There is a shift in the marketplace as more and more organizations are starting to realize the importance in cultivating a good workplace culture. It is a key factor in measuring how successful your organization is in attracting and retaining good employees.
In 2018, Gallup pollster reported that only 16 per cent of Canadians were engaged in their work, compared with 70 percent who were not engaged and 14 percent who were “actively disengaged.” And this, Gallup continues, is better than the global average. Gallup defines engaged workers as those who “work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company.”
Tara Talbot, vice-president of human resources for Workopolis, observes that career goals have changed in the last 20 years. Today’s employees want to find stability with a better work-life balance. “The world in business and employment is shifting so quickly,” states Talbot, “that there is not the stability that there used to be.”
Reasons employees quit can vary, but there is a consensus that people often gravitate to a new employer “for their culture.” Former CEO of IBM, Louis V. Gestner, Jr., explains, “Until I came to IBM, I probably would have told you that culture was just one among several important elements in any organization’s makeup and success — along with vision, strategy, marketing, financials, and the like. I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn’t just one aspect of the game, it is the game.”
How does culture relate to employee satisfaction and employee engagement? Let’s define ‘employee satisfaction’ and ‘employee engagement’. Managers can confuse employee satisfaction as a key to increasing employee motivation. A satisfied employee can do a job without being engaged. An engaged employee is one willing to dedicate their time and energy to the work. They are motivated to perform to their best ability. It is less to do with salary and more to do with value and feeling valued. This motivation can be attributed to a positive workplace culture and bottom line results.
Changing culture and engagement is too difficult to do on your own. Help is at hand from professional employee engagement surveys.
Organizations who have a strong culture are outperforming their competition and attracting top talent. It is attributed to meaningful work, deep employee engagement, job-and-employee fit, and strong leadership.
Employee engagement is a personal change to improve an organization. Positive cultural change is an organizational change to improve overall performance.
How ready is your business to accommodate change?
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