Engaging employees can be a daunting task, and with all of the jargon out there, it’s easy to get lost and not know what next steps to take. In this post, we examine the eight dimensions of our Employee Engagement model, illustrated with real-life examples of companies who embody what these drivers are all about.
Archive for the ‘Motivating Employees’ Category
Understanding the Employee Experience
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012Eco-Friendly Ways to Boost Employee Engagement
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Too often, employee engagement is seen as little more than an added expense—many equate employee engagement with higher spending on benefits. This doesn’t have to be the case. Our research has shown that many employees simply want to feel that their work matters—that what they do makes a difference. This feeling can be achieved on both an individual level, by thanking each employee for their hard work, and on a company-wide level, by rallying the troops for a cause.
The Driving Factor of Engagement among Restaurant Clientele
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
Restaurants have a few advantages when it comes to customer service. Unlike in many industries, restaurant employees have the chance to interact personally with customers. This means restaurants have more opportunities to deliver a positive emotional experience to each guest. On the other hand, because it’s such a guest-focused industry, the bar for outstanding customer service is set a little higher in the restaurant arena. Therefore, restaurant managers and owners have more motivation to identify and replicate employee effort that engages and delights customers. In this article, we’ll examine the general customer service landscape in the restaurant sector. Next, we’ll take a look at the characteristics all businesses must exhibit in order to win high Customer Engagement, as our 2010 Most Engaged Customers (MEC) report revealed. Finally, we’ll zoom in on the “hot button” issues for customer engagement in the restaurant space.
Creating Brand Ambassadors through Recognize Alerts
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
The human brain is wired for empathy. As Daniel Goleman explains in his book Social Intelligence, mirror neurons allow us to feel what the people around us are feeling. FMRI studies have shown that when we perceive emotions in others, our brains light up like theirs. For example, when you see a facial expression of disgust, the area of your brain that registers disgust is activated. To quote from Social Intelligence, mirror neurons “allow us to grasp the minds of others not through conceptual reasoning but through direct simulation, by feeling, not by thinking.” Why should mirror neurons matter to your business? Because your customers’ mirror neurons pick up on the emotional output of your employees. PeopleMetrics’ research verifies that enthusiastic, passionate employees rub off on customers. Employee Engagement breeds Customer Engagement. And companies with higher Customer Engagement also enjoy higher profits, ROI, and share-of-market. Therefore, Employee Engagement is a key component in any Customer Engagement strategy. Highly engaged employees act as ambassadors for your brand, advocating for your company to customers and fellow employees alike. That’s why PeopleMetrics has created a Brand Ambassador program to help you discover and “clone” your organization’s most engaged employees.
Why Acting on Employee Suggestions Boosts Employee and Customer Engagement
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
In his timeless work How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), Dale Carnegie traces all human motivation to one sensation: feeling important. Quoting American philosopher John Dewey, Carnegie emphasizes “that the deepest urge in human nature is ‘the desire to be important.’” Flash forward to 2009, when the most innovative business leaders are applying Carnegie’s dictum to the workplace through Employee Engagement Management. More than just an “HR buzzword,” Employee Engagement Management is a leadership approach that values each employee’s well being and input, with the understanding that passionate, engaged employees are more productive. This article will explain why gathering and implementing employee suggestions is an effective technique for improving both employee and customer engagement.