Is Employee Disengagement Killing Your Profits? Financial Numbers You Can’t Ignore!
The New Year hasn’t even begun-but the factors that will drive your company’s success or failure during the next year have already moved in and put their feet up on the furniture.
The big one, as you know (PLEASE tell me you know) is employee engagement. The landmark 2006 study by the Gallup Management Journal estimated that a typical organization loses $3,400 in productivity for every $10,000 of payroll due to “disengaged employees.” Not all that surprising when you realize that engaged employees account for just 29 percent of the average company’s workforce, leaving a startling 71 percent “not engaged” or “actively disengaged.”
Employee engagement scores regularly account for 45-50 percent of the variance in customer service scores. Eighty-four percent of employees who are highly engaged believe they can positively impact the company, while only 31 percent of disengaged employees think so.
But that was 2006. Surely that study woke everyone up, and things are better now…right?
From bad to worse
Here’s a rude awakening: The 2009/2010 U.S. Strategic Rewards Survey found that employee engagement levels have dropped nine percent since 2008 and close to 25 percent for top performers. It’s not getting better, it’s getting worse.
The survey also found that top-performing employees are 29 percent less confident in management’s ability to grow the business, and 41 percent believe that pay and benefit changes made by their employer in the past year have had a negative effect on work quality and customer service. A full 72 percent of U.S. employers have gone through a restructuring or made layoffs since the economic downturn began last year.
It all adds up to an employee engagement nightmare worthy of Stephen King.
And it goes on and on. A study of 40 global companies by Towers Perrin found that firms with the highest percentage of engaged employees collectively increased operating income 19 percent and earnings per share 28 percent year-to-year. But the companies with the lowest percentage of engaged employees showed year-to-year declines of 33 percent in operating income and 11 percent in earnings per share.
Engaged employees are also more likely to see a direct connection between what they do and the company’s results, according to the study. More than 80 percent of engaged employees believe they can and do contribute to the quality of products and to customer satisfaction. Only half as many of the disengaged share that view. In short, disengaged employees in 2010 are even more disengaged than those in 2006.
In addition, engagement has a direct impact on retaining employees. Half of the engaged employees had no plans to leave their company, compared with just 15 percent of the disengaged employees and roughly a third of the workforce overall. Less than five percent of engaged employees said they were actively looking for another job compared with more than 25 percent of the disengaged employees.
The Towers Perrin study also debunks a widely-held view that engagement is an innate trait that people either have or don’t. No dice. Turns out the organization itself, particularly its senior leadership, has the biggest impact on engagement levels, not the employees themselves.
“One of the study’s key findings is that the organization itself is the most powerful influencer of employee engagement,” said Towers Perrin managing director Julie Gebauer. “Personal values and work experience factors have less of an impact on engagement than what the company does, particularly the extent to which employees believe senior management is sincerely interested in their well-being. This was the number one element driving engagement on a global basis and also in the U.S.”
And mere cost-cutting isn’t the way to improve this critical variable. The cost-cutting that employers have been doing to deal with the economic crisis has contributed to a sharp decline in the morale and commitment of their workers, especially top performers, according to an annual survey by Watson Wyatt and WorldatWork.
Tackling low performers-for everyone’s sake
Sixty two percent of managers said that current job candidates are of medium to low quality, and that this is an overriding challenge. High performing companies are 150 percent more likely to tackle low performer issues than lower performing companies. Only 14 percent of senior execs believe their organization does a good job of quickly and effectively managing low performers.
Eighty-seven percent of employees say that working with a low performer has decreased their productivity, hampered their development, and made them at some point want to leave their job. Ninety-six percent of employees would be thrilled if their company more aggressively managed low performers.
Who wouldn’t want to thrill 96 percent of their workforce? Imagine the increased engagement!
And if the carrot isn’t convincing enough, here’s a stick: Fortune magazine shows that the number one reason behind the downfall of CEOs is their failure to effectively manage low performers.
Ponder THAT as you create your strategy for next year!
About the Author
Roxanne Emmerich’s Thank God It’s Monday!-How to Create a Workplace You and Your Customers Love is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and #1 Amazon bestseller. Roxanne is renowned for her ability to transform “ho-hum” workplaces into dynamic, results-oriented, “bring-it-on” cultures in a day. Listen to the free 60-second audio with teammates each Monday to clean up the craziness in your workplace. Sign up today at http://www.ThankGoditsMonday.com or call 952-820-0360.
