Your human resources are your financial ones too (page 1 of 2)

Therefore an Employee Satisfaction Survey should not be looked at as a simple inventory of staff morale, opinions and interests. It is a fundamental tool for achieving the key corporate goals of growth and profit.

And by Employee Commitment we are talking about more than just Employee Satisfaction scores. Employee Commitment i.e. a sense of engagement with or loyalty towards an employer is dependent on the degree of motivation that employees experience from their overall working environment.

Therefore organizations that are serious about their employees take time to talk to them and identify what they are looking for from their work environment. And this is best done by the highest management levels. The role of CEO as Chief Listening Officer is now accepted at many of the world's largest and most dynamic companies.

Time should be spent in bringing groups of employees together, talking to them and identifying what their real motivations are. The identification and listing of employee needs and wants is an objective and scientific exercise. For example, how do employees look at growth? Are they drawing a difference between a consciously planned longer term career path versus a cosmetic change in designation and job title?

The path from identification of key issues to implementation of action is best captured through -

• Measuring the key metrics
• Managing the implementation of change or outcome
and
• Monitoring progress over time.

You can only manage what you can measure. So let us start with a preview of what needs to be measured.

MEASURING

Employee Commitment addresses three fundamental issues:

• What is my Employee Commitment Index? How does it compare with other companies in the same industry, the same region, or even globally?

• What is the Commitment Profile?

• What are the key drivers of Commitment? What are the motivators?

The Commitment Index is a composite of two factors: satisfaction with the job and a motivation to continue. Both are important - you need satisfied employees and you need to retain them. You also need motivated employees so that they grow in their role and by doing so help the company to grow.

The Commitment Profile is also important. A company requires a good mix of satisfied as well as motivated employees. Those who show both these characteristics are the "Drivers". They bring about positive change.

Employees who are satisfied but not motivated are "Residents" - yes men who do not actually make any significant contribution to company growth.

The other extreme are "Critics" - those who are motivated but not necessarily satisfied.

Forward looking companies specifically focus on this group to identify their reasons for dissatisfaction. Often "Critics" are young, ambitious go-getters. If handled properly they can very effectively be converted to "Drivers". The latest thinking in research into Employee Commitment indicates that a growing company is likely to have a larger percentage of "Critics" than average. Similarly a low growth company is likely to live with large groups of "Residents".

And, of course, every company has its fair share of "Detached" - those who are neither satisfied nor motivated.