of knowledge in the minds of our staff members is staggering. In the past few years we’ve had a few highly competent people attempt to retire, and we’ve had a great strategy in place to reduce the impact.

reducing brain drain

How can you reduce “brain drain?”

Here’s a great piece of information that was passed on to me by John Dooney, a ninja research guru over at SHRM:

From the recent Sloan Award Survey conducted by Families and Work Institute: When the organizations were asked the number of employees at their work site that were allowed to phase into retirement by working reducing their hours over a period of time prior to retirement, the answers were as follows:

All: 42%
Most: 30%
Some: 16%
Just a few: 6%
None: 6%

How we do it

I have a great recent example. We have a staff member who has been working for our customer in some capacity for 20 years. He planned to resign outright, and we asked if he would be interested in working a 20 hour flexible schedule to continue the customer relationship. He was pleasantly surprised at the availability of the option and instantly accepted. He’s still working happily for us, we’re trying to staff up in the event he would like to leave permanently, and our customer is appreciative of the opportunity to transition to a new familiar face.

So why don’t more employers do some version of this?

I think it’s pretty simple.

I think more companies could start by offering the “stay” opportunity to those leaving for voluntary reasons. We do this as a regular practice. It’s not rocket science–you just ask. The worst they can say is “no” and walk out the door. The best option is for them to continue working for some period of time on a reduced schedule. They are invaluable and it makes for an easier transition for them and for the company.

The biggest benefit for us as the person transitions to a part time schedule is us finding out where knowledge gaps are and using them while they are on staff to help close those gaps.

What type of flexibility, if any, does your organization provide?

Career Readiness Skills, Video Games, and ACT Scores

Video games are not a substitute for career readiness skills. They teach us nothing about hard work. They are not a magic tool to prepare the next generation to take the reigns in workplace leadership roles.

Recently an international speaker, Mike Walsh, came to Huntsville to give a presentation. I didn’t see the presentation, but he was quoted in the local technology magazine discussing career readiness skills.

Walsh said that Parents shouldn’t discourage their children from playing video games because new age executives often recruit the best gamers to come run their companies: “If you can lead a virtual team of dwarves and elves to attack an imaginary castle, it’s possible you can lead new technology into the evolving marketplace.”

Yeah, right.

Video games and career readiness skills

I really enjoyed real time strategy games when I was younger–mainly high school and sometimes during college. But when I had kids and a full time job, I left them behind. I say that to explain that I have no beef with the games themselves. It’s a fun way to pass the time, even if it doesn’t offer any real benefits in the long term.

So let’s look back at his statement.

“If you can lead a virtual team of dwarves and elves to attack an imaginary castle, it’s possible you can lead new technology into the evolving marketplace.”

Being able to play a video game is not going to translate into the workforce very well. You are not learning the meaning and value of hard, difficult work. Game doesn’t work out? Reset button. Start again.

In the long run, how are these young people supposed to be ready for a job that demands time, doesn’t have an easy “off” switch, and requires them to do thinks they sometimes don’t want to do? This is a silly statement catering to people who want to feel like their little boy/girl isn’t wasting an average of an hour a day on games.

I’m not saying to eliminate them completely. I’m just saying that parents don’t need to blindly believe that imaginary mining for imaginary gold to make imaginary weapons is going to help their child learn how to excel in the workplace.

Educational career readiness skills

career readiness skillsWhile we’re talking career readiness skills, a report by ACT, the college test prep administrators, offers a bleak look at the next generation soon to be entering the workforce. Check out the chart.

Fully 28% of all graduates did not meet any of the College Readiness Benchmarks, while 47% met between 1 and 3 Benchmarks. Twenty-five percent of all 2012 ACT-tested high school graduates met all four College Readiness Benchmarks, meaning that 1 in 4 were academically ready for college coursework in all four subject areas.

So that means that approximately the same amount of students were ready for the core classes in college as the amount of students who were ready for none of the core classes.

I know we’re talking education vs. work habits right here, but that’s still a flag in my opinion. I hire for engineers, accountants, and technical writers. You need to understand math, science, reading, and English to be able to do these jobs. There’s no “I’m a quick learner” with these things.

Maybe a little too much time spent helping the dwarves invate the castle and not enough time storming the homework sessions? I can only guess…

What are your thoughts on these two career readiness skills topics? Are they interrelated? Why or why not?

 

25% of supervisors are younger than their staff

how to handle a young managerFor most of us, it’s not reality, but having a young supervisor is obviously a phenomenon that is fairly widespread. At first glance, I’m thinking, “Yeah! Go for it young people!” And then I realized I could be one of those who has a younger manager one day; it made me stop and think. It would be a challenge, but it’s something we may all run into at some point in our careers.

Here is the breakdown according to the SHRM website poll for the question What is your age in relation to your supervisor?:

  • I’m Older-26%
  • I’m Younger-56%
  • I’m About the Same-18%

I think the toughest one on there has to be being older than your manager. But on the flip side, it has to be stressful for a manager to step into a role with subordinates that could be twice his/her age. I’m certainly not saying we shouldn’t have a wide range of managers, because great managing talent/ability is found in all sorts of individuals, no matter how many years are under their belt. Simply making the observation that this could be a friction point between a good manager and an otherwise good employee if age is lumped in.

Interesting stuff! So, where do you fall on the list? Are you older than your supervisor, younger, or about the same?