Customers, employees and owners on the hot seat

Enough has been said about the evolving millennial workforce and the communication gap that gets created between the employees and the senior management.

Employees alike whether at entry level or managerial level or even departmental heads work for the organisation. Our business definitions might put the organisation as a separate entity from its founder for legal and financial purposes. However, it is easy to confer that the organisation is the living image of its creator – its CEO. CEO as we would feel stands for Chief Executive Officer but in its true essence it stands for Customers Employees and Owners as rightly stated by Mr Rudy Karsan. Thus, having to balance these three major people domains. Thereby maximising each of these three experiences in order to sustain the organisation.

The ultimate tool for maximising is employee performance which leads to higher financial performance and better customer satisfaction. Consequently becoming clear as to why employee engagement is required: You take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers whose paying capacity will satisfy and delight the business owners. For achieving the same, one has to measure it, devise measurable metrics and then segment it across the various employee groups and ask them that what their drivers are and then begin with applying those practices in the broader organisation. Hence, applying the standard business practices that are applied to the customer base to the employee base i.e. employees first, treat them as your customers and the organisation will bear fruits of this practice.Additionally, applying the same to the compensation benefits.

Interestingly organisations having higher returns are the ones who target and promote employee engagement by providing monetary benefits for the same. This gesture fuels employees to strive for better results, instills a sense of pride and belonging towards the organisation, lowers the rate of attrition and accidents.

Ingraining these practices have to first start from the CEO’s office, as we move towards leadership branding for gaining client attention i.e. the leads then, how can we eliminate this element when employees want their leader to actually steer the ship.

The leader has to ensure that the people who have put faith in him/her are looked after on the basis of their efforts and not battered around for bonuses and incentives based on an external element’s response or satisfaction. Rewarding employees for their sole efforts makes employees feel elated and at the same time garnering higher productivity – it exhibits your confidence on their efforts and not on the projections of sales.

This method of R&R i.e. Rewards and Recognition which is contextualised, suits the needs of the employees. By way of which organisations are adopting a creative approach to keep the employees motivated. Also meaning that functions other than the HR will also shift their focus on innovative R&R programs.

Traditionally, R&R was reserved for Sales but now it is widespread and present across all departments. A study showing an increased spending in R&R is enabling organisations to spend on a variety of engagement programs which are more focused on a healthy lifestyle and medical benefits. Additionally ensuring a boost in communication strategies and capability building initiatives.

As discussed previously,

gamification is increasingly being applied to this area and the psychology of the game mechanics keeps the employees fit and in loop for rewarding opportunities.

In health based programs, companies are tracking health based actions of employees and are rewarding them with redeemable coupons. Thus, motivating a large portion of employees to take the organisation to new heights, this is proven to be better than motivating extrinsic factors.