SIP Cost Savings in Business Communications
In recent years Session Initiation Protocol or SIP has become a widespread protocol of choice for multimedia applications. In particular SIP has become quite popular in voice applications. Most major PBX manufacturers now support IP endpoints and also support SIP trunks and extensions. The growing popularity of the open source PBX software Asterisk and its various derivatives (e.g.Asterisk Business Edition, AsteriskNow, Elastix, Trixbox, Switchbox etc.) has also fueled the development and implementation of SIP.
Of note is the growth of the SIP compliant hardware industry. Major manufacturers like Aastra, Grandstream, Polycom, and Snom produce SIP phones that are in common use. Even proprietary PBX manufacturers like Avaya, Nortel, and Cisco have their own flavors of SIP firmware available for their IP telephones.
With the advent of SIP trunking as well as SIP-based hosted IP PBX solutions, the cost of owning a small business phones system has also shifted. Using SIP trunking, some businesses are realizing significant savings on long distance costs. With hosted IP PBX solutions, businesses can subscribe to PBX features and use SIP compatible phones without the necessity of purchasing an on premise PBX system. Not only can you save on hardware costs, but you can also save on installation and maintenance.
Early adopters have found some quality issues with SIP trunking. Most of these issues are inherent in VoIP technology (e.g. echo, latency, jitter). Better quality is often found with providers who monitor the connections to their network. This means that you usually have to purchase your digital trunk connection directly from them. SIP providers that offer broadband agnostic services that travel over the public internet often have more quality issues.
As far as SIP-based PBX equipment goes, there are many flavors of the popular open source Asterisk movement. Some are free and others have licensing costs. There are also many hosted IP PBX service cropping up around the nation with great success. Some even use Asterisk based platforms.
If you’re trying to save money with IP, then look into SIP trunking, SIP telephones, SIP-based PBX’s, and even hosted IP PBX offerings. SIP may be the avenue for you.
About the Author
Ernest Mac is the Technology and Marketing Director for Metroline Direct, an independent distributor of technology and telecommunications equipment. Find out how MetrolineDirect can decrease the cost of your business voice and data equipment at www.metrolinedirect.com.
Recipes for a Successful Christmas Party for Your Corporation
Already it is time of year to think about the office Christmas Party. Creating a successful party will not only boost staff morale, it will show to them how much you value them. Producing a Christmas party that is exclusively dedicated to them will certainly exhibit your company’s ethos as well as improve self and group morale. Hence, it’s important to create an impressive Christmas party that will amaze all your members of staff.
Christmas is an ideal time to bring together all your staff. They will be looking forward to the relaxing Christmas break and will be in the mood for celebrating. Christmas is all about bringing people together and celebrating our relationships to one another. Getting your work force together may not only unite colleagues in the short term, but build long lasting friendships.
However, by Christmas some members of staff may feel tired and worn out, hence they may not want to party the night away. So it’s important to make your event relaxing as well as remaining true to the party spirit. Splitting the night’s events between relaxing entertainment, such as bands, dancers, and comedians, and the more active entertainment, such as dancing, will provide all round entertainment for everyone.
Having a theme is also a great way to entice your employees, as everyone enjoys dressing up for events. Making the theme something fun but classy will automatically attract most people. Favourite themes for parties include the latest blockbuster films; era dedicated parties, such as the 1920′s, murder mystery parties and traditional Christmas themed parties. It’s vital you use your imagination when it comes to themes, as the more unusual and appealing the theme is the more likely your party is going to be a complete success!
Hosting a Christmas party is a wearisome task, as you have to organise the venue, dinner reservations, the entertainment and staff. It may be easier upon you if you hire a Christmas party organiser, as she or he will coordinate your event for you. You can still have the run of the ideas, but the practical side is taken out of your hands, giving you that much needed extra time to relax. Another consideration for your corporation is shared Christmas parties, where you get to enjoy the food and entertainment with other corporations too.
If interested in finding out more about Christmas parties, have a look at www.christmascorporation.co.uk who specialize in Christmas office parties and shared Christmas parties.
About the Author
Marie Coles is a professional writer. She writes press releases and articles for Christmas Corporation.
POS – A New And Faster Way to Conduct Transactions
Point of sale (POS) is the location to carry out transactions. POS is also known as checkout refers to a POS terminal or more specifically to a hardware and software used for checkouts, the equivalent of an electronic cash register. Point of sale equipment is also used to process sale. Cash register, credit card machines and the check printer are the parts of the point of sale equipment and needed at the time of payment or any other exchanging hands.
Before POS many other software are used to carryout transactions. Later on Pos is discovered to help the business in many ways. It does things with high accuracy and without repetitive work. It has that much ability and efficiency to perform the wok of many people who handle different sections of the business.
Today many businesses such as either it is any restaurant, hotel, retail shop or any other business organization make use of this software because it is very difficult to remember each and every transaction made in the business daily. Also, it becomes easy and fast to retrieve any transaction does not matter how old it is.
Restaurant POS refers to the Point of Sale software that runs on computer; basically they are touch screen terminals or wireless handheld devices. Restaurant POS systems help the business to track transactions in real time. In restaurant they are used for printing guest checks, print orders to kitchen and bars for preparations, also they are used to accept payment through the credit card and other payment cards.
Also POS made the life of the people very easy and fast. POS transaction is captured by many devices like computers, cash registers, optical and bar code scanners, magnetic card readers or any other device. It becomes a popular and common device in generosity industry or any business area.
There are many benefits provided by the POS:
About the Author
Author name is Kevin Meaney and he is working as an SEO professional. He writes regularly on many topics, right now he is sharing information on POS.
Utilizing PR Companies That Are Not Specialists In Your Industry
The world of business is generally split up into two separate areas. Firstly, there are those companies who have a set direction in which they want to travel. These are the businesses that are run by people who are aware of what they want to achieve and they have a fully prepared plan to ensure that they achieve, if not exceed, these expectations.
The second area is made up of those businesses with owners who, whilst being passionate about their company and have masses upon masses of ideas, are not particularly business orientated and need a helping hand in the majority of areas of their business.
Falling into the second group is not a negative point in any way, shape or form and neither is it troublesome, as there is a considerable amount of companies available to hire and resources that can be utilized for free to help with the day-to-day running of your business.
Surprisingly, it is the first group that so often encounter problems that they struggle to resolve and this is because they are generally so sure that their planning and preparation has covered all eventualities, they are unsure what to do when a problem or something unexpected does occur.
If you fall into this category and currently stuck in a situation like this and believe you need the help of a public relations company, it is worthwhile taking a step back for a moment to take a look at the different companies that are available to hire, as the most obvious choice may not be the one that is best for your conundrum.
For instance, if you are a retail company and have a new product range to promote to a niche audience, the most obvious option would be to hire a retail public relations company. As the persons employed by the retail public relations agency would have a considerable amount of knowledge in retail, it would be expected that they would know how best to manage this particular project.
However, whilst a retail public relations company may be more than suitable, it would be worthwhile looking at an organization that offers publishing PR. The reason behind this is that a business that specializes in publishing PR would be extremely knowledgeable on all things related to publishing, including press releases and inclusion in publications and it would be expected that they would have some fantastic contacts in all areas of the publishing industry. Therefore, if you were able to create a range of different press releases, articles and other relevant writings, the organization would then be able to distribute them to various relevant outlets.
Choosing the most obvious answer to a question in business may not always be the best choice and this is a prime example why. Choosing a PR organization that is instantly associated with your business may achieve some results, but by looking around for other specialist public relations companies, you may be able to receive results quicker and that are of a higher quality.
About the Author
The Spa Way Retail Public Relations has created a number of well devised successful campaigns for a range of businesses to help them seek the right exposure in the market.
Distributed by Content Crooner
Win-Win Communication
There are 3 types of communication, and 1 hybrid type. They are:
Passive
Assertive
Aggressive
Passive-Aggressive
Most people have a primary type. Yet, they can choose other types, either consciously or unconsciously. In the book by Steven Covey, he asserts that the assertive type of communication is most effective for long-term relationships; he calls this type of communication, win-win communication.
Since communication starts with the way we think or perceive any person or situation, here are some examples of the thoughts that make up each type. See if you can identify your primary type.
Passive Thoughts:
Why do these things happen to me?
