Employees are much less likely to change roles or companies based on fewer job opportunities and fear of the unknown. Many employees have made the decision that there is more security staying in their current role even if their company made some cutbacks. Employers currently have the upper hand but that won’t last for long. As the business environment continues to achieve positive traction and new opportunities present themselves, disengaged employees will begin looking elsewhere. How many employees in your company have mentally quit and are just waiting for the right opportunity to present itself? We would recommend looking at three important issues: What is employee disengagement costing you today? Can your company afford an exodus of employees when the job market opens up? AND, what can you do to repair the disengagement?

What does employee engagement mean? “Engagement means that the employee is on board with the goals, mission, and values. Engaged employees are ready to serve customers in a manner that exceeds customers’ expectations. An engaged employee is excited about their functional role in the business, and is ready to give extra for the good of the business. An engaged employee has the training and resources to perform their job with pride and excellence.” (Excerpt taken from an unauthored article entitled Are Your Employees Engaged? A Guideline For Business Management)

Having engaged employees within your organization is essential in building a loyal customer base, which ultimately drives successful business results. Without customers there are no results. Therefore, if a percentage of your employee population is disengaged, what is it costing your business? A ‘point of connection’ is created every time your employees interact with a customer. Engaged employees are committed to ensure every ‘point of connection’ exceeds a customer’s expectation. Exceeding customers’ expectations creates loyalty and loyal customers create results. Our research shows that the financial difference between creating loyal customers as opposed to satisfied customers can be as much as an 87% to 99% increase in revenue over the life of a loyal customer. Disengaged employees may not even be helping your organization maintain satisfied customers.

A recent survey conducted by Kelton Research indicated five key areas besides compensation employees are searching for in this employer’s market. The survey asked the question “Aside from compensation, what would motivate you to stay in your current position?”

• 56% said: Being appreciated
• 51% said: A good manager I enjoy working with
• 46% said: Liking and respecting my co-workers
• 46% said: The opportunity to advance my career
• 45% said: The opportunity to learn and develop my skills

Not every solution requires money. Investing time, effort, and energy in your employees will make a significant difference in their level of engagement. Being appreciated and working with a good manager are no cost/low cost solutions that will make a significant impact on business results. Take time to recognize employee contributions, ask for input and ideas, include them in new projects, and be accessible. You may be forced to put out the daily fire but while you are dousing the fire your employees may be slipping away. This will jeopardize your relationships with your customers that your organization cannot afford to lose!

Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in helping businesses improve customer loyalty and eliminate employee disengagement. Learn how at www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.

Case Study: A mid-sized manufacturing firm whose sales team is struggling to meet forecasted sales objectives.

The day before the pending storm there was quite the commotion in the sales department about what the next day would bring, how much snow were they really going to get, will the roads be okay to get to the office, will we have the most difficulty getting home, and what are we going to do? The sales manager took the bull by the horns and made an executive decision and told the team the following. “Because we seem to be in for a huge storm and driving to and from the office will be a safety issue here is what we are going to do. Everyone will have the choice to work remotely from home tomorrow. Please feel free to take everything with you in order to make your calls from home. The team was given a measurable outcome that needed to be accomplished to consider the day productive. If a member of the team choose not to take their work home or did not meet his/her productivity number, then he/she would have to use a personal day. Let’s not waste time worrying about what tomorrow will bring. We can’t control the weather and we now have a plan in place. Let’s make the rest of today productive.”

The storm hits and for 24 hours they were blasted with unyielding snow. Worst storm since January 1996 the endless news reported. By mid-afternoon the major area highways and turnpikes were closed down to all traffic. The digging process was long and arduous for most.

How did the sales team fare, and what do their behaviors tell you?

• One salesperson actually braved the elements and made it to the office. That individual had a very productive day and met all of the objectives needed prior to trudging back home.

• Three sales people properly prepared and took all of their appropriate work home in an effort to work remotely the day of the snowstorm. Two out of the three folks could not make it to the office the day after the storm because they were still snow bound. However, they continued to work from home and focused on what they needed to accomplish.

• Two sales people decided not to take their work home making the decision to use a personal day. One remained snow bound for a second day and the other made it to the office.

With lagging departmental results and a sales team that says they are motivated by financial gain you might imagine the sales manager is dealing with a high level of frustration. What do the choices, actions, and behaviors of this sales team tell you?

There has been a great deal of research on the process of communication. Communication is much more than just the exchange of information. I believe communication is more deeply about what we are “saying” when there are no words coming out of our mouth. Albert Mehrabian, a researcher of body language in the 1950’s, found that the total impact of a message is about 7 percent verbal, 38 percent vocal, and 55 percent nonverbal. According to Mehrabian, our behaviors and body language make up over one-half of the message we are communicating.

Anthropologist Ray Birdwhistell’s conducted an original study of nonverbal communication. Birdwhistell made some similar estimates of the amount of nonverbal communication that takes place between people. Like Mehrabian, he found that the verbal component of a face-to-face conversation is less than 35 percent and that over 65 percent of communication is done nonverbally. Barbara and Allan Pease of Pease International analyzed thousands of recorded sales interviews and negotiations during the 1970’s and 1980’s showed that in business encounters, body language accounts for between 60 and 80 percent of the impact made around a negotiating table and that people form 60 to 80 percent of their initial opinion about a new person in less than four minutes. Mehrabian’s, Birdwhistell’s, and Pease’s research goes a long way to confirm that our choices of body language, behaviors, and actions send the real message about what an individual values or finds to be important.

Here is a quick and easy test. The next time you are in a meeting of your peers, sit back and observe. You will begin to clearly see the physical messages people are communicating by watching facial expressions, posture, and other body language queues. This simple exercise will confirm that there is no doubt—actions speak and sometimes scream much louder than words. Similar to the sales team described above, actions are a key indicator of focus. Now let’s make it personal to you. Have you taken a good look at your nonverbal body language and messages you are sending? Are you communicating the message you want sent when you are not saying a word?

Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching, and youth leadership. For more information visit http://www.resourceassociatescorp.com/ or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.

Everywhere you look within business media somebody is sharing research, experiences, or opinions on the generational divide and specifically how it relates to Gen X and Gen Y as they enter today’s workforce. In order to fully understand how organizations can create and manage a culture where all generations interact and communicate effectively we need to understand all current generations in the workforce.

According to the AARP 77.5 Million Boomers will be vacating corporate America within next five years (2008). 56% of our current national leaders are Baby Boomers. Conversely there are only 46 Million Gen X and Gen Y’s to take the place of those vacating Boomers. These numbers reflect why business and industry need to be so concerned about brain drain and develop a strategy to combat it. Key questions to be reviewed when determining your organization’s current position on the issue and potential strategy include:

• How can your organization effectively manage potential brain drain?
• What processes have you put in place to have your intellectual capital remain as your experienced people create an exit strategy?
• How can your organization effectively work with and manage the merging minds of existing Boomers and the new employees from younger generations?
• How can your organization become an employer of choice for the 46 Million Gen X and Gen Y’s currently in or entering the work place as competition for their talent will become fierce?

“A generation is shaped by the events and circumstances its members experience at phases in life, beginning with childhood. Common generational traits initially develop as a result of social attitudes toward children and child rearing norms at the time” (William Strauss and Neil Howe – authors of Generations and 13^th Gen). Generational overviews simply mean that certain behaviors are more typical of each group.

An interesting statistic shows that 68% of Baby Boomers feel younger people do not have as strong a work ethic as they do, and that makes doing their own work harder. 32% of Gen Xers believe the younger generation lacks a good work ethic, and that is a problem. 13% of the Gen Yers say the difference in work ethic across the board causes generation friction. They believe they have a good work ethic for which they’re not given credit.

Isn’t it fascinating that every generation believes the other “generations” are the problem? Perhaps an appropriate strategy should be to help coworkers understand the differences as well as the advantages each generation brings to an organization. Mastering the benefits of different mindsets, approaches, and opinions is what makes good companies great. If everyone thought alike the innovation we see in the world today would have stagnated long ago. Companies and organizations need to embrace generational diversity and use collaboration to harness the best of all minds.

Let’s take a look at some of the differences in order to properly educate and embrace the value of each generation.

The Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964 and are categorized in two group based on the world around them during these designated time frames.

Baby Boomer #1 (1946-1955)

• Major Events – The death of President John F. and Robert Kennedy as well as Martin Luther King, political unrest, walk on the moon, Vietnam draft, anti-war protests, sexual freedom, drug experimentation, civil rights, and the beginning of the women’s movement
• Key Characteristics or Traits – Experimental, individualistic, free spirited, and social cause oriented

Baby Boomer #2 (1956-1964)

• Majors Events – Watergate, The Cold War, states lower drinking ages, oil embargo, raging inflation, gas shortages, and President Carter’s decision to reinstitute military draft registration
• Key Characteristics for this Generation – Less optimistic, government distrust, general cynicism

Overview of the Baby Boomers

• Rejection and the redefinition of traditional values (Traditionalist-previous generation to the Boomers)
• Healthiest and wealthiest generation
• Often self absorbed, very focused, and workaholics
• Committed to one company or organization
• Focused on success as defined by possessions and wealth
• Women establishing careers, creating the juggling act between job and family, creating latch key kids
• Amassed a lifetime of experiences and knowledge which needs to be passed on

Summary

Baby Boomers have a great deal of knowledge to pass on to younger generations, and passing on the information and intellectual capital is vital to any company’s success. Organizations must create a culture where all generations can learn from the value of another generation—older to younger and younger to older. It is imperative to growth and success.

Let’s take a look at Gen X and see how they are different than the Baby Boomers. What similarities exist and what assets does Gen X brings to the work place?

Generation X (1965-1976) or (1961 to 1981)*

*(depending on what research you read)

• Averages 3-5 years in any one organization
• Tend to be free agents
• Distrusting of corporate motives
• Technologically savvy, pragmatic, and competent
• Efficient at managing themselves
• Received very little formal training in the work place, learned on the fly
• Will not sell their souls to the job 24/7
• Work and life balance more important than money and advancement

Gen X Retention Ideas

• Flexible schedules, interesting work, sense of purpose, minimal bureaucracy
• Continued learning and development
• Values feedback, clear communication, and recognition for a job well done

Gen X Management Ideas

• Tremendous capacity to process a great deal of information and concentrate on multiple tasks
• Don’t hover over their shoulder
• Craves time with their boss and they never get enough feedback
• They are problem solvers and self starters

In addition to educating Gen Xers about generational differences so they can better understand the Boomers and Gen Y, capitalize on their flexibility, self starter ability, and minimally required supervision. They will get it done with the proper measurements in place so get out of their way and let them do it!

Let’s take a look at what makes Gen Y unique?

Generation Y (1982-2005)

• Fortune magazine deemed Gen Y the highest maintenance but potentially highest performing generation in history
• View themselves as entitled
• Outspoken
• Have a high inability to handle criticism
• Technologically sophisticated
• Well positioned to address global issues and inclined to view the world as a vast resource
• Driven to make a difference
• Racially and ethnically diverse
• Demands a fast track career and thirsts for positive feedback
• Work and life balance

Gen Y Retention Ideas

• Encourage their values and show you care
• Will work with organizations that are socially responsible
• Flex time, telecommuting, career incentives that permit talent to advance quickly
• Support the technology they use

Gen Y Management Ideas

• They want the best and they think they deserve it
• They do not want to be seen as children
• Forget gender roles … they have
• Show how their work will contribute
• Mentoring for them will be critical to success
• Will need help with communication and problem solving skills
• Will need help understanding their strengths and limitations

Companies need to take advantage of Gen Y’s global and diverse view. They may need a bit more mentoring and assistance with things like communication, but they are bright and extremely innovative. I believe the up front investment will create employee loyalty, and the organization will see a huge payoff throughout the relationship.

As the face of our workforce changes and Baby Boomers choose to move on, Gen X and Gen Y is the current and upcoming talent pool for organizations. Develop a strategy and a management philosophy that embraces the value and skills of each person based on the individual first. Then develop supporting strategies to create and maintain a culture that unifies all skills and values. By doing so you will build stronger teams, and stronger teams means measurable and positive outcomes.