According to a recent Towers Perrin Study, most companies have workers that fall into three levels of worker engagement: 21% are "redlined," meaning that they're giving the company everything they've got; 41% are "enrolled," meaning that they do their jobs but don't go the extra mile; and 38% are "flatlined," meaning that they're doing the bare minimum, if that.
* A similar study by Gallup revealed that 18% of American workers are "actively disengaged," meaning that they are "deliberately throwing sand into the gears of commerce," Bill Catlette, author of Contented Cows Give Better Milk, told the audience of more than 250 at a keynote speech on Monday morning. Employees who are actively disengaged are a huge problem for companies – the lower productivity of actively disengaged workers cost the U.S. economy $382 billion per year, the Gallup study estimates.
These statistics certainly make the case that employers need to do more to engage employees – and experts at the conference provided plenty of strategies to help. In a keynote on Sunday evening, Bill Buckner, an executive at Cargill who also serves as the global company's Chief Recognition Officer, highlighted several steps the company has taken to engage workers. Here are some of his tips that distributors can share with clients hungering to beef up their recognition programs:
* Informal recognition is important. While all employees like to receive formal recognition, such as annual awards, the average employee isn't impacted by these kinds of programs, Buckner says. To engage rank and file employees, Cargill has a comprehensive informal recognition plan in place, which empowers managers to hand out small incentives to workers when they do a good job. Indeed, executives should have spontaneous rewards, such as gift cards or desk accessories with inspirational messages, at the ready, according to Buckner.
* Consider the recipient. One-size-fits-all rewards don't work, especially on a global playing field. Buckner recalled a situation three years ago where some Cargill executives sent hockey pucks to high-performing employees at a Japanese firm it had acquired with an inscription that read, "Thank you for putting the puck in the net." "The employees were offended, not only because we sent them a meaningless black blob but because the inscription was in English," he said. "They didn't feel recognized at all."