Team Management

Traditionally, managers relied on timesheets and 9-to-5 office attendance to validate how hard their employees were working. Sure, these measures ensure employees physically show up to work — but the fact is, none of these tactics are true indicators of performance. 

In fact, 45% of tech workers across major companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta report doing most of their work within a 4-hour timeframe. This tells us that performance quality is not dependent on time spent at work.

In an era where the world is recognizing that everyone works differently and the rules of work have been redefined, how can managers ensure their teams are thriving and productive?

Enter the concept of a flexible workplace.

‍

What is workplace flexibility?

Workplace flexibility encompasses an employer's approach to work that accommodates their employees' different needs to ensure they can thrive. A flexible mindset embraces the idea that, while everyone works differently and has a different interpretation of work-life balance, all employees can be productive — provided the right conditions.

In practice, workplace flexibility can refer to specific types of flexible workplace practices, including:

• Flexible scheduling
• Flexible hours
• Flexible PTO
• Flexible workspace
• Flexible responsibilities
• Flexible management

The below sections describe each in more detail.

Ultimately, workplace flexibility represents a non-traditional work structure, where companies provide the right support and environment to get the best possible output from their employees. 

Flexible work hours

Flexible work hours mean employees have the freedom to choose their hours (or, at least, have some say in the hours they work). Instead of requiring employees to clock in at the standard 9 AM and clock out at 5 PM, they have a say in their own work hours. For employees working in-office, this can help them avoid a busy commute to maximize their day. For remote workers, this can help them make the most of peak mental productivity moments.

{emphasize}Breaking up the work day into segments: Say an employee has 7 hours of work to complete in a day, but has a dentist appointment in the morning. A flexible hours policy could allow them to start earlier, pause work to attend their appointment, resume in the afternoon, and work slightly later to finish their tasks.{emphasize}

Flexible scheduling

Work flexibility means accommodating worker needs when it comes to the days they work as well as the days they take off. This might be offering part-time work or the option for a compressed workweek that deviates from the typical 9-to-5, such as a 4-day workweek. It's not for everyone, but some employees get more done in a shorter (but more intense) sprint.

{emphasize}Consider Parkinson's Law: A psychological fact to hack, Parkinson’s Law claims that work expands to fill the time allotted for it. In other words, employees adjust their productivity to meet deadlines — which means that, ironically, more time to do a task can decrease productivity. As they say, there's no motivator like being on a time crunch!{emphasize}

Flexible PTO

Unlimited paid time off (PTO) is a policy that doesn’t limit the number of vacation days an employee can take. However (and paradoxically), an arbitrary number of days off might feel less freeing than a fixed number, as employees may view time off as elective — feeling guilty and pressured to take less time off than they need.

{emphasize}Set a minimum days-off requirement: To counter this paradox, some companies offer flexible PTO with a set minimum of days each employee should take off. This is a great way to implement the policy while ensuring no one overworks.{emphasize}

Flexible workspace

Flexible workspace, or flexible location, looks at flexibility in terms of where employees physically work. Remote work and distributed work are perhaps the two most common forms of workplace flexibility today, having become the norm after the pandemic. Colocated offices are another form of workspace flexibility, where teams rotate coming into a smaller, shared office on certain days — a strategy that can help companies decrease office space overhead costs!

{emphasize}Out of office, more focus (maybe): German Think Tank research shows that employees are interrupted at work an average of 15 times per hour — which is once every 4 minutes. The loss of productivity resulting from interruptions is estimated to cost companies about $63 billion per year globally. Yikes!{emphasize}

Flexible responsibilities

Today, it's not uncommon for employees to wear many hats. That said, workplace flexibility regarding job responsibilities (also referred to as job sharing) describes a fluid job structure where employees can take on different roles and tasks as needed, fostering a more dynamic and versatile work environment.

{emphasize}Job rotation programs: Implementing job rotation programs can help employees develop new skills and keep their work engaging. It's a strategy that enhances individual growth and increases the team's overall capability by ensuring more team members are cross-trained in various roles.{emphasize}

Flexible management

Integral to performance management, flexible management involves adapting leadership styles and management strategies to meet the needs of a flexible workforce. This can include adjusting communication methods, providing more autonomy to employees, and fostering a culture of trust and accountability — but more on that further down in this article.

{emphasize}Personalized support: Managers can tailor their approach to individual team members by understanding their unique working styles and preferences. Regular check-ins and adapting feedback delivery to suit each employee's needs can ensure everyone feels supported and valued.{emphasize}

Why implement workplace flexibility

More and more organizations are moving ahead with flexible policies for their workforces — but it's more than just jumping on the trend. So, why should managers care about workplace flexibility? Flexible work schemes can be incredibly beneficial at a company, team, and individual level.

The benefits of workplace flexibility

Flexible work policies, in all their possible combinations, have as an objective to provide a work environment conducive to employee satisfaction. They increase productivity, empower employees, and cater to personal needs for more inclusivity.

Boosts employee productivity

Location flexibility saves workers time on a long commute and helps remove the distractions of a colocated office. Flexibility in working hours can help workers find and take advantage of their moments of peak focus and creativity. Work-life flexibility allows employees to attend to and juggle personal life priorities in a more balanced way. All of these things funnel back toward improved productivity.

{highlight}An Owl Labs survey shows that WFH could be the key to happiness at work. Employees allowed to work from home (even just one day a month) showed a 24% job satisfaction increase compared to those who don't have that option. And the more employees are satisfied at work, the better they perform.{highlight}

Enhances autonomy and employee retention

Allowing employees to work when and where they can best focus improves efficiency and engagement. It also demonstrates trust from managers, which empowers employees to be more autonomous and personally accountable. All of this has tangible benefits for employee retention and reduced employee turnover.

{highlight}A Gallup study examined different working requirements across 16,000 flexible employees. 61% reported performing their tasks independently and then bringing their work to the team for collaboration. This proves that working outside the normal office structure doesn't hinder most core tasks!{highlight}

Allows for diversity, equity, and inclusivity to shine

Workplace flexibility shares the same principles as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) — honoring the diverse needs of individuals within the same workforce. In direct correlation with each other, flexible work and DEI policies proactively help employees achieve their potential by curating the right environment. For instance, an employee with social anxiety can work remotely to avoid a people-packed commute, allowing them to show up to their day stress-free and focused.

{highlight}An Ernst & Young survey reveals that flexibility practices help increase the sense of belonging at work —where 45% of flexible employees feel that policies that enable autonomy in choosing hours and location relate to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within their own teams.{highlight}

The disadvantages of an inflexible workplace

Yes, the traditional 9-to-5 work structure has been the norm for decades. But maintaining an inflexible workplace comes with several drawbacks that can impact both employees and organizations negatively:

• Reduced employee morale and engagement: When employees feel constrained by rigid schedules and lack the freedom to balance their personal and professional lives, it can result in decreased job satisfaction and engagement.
• Increased burnout and stress: Without the ability to adjust work hours or work from different locations, employees may struggle to manage their workloads effectively — leading to increased stress levels and burnout.
• Limited talent pool: An inflexible workplace can limit an organization's ability to attract top talent. Millenial and Gen Z workers prioritize work-life balance and flexibility when choosing an employer.
• Higher turnover: A lack of flexibility can actually send employees job hunting: 30% of employees said they left a job (and 16% said they were looking for a new job) because of the lack of workplace flexibility.
• Lower productivity: Some people are more productive in the early morning, while others may do their best work in the evening. Rigid work schedules do not always align with employees' peak productivity periods.
• Decreased innovation and creativity: Employees who feel micromanaged or restricted by stringent policies are less likely to experiment, take risks, or think outside the box. Flexibility can foster a more dynamic and innovative workplace culture.
• Poor work-life balance: A lack of flexibility can make it difficult for employees to manage their personal responsibilities alongside their work commitments — affecting not only the employees' well-being but also their performance at work.

The old adage says, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". But if work life (and productivity) can be improved through the implementation of formal flexibility policies, why not?

The key ingredients to making workplace flexibility work

Just like you can't make an omelet without cracking a few eggs, managers need to crack the code of trust and communication for workplace flexibility to succeed.

