Have you ever been published? Would you like to be?

If you or your company have participated in an Employee Engagement Survey like this one in the last couple of years, we would love to hear from you as your feedback is important to us and to those who are interested in our services.

New market research suggests both companies and employees are increasingly aware of a definite shift in fiscal, professional, and personal priorities. Undoubtedly, you have seen and felt their impact on your business and professions as well. This shift has and continues to affect the following:

- Need for flexible or non-traditional work schedules
- Need for more "modern" work conditions
- Need for meaningful and measurable accomplishments
- Need for personal recognition and validation
- Need for professional growth
- Need to identify with the organization, etc

We, therefore, invite you to write a little comment or article to our editorial staff so we as well as others viewing this blog can grow from your experience. Our Staff will review your submission and we will gladly publish them on this blog along with your photo and a brief biographical reference if you want.

Lastly, feel free to contact us if you are interested in receiving our complimentary current research compilation on the topic of the above mentioned shift in employee engagement.

Also, please feel free to take a look at one our Employee Engagement Surveys available here. Receiving these survey's results may be of interest to you. We can send them to you, if you would like. It's a free report.

Get good employees to stay…more than a little bit longer

It doesn’t make much difference as to the size of a company – exit interviews invariably reveal the same basic reasons for most employees’ departures: lack of confidence in where the business is headed; a sense of not fitting in within the organization; uncertainty about their future/career path within the organization; and a better financial opportunity elsewhere.

Ultimately what most employees want is a workplace that will provide a compelling future, a positive environment, opportunities for growth and financial rewards. And while a progressive company can likely provide all those elements to some degree, the trick is in striking the right balance in each of these areas without cultivating an entitlement mentality among employees…regardless of how talented or valuable they are to the company.

So, how can business owners and human resource heads avoid the dreaded entitlement mindset? By creating a unified vision for the company, and in so doing establishing an ownership mentality among employees.

In companies where an ownership mindset has emerged, there is an across-the-board sense of what really matters. Employees have a clear understanding of where the company is going and embrace a commitment to its success. But that understanding doesn’t come as a result of a couple “pep talks.”

Good employees invest their time and talent in helping a business achieve its goals because they understand all implications of the company’s goals; they truly believe the company will achieve those goals; the company’s goals are important to them; they see how they can make a contribution to the goals of the company; and they see the connection between the company’s goals and their own.

The path to an ownership mentality is created through several steps:

• Communicating a vision for the company’s future
• Spelling out strategy and business plans
• Defining specific opportunities for key individuals
• Maintaining open channels of communication
• Setting clear pay standards
• Sharing the wealth to further underscore employees’ investment in the company’s success
• Balancing short and long-term incentive rewards

It all comes down to understanding, importance, belief, contribution and connection. When these elements are in place and embraced, employees are working within an ownership framework, making it much easier for them to stay than leave.

About our Benefits Installment Author:

James E. (Jim) Moniz, CEO of Northeast VisionLink, a Massachusetts firm that specializes in structuring executive compensation. James E. Moniz is a national speaker on the topic of wealth management and on executive compensation. Jim Moniz will be presenting at this years SHRM conference in Phoenx, be sure to check out our presentation: “Creating and Sustaining a Competitive Advantage, The Role and Impact of Effective Compensation and Rewards Strategies”