The enthusiastic employee - opportunities For HR

From multiple attitude surveys across hundreds of organisations, involving over 2.5 million employees globally, we know that people come to work looking for three basic things: (Source: The Enthusiastic Employee, David Sirota et al, Wharton School Publishing 2005):

Equity
People want to be treated fairly and justly ñ in relation to their peers and in relation to the basic conditions of employment (things like pay and benefits, safety and respect etc). Theyíre adults ñ who are often raising families and dealing with multiple pressures in their private lives - and they wish to be treated in an adult fashion at work.

Achievement
People want to be proud of what they do, and the organisation for which they do it. They want to be recognised when they do a good job.

Camaraderie
Most people want to interact with others at work ñ to have interesting and co-operative relations while doing the work. Teamwork matters to most people at work.

The data shows that when people perceive these three things are present, they respond with enthusiasm and their morale is high. Many studies have shown that morale and motivation correlate strongly with important business outcomes, such as quality, productivity and customer satisfaction. In other words, when employees feel enthusiastic about their work, it shows up in how they perform and how they treat customers. This, in turn, influences customers and their preparedness to buy. So, these three needs matter ñ and they drive business performance.

Interestingly, the data shows that almost everyone comes to work with a positive state of mind ñ at least initially. People want to do a good job; to be engaged in something that matters and to work co-operatively. This holds true globally - across races, both genders, nationalities and up and down organisational hierarchies. People are people ñ and they want to work. (At least, the data holds true for 95% of the workforce: maybe 5% are ëallergicí to work ñ they donít want to work and these needs donít motivate them.) But initial enthusiasm and engagement dissipates. Why? Because of how people are managed and what they experience by way of the rules and processes at work.

So ñ when managers ask: how do we motivate employees? theyíre essentially asking a silly question. People are naturally motivated to do the things that organisations need them to do. Itís management practice that destroys morale and motivation. Of course, people need to be given a defined purpose and a framework within which to perform. Leadership matters, as does a good business strategy (there are numerous examples of how people can feel committed to an organisation and follow a leader over a cliff.) Having good products and competitive prices are clearly essential attributes of most successful businesses. But given the fact that many organisations claim: our people are our most important asset, shouldnít we expect them to pay more attention to what the assets feel and want?

And how do you know what people want? Itís not complicated. You ask them. You ask them about specific matters within the three areas of needs defined above. That gives data on which to base interventions (and also it gives a Board assurance about how well the people values of an organisation are being applied by line management.) Linkage analysis and specific statistical techniques like regression analysis can reveal the strength of correlation between these attitudes and important business outcomes (i.e. what drives what). The combination of data and analysis can provide HR and senior management with a robust way to improve human (and organisational) performance. The three near-universal needs of equity, achievement and camaraderie are great ëorganising principlesí for any enterprise, but the trouble is ñ many organisations donít address them systematically and effectively.

What Should HR Do To Facilitate Employee Enthusiasm and Enable Stronger Performance?

Start by asking: Is HR somehow complicit ñ even unwittingly ñ in destroying enthusiasm? Do the policies and procedures we have introduced create equity, encourage achievement and enable camaraderie in the workplace?

Equity is the most important factor in shaping employee enthusiasm. Data shows that when equity is rated low, even though achievement and camaraderie are rated high, overall enthusiasm can be up to two-thirds lower. Fortunately, equity is largely in the domain of HR: it concerns the employment policies, procedures and working practices. So, HR can play an important role by auditing company policies against this template. What rules could be abandoned; what programmes should be introduced?

Do Managers realise the importance of these issues and the connection to business outcomes (for which they are held accountable)? If not, HR should act to increase this awareness, through managerial training and selection.

Get the data. Survey employees regularly, using a consistent set of questions across the organisation. Disaggregate the data into organisational units, to make it accessible to individual managers and supervisors. Consider introducing a common set of standards ñ such as an index of items shown to be most strongly correlated to commitment and engagement ñ against which to measure business unit performance. Hold Managers accountable for improvement, in the same way that the business holds them to account for other important aspects of performance, like sales or expense.

Determine the areas for intervention. While few organisations have universally high enthusiasm, most have ëpockets of excellenceí ñ departments or units where scores are high. Find out what the managers in these pockets are doing to create such high morale. Leverage these insights across the organisation. Consider teaming a high scoring manager with a couple of low scoring supervisors. Organise managers into ëpeer groupsí to review their individual results. Challenge the group to raise the overall average score within their peer group.

Conduct linkage analysis to determine the strength and direction of the correlations between certain attitudinal dimensions and key business outcomes ñ such as safety, profitability or quality. Show line management the results in order to help them focus on the aspects that matter most: the key drivers of results. Use this data as the basis for the business case for any proposed HR intervention or programme: ëby investing effort here, we expect to see improvements thereÖí

Let the shareholders and analysts know the facts. If morale has improved and benchmarks well, incorporate the data in the companyís annual report. Not only will it serve to back-up the assertion that employees are the firmís greatest asset, but it will inform both investors and potential recruits about the way you view employee enthusiasm. Moreover, including this data in your Operating & Financial Reviews (OFRs) will help demonstrate that robust attitudinal data has relevance to a companyís annual results.

By Nick Starritt, Managing Director, Sirota Consulting Europe