Without trust, managers may resort to micromanagement, which can stifle the benefits of flexible work arrangements. It's important to remember that employees often step into success when they're given the opportunity to.

Clear communication is equally important. Setting expectations, providing regular feedback, and creating a culture of open dialogue between managers and employees ensures everyone is on the same page.

3 steps to implementing flexibility strategies that work

It's all about measuring the success of your workplace flexibility strategies and adapting them based on needs. To implement flexibility in the workplace smoothly (and successfully), managers should follow these three steps:

Step 1. Observe current flexible working conditions

Before implementing flexible work policies, assess your team’s situation and what's available to them. Connect with other members of leadership to get a sense of how people work in different departments. Consider what might make sense (or not) for your team.

{emphasize}Ask questions like: Do employees work and collaborate from different time zones or locations? How many are parents with family constraints? Is mental health support considered in work-life balance right now?{emphasize}

Step 2. Introduce new flexible working strategies

Once you've established the gaps and opportunities for flexibility, it's time to test them out. When introducing new policies or options, managers should consider three key factors:

1. Think about the structures you'll retain: For example, teams that work remotely on different schedules will often maintain an overlap in which all the members are working synchronously.
2. Encourage trust instead of micromanagement: For workplace flexibility to work, you'll have to give some power to employees, trusting they won't take advantage of new freedom.
3. Remember that policy is not practice: Create an environment where employees feel safe taking advantage of this flexibility without fear of repercussions for their careers or salaries.

Step 3. Evaluate performance (and adapt)

Sometimes, a new flexibility might seem like a great idea in theory but creates more harm than good in the long run. That's part of the process! Remain open to receiving feedback and finding possible unintended consequences to adjust. If a particular approach to workplace flexibility isn’t working for your team, change it. And if it does, embrace it.

4 tips for workplace flexibility

Creating flexible workplaces doesn't have to be complicated — although find additional tips below to ensure you're doing everything you can for a smooth rollout and sustained success.

Tip #1: Setting clear expectations

As a manager, establishing guidelines and communicating effectively ensures everyone is on the same page about policy objectives and meeting success standards.

{highlight}For instance, with flexible schedules, define the core hours when everyone should be available and clarify expectations for response times to emails and messages outside of that.{highlight}

Tip #2: Using tech and tools that are essential for remote collaboration

So many new tools are available — so leverage technology to facilitate things like remote work. Managers should also work with HR to see how employees can be empowered to manage their schedules, such as requesting time off.

{highlight}Tools like Slack, Zoom, and performance management software can help maintain communication and collaboration across locations and time zones.{highlight}

Tip #3: Developing strategies for building trust and accountability

Create management strategies around implementation to build trust and accountability. Regular check-ins, transparent communication, listening to and applying employee feedback, and clear goal-setting are all ways that foster a culture of trust.

{highlight}Holding weekly one-on-one meetings to discuss progress and address concerns demonstrates that a manager cares about employee satisfaction and the impact of flexible workplace policies on their team's happiness.{highlight}

Tip #4: Co-create what a flexible environment looks like

Involve employees in the creation of flexible work policies. This ensures that the policies meet their needs and encourages buy-in. How? Invite them to the conversation from the get-go and collect their honest feedback through confidential one-on-ones and Pulse Surveys to inform new strategies.

{highlight}If an internal survey reveals that most team members would rather have the option to work shorter weeks but longer days, this could inform the creation of an optional 4-day week policy.{highlight}

What about wellness in the workplace?

Workplace wellness is a critical component of a flexible work environment. Implementing flexible work policies can significantly contribute to employees' overall well-being.

Here are ways managers can factor in wellness when developing flexible arrangements:

• Physical health: Flexible work arrangements can improve employees' physical health by allowing them more time to exercise, prepare healthy meals, and get adequate rest.
• Mental health: Flexibility in the workplace can enhance employees' mental health. By allowing employees to choose their work hours and location, they can create a work environment that reduces stress and anxiety.
• Work-life balance: By providing options such as remote work, flexible hours, and compressed workweeks, employees can achieve better work-life balance — juggling their professional responsibilities with personal commitments.
• Social connectivity: While remote work can sometimes lead to feelings of isolation, fostering social connections within the team is essential. Virtual team-building activities, regular video check-ins, and social channels for informal interactions can help maintain a sense of community and support among remote or hybrid employees.
• Access to support and resources: Employers can provide mental health counseling, stress management workshops, and wellness apps. Other ideas include encouraging employees to take regular breaks, providing ergonomic office equipment, and promoting mindfulness practices.
• Creating a culture of well-being: A truly flexible workplace recognizes (and addresses) the unique needs of employees, promotes open communication, and encourages healthy work-life integration. Leadership should model wellness behaviors themselves to help shape a positive and healthy work environment.

By fusing wellness considerations with a flexible mindset, managers can create a supportive environment where employees feel valued, engaged, and motivated to show up as their best selves every day.

Workplace Flexibility: The Future of Team Management

Don't fear flexibility for your team, embrace it. A little bit of leeway can go a long way — and the most productive and high-performing teams have a healthy dose of trust and flexibility. So be open and get creative to find ways to keep employees happy and in charge of their workloads, and watch your team thrive.

Making a flexible workplace work with Workleap

Leverage the tools, guides, and ebook found in our resource library to further inspire you in creating a flexible and productive work environment that aligns with your company and team's values. There's no one-size-fits-all, but there is a general framework of success for employee engagement and productivity — and in a digital world

In our eighth episode of Vibe Check, Julie Jeannotte (JJ), Workleap Officevibe’s HR expert & researcher, dives deep into a discussion with Martine Massarelli, Director of People and Culture at LG2. Together they untangle the dynamics, challenges, and undeniable advantages of working with multi-generational teams. In doing so, they uncover insights into what attracts and retains talent across different age groups, and how understanding and appreciation can bridge generational gaps.  

In this episode, the pair discusses the importance of: 

• Navigating the complexities of a multi-generational workforce and the unexpected strengths it brings. 
• Tailoring perks and policies to cater to diverse life stages and needs.  
• The new-age workplace: breaking barriers between personal and professional lives. 
• The post-Covid work vibe: the evolving nature of employee engagement, retention, and office culture when home is the new office.  

Journeying through generations: Embracing strengths 

Martine and JJ dig into the unique motivations and desires of different generations — from Gen Z's hunger for authentic work cultures to Gen X's desire for a well-rounded, fulfilling, and balanced life. Martine’s sound advice to navigate these disparities? Quit stereotyping and try to truly understand the individual’s context while harnessing the unique strengths they bring to the table. 

📺 Tune in to the episode to discover how to channel the potential each age bracket brings to the workplace. 

https://youtu.be/8ItqsN2e0Fw

Inside LG2: Where age is just a number 

Steered by Martine's visionary approach, LG2 is more a mosaic than a monolith. Its new office space incorporates design elements that speak to everyone, from fresh grads to seasoned vets. What’s more, the company aligns individual rewards and compensations with overarching company values — a strategic move that ensures every employee, irrespective of their generational belonging, experiences the company’s core principles consistently. 

Meet our illustrious guest, Martine Massarelli 

Navigating the colorful tapestry of LG2, Martine is no stranger to the pattern of diverse work cultures. With an extensive career built on understanding the heartbeat of businesses, her mantra remains unshaken: it’s all about channeling our differences for good.  

Vibe Check: A conversation series filled with real talk and genuine advice  

Vibe Check, Workleap Officevibe’s conversation series, is a place for open, honest, and authentic conversations about the human side of business. Our goal is to help you achieve better business outcomes with people-led initiatives.  

To set your business up for success, you need real, proven advice. And we have the right experts to give you just that. No sugarcoating or beating around the bush. Just real talk and genuine advice from people who’ve been there, done that. That’s what Vibe Check stands for.  

So, what’s a "vibe check?" It’s a phrase for asking “How are you really doing?” It opens the door to meaningful conversations between colleagues, professionals, and most importantly, human beings. 

Learn about the state of employee engagement with data compiled from thousands of organizations across 157 countries worldwide. Here’s what the facts have to say:

Where does our employee engagement data come from?

Our statistics are generated by a broad data sample drawn from…

150+ countries covered

1000+ organizations

1,200,000+ data points

The 10 metrics of employee engagement

For an employee to be engaged, there needs to be a few core things that are taken care of. The benefits of employee engagement are numerous.

Employees need to feel like they’re respected, that they’re part of the team, and that their ideas matter. Once that’s taken care of, they’ll be more likely to go above and beyond for their company and provide amazing service, come up with innovative ideas, and help the company grow.

‍

Recognition

{emphasize}

63% of employees feel like they don’t get enough praise.

{emphasize}

According to the book How Full Is Your Bucket¹, the number one reason people leave their jobs is that they don’t feel appreciated.

Not getting recognition for your work when you know you deserve it is one of the most frustrating things that can happen in an organization.

Recognizing your employees is one of the most important things you can do to increase retention and lower turnover.

In fact, research from Deloitte² found that:

“Organizations with recognition programs which are highly effective at enabling employee engagement had 31% lower voluntary turnover than organizations with ineffective recognition programs."

{emphasize}

31% lower voluntary turnover for organizations that give regular recognition.

{emphasize}

Turnover is expensive and engaged employees are hard to come by, meaning you need to do everything you can to keep your best people around.

Employees don’t get enough praise

After understanding how important recognition is, it’s surprising what we’re finding in our research.

When we ask employees: How often do you usually get praise?

Our research shows that employees are not getting nearly enough praise as they should.

{emphasize}

72% of employees get praise less than once per week.

{emphasize}

That number is way too high. Too many employees are walking around feeling like their organizations are ungrateful. Here is the full breakdown of how they’re responding to this question:

• Never: 8%
• Quartely: 25%
• Every month: 39%
• Each week: 28%

Employees value recognition more than gifts

One of the things that lead managers to avoid recognition is that they often confuse recognition with physical rewards. Recognition is simply the acknowledgment of a job well done.

You don’t need to spend a penny on recognition. In fact, our data tells us:

{emphasize}

83% of employees think it’s better to give someone praise than a gift.

{emphasize}

This is great news for managers. Recognizing employees for a job well done is one of the easiest (and least expensive) ways to motivate them.

Recognize employees properly

Learn everything you need to know about employee recognition and how to implement it in your team by downloading the complete guide below.

Get the guide

Feedback

{emphasize}

32% of employees have to wait more than 3 months to get feedback from their manager.

{emphasize}

Feedback is one of the most important parts of growing as an employee.

Most managers don’t enjoy giving feedback, but it turns out that employees love receiving it.

Give regular feedback

Feedback is all about changing behavior, and the closer you give feedback on the behavior you want to be changed, the more likely it is to change. If you wait until an annual performance review to give feedback, that’s way too late, it’s already forgotten about.

{emphasize}

96% of employees said that receiving feedback regularly is a good thing.

{emphasize}

This is a huge opportunity for managers to develop their employees. Monthly one-on-ones, weekly planning sessions, daily check-in meetings are ways that you can give more regular feedback.

Employees crave feedback

Another interesting insight that we uncovered was how receptive to feedback employees are. While most managers hate giving feedback, employees are actively looking for it.

{emphasize}

83% of employees really appreciate receiving feedback, regardless if it’s positive or negative.

{emphasize}

They just want feedback in order to get better. Clearly, managers have a huge opportunity here to create more of a feedback culture.

Create a feedback culture

It’s not only managers that should be giving feedback.

It’s important to create a culture of feedback in your organization where everyone is helping everyone get better.

Feedback often means more when it comes from coworkers because they understand your day-to-day better than most managers.

{emphasize}

62% of employees wish they received more feedback from their colleagues.

{emphasize}

Encourage everyone to give each other more feedback and to give their managers more feedback. You’ll see a lot of success if you create a culture of open and honest feedback.

Quality over quantity

More important than the act of giving feedback, is making sure that it’s high quality. High-quality feedback is specific, timely, and actionable.

When we asked employees: On a scale from 0-10, how valuable is the feedback you receive?

Our statistical analysis shows:

64% of employees think the quality of the feedback they receive should be improved.

Managers have to practice giving more meaningful feedback to their employees.

Employee feedback demystified guide

Get access to all the tips, examples, and best practices you need to make your feedback more impactful by downloading the free guide below.

Get the guide

FUN FACT: When we asked managers if employees had acted on feedback they’d gotten, not all of them said yes.

• No: 22%
• Not consistently: 28%
• Yes: 50%

Happiness

{emphasize}

23% of employees leave work feeling drained or very drained. Every Day.

{emphasize}

It turns out, according to our research, that not many people are happy at work.

Even worse, when we ask employees: On a scale from 0-10, how happy are you at work this week?

Our research shows that people are leaving work exhausted and sluggish. More specifically:

{emphasize}

29% of employees don’t feel happy at work

{emphasize}

And happiness outside of work is important to look at too. Without getting too personal, showing an interest in how an employee is doing outside of work is a nice thing to do.

1. It shows you care
2. Happiness outside of work will spill over into work

{emphasize}

26% of employees aren’t very happy outside of work.

{emphasize}

As a manager, you should ask yourself what you can do to make someone happier. Even if it’s something outside of work, understand that their happiness outside of work will affect their happiness at work, so it’s worth it.

Personal growth

{emphasize}

56% of employees believe that they don’t have any career advancement opportunities.

{emphasize}

While companies are starting to understand the importance of autonomy, mastery, and purpose, there is still clearly a lot of work to do.

Employees feel like they don’t have enough autonomy, they’re not mastering their skills, and they don’t fully feel a sense of purpose.

Lack of autonomy

Autonomy is so important for employee engagement at work, so we ask employees: On a scale from 0-10, how much autonomy would you say you have at work?

Results show that:

{emphasize}

39% of employees feel like they don’t have enough autonomy.

{emphasize}

This is likely due to micromanagement. At the end of the day, it all comes down to trust. You need to trust your employees enough to let them run with projects.

Lack of mastery

According to our data, we see that organizations aren’t helping their employees enough to learn and grow. Specifically, we find that:

{emphasize}

53% of employees say they haven’t improved their skills significantly in the past year.

{emphasize}

Lack of purpose

It’s so important for an employee to understand why they do what they do. Employees are motivated by a sense of purpose and feeling like they are part of something bigger than themselves.

When we ask employees: Do you believe in the bigger vision of your organization?

We see that:

{emphasize}

1/4 employees are either indifferent or don’t know much about their company’s mission.

{emphasize}

Be a better leader

Want to grow into a better leader? This 11-day email course will teach you everything you need to know about how to be a better leader. Start free course by subscribing below.

Satisfaction

{emphasize}

15% of employees don’t see themselves working at their company one year from now.

{emphasize}

There are two sides to employee satisfaction. The first, is compensation (salary + benefits), and the second, is their overall work environment.

Employees need to feel like they’re being fairly compensated for the work they do, otherwise they’ll be disengaged. In psychology, this is known as the equity theory.

We ask employees about their company’s benefits package. Specifically, we ask: Does your organization offer a benefits package that you’re satisfied with?

And what we learned is that:

1 out of 2 employees isn’t satisfied with the benefits package that they have.

And we want to know how they feel about their salary, so we ask them: Are you being paid fairly for what you do?

{emphasize}

32% of employees don’t think they are paid fairly for their work.

{emphasize}

Clearly something needs to be done. If salary isn’t something you can change, there are ways to offer benefits like more flexibility to compensate.

Better onboarding improves employee engagement

Onboarding is one of the best opportunities for managers to get their employees integrated into the team and get them productive quickly. According to the book The First 90 Days³, it takes three months before an employee starts adding value.

Unfortunately, most onboarding processes last about a day or two, when in reality it should be lasting months.

We ask employees: Does your organization have a great hiring and onboarding process?

Not surprisingly, our research shows that:

{emphasize}

51% of employees think their company’s onboarding process could be improved.

{emphasize}

There needs to be more emphasis on team building, learning, and training for a longer period of time.

Employees need clear goals

Employees need to have clarity around what they do on their day-to-day. They need to clearly understand how you’re judging their success or not. A lack of clarity brings confusion, which leads to stress, which leads to disengagement.

What we see is that employees need their managers to define clearer goals for them.

{emphasize}

72% of employees think their manager could define clearer goals.

{emphasize}

Using a tool like Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), where you set team and company goals for the next three months is a great way to ensure clarity around goals. Check in on the progress frequently (ideally every two weeks) to make sure everyone is on track.

Learn how to set more meaningful goals

Get this simple guide to learn how you can set more meaningful and powerful goals for your team by downloading the free guide below.

Get the guide

FUN FACT: What’s the one thing employees like the most about their job?

• Learning: 41%
• Benefits: 10%
• Pay: 8%
• Colleagues: 42%

Wellness

{emphasize}

60% of employees notice that their job is taking a toll on their personal life.

{emphasize}

There is a serious crisis going on in terms of employee wellness. Employees are stressed, overworked, and don’t have a good work-life balance.

We continuously ask employees about their sleeping habits: Most nights, do you get a full 8 hours of sleep? And what they’ve told us is:

{emphasize}

44% of employees are either constantly sleep-deprived or tend to lack some sleep.

{emphasize}

That fatigue leads to unhealthy choices, higher stress levels, and lower overall wellness.

Employees are stressed

The amount of time and energy that employees waste being stressed about their work is causing them to be less productive than they could be. As a manager, you should be doing everything you can to reduce the stress from employees.

{emphasize}

47% of people consider themselves stressed at work.

{emphasize}

That number is staggering. There should be no reason why employees are that stressed at work. Even scarier,

{emphasize}

22% of employees are worried that they might lose their job in the next 3-6 months.

{emphasize}

Managers need to reinforce work stability to lower stress levels of employees.

Employees are overworked

There’s no point in overworking your employees. Short term, you might get a few more hours of productivity out of an employee, but long term, overworking someone doesn’t help their productivity, and worst case can lead to burnout.

We ask employees continuously about their workload. Specifically, when we ask: Do you often take work home to complete?

• Yes: 32%
• Sometimes: 37%
• No: 31%

Work-life balance is an incredibly important part of being a healthy, happy, and productive worker.

5 tips for manager with remote teams

While remote work might work, the monotony of being home (and for some, home alone) can quickly become emotionally taxing. Get our free tips by downloading the guide below.

Get the guide

FUN FACT: 83% of employees think they could improve their eating habits.

• Eat clean: 17%
• Sometimes Good: 56%
• Eat Poorly: 27%

Ambassadorship

{emphasize}

57% of employees wouldn’t recommend their organization as a good place to work.

{emphasize}

The employee Net Promoter score (eNPS) is one of the best measures of loyalty and happiness.

It looks at the willingness of employees to recommend your organization and its products/services.

The way that organizations calculate eNPS is by asking employees two questions about :

• How likely employees are to recommend their organization as a place to work.
• How likely employees are to recommend their products/services.

The way you calculate your score is by subtracting the percentage of “detractors” (people who score 0-6) from the percentage of “promoters” (people who score 9 or 10).
People who score 7 or 8 aren’t included because they’re seen as being neutral.

We continuously measure the eNPS from thousands of organizations all over the world, and have found some interesting insights.

When we ask the question: On a scale from 0-10, how likely are you to recommend this organization as a good place to work?

We found that the average eNPS is 23, which is considered a good score. Here is the full breakdown of that question:

23 eNPS for Organization

Interestingly, for the second question: On a scale from 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our products/services?

Globally, this scored a 40, which is an excellent score. Here is the full breakdown of that question:

40 eNPS for Products/Service

What this tells us is that:

People are more likely to recommend their company’s products than the actual culture itself.

Relationship with managers

{emphasize}

31% of employees wish their manager communicated more frequently with them.

{emphasize}

Managers are missing out on an incredible opportunity to develop closer relationships with their employees.

We asked employees to rate how close they felt with their manager: On a scale from 0-10, how close are you with your manager?

Here is the full breakdown of how close employees feel with their manager on a scale from 0-10:

{emphasize}

37% of employees say they don’t feel close with their manager.

{emphasize}

The relationship between an employee and their manager has a huge effect on employee engagement.

Employees want transparency

Frequent, transparent communication is something that employees need to help them grow. Our research found that:

1 out of 5 employees feel like their manager isn’t transparent with them.

As a manager, you need to create an environment where employees feel comfortable and everyone gets along well with each other. Building those relationships will lead to more engaged and productive employees.

Employees want to connect

Employees want to become closer with their managers because it will make them feel more connected to their organization.

We asked employees if they had ever spent time with their managers outside of work and more than a third said that they hadn’t.

But interestingly, of those who never spent time with their managers outside of work, a massive 70% of them said they would actually want to.

{emphasize}

70% of employees say they’d like to spend more time with their manager.

{emphasize}

Employees want to get to know their managers and build a closer relationship with them.

Want to improve your relationship with your employees?

Download this complete guide below on what makes a good leader and learn how you can be a leader that employees admire and respect.

Get the guide

FUN FACT: Using the famous “airport test” for likeability, when we asked employees how they would feel if they were stuck in an airport with their manager:

• Would be uncomfortable: 7%
• Are neutral: 36%
• Would try to get to know their manager better: 57%

Relationship with colleagues

{emphasize}

34% of employees don’t think they have enough social interaction with their colleagues.

{emphasize}

Having a friend at work is one of the most important parts of being engaged and satisfied with your career.

But sometimes when we’re stressed or tired, we might be mean to our coworkers without even realizing it.

Workplace bullying is a huge problem, and one interesting thing we see in our research is that when we ask employees: Have you ever seen one of your coworkers be mean to someone else?

We see that employees, whether they realize it or not, are being mean to each other.

{emphasize}

40% of employees have seen one of their coworkers be mean to someone else.

{emphasize}

That’s about 1 out of every 2 employees. That’s an insanely high number.

They might be overworked

One of the reasons why employees feel like they don’t have enough social interaction with their colleagues is that they simply might not have the time.

{emphasize}

60% of employess eat alone at their desk working.

{emphasize}

How sad!

Another indication that this could be a sign of them being overworked is we also found that 20% of employees wish their colleagues contributed more.

There are two things that managers can do to alleviate this.

1. Force those social connections
2. Set better expectations

It’s important that you encourage your team to get to know each other.

Organizing team building activities or other events to create those social interactions is a great idea.

Also, employees shouldn’t be feeling overworked or that their colleagues don’t contribute enough. As a manager it’s your responsibility to ensure that everyone is doing their fair share and that everyone has a good work-life balance.

Employees respect each other

There is clearly an opportunity to improve interactions between coworkers. We asked employees: On a scale from 0-10, how much do you value your colleagues’ input?

Our research found that:

{emphasize}

82% of employees highly value their colleague’s input.

{emphasize}

A simple idea to fix these issues is to create more opportunities for employees to work on projects together.

As we can see, employees feel that they don’t interact enough with each other, they feel like others should contribute more, but they highly respect their coworkers.

Creating teams to allow employees to work more closely together is an easy way to fix all of this.

The 4 steps guide to powerful team communication

We broke this down into 4 steps to allow you to narrow down your thinking to achieve clear, concise and well thought out communication. Download the free guide below.

Get the guide

Company alignment

{emphasize}

33% of employees don’t believe their company’s core values align with their personal values.

{emphasize}

Many organizations talk about the importance of culture fit and how that leads to higher employee engagement.

A perfect culture fit happens when an employee’s personal core values align well with the organization’s core values.

Companies need to preach

Companies need to be doing a better job of preaching the mission and core values of the organization.

Employees need to be constantly reminded of why they do what they do.

Remember, there is no such thing as too much communication.

We wondered about how often employees are reminded of their organization’s mission, so we asked them: How often are you reminded of the organization’s mission?

These results are drawn from data gathered from companies across the globe. They tell us that:

{emphasize}

33% of employees aren’t reminded of the mission often enough.

{emphasize}

It’s important for employees to feel like they’re doing something bigger than themselves. For example, if someone works at a pharmaceutical company, they’re not just selling pills, they’re saving lives. That bigger mission is important to keep remembering if you want employees to get passionate about their work.

We see similar results when asking employees about the organization’s core values.

{emphasize}

19% of employees either don’t understand their core values or simply don’t know them.

{emphasize}

This is a huge opportunity for managers to make sure that everyone is aligned, passionate, and working towards the same mission.

Are core values just fluff?

Many organizations will have values like “innovative”, “collaborative”, or some other vague word. But do those words really mean anything? Or are they just marketing tools?

When we ask employees: How much do you think your company’s core values help you succeed?

What we find is that most employees don’t think their core values will help them grow. We can see that:

• Wont’t help: 35%
• Might help: 41%
• Will help: 26%

Ask yourself if your values actually mean anything or if they’re just there because they sound good.

Global Employee Engagement Study Methodology

Data set

The State of Employee Engagement report was created using answers from a sample of approximately 50,000 users of the Officevibe’s employee engagement software since 2013. That represents approximately 1,200,000 data points.

Data source

All of the questions come from Officevibe’s survey software library of questions. This represents a total of approximately 350 questions, though not all of the questions were used in the creation of this report.

Data capture

Each week, employees answer 5 questions via email chosen from Officevibe’s library of questions. The selection is based on our proprietary algorithm to maximize participation and metric coverage for any given period.

Country coverage

The answers used to generate this report come from approximately 150 countries. The countries with the largest amount of data considered are the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, Australia, South Africa, Germany, France, Netherlands, Sweden.

Industry Coverage

The answers used to generate this report come 1,000+ organizations from all the different types of industries listed in the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB). The industries with the largest amount of data considered are Consumer Services, Consumer Goods, Industrials, Financials, Technology and Health Care.

Privacy

The data displayed here respects Officevibe’s Terms & Services (article 10.1.1). No personal information was collected (besides an encrypted user ID) and there was no incentive offered for participating in this report.

1 https://www.amazon.com/How-Full-Your-Bucket-Rath/dp/1595620036
2 http://www.bersin.com/News/Content.aspx?id=15543
3 https://www.amazon.com/First-90-Days-Strategies-Expanded/dp/1422188612

We know you’re super busy.
So we made this complete leadership guide to give you a hand.

Oh hey there, leader!

We’re so happy you popped in to read this guide.
(Exit streamers, confetti and balloons from ceiling)

Honestly, there’s no better time than now to level up your leadership skills. What with the future of work in full swing, the differentiating factor for all organizations is the quality of their leadership. So, what makes a leader great? Empowering people to give and be their very best.

That means you!
(Party horn)

What makes a great leader?

Get the guide

It’s essential to the success of your team and company that you build up your leadership skill set, but who has the time, right? You’re a busy manager. Your schedule is probably jam packed with meetings. Maybe you’re dealing with conflict on your team? Trying to keep your boss happy? Everyone aligned on the business goals? It’s a lot, and adding something else to the list seems impossible, but we’re here to guide you the whole way through.

The fact that you’re here reading this guide means you care, so you’re already on the right track!

A sneak peek at what’s in this guide:

‍

Becoming a great leader is an incredible opportunity

One of the most amazing things about working on your leadership skills is that you’ll get to see yourself transform as a person overall. Leadership is founded in relationships and developing people (including yourself). It’s a human based role, so this journey toward betterment as a leader is at once one of personal discovery, understanding and becoming the best version of yourself. How cool!

And what’s more, once you start to grow and develop your skills, your leadership will become contagious (in a good way). You’ll inadvertently awaken the inner leader in those around you. This ripple effect is pure magic to see in action!

We believe that leadership is for everyone, no title necessary. So long as you have the will to lead and an inclination to help others reach their potential, anyone can be a leader.

And it all starts with you!

Leaders aren’t born overnight, but all great journeys begin with just one step. If you apply the simple tips from this guide every day, and commit to practice and reflection, you’ll be making a difference in no time.

Before we delve into the most important skills and qualities for leaders to develop, there’s something you need to know…

The “Leader Laws”(a must read)

Our three Leader Laws will be your go-to for decision making. They should guide the way you handle situations, make calls and interact with people every day. Memorize them, live them, breathe them… even recite them in the mirror every morning (we do). Essentially, these are the uncompromising principles of great leadership that must always stay in check.

Lead by example

Whatever you preach, you must also practice. In order for people to buy into your vision, you need to walk the talk. If you want employees to trust you, you have to trust them. If you want your team to admit to mistakes, you’ve got to do the same. If you preach work-life balance, show them that you follow your own advice. Be the change you want to see, and whenever you’re unsure about what you’re asking from your employees, ask yourself, do I do this?

Lead from the bottom

The role of the leader is to guide people, not command them. The days of top down structures are long gone, and it’s time for all leaders to assume their proper place. Nelson Mandela famously equates a great leader with a shepherd who “stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” A leader’s job is to support and guide from the bottom — to help lift others, not themself, up into the spotlight.

Lead with humanity

It is an uncompromising law of leadership that all leaders must see their employees as people, not just workers or worse, a dollar sign. The future of work demands that we put people at the center of every organization by encouraging them to bring their whole selves to work. The workforce is in need of inclusive leaders who lead from the heart and consistently prioritize people over profit. Companies are nothing without the people who form them, and the best leaders ensure that the practices of the business and the team reflect this, always. Always.

Ok, it’s time —
here are the top 10 skills and qualities of great leaders.

10 skills & qualities of a great leader

We’re sure you’ve bookmarked and pocketed 1000 articles listing the most important leadership qualities and skills for you to develop. But who has the time to read them all? While information is good, too much information can be counterproductive. Not to worry — we took care of plucking out the most important skills and qualities for you to focus on. We’ll also share some common workplace scenarios and how to tackle them like a true leader! You got this (strong arm emoji in your honour).

Top 10 leadership skills & qualities

• Create a communication-friendly environment
• Be Vulnerable & Build Trust
• Motivate People to Move in the Same Direction
• Develop Your Emotional Intelligence
• Prioritize People Over Profit
• Have Humility & Stay Humble
• Coach & Empower Others (& Yourself)
• Foster a Learning Environment
• Be Accountable & Transparent
• Lead Through Change & Adversity

Create a communication-friendly environment

• Give & receive effective feedback
• Practice active listening
• Master verbal & nonverbal communication
• Tackle difficult conversations
• Create psychological safety

Constant communication is a foundational skill in any relationship, but on teams, the absence of communication is a sure sign of trouble. As a leader, you want to create a communication-friendly space where it’s safe to express oneself and share ideas without fear or embarrassment (more on that here). Leaders must facilitate open communication by promoting the expression of differing thoughts and perspectives. The best way to do this is to model the behaviour yourself!

Communicate:

1. Constantly (Except on weekends, of course)
2. Clearly (Especially with regards to relaying the company’s vision and goals)
3. Openly (Be authentic and vulnerable, you’re human)

You know the drill, lead by example to encourage others to do the same!

Communication scenario: the missed deadline

You’re meeting one-on-one with someone from your team who has recently missed a deadline, and this is when you find out that it’s because they were overloaded and couldn’t keep up. Some employees have a hard time saying “no” to projects, and then fail to communicate that they’ve taken on too much because they don’t want to let their team down. Let your employee know that it’s better to flag these issues as they arise by communicating openly with the team, before they impact the bottom line.

Be vulnerable & build trust

• Be human & true to yourself
• Exercise self-disclosure
• Be your authentic self
• Emotional openness
• Offer trust by default

The trope of the strong and infallible leader is outdated, and ascribing to it can be detrimental to your success, which goes hand-in-hand with the success of your team. If you’re not able to be vulnerable and open with your team, they won’t be vulnerable with you, either. But before anyone can be vulnerable, there has to be mutual trust. The best way to earn trust is to offer it out for free, so trust in your team members by default to build solid foundations in all of your relationships. Admitting to your own imperfections will earn you the trust and respect of those who report to you and those who you report to.

Vulnerability scenario: stretched out thin

You’ve been put on a few additional projects recently, and you’re having trouble getting it all done and properly managing your team. Your first move should be to speak with your own manager, and work with them to find solutions to help you prioritize your team. More importantly, though, you should speak with your team. Let them know that you’re being stretched a bit thin, and admit that it’s hard on you. Then, remind them that they are your top priority and you’re always there for them, so you’re working on finding a solution.

Motivate people to move in the same direction

• Intrinsic & extrinsic motivation
• Get buy-in on vision & mission
• Align people around common goals
• Give meaningful recognition

A huge part of leadership is inspiring and motivating your team toward a shared vision and common goals. People are motivated when they feel their hard work serves a larger purpose, so take the time to demonstrate how their tasks are connected to the bigger picture. When everyone on the team has the same mission in mind, collaboration and teamwork will be their strongest. And of course, make sure everyone is receiving frequent and meaningful recognition for their efforts.

Motivation scenario: the crunch time blues

The team has been in a crunch leading up to a big event, and everyone’s been putting in extra effort. You can tell that morale is dwindling. Don’t wait until the celebration after the big event to recognize everyone’s dedication. Call a team meeting and take the time to tell them all that you see how hard they’re working and how proud you are. Remind them of how their work contributes to larger company goals. Hearing it while they’re in the thick of it will give them a boost!

Develop your emotional intelligence

• Self-Awareness
• Self Regulation
• Empathy
• Motivation
• Social Skills

In a position founded in relationships, you must develop soft skills and emotional intelligence to navigate the human elements of your role (lead with humanity!). It starts with getting to know yourself better, and then you can become more conscious of how your emotions influence your behaviour — and how your behaviour influences other people’s emotions. This includes the ability to identify what shapes your opinions, and avoid projecting them onto other people (or groups of people). It can be hard to understand the way that others think and feel, but working on this will help you to best address the needs of your team members in an effective way.

Emotional intelligence scenario: keeping calm in a crisis

Your employee made a mistake — a big one — that will have a direct negative impact on a client, colleague, or business objective. It’s natural that this might cause you to panic, but what’s important is how you manage that response. The last thing you want to do is get mad, lash out, or punish your employee. Your focus has to be on helping them find a solution. Meet with your employee and tell them that you’ll fix this together, then talk them through it. Ask them about what they did, what impact it had, and what needs to happen to rectify the situation. The best leaders guide their employees through problem solving rather than telling them what to do, even in the most critical moments.

Prioritize people over profit

• See people as people, not just employees
• Foster an inclusive environment on your team
• Facilitate relationship building on your team
• Encourage & enable work-life balance
• Never sacrifice the wellbeing of your team for results

Putting people first is essential to modern leadership! The better you know your team members on a personal level, the better you’ll be able to guide them professionally — not to mention tap into their unique ideas and perspectives. Take it a step further by encouraging that same relationship building among team members for stronger creative collaboration and problem solving. Remember that the happiness of your employees is inextricably linked to the happiness of your customers.

People-first scenario: managing a sudden leave

One of your employees has a sudden personal crisis, and needs to take a leave of absence. First, reassure your employee that the team will have their back while they’re away, and ask them what you can do to support them. Then, meet with your team to fill them in on what they need to know and how they can support their team member, too. Come up with a plan and reassure your team that together you’ll tie up any loose ends for the employee on leave, without anyone shouldering too much.

Have humility & stay humble

• Don’t chase after perks or status
• Be part of the team, not separate from it
• Know that you don’t know everything
• Don’t let your ego get in the way
• Give credit & take blame

The strongest leaders are humble; they’re not in it for the title or the status. Strong leadership is about empowering others, not being in a position of power. You need to see your team members as equals, and recognize that you have something to learn from each and every one of them. This means having enough self-assurance to focus more on the success of your team than any personal gain (lead from the bottom!). The magical part is that when you take on such a selfless role, you end up discovering a lot about yourself in the process.

Humility scenario: giving credit where credit is due

You have a meeting coming up with the other leadership to go over the OKRs of the past quarter. Your team has been killing it, demonstrating strong collaboration and teamwork, coming up with creative new approaches and ideas, and hitting all their targets. Of course you’ve been doing a great job managing the team, but rather than focus on how your effective management led them to success, talk about what they did. This is a great opportunity to let your team’s efforts shine, and it will be obvious that you supported them through it all.

Coach & empower others (& yourself)

• Develop people professionally & personally
• Build confidence in your team members
• Encourage & validate the efforts of your team
• Mentor others
• Self-development

As a leader, you’re only as strong as your team, so you want to build them up as best you can. Part of this is helping them develop their technical skills, but you also want to help them develop their soft skills and their confidence. Coaching your employees directly is a great way to connect with them if you have the time and expertise, but if not, it’s important to set them up with the right person for the task. You should also always be striving to develop your own skills and become a better leader; this is a great way to be a role model to your team (lead by example!).

Coaching scenario: passing the torch

You’re managing a team of sales representatives, which was the role you were in before being promoted to management. You coach each of your employees individually on a technical level, but your team is growing and you’re having a hard time following up on everyone’s progress. Instead of outsourcing another coach, why not start mentoring one of your more experienced employees to become a coach themself? They could become a peer coach for newer or less experienced team members, allowing you to be more effective in your coaching with the rest of the team, giving you more time to focus on your own development.

Foster a learning environment

• Ask questions instead of giving answers
• Facilitate growth & development
• Help people find solutions on their own
• Give autonomy & avoid micromanaging

Encouraging curiosity and learning won’t just keep the people on your team engaged, it’ll also lead to the innovative ideas that will set your company apart. You want to create a space in which people feel safe to think outside the box, test new approaches, and yes, even fail. Your role in this as a leader is to encourage calculated risk taking and help everyone find the lessons to be learned, regardless of whether you win or lose. As a leader, create a learning-friendly environment by speaking in terms of hypotheses, tests, and iterations rather than certainties, outcomes, and final products.

Learning scenario: the project was a flop

Your team worked really hard on a project, but it didn’t turn out as planned. You might be disappointed, and you may be able to spot where it went wrong, but resist the urge to give your perspective right away! This is a great opportunity to help the team learn from their mistakes. Ask them where they think it went wrong. Have them reflect and talk through what worked, what didn’t, and what they can try next time. Being an effective leader doesn’t mean having all the answers, it’s about helping your team find them themselves.

Be accountable & transparent

• Admit to your mistakes
• Own your decisions
• Keep your word
• Hold others accountable
• Share important information, good or bad

It’s not easy to admit that you messed up, or take the blame when things go wrong, but as a leader it’s essential to upholding your integrity. When you make a decision, you have to own the outcome — good or bad. If you fall short on something, admit that you screwed up and apologize sincerely. People value honesty and no one likes the feeling of being the last to know, so make sure you’re updating your team on anything that will affect their work as soon as it comes up. You can’t expect your employees to be accountable and transparent with you if you aren’t with them.

Accountability scenario: unforeseen impact

You made a game time executive decision, and it’s impacting your team more than you expected. You can sense some frustration, and possibly even some resentment, but it’s too late to go back now. Be upfront with your team and take full responsibility for the effects of your decision. Apologize, and acknowledge that even though the impact was unintended, it’s on you nonetheless. Let your team know how you plan to improve the situation, or how you’ll avoid a similar one in the future.

Lead through change & adversity

• Adaptability & flexibility
• Facilitate agile work methods
• Reassess & redefine goals and tactics frequently
• Implement new processes
• Maintain optimism

In a workforce that’s evolving at an exponential pace, great leaders need to be agile, and build agile teams who can navigate the uneven terrain. This means reassessing and redefining goals and tactics regularly. A process that your team perfected six or even three months ago may no longer work, and your team will have to adapt on the fly. You want to inspire them to embrace change with open arms — that way, you and your team will be up for the challenge when adversity strikes.

Change scenario: the team is uncertain

The C-Suite executives of your organization present a strategy for the coming year that significantly redefines the company’s bottom line. There’s a palpable uncertainty throughout your team, and anxiety about how roles and responsibilities will change in their day-to-day. As a leader, it’s important that you project a positive attitude toward this type of change to reassure your team that you will all adapt together. Let them know that you’re there for them, then clearly outline and communicate how this will alter your team’s direction, and make sure everyone’s on the same page.

Management & leadership: what’s the difference?

You probably already know this, but the role of a manager is complex. It’s a two-in-one position that requires both management and leadership skill sets. The trick is finding the sweet spot between the two, and this balance, like most things, comes with practice.

At its base, Management is about the “how” you do things (the technical elements, the planning, the processes and the organization), whereas Leadership is about the “why” (engaging people by connecting everything to a larger mission, and thinking beyond the now to what could be).

Below, we map out some key differences between management and leadership — and where they overlap — to clarify the duality of your role (FYI, this list is not exhaustive).

Management

• Small picture
• Deal with the “now”
• Set, measure & help achieve goals
• Organize & plan
• Mediate & moderate
• Train employees
• Facilitate problem solving
• Time management
• Build systems & processes
• Plan budget

Manager

• Align team around goals
• Simplify business needs
• Build relationships with employees & help them connect with each other
• Coach others to develop professionally & personally
• Engage employees by connecting their day-to-day work with the larger vision

Leadership

• Big picture
• Think ahead to “what could be”
• Inspire & motivate
• Create & demonstrate vision, mission, values
• Guide others to greatness
• Self-motivated & motivating others
• Lead through change

As you can see, both areas of focus are equally important! No manager — no human being — is perfect, so it’s inevitable that you’ll have to work on building up some of your skills on both sides of the coin. Our hope is that these lists will help you figure out where the best place to start is for you.

Last words for a leader in the making

Great job finishing this guide!

It’s a huge leap in the right direction and it will hopefully serve as a go-to for you along the way (we’re always here for you). Remember, becoming a leader is a continuous process. The more experiences you have and challenges you face, the more you’ll grow.

In fact, being open to learning is paramount to your success. Remember that when in doubt, consult the Leader Laws in this guide. A true leader is one that leads by example, leads from the bottom, and leads with humanity.

You got this!

Alright, you’re ready… now go get your leader on!

‍

Welcome new managers!

Before we dig in, here’s a glimpse of what to expect.

You’ve just stepped into one of the most significant roles in the workforce because you have the most direct impact on employees — the heart of every organization. Their success and development will all be influenced by your leadership. No pressure, right?

But…We tend to more often speak about what employees need from their managers in order to shine, and not what managers need to help them get there.

That’s why we set up this complete one-stop-shop for new managers like you. Learn how to prepare for the role like a champ and be the leader you’ve always dreamed of being.

You’ve got an incredible opportunity ahead of you, and lots to do. But for now, just sit back, relax and scroll.

P.S. We’ve included lots of helpful tips for you throughout the piece, so keep your eyes peeled.

The complete guide for new managers

A quick snapshot of today’s workforce.

As you prepare to enter the workforce from a new vantage point, we want to give you a little heads up about its current state. Despite the upward trend of companies putting more effort into improving their workplace culture, Gallup reveals that only 33% of the population is currently engaged at work. This means that an astonishing 67% of employees are not engaged in their day-to-day work life.

It’s a problem, but the good news is, there’s a clear way to fix it. And it starts with you.

Our approach to manager training

Leadership – for better or for worse – directly affects the level of engagement and commitment an employee feels towards their organization. In fact, 75% of employees who quit their jobs, quit because of their manager.

So, why is there so little attention given to the critical time when managers lay down the foundation for their leadership? We believe that the lack of attention given to preparing employees for their new role as manager is one reason why engagement has been mounting at such a sluggish pace.

On a more positive note, we believe that if more organizations offer employees the tools, support and resources they need to transition, we can change the outcome.

Leadership training needs to start before the role even begins.

Becoming a first-time manager

There’s more than one way to become a manager. Whether you’re promoted internally or you’re hired as a first-time manager at a new company, the bottom line is that in one moment you’re an employee, and in the next moment you’re a new manager with an entirely different set of responsibilities and challenges.

Meet Mary, she’s a new manager just like you.

Mary was recently the star employee on the marketing team at her organization. Over the course of the past two years, Mary demonstrated a strong skill set and expertise in her trade that set her apart from her colleagues. At Mary’s second annual review, she was promoted to manager for the company’s marketing division. Honoured by the offer and the pay increase, she accepted and is now ready to get started in her new role.

Meet Mary, she’s a new manager just like you.

Mary was recently the star employee on the marketing team at her organization. Over the course of the past two years, Mary demonstrated a strong skill set and expertise in her trade that set her apart from her colleagues. At Mary’s second annual review, she was promoted to manager for the company’s marketing division. Honoured by the offer and the pay increase, she accepted and is now ready to get started in her new role.

Why did Mary get promoted?

Mary’s employers have faith that she will succeed as a manager because she was an outstanding employee.

It seems that after two years of exceptional work, being promoted to manager is the logical next step.

But there’s a glitch.

You can become a great leader if you put the work into it

• Ask all the questions you need regarding the nature and demands of your role
• Develop your soft skills & emotional intelligence.
• Ensure that this is the best type of promotion for you, compared to something lateral.
• Be certain that you want to lead a team.

The promotion problem

Management is a trade in and of itself and it likewise requires preparation, coaching, and time to get right. Just because Mary was an expert in her field, It doesn’t mean that she’s ready to be a manager.

Being a leader requires a unique skill set, and it’s not for everyone, especially those who do not have the will to learn to lead.

Yet in a snap, Mary is offered a promotion, given a raise, an office, and a team. She quickly realizes that she isn’t sure of what comes next. She has a whole team of people depending on her but no clue what to do! Too ashamed to ask for help or clarification, Mary’s stuck in a rut.

“Do you know how hard it is to be the boss, when you are so out of control! It’s hard to verbalize. It’s the feeling that all of a sudden… it’s the feeling you get when you have a child. On day X minus 1, you still don’t have a child. On day X, all of a sudden you’re a mother or a father and you’re supposed to know everything there is to know about taking care of this kid.”

Mary is not alone in this feeling, and neither are you. In our own survey, we found that 53% of managers said they did not feel like they had an accurate view of what it meant to be a manager when they got started in their role.

But, it doesn’t have to be this way.

We’re going to give you everything you need to set yourself up for success straight out of the gate.

New manager training – How to prepare

Now that we’ve covered the groundwork, let’s dig in.

1. Ok, but what does a manager do?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a manager as “a person responsible for controlling or administering an organization or group of staff”.

Let’s be honest, this definition just doesn’t cut it.

Being a manager is a complex, relationship-fueled position, and anything human in nature can’t possibly be reduced to one simple and clean definition. One thing that remains consistent across the board is that a manager’s role is ultimately to support and lead their people to be the best they can be. It’s not about the authority, the control or the power. In fact, if you’re in it for the glory or the title, it won’t work out.

{emphasize}

Being a manager is about bringing out the best in people. That’s the bottom line. It’s a selfless, people-first, heart-driven role, and it’s worth every second of the complexity if you’re in it for the right reasons.

{emphasize}

Every company comes with different expectations and with each team there will be a different set of challenges. At a high level, here are some of the main responsibilities of a manager.

High-level responsibilities of a manager*:

• Develop, support, coach, motivate and reward employees.
• Plan ahead and evaluate projects and tasks.
• Define (with employees) clear roles and responsibilities.
• Establish goals and performance standards.
• Create a healthy work environment by implementing and maintaining open lines of communication, work systems, policies and procedures.
• Network and act as a liaison between employees and upper management.

{emphasize}

According to an Officevibe Pulse Survey study, 40% of managers did not receive a clear list of responsibilities when they started.

{emphasize}

2. Transition smoothly from employee to manager.

The most important thing to understand about your role is that it’s changing. It’s not a continuation of your role as independent worker, and it’s not “doing your current role but better”.

Being a manager is an entirely new job.

“Suddenly I realize how much I didn’t know”, is a common lament during this transition, as Michael Watkins suggests. You’ll have a lot to learn, but it should be embraced for the great opportunity that it is.

