| Reality Takes a Bite out of Employee Engagement |
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By: Getty Stewart Head of the Home Range Reality often rears its ugly head and sinks its razor-edged teeth into our best laid plans and our well-intentioned efforts. When it does, it’s hard not to become cynical and question the value of our attempts. For example, what do you do when your efforts to engage employees don’t work? Several months ago I wrote a great article (well, I thought it was great!) on capturing the spirit and energy of new employees by pulling out all the stops in their first week. At the time, we had a new employee starting and we eagerly put into practice our own advice. We had a full training and support plan in place, luncheon dates were set, peers were ready to answer questions, the workstation and all computer access codes were set up, introductory and welcome emails were sent by everyone, and a friendly welcome sign was posted. It was the best start and welcome we had ever planned for anyone. We were committed to giving our new employee a great start so that we could build a rewarding, long-lasting relationship. It didn’t work. Two months later our new employee quit. Ouch! Clearly, the lesson here is to abandon all attempts at doing anything nice for anyone. We should just resign ourselves to the fact that our efforts are futile, and as the nay-sayers are quick to point out, “All that employee engagement stuff is just a waste of time – employees will do whatever they want, whenever they want and will never give a damn about you or your company.” NOT! Look, no one said it was going to be easy and yes, sometimes it feels like you’re butting your head against a brick wall – but don’t let setbacks like these knock you off your course. You know that treating people right, putting your best foot forward and doing the best that you can is the right thing to do. So keep doing it. Don’t default to mediocrity or worse to apathy. Learn from your experiences and keep going. We’re not going to stop onboarding new employees in the best way that we can. We will, however, take a look at our hiring strategies and ensure we’re bringing on the right people who are a great fit with our company, our team and our philosophy. We’re firm in our belief that you get what you give and we will continue to grow our business with that philosophy in mind. |
