Innovation in Employee Engagement

Among other great articles, the winter 2007 edition of Fast Thinking magazine highlights the ‘8 Factor’ model for effective employee engagement, created by strategic futurist Marcus Barber. Using the model he shows how organisations can develop greater flexibility when it comes to providing incentives as a means for improving productivity and ensuring longevity for staff. Check out www.FastThinking.com.au where you can download a copy of the article and then make sure you subscribe to this excellent Innovation magazine.

Depending on the organisation type (for profit; not for profit; government) there will typically be a single dominant approach to how an organisation offers ‘incentives’ to its staff.  These incentives can be summarised as ‘more cash’; ‘more time’; ‘more stuff’ and ‘more people’ and by and large, the single dominant approach will be used as ‘de rigeur’ regardless of the actual needs of the various employees.

This ‘one size fits all’ approach is a highly limited way to engage your employees.  What it means is that you might be spending more cash on staff salaries than you need to, not appreciating the perceived lack of value that ‘time off in lieu’ creates, offering training programs where they are of little interest, or giving ‘bonus gifts’ that are both unwanted and of little use to the employee.

The end result is a staff engagement and incentive scheme that does NOT deliver the result you expect from it – a more productive, engaged, content workforce that can produce greater results.  Significantly if your business is faced with potential skilled staff shortages a mismatch might lead to an unexpected departure by employees for ‘greener pastures’ more attuned to their actual desires.

For more information on the ‘8 Factor’ model, feel free to contact us via email here or pick up the latest copy of Fast Thinking magazine