By any standard you can imagine, the Covid pandemic brought colossal change to the way people look at—and live—their lives. Those changes are particularly evident in the view and conduct their work.
Consider these findings from the Gallup organization, arguably the world’s leading analytics company:
- 56% of 125 million full-time U.S. workers said they don’t have to be in the workplace anymore because they discovered—thanks to the pandemic—that they can do their jobs from home.
- A staggering 90% of U.S. employees with office jobs are not longing for the old workplace to return, and nearly 40% of them say they would change jobs for the option to work full or part time from a flexible (non-office) location.
With that backdrop, it’s clear that the pandemic and uncertainty about the future of work have spurred employee discontent. Gallup finds that nearly 80% of employees are not engaged—or are actively disengaged a work. Gallup estimates that anemic employee engagement costs the global economy a whopping $7.8 trillion in lost productivity. That’s a staggering 11% of global GDP.
These and hundreds of other findings are found in Culture Shock: An Unstoppable Force is Changing How We Work and Live by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter. Clifton is Gallup chairman and Harter is Gallup’s chief scientist.
For many years, Gallup has touted the importance of employee engagement. In fact, Gallup is the leading researcher on that subject. But Harter says “a winning culture for any type of organization is one of relentless customer focus.” So, what’s the link between employee engagement and customer focus?
“Statistically, across ten iterations of meta-analysis the past couple of decades, we’ve found that business units with higher employee engagement have significantly higher customer engagement,” Harter says. “The relationship between the two becomes even stronger during tough economic times, when—with organizations having more limited resources—employees can be a big differentiator.”
As you might assume, declining employee engagement signals a growing disconnect between the employee and the employer. “Employees now feel less responsible for the quality of the products and services their company provides to customers,” Harter says. “This is particularly true for younger employees and older fully remote employees.”
Although employee engagement is arguably more important than ever, Gallup’s research shows that it’s declining. What’s behind that decline, and how can leaders reverse the trend?
“Unfortunately, after a decade of increases, employee engagement has declined in recent years, as has the customer experience—which relates highly to customer retention,” Harter says. “The declines have been greatest in these areas: employees knowing what’s expected of them; seeing how their work contributes to the mission or purpose of the organization; having opportunities to learn and grow; being able to do what they do best; and feeling cared about by their manager or someone in the organization.”
Harter says reversing this trend of declining engagement requires that leaders identify and examine the organizational culture—”that is, the organization’s intended culture versus its current reality—for jobs that don’t require people to be in the office. This means creating a plan for in-person days, reskilling managers to build coaching habits that match the needs of the new hybrid and remote workforce, and putting the right metrics in place to measure the current state and progress over time.”
Harter quotes consultant and educator Peter Drucker as saying, “The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strength in ways that makes weaknesses irrelevant.” What does that approach look like in actual practice?
“Ultimately, it happens through managers becoming strengths-based,” he says. “Each person needs to know their innate strengths, including managers. Employees’ innate talents and strengths can then be understood and developed through regular feedback and continuously aimed at building exceptional individual performance, team collaboration, and customer impact.”
But focusing on employee strengths does not mean glossing over weaknesses, he says. The goal is to build trust and development so that critique is both accepted and applied.
The famous Gallup Q12 survey has been used by thousands of organizations to assess employee engagement. Since the Covid pandemic, Gallup researchers added four items to address issues involving Respect, Wellbeing, Coaching habits, and Customer focus. Harter explains the rationale behind those additions.
“Gallup recently saw the need to create a reengineered dashboard for the post-pandemic hybrid and remote workplace that aligns with the realities of how people work and live today,” Harter says. “We call it Q12+.”
The four new items are:
At work, I am treated with respect. Gallup found that respect is fundamental to making diversity, equity and inclusion efforts work.
My organization cares about my overall wellbeing. Before the pandemic, millennial and Generation Z workers expected their employers to improve their overall lives and wellbeing, not just provide a job. This expectation has intensified since the pandemic and mental health has become a serious concern and focus.
I have received meaningful feedback in the last week. The most important manager habit for leading the new hybrid and remote workforce is having at least one meaningful conversation with each employee per week.
My organization always delivers on the promise we make to customers. Gallup has conducted a meta-analysis of customer perceptions that predicts customer retention and business growth. Harter says this survey item is the best indicator of how customers actually feel about the products and services organizations produce.
At a time when so many meetings and other work-related activities are conducted virtually, so-called “Zoom fatigue” seems to be on the rise. Gallup’s research provides some hints on how to reduce that problem.
“Leaders, managers, and especially teams need a plan for when they will spend time together in-person,” Harter says. “Most are deciding either through mandates by organizational leaders or individuals deciding what is best for their own situation. Only 13% of employees say they get to decide when they will be in the office with their team. Yet it’s giving employees that very freedom and autonomy to decide that is most highly related to employee engagement.”
Harter says an abundance of research shows that in-person time matters for building trust, innovation, spontaneous discussions, solving problems, and overall mood. “Organizational leaders need a plan so there is some predictability in when people can make the commute worth it,” he says. “But ultimately, individuals need to know that spending some time in-person is a commitment to their team.”
Harter uses the terms splitters and blenders to denote people’s work preferences—with splitters designating those who prefer a 9 to 5 job where work and life are separated, and blenders denoting those who like work and life to be more blended throughout the day. Assuming that an organization’s workforce includes both splitter and blenders, how can leaders accommodate people’s preferences while maintaining high performance standards?
“Consider managing someone without knowing if they have a splitter or blender preference,” Harter says. “Both types of workers can be highly engaged and productive. Gallup found when preference for splitting or blending work is not aligned with the reality of the job, employees have lower engagement and higher burnout.”
Managers, he says, are the only ones who can get to know the situation of each person they manage—and to motivate each person, be they splitters or blenders—through their clear expectations, ongoing feedback, and accountability. “Employees need to know the work preferences of their team members,” he says. “Not all preferences can be met all the time, but knowing them can decrease the probability of burnout.”
Harter says every decision that organizations make about how people work should be filtered through how it impacts individual productivity, employee collaboration, the value the organization brings to customers, and the wellbeing of employees.
What could the future look like? Harter has some ideas.
“If we combine the workforce’s post-pandemic desire for autonomy and freedom with great managing that matches the needs of the new workforce—and customers—we could create the most engaging and inspiring workplace cultures imaginable,” he says. “The changes brought about by the pandemic have created remarkable opportunities for organizations to manage, motivate and get more productivity and customer focus out of their workforces than ever before. While there are significant challenges, many organizations have already shown this is possible.”
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