Sounds great, right? So how do we get to this magic state of mind? Towers Perrin listed the top 10 drivers of employee engagement from their 2007/2008 survey:
1. Senior management sincerely interested in employee well-being
2. Ability to improve skills and capabilities
3. Organization's reputation for social responsibility
4. Employees inputs into decision making
5. Quick resolution of customer concerns
6. Setting of high personal standards
7. Excellent career advancement opportunities
8. Challenging work assignments that broaden skills
9. Good relationships with supervisors
10. Organization encourages innovative thinking
This is a great starting point for developing a longer term strategy to retain your best people. Fostering an engaging work environment means focusing on these 10 factors, and the good news is that many of them are inexpensive or even free.
First let's recognize that the factors above can be grouped into a few broad categories: