Unless you have your own private plane we all have to deal with the airport experience if we want to travel. And typically you don’t hear people talking about the wonderful time they had. Instead, you hear horror stories about delayed planes, TSA pat downs, canceled and over-booked flights, terrible food, and long security lines. Although these things are common and sometimes out of an individual airline’s control, it doesn’t change the fact that people want to be treated well. On a recent business trip I witnessed the good, the bad and the ugly of airline travel. (more…)
Filed under: Employee Communication, Employee Development, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Executive Leadership
No doubt many of your employees are asking themselves this question as the new year approaches. According research by Manpower as reported in an article on CNN.com, up to 84% of all employees will be looking for a new job as they ring in the new year.
Many employers are making New Year’s resolutions of their own – hoping to avert this impending mass exodus of employees. If you’re doing the same, there are some things you can do to help retain your employees in 2011. Based on research that Questar has done on drivers of employee loyalty, here are some steps you can (more…)
Filed under: Employee Communication, Employee Development, Employee Engagement, Uncategorized, Work Life Balance
Will you be buying your employees a gift this holiday season? Do you wonder what they really want?
A couple of weeks ago I blogged about a few of the things that employees are most thankful for. But not all is rosy in the world of employee opinions. While employees are thankful for many aspects of their work, there are some (more…)
Filed under: Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Research, Uncategorized
As Thanksgiving approaches, Americans pause this week to reflect on their blessings. So what are you thankful for? For most people, the intangibles probably come to mind first – the many things that money can’t buy like family, friends, and experiences. Basic needs that are met may also make the list – shelter, clothing, food. And in an economy where more than 9% are unemployed, this Thanksgiving holiday many are thankful that they have a job.
If you ask people why they work, they will probably mention money as the primary reason. But if you ask people what they like best about their jobs, money usually doesn’t top the list. Work brings so much more to people’s lives. Over the past 25 years, Questar has asked millions of employees what they like (more…)
Filed under: Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Uncategorized, Work Life Balance
Imagine for a minute the following advertisement I saw in my inbox yesterday. There is a man floating down the Colorado River sporting a t-shirt, plaid shorts, and a fisherman’s hat. The water is calm and he looks to be getting ready to snap a shot of the Grand Canyon from a turn in the river. And what does the caption say? “Freedom is life outside the cubicle.” Ok, it’s piqued my interest and I decide to scan the text. “Get work/life balance… Life is freer outside the office …remote access to your computer…” Got it – it’s a remote access software program. But just as I’m hovering over the delete button another line catches my eye and I read on: “Update a file while you’re enjoying a long lunch… be in two places at once… Print a file on your work computer to a local printer – say, at the beach resort you’re enjoying for the week.”
Printing a file from a beach resort would be the last thing on my mind. Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for technology that helps me be more productive. I may not be addicted, but I regularly use my company’s VPN and check email from my smart phone. The duality of the messaging got me thinking. Are freedom and connectedness (more…)
Filed under: Customer Experience, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership
That may be one of the most cliché phrases in the English language. Every time I feel forced to say it I cringe and think “here we go again”. In addition, how does it feel to be the powerless employee that has to admit that they do not have the training or authority to help the customer? A recent experience of mine got me thinking more about how this ties into what Questar does to help employees and customers with this type of situation.
Going paperless when managing household bills is a good thing, right? Online statements are convenient and online bill pay has become easier. Not to mention we all want to do our part to help the environment. Why wouldn’t a person want to “do the right thing” while at the same time making their life easier to manage? I found out a few days ago there is a little more to think about when you choose to discard the “old way’ of doing things for a “better”, more progressive approach. (more…)
This month, Questar celebrates 25 years in business. So when I ventured to write this blog—my first blog—I intended to write a list of 25 things I learned in the survey research business over 25 years. But who, I thought, would really want to read a list of 25 things? Not me. And how was I going to come up with 25 things that anyone would want to actually read? The answer to that was: I wasn’t going to. So I scrapped the idea.
And then it hit me the other day.
Tuesday.
The day of our company-wide celebration event—a boat cruise on Lake Minnetonka.
The biggest thing that has changed in 25 years is accessibility. I should write about that.
Now, what do I mean by accessibility? Just follow me for a minute here. That Tuesday was a gloomy day and it seemed it might rain at any moment. So an hour before we needed to leave I checked the weather radar online and sent a reassuring email to all the employees—weather is looking good so come and have some fun. Right before I left, I made sure I had my Blackberry. Then I used the GPS in my car to direct me to the correct location. The last thing I did before I got on the boat (more…)
Filed under: Employee Communication, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership
Nurses in Duluth, Minnesota, may be striking soon. Earlier this week they voted by a nearly 9 to 1 margin to reject their new labor contract. Like so many others in this “do more with less” economy, tight staffing levels have taken a toll, and the Minnesota Nurses Association cites “patient safety” as the primary concern prompting the strike.
Employees decide to strike for many reasons. But at the end of the day, most just want to be heard. In that regard, they’re not alone. At Questar we track tens of thousands of employees’ opinions about their workplace. This research shows that many employees believe no one is listening.
- Only about half (54%) of all employees indicate that their company’s senior management values employees’ ideas and opinions.
- Those on the front lines are least likely to feel heard: While 77% of (more…)
A colleague forwarded an interesting post to me yesterday titled “The Trojan Horse of Employee Engagement.” The title instantly piqued my interest – maybe it was the image of 30 I/O Psychologists stashed away in a giant wooden horse. The author, David S. Cohen, Ed.D., raised some very interesting questions throughout the article and laid out 7 specific ones.
This “geek” is glad you asked. These types of questions come up all the time – and they are good ones. At Questar, we are always up for a game of devil’s advocate, so here is my reaction to your 7 questions. First a bit about engagement. Sure, productivity is becoming increasingly important. But it’s not just about getting employees to work harder. It’s about retaining the best talent, aligning behind values, and helping employees grow with changing needs of the company. All things I/O Psychologists strive to help organizations do better. It’s about the antecedents, the experience, and the outcomes. I think that is why it has had such great success in practice. People get it – even if it’s not a neat and tidy construct.
1. If you are not engaged, i.e. not excited about the work you do, can engagement training get you more involved? Conversely, if you are excited about your work, is engagement training a waste of time? (more…)
Filed under: Customer Experience, Employee Communication, Employee Engagement
One of the things we do well is help our clients engage employees and customers and create brand loyalty. We do this in several ways—mainly by harnessing the power of employee, customer and stakeholder feedback to improve company performance.
Our friends at Bolster (www.bolstercreative.com) are also in the business of driving brand loyalty. They use authentic storytelling, and engaging and sustainable communications tools to strengthen the reputation of a brand.We thought they had some good ideas and that you might find them interesting as well. Let us know what you think.
Once Upon A Time-Driving Brand Engagement Through the Power of Story
Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact. — Robert McKee, Screenwriter
“Tell me a story.”
“What’s your story?”
“That reminds me of a great story!”
The overwhelming familiarity of these phrases reminds us that we are all truly hardwired for stories. They are how we learn about our world as small children and how we come to define our social and cultural values as we grow older. Listening to others’ stories is how we decide whom to invite into our social circles. If the story someone tells us contains values that align with ours, a connection is made. And perhaps best of all, stories are universal. There have been societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories – true story. (more…)
