Good Morning SkedX'ers!
Today I wanted to share with you all some excerpts from an article regarding how engagement is most influenced by supervisors and workplace communication. A new survey by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Research Foundation and Buck Consultants, a Xerox company, finds that an employee’s supervisor and the amount of communication in an organization are the two greatest influencers of employee engagement.
44% of those surveyed said their supervisor strongly increased employee engagement, while 41% said supervisors strongly decreased employee engagement.
Close to 39% of respondents believe employee communication is the greatest contributor to employee engagement, while 47%say it has some influence. Other increased engagement factors included change in leadership (31%), and rewards/recognition programs (18%). The greatest contributors to decreased employee engagement are poor morale (49%), poor management/leadership (48%), downsizing (38%), and change in leadership (26%).
“Another trend we're seeing is a more common use of social media as part of an organization's employee engagement strategy,” said Robin McCasland, chair, IABC Research Foundation and president, Brain Biscuits Strategic Communication. "The differences between internal and external communication are blurring, and organizations that communicate effectively through social media are finding that it enhances a positive workplace culture, supports employee engagement and reinforces a favorable external reputation."
"One of the key findings of this year's survey is that enhancing the organization's culture and work environment has become the respondents' highest ranked goal for employee engagement," said Bob Carr, principal at Buck Consultants. "Organizations are committing themselves more deeply to effectively engaging their employees, knowing that this is the key to meeting their productivity, retention, and overarching business goals."
The IABC has conducted two previous engagement surveys and the results are interesting when compared to the current years. Last year, the IABC's results showed that companies were most concerned with increasing productivity. This year's survey showed that creating a new culture/work environment (33%) was the most important goal, followed by increasing productivity (28%) and retaining top talent (26%).
As for communication, compared to results in 2010 there was a slight decrease in the numbers for face-to-face communication (46%) and an increase for social media (16%).
From the above we can see organizations are looking to revamp their organizational culture to one that better suits and embraces employees as well as increases communication methods with social media. Many organizations seek to create an internal portal of their own that fosters engagement and wellness, increases communication, and increases accessibility.
By providing employees with the opportunity to communicate formally/informally on a on-the-go platform, employees are more in tune with what’s going on in the organization and are more likely to bond with each other.
For example an employee expresses they want to set up a lunch/get-together to brainstorm some ideas. Most often once the information finally gets around it’s the end of the week and everybody involved is busy again. Well why not communicate that via an internal "Facebook wall" if you will , instantaneously all employees will be able to see it, reply to it, and even show when they're available by pulling up there schedule.
In perfect world employees communicate via multiple platforms, as well as use those multiple platforms to complete work as efficiently and effectively as possible.
That perfect world....well its attainable with SkedX! So why not learn more here and here.
Above image taken from: http://www.buzzle.com/img/articleImages/334937-59310-52.jpg
Above post contains excerpts from: http://clomedia.com/articles/view/engagement-most-influenced-by-supervisors-and-workplace-communication/1
Happy Engaging,
Aman
