As a printing shop owner or manager, you know that the hiring challenges faced by the industry don’t stop once the hire is made. They continue throughout the individual’s employment because, once you’ve got employees engaged, it’s important to keep them engaged. Otherwise, you risk them moving on to another job or becoming bored and disengaged (and therefore performing poorly) in the one they have. According to a new survey from Gallup, low levels of employee engagement cost the global economy $8.8 trillion. That’s 9% of global GDP.
According to the Gallup survey:
- 23% of employees say they are “thriving” at work.
- 59% of employees say they are “quiet quitting” (disengaged).
- 18% of employees say they are “loud quitting” (actively disengaged).
But all is not lost. According to Gallup, there are some pretty simple changes you can make to improve your employees’ engagement and keep them on board (both physically and in their heads)—and for most, it’s not more money. When “quiet quitters” were asked what could be done to make things better, their answers primarily related to engagement or culture (41%). Only 28% cited items related to pay and benefits. Sixteen percent cited factors related to well-being and work-life balance.
Source: “State of the Global Workforce” (Gallup, 2023)
The Easy Fix: Work Engagement and Culture
When it comes to engagement or culture, here is what a representative sampling of respondents would like to see:
- “For everyone to get recognized for their contributions.”
- “I would like it if the managers were more approachable, and we could talk openly.”
- “They should grant more autonomy in the work to stimulate everyone’s creativity.”
- “I would like to learn more things, but the work I do is quite repetitive.”
- “I just wish they respected me more.”
- “Give everyone a fair chance in getting promoted.”
- “Clearer goals and stronger guidance.”
This is great news for employers, since there are many simple things they can do to improve in these areas. The majority fall under the category of better training of managers, as well as increased employee autonomy recognition, more cross-training, and added opportunities for continuing education.
Indeed, Gallup notes that, subsequent to its manager training program, its clients have seen:
- 10% to 22% higher employee engagement for participants.
- 21% to 28% reduction in employee turnover.
- 8% to 18% higher employee engagement for teams led by participants.
- 20% to 28% higher likelihood of high performance.
Something as simple as better managerial training can have a huge payoff.
Better Pay and Benefits
This is not to say that pay and benefits aren’t important. They are, and 28% of survey respondents cited them. Here is a sampling of comments they made:
- “Increase my salary because I work hard but the pay is not enough.”
- “I would pay employees on time.”
- “Salaries must be proportional to qualifications and merit.”
- “I would like a monthly gas voucher for transport costs.”
- “A really good cafeteria available to all.”
- “Fully subsidized childcare.”
- “Give rewards to employees for the excellent results achieved by the company.”
These concerns are not as easily addressed, but the good news is that this category is a distant second to workplace culture, which is.
Well-Being and Work-Life Balance
Here is a sampling of comments related to well-being:
- “Communicating shifts well in advance would allow me to better organize my free time.”
- “Less overtime.”
- “I would like to work from home more.”
- “I would like to have longer breaks so I can eat without rushing.”
- “Set up a health clinic.”
- “I want to have a break at work. It’s hard without a rest.”
- “Taking workers health and life seriously.”
- “We don’t have a place to relax or to get together with colleagues for a coffee break.”
As with pay and benefits, addressing many of these concerns is out of reach for many employers. But other fixes, such as setting up break times, ensuring that employees have enough time for lunch, and improving employee communications, are things any employer, including printers, can do.
Half Are Job Hunting
Taking seriously every opportunity to improve work culture is all the more important because 51% of employees say they are watching for, or are actively seeking, a new job. More than half (53%) say now is a good time to find one. If they are disengaged at work, and they feel confident in their ability to find another job where they think the situation will be better, they’re out.
Source: “State of the Global Workforce” (Gallup, 2023)
Gallup describes creating a more engaged workforce as “creating a moat of protection” that not only reduces employee’s incentive to move, but makes it harder for competitors to lure them away. Gallup found, for example, that engaged employees require a 31% pay increase to consider taking a job with a different organization. Disengaged and actively disengaged employees, however, only need a 22% pay increase (on average) to change jobs.
Where Do You Start?
For employers looking to increase employee engagement, where do you start? With a health check at your own company. What percentage of your employees are thriving? Quiet quitting? Loud quitting? When employees leave, conduct exit interviews. Come up with an overall engagement plan that might include things like manager training, career advancement opportunities, more flexible work and break schedules, and other issues that you uncover.
Also keep an eye out for individual employees that might show signs of disengagement. A sudden decline in performance, increased absenteeism, or negative changes in behavior may indicate a problem. Take the time to have a conversation and show concern. “[Sometimes] they are waiting for a leader or a manager to have a conversation with them, encourage them, inspire them,” notes the report. “A few changes to how they are managed could turn them into productive team members.”
Finally, Gallup says, really focus on giving them better managers. “In the past three years, Gallup has used our best science to train over 14,000 managers to be effective coaches,” says the report. “Nine to 18 months later, their teams’ engagement ranged from 8% to 18% higher.” Certainly, Gallup isn’t the only organization to offer manager training, but its results show the positive impact that this type of training can have, whether you use Gallup or not.
The moral of the story? Invest in your employees. Make your workplace a place where they feel valued and fulfilled and that they genuinely want to stay. You have no greater asset than your internal teams. So make them feel that way.
Discussion
By Henry Hunt on Jul 12, 2023
Thank you for sharing the article on productivity and employee engagement. Although recently retired at 65, its message hits home to many of us who once managed a print production facility. Sadly, much of what was said on ways to improve is a bridge too far for many owners and at public-run in plant operations. For any company or operation that has, for the time being, found something that works and the plant is productive, everyone should actively keep employees and staff as “happy” as possible. If things have gone or are going south involving print production plants regardless of what area within, if ownership and or hierarchal division or departmental administration aren’t willing to engage the root of the problem, e.g., losing print to non-print communication, and either directly relay that to employees and staff or allow managers to have the hard talk about what is going on or needs to be done to survive, staff or employees will become all of what was mentioned in the article. Possibly more often than what may be thought, managers often must deal with staff and employee issues as well as owners and or administrators that do not want to hear bad news themselves. Printing is a team sport, and if everyone isn’t on board with the rest of the team in good and hard times, improvement or engagement can become like climbing Mount Everest without oxygen and wearing a windbreaker.
By Heidi Tolliver-Walker on Jul 12, 2023
Amen! LIFE is a team sport. Printing is just a microcosm! Thanks for sharing. I'd love others' thoughts on this, as well.
By Michael Kile on Jul 21, 2023
Another retiree weighing in. We did the Gallup program and found it a useful tool in pulling the team together. Unfortunately a few years later Covid threw us out of sync and, for multiple reasons, we lost a lot of good people. If I still owned the business I would be ready to take another run at it - it helped us figure out a lot and re-energized the team (including me). It's always worthwhile investing in our people. As the old adage says what happens if you spend the money and they leave versus what happens if you don't spend the money and they stay - I would rather make sure they are fully engaged and want to stay.
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