Perfecting The Art Of Employee Engagement

By Sarah Nicastro, publisher/editor in chief, Field Technologies
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Today’s leading service organizations are laser focused on improving customer experience and engagement, and rightly so. That said, it’s crucial to ensure that your external efforts don’t overshadow the need for an internal focus as well – in the form of employee engagement. Employee engagement is a key component of improving customer experience, because it’s nearly impossible for disengaged or unhappy employees to deliver the type of interactions you’d like with your customer base. I think sometimes companies overlook the need for an employee engagement strategy because it isn’t a one-size-fits all thing and it can be tricky to do well. Lucky for you, Ryan Snellings, VP of operations at Fresenius Kabi, has a great amount of firsthand experience with this topic and is here with us to share his insight.

Field Technologies: Explain why turning the focus internally and determining how to improve employee engagement is just as – if not more – important as an external focus on the customer.

Snellings: In order to successfully compete in the medical device industry, or any industry for that matter, it is critical to attract and retain top talent.  This can only be done through employee engagement — simply trying to pay more than the next employer no longer works and isn’t very financially responsible for businesses.  This trend really makes sense when you look at the corporate cultural movement from IQ to EQ and how these “soft” skills dominate the leadership narrative.

Field Technologies: How would you summarize Fresenius Kabi’s employee engagement strategy?

Snellings:  A top down approach with a strong focus on responding and putting into action employee feedback at all levels.  A learning environment built on employee development and well-being.

Field Technologies: When did your focus on employee engagement begin, and what benefits have you seen since you put your strategy in place?

Snellings: I was fortunate to have many mentors along the way that always considered employee engagement as a key success factor, long before it became such a discussed topic.  This gave our team a solid foundation to build off of for several years now and given our learning culture we have been able to build off of that foundation by using new skills and approaches that have been developed in the past couple of years to improve our human capital.

Field Technologies: How can employee engagement help companies to retain good employees and attract top talent?

Snellings: Employees are looking for more than just a place to earn a paycheck.  Employees want a deeper meaning in what they do and they want to feel good about not only their personal growth, but they also want to make an impact in the world.  When you can appropriately recognize and reward an employee for an outcome, and link it to the larger organization and society, the impact is far greater than simply monetary handouts.  This isn’t to say pay is not important  — you have to be competitive when it comes to salaries  — but if that is all that you rely on then you will be paying much more in employee turnover and training than any salary.

Field Technologies: How do you discover what engagement strategies are going to work best with your employees? Does what’s effective change over time?

Snellings:  This is very fluid, and we haven’t always gotten it right.  It is imperative that you ask employees what they want.  Interestingly, this is where the top down approach changes to bottom up.  Different backgrounds and generations have very different expectations and desires so you have to be flexible and willing to make changes along the way.  There is absolutely no one-size-fits-all model when it comes to employee engagement.  Frequent feedback is needed in the form of surveys, two-way feedback performance reviews, and employee focus groups.

Field Technologies: What validation or recognition tactics do you feel work best, and why?

Snellings:  Immediate!  I cannot stress that enough. It doesn’t matter what the recognition or reward is, if you don’t provide immediate feedback it loses its impact.  You would be amazed at how far a “way to go” or “thank you” goes when recognizing an employee’s accomplishment.  “Praise in public, teach in private” is always a safe bet. And make sure to communicate little wins along the way to several layers of the organization. What front line employee doesn’t want a quick acknowledgement from the President or CEO of a company?

Field Technologies: What is your opinion on financial incentives for engagement?

Snellings:  There is definitely a place for it.  I know several programs out there will try to push that it’s not about the money, but it absolutely is about the money as well.  Financial incentives, whether it is salary, bonuses, etc., are the baseline you are competing from.  All things the same financially, employee engagement is how you stand out and attract or retain talent.  However, if you think you are going to compete for the best candidates out there by employee engagement only, then also plan on increased cost of training, employee turnover, and loss of productivity, which will cost you way more than any kind of financial incentives.

Field Technologies: How can a company plan for effective communications that will lead to more engaged employees? Are there certain methods or frequencies that work best?

Snellings:  This is something that we have really had to learn more about.  It’s no longer ok to only provide feedback during mid-year and annual review sessions.  There is a higher expectation out there now that we need to live up to.  Recognition, validation, and feedback needs to happen on a weekly basis.  And though this may seem excessive, remember this can be anything from a simple “job well done” immediately after a small win, all the way up to an out of cycle bonus due to a large accomplishment that affects the company’s bottom line.  If you, as a leader, are truly committed to making employee engagement a top priority, you will learn over time which employees do and don’t need frequent acknowledgement and what makes each employee tick. This is where your high EQ comes in to play.

Field Technologies: What other tips or advice do you have for companies looking to improve employee engagement?

Snellings:  Employees need to understand how they fit into the big picture.  Make sure your employees goals align with the company strategy and that they understand this alignment.  Don’t assume what an employee wants to know about the business simply based off of their current position.  Get an understanding of their long term personal and professional goals and work together to make the employee and company a success.  Employees that have an emotional commitment to the company and the work they do will be more productive and produce higher quality work. And most importantly, your customers will feel it in every interaction!