Employee engagement is not just about making sure the team is being efficient. It also has a lot to do with feedback and leadership. An disengaged employee can be up to 80% less efficient and provide a much poorer experience for clients. Employee engagement is one of the hardest pillars to fix, as a lack of engagement usually takes a long time to achieve, and must be approached from multiple angles to improve.
This particular two-location practice had very low team morale, pre-disposed notions of the practice owner’s demeanor and a threat of a class-action lawsuit against the practice owner. On top of these frustrations, client service was greatly suffering due to poor employee engagement, and the entire team felt negative about the practice’s culture.
To get an overall feel for an HR and Training client’s work atmosphere, our staff at iVET360 provide an anonymous survey for their staff members to complete, in order to analyze their work environment to better customize a personal course of action. The survey for this practice revealed that on a scale of 1–10, their employee happiness score barely cracked 50% (4.18), and the majority of the staff felt that their training was inadequate, problems were not effectively handled and there was no accountability.
Employee engagement is one of the hardest pillars to fix, as a lack of engagement usually takes a long time to achieve and must be approached from multiple angles to improve.
The first order of business for this client was to work with the practice owner on communication and leadership skills so as to improve her interactions with the staff. We then helped her bring in a new practice manager with client service specific experience and worked hard to define the culture by making it a part of the daily conversation through weekly focuses and random check-ins.
Team-building and team-engaging activities were implemented, as well as team outings to create relationships and camaraderie. Once this was established, we helped them develop an accountability structure to keep the entire staff on track and to hold everyone to the same standards.
With these new protocols in place, we then focused on structuring their future by developing a new-hire and
ongoing training program.
There was no shortage of necessary improvements to this client. Through their work with us, the class-action lawsuit was ultimately dropped, and a survey taken two years later showed vast growth with even more potential to climb.
This survey revealed many things, including:
+ 38% increase in team members that feel training
was effective
+ 52% increase in team members that feel problems are
dealt with fairly and effectively
+ 35% increase in team members that feel everyone is
held accountable regardless of their status
+ Their employee happiness score nearly doubled
from 4.18 to 7.73