What do I need to say in order to have them like me?
How can I respond without hurting their feelings?
Assertive thoughts: (Win-Win Formula)
What do I want from the situation/relationship? (Consider short- and long-term goals.)
What do I think they want?
What can I say or do to preserve both our self-esteem?
Aggressive thoughts:
Who do they think they are?
Why should I sit here and take this?
What can I say to put them in their place and keep them there?
Passive/Aggressive thoughts:
Who gave them the right to do that?
Who said they were in charge?
Why do people think they can control me?
Why should I have to justify my actions to anyone?
By using the thoughts of assertive communication as a formula, you will be able to focus on your goals for the situation and relationship. This formula also helps you to remove the emotional element that is usually present when we communicate with fear or regret.
Where have you been communicating out of fear or regret? How can you apply the formula to get a more effective result? Do you have a situation to share, or a question? mailto:coach@develup.biz Ask the coach.
Copyright 2009, develup
Other articles are available at http://www.develup.biz.”
Courtesy notifications of article use are appreciated and can be sent to coach@develup.biz
About the Author
If you have something to say, Terri will help you say it with confidence and without fear or regret. She’s been helping people communicate for results for over 2 decades. As an trainer and certified coach, she can work with you as part of a group or one-on-one.
Flexible Flat Cable Manufacturers
With the improvements of modern technologies, the world has changed in a way where people can get the things done in a very efficient and fast. While considering on these improvements, we do use lots of computers and data transfer mechanisms to our day to day life. The flexible flat cable is a one of the important components which come in to play when it comes to the data transfer mechanism.
Before the invention of flexible flat cables, the data transfer and the procedures were very much slower than now. However, after the invention of these flexible flat cables, people managed to use these flexible flat cables in various day to day gadgets in a very efficient way which can make the procedures much smoother. So thanks to these flexible flat cable manufacturers now we have the chance to enjoy the power of handy equipments, which involves with high speed data transfers.
If you do some research on flexible flat cable manufactures, then you may find a large number of manufacturers are available in the industry. However, the fact is the quality of these products can be varying from a vendor to vendor, and you need to be specific on what your requirement is. The reason is if you want to buy some flexible flat cables for your laptop or mobile phone, then you need to purchase those cables from a manufacturer who has specialized knowledge on the said subject.
The reason is if you don’t obtain the necessary products from the most experienced supplier, then you may not be able to fulfill the actual need of your laptop or mobile.
Finally, you must use the best quality flexible flat cables for your needs, and it can make you very much convenient on the process. Furthermore, you can minimize the maintenance cost and the time which you have to spend on your products if you use the best quality flexible flat cables for your productions.
About the Author
Thomas Scott invites you to take a look at IFCW – International Flat Cable Machine. Flexible Flat Cable Manufacturers, International Flat Cable supplies card cable machine of servo type & card cable machine of belt type, called ffc machine.
Building Business PR for Your Company
It has been rightly remarked by that public relations is the management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and publics on whom its success and failure depends.
Be it a small business owner or a medium, everyone likes to have their products or services spotted by millions. However, the irony lies in the fact that not everybody gets a chance to be featured on a popular television show or in a national newspaper. A mainstream television show may get thousands of calls everyday and they need to scan through hundreds of press releases every hour. As this is the case and it is almost impossible to get your press release noticed amongst them, how can you manage to build business PR for your business?
If you look at the traditional methods, you will see that people used to spend substantial amounts of money to buy exorbitant advertisements and some companies also stooped to begging in front of the media to write about their products or services. But now times have changed. The world is moving way too fast and people have a different way of looking at things. Here are just four of the ways that you may consider when building business PR for your business.
A rock-solid base. Are you wondering what the base is all about? It is nothing but building over a database of customers who will swear by the name of your products or services. When all your rivals will struggle to pave their way to the top, you will have the small outlets banging at your door for your products or services and who knows, maybe amidst all the hustle-bustle, a corporate giant will eventually take notice.
Give away with the traditional practices. Times are changing and so are people. Gone are the days when you had to shell out large sums of money to get noticed. Social networking sites and communities have had the ball rolling and now, at the click of a mouse, we can interact with thousands across the globe. We can talk, communicate and let all know what the USP of our products or services is.
Unlock the solutions. Building business PR is not simply promoting your products or services yourself and in fact, it is a lot more. People are hardly interested what your products or services are about at first and they develop an interest only when your product or service proves to be of some help to their problem.
Contacts connect. On any occasion a business should try and establish successful formidable relations with the media people. Do not let any month pass by without connecting with the media. Make sure that you treat the person as you would treat any other person of value. You should pay heeds to see that the conversation is not only about you and your business as it will simply lead to alienating the person whom you have been long trying to impress.
The true definition of PR will continue evolving through the coming decades, but the meaning of PR will always revolve around relationships. Therefore, nurturing and maintaining strong relationships is also an assurance of standing out from the competition and optimizing profit margins to the best of your ability.
About the Author
The Spa Way Business PR has created a number of well devised successful campaigns for a range of businesses to help them seek the right exposure in the market.
The Benefits Of Using A 3-Phase Converter
The 3-phase converter has become a very popular and commonly used device for converting single-phase power to three-phase power. Although they have been around for many years, technology has made them more reliable and cost effective than ever before. As the need for quality three phase converters has grown so has the number of companies that build and sell them. This article gives a brief overview of some of the benefits of using 3-phase converters.
Economical Solution
When you have a tool or machine that runs on three-phase power but you only have a single-phase power source, then you need a converter to generate the 3-phase power. You may find that buying a converter is a much easier and economical solution than rewiring or buying new equipment.
Long Lasting and Efficient
It has been proven in numerous lab and field-tests that appliances, tools, and motors that operate on three phase electric power last much longer and operate much more efficiently than equipment that operates on one phase power. This can save businesses a lot of money in terms of increased efficiency and reduced maintenance and repair. Just the savings of not having to replace equipment as often may well be worth the investment of buying the converter.
Rotary and Static Converters
There are two basic types of phase converters – static and rotary. Each of these perform the same task, but in a different way. A rotary phase converter is built similarly to a static converter but has an additional idler motor. This modification makes a rotary phase converter more efficient at generating 3-phase electricity than its static counterpart.
Because electrical requirements vary for different types of equipment you may want to consult a sales person to find which is right for your needs.
Do It Yourself…But Be Careful
You may even be able to build your own converter with a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) kit. Please remember that because you will be dealing with electricity, constructing a DIY converter can be a very dangerous project. When building anything like this you run the risk of being shocked or starting a fire. Be sure to consult a licensed electrician before you start.
Where to Buy
These converters can be purchased at a number of electrical supply stores or at online merchants. If you have the need for a three-phase converter then you need to confirm the exact requirements needed for your equipment to run properly before making a purchase. Search the web or visit your local brick-and-mortar electrical supply to find the 3-phase converter that will fit your electrical power needs.
About the Author
If you need further information about 3 phase converters, pay a visit to this 3-Phase Generators website.
The Secrets of Inspired Relationships (Part 4 – Are you in rabbit warren or a helicopter?)
The Simple Relationship Levels
Previously we discussed the importance of empathy and how some people need feedback while others may find it patronising. If we don’t connect with others on an emotional level it can lead to strained relationships.
In this edition we are looking at the ‘Mental’ Level and how certain motivational traits that can help us in one context, can lead to disappointment in another.
The Mental level is one of the four simple levels of relationship. The more levels on which we have compatibility, the easier it is to understand, communicate and influence one another. When we have excellent rapport with someone, we are probably able to relate with them on all four levels.
* Physical = all the non-verbal communication and body language stuff
* Emotional = the ability of both parties to empathise and understand how the other feels
* Mental = being articulate and intellectually stimulated
* Purpose = clarity of shared values and the purpose of the relationship
Good relationships are still possible with only two or three levels working well, but it’s very interesting to diagnose on what levels the misunderstandings occur. The article below gives us some ways of diagnosing the motivational preferences of the people with whom we are communicating on a mental level.
Are You In A Rabbit Warren Or A Helicopter?
It takes all types to make up a successful business. I have a number of clients where one of the top team is the ideas person and there are others who make things happen. I’ve always been intrigued by what makes these relationships successful or fraught with difficulty.
A while ago I was chatting with my wife, Pam, about her work. She is a Lecturer and Consultant in Quantitative Statistical Methodology which is a very academic field. Put simply it’s about getting detailed, accurate, meaningful and useful information from very large numbers of people.
We were discussing how meticulous and specific her work is compared to what I do. While I usually have only a few bullet points on my presentation slides she has dense algebraic formulae with masses of compact text, and literally hundreds of pages of handouts. I suppose it comes with the territory, Academics love all the details. Because without them there can be serious flaws in thinking and in Pam’s field that can potentially have a very serious impact on a nation’s economic or social policy.
Not only is her work very specific, it is also very procedural. Everything has a correct sequence, one step follows the next. If an initial stage is not done properly it can have a profound impact on the data, and accurate interpretation may become impossible. The more I learn about her field, the more I realise that a lot of the statistics that drive various policies are not nearly as accurate as they should be!
So having someone with a strong desire to get the procedures right and to make sure that all the particulars are covered is important in some contexts, while in others you need the opposite.
For example in management, especially in the context of running a small or medium-sized business, things rarely go according to plan and you need to have the flexibility in thinking to deal with a wide range of people and their various needs. If things are not working you need to look at the big picture and come up with alternative ways of achieving the desired results.
On the other hand the strengths of a methodological approach with a keen eye for the minutiae will mean that you comply with what is required to ensure a fair and lawful disciplinary hearing or even a dismissal. It’s very frustrating to have to defend yourself in a tribunal just because you didn’t follow the basics of the statutory requirements.
However when it comes to changing your approach to sales and marketing due to the shifting economic climate or you need to rapidly find a new member of staff due to a resignation, becoming bogged down in policy and procedure can lead to missed opportunities.
In order to take advantage of opportunities you need to be able to zoom out, take an overview and rapidly develop a number of options. It’s interesting to note that this level of flexibility and creativity is often difficult for people with a strong motivational preference for following procedures and paying attention to the details because they want to find ‘the right way’ and take all the specifics into consideration. When people with these two different ‘patterns’ try to problem-solve together they can have trouble because it is difficult to communicate if one of you is in a helicopter and the other in a rabbit warren.
In a work context Pam plays to her strengths and expertise by being a self-employed lecturer and consultant rather than a Director in a large organisation. She loves the intellectual rigour required and she enjoys the challenge of articulating very complex concepts and theories in a way that engages people and helps them learn. This way she can make a significant contribution to PhD students, local and central government offices, and various institutions both nationally and internationally.
As a Director she would probably have to deal with lots of politics, shifting strategies and conflicting priorities while managing various teams of consultants who usually hate being managed! This requires a lot of big picture and innovative thinking while multi-tasking on the day-to-day projects and to-do list.
The Structure of Disappointment (or even misery)
What can be a strength in one context can lead to frustration and upset in another. There is a time and a place for following procedures to the letter, but the trouble with life is that it rarely goes according to plan.
In the conversation with Pam, we were discussing why she was experiencing so much disappointment in her working life even though she was very busy. It became clear that as she was becoming more successful she was planning more (her diary fills up 12 -18 months in advance) and that there was not enough flexibility in the plans. If a lucrative new opportunity arose she couldn’t act on it, or if something took a bit longer due to unforeseen circumstances it had a serious knock-on effect.
It was interesting to see how the more procedural and detailed she became the more likely she was to be disappointed. In fact we discussed how, when one overplays these particular strengths, we can end up miserable!
The Antidote
The antidote to disappointment or misery is flexibility. The world rarely complies fully with our best laid plans and if our motivational strategy is a desire to complete the next step regardless of shifting circumstances, we will be sure to face even greater disappointment. If there is a lack of ability to zoom out and see the big picture and then identify alternative approaches, we can end up very miserable indeed.
Pam was able to get a very different perspective during our conversation because we were able to pinpoint why she was feeling the way she did. It gave her the opportunity to think about other areas of her life where she enjoys looking at alternatives and the overview, for example in her hobbies. This meant that we could simply discuss a number of ways how she could use a similar approach in her consultancy work.
That actually led to another conversation about what is important in work, and even in our life. All of us are ultimately driven by what is most important to us in a given context, and this is often below our conscious awareness.
The next article will be discussing how identifying our Values and the Purpose of what we are doing with others can have a dramatic impact on the way we work with and relate to the people in our lives.
About the Author
David works with We work with Owners, Directors and Senior Managers who are focused on growth, to implement their business strategy by working smarter not harder