For Mary, the transition from star employee to manager means a transition from:

Specialist / Doer: As a independent specialist, Mary was deep in the nitty gritty of the action, focused on the details and producing work.

Generalist / Orchestrator: As a manager, she’s out of the production process, focused instead on the bigger picture while coaching employees to reach personal and professional goals.

{emphasize}

Quick tip: How to let go of the details.

Focus on “what” the deliverables are, and by “when” they need to be completed. Leave the details of “how” that gets done up to each person.

{emphasize}

One challenge you might face in this transition is putting a hard stop to your old habits as an individual worker. Your initial instinct might be to jump into the work alongside your team and fix or even redo what they’ve done to reach goals. You’ll quickly realize that this isn’t sustainable. Ultimately, what it means to be a manager is to guide a team to reach goals so they can run autonomously.

The complete guide for new managers

Learn what it really means to be a manager, and how to succeed right out of the gate.

Download the guide

3. Get into the manager mindset.

Moving from a “doer” to a “generalist” all requires a considerable shift in your mindset.

As an independent contributor, your focus was your individual performance and success. Being a leader is a role that requires you to put the needs and development of others before your own.

Without bursting your bubble, it’s no longer about you. But that’s the beauty of the job. Watching others grow, learn and succeed because of your leadership will give you a more powerful sense of success than you ever felt as an individual contributor.

Your own success will now be measured by the success of your team and the professional growth of each individual employee.

{emphasize}

Take care of yourself

As the airplane analogy goes, you have to put on your own oxygen mask before helping the person next to you. Meditating and practicing mindfulness are ways to alleviate stress and create clarity.

{emphasize}

Manager Mindsets

Servant leader mindset.

Focus on the needs of others before your own and accept your own success as the success of the team. It’s a bottom-up approach, instead of the traditional top-down. Think helpful guidance instead of commanding delegation.

Embrace differences:
Avoid comparing your employees strengths and weaknesses to your own.

Stay out of it:
Set clear deadlines, but leave the “how” up to your team.

Growth mindset.

Encourage your team to be curious, to learn continuously and reach beyond their limits. This will keep them engaged, creative and producing great results.

Ask, don’t tell:
Ask questions more than giving answers to help employees learn.

Think ahead:
Anticipate challenges, roadblocks and expectations down the line.

Human mindset.

Being a manager does not mean being superhuman. In fact, it’s one of the most human-based roles out there. Be authentic with your team and allow yourself to be vulnerable. The more real you are with them the more real they’ll be with you. That’s when the magic happens.

Listen to your gut:
Your instincts are probably right.

Be patient with yourself:
You’re new to this! Don’t be so hard on yourself, and try to have fun.

4. Don’t be shy, ask for help.

Unfortunately, many companies promote employees to a management role thinking that they’ll “figure it out” because they’ve always been great at everything else. It’s like thinking that because you know how to ride a bike, you’ll have no problem riding a motorcycle. There’s some continuity, yes, but at the base it’s an entirely different task!

So put any ego or fear aside and ask for the clarification and resources you need to start off on the right foot. The more you understand and prep for your role, arming yourself with the gear you need to take off smoothly, the more you and your team will succeed.

Your future self will thank you!

{emphasize}

The new manager checklist:

66% of the managers we surveyed said that they did not receive any training or coaching before starting out as a manager.

1. Ask for a leadership coach: Becoming a successful leader is not always intuitive. It takes work. If you want to coach a team properly, you need a coach, too.
2. Find a mentor within the organization: Find another manager you can turn to to discuss the role, what to expect and how to deal with challenges as you run into them. Having a support network is key to your success.
3. Request a clear list of roles and responsibilities: Use this template and fill it out with your boss and HR so you have clear direction, and then get ready to go through the same exercise with every member of your team.
4. Find out the current state of the team you’ll be managing: Hold individual interviews with your new employees to learn about everyone’s challenges and work styles before diving in. It’s a great way to individualize your leadership style per employee.

The first month in your new role can be the most important. Download our complete New Manager Checklist to set you and your team up for success.

{emphasize}

Busting the myths of management

Forget everything you think you know about your position. We clear up the most common misconceptions of management, so there are no big surprises.

MYTH #1 Independence vs. Interdependence

Myth: Mary was under the false assumption that becoming a manager meant having more freedom and autonomy to do what she feels is best for the company. She was focused on the privileges and power that come with the title, believing that she would finally “no longer be burdened by the unreasonable demands of others”.

Reality: Becoming a manager actually means having less autonomy than when you were an independent employee because you now have a team and a boss. It’s what we call The Sandwich. Your job is no longer to get your work done autonomously, but to help a whole team reach their goals, while responding to the expectations of upper management. You have to manage both up, and down.

It’s a job that requires Mary to wear many hats. She’s no longer a subordinate, she’s a “subordinate, equal and superior”. She still has a boss, and now she is a boss too. This three-hat-balancing act takes some time to figure out, but the first step in conquering it is knowing to expect it, and understanding that the nature of the job is not as simple as having the final word and giving your approval. Being a manager is a role founded in relationships. Finding the time to balance each one will come with time and experience.

MYTH #2 Control vs. Commitment

Now that you understand that the essence of your job is managing and balancing relationships, let’s look at how to run these relationships successfully.

Myth: Mary was under the misconception that she’d have control over her employees simply because she’s now the boss. But, thinking that employees will listen to her because ‘they have to” is a myth. So too is believing that achieving success in her role means maintaining this control.

Reality: Success isn’t your employees doing what they’re told because they have to. Success is your employees being personally committed to a course of action because they believe in you, and have fully bought into your vision and capability as a leader. The bottom line is that success comes from connection, not delegation, and your credibility as a leader has very little to do with formal authority in the end.

10 ways to earn the trust and respect of your team:

1. Be transparent with motives and goals.
2. Demonstrate your character and intention to do the right thing for your team.
3. Put the team’s needs before your own.
4. Help employees grow by letting them test, learn and fail without fear.
5. Trust employees off the bat, don’t make them feel they have to earn it.
6. Let yourself be vulnerable, and admit to mistakes.
7. Use inclusive words like “we” to show that you’re part of the team, not above it.
8. Collect continuous feedback from your team and take action quickly where change is needed.
9. Be yourself – people respond best to authenticity.
10. Be open to learning from your team – everyone will have something to teach you!

First impressions are lasting. Ease in to the team humbly by “asking” rather than “telling”. Learn about your employees, let them learn about you, and make it clear that you’re there to be part of the team, not for yourself.

PRO TIP: Earn the trust of each team member by holding regular 1-on-1 meetings. Officevibe is our one on one software that makes planning and running individualized meetings a breeze.

MYTH #3 Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills

Think of hard skills as your technical skills, and soft skills as your human skills.

Myth: Mary is sure that people will trust her direction due to her expertise, because it’s the hard skills and technical ability that will help her find success in her new role.

Reality: Your hard skills will now take a backseat to your soft skills. What matters more is your ability to help your team build up their own expertise – not do the job for them. Employees want to learn and grow, not be saved. In fact, jumping in with your own skills will usually be perceived as micromanaging.

Since the essence of your new manager role is relationship-driven, the skills required to excel as a leader are human-based. To be effective, you need to be open to learning about yourself, your vulnerabilities, emotional strengths and weaknesses. It takes discipline and commitment. If you commit to your own self-learning and nurturing your emotional intelligence (EQ), you’ll build the capacity to help others succeed. Try building your empathy by exercising it in day-to-day situations. For example, consider a point of view different from your own and come up with a strong argument to support it. Even if you don’t change your own perspective, this is a valuable exercise in critical thinking.

The 5 domains of EQ by Daniel Goleman

1. Self Awareness: Knowing and understanding your emotions
2. Self-Regulation: Managing your emotions and the ability to think before you act
3. Internal Motivation: Setting goals and motivating yourself to follow them
4. Empathy: Recognizing and understanding emotions in others
5. Social Skills: Building and handling relationships, collaborating and managing conflict

Myth #4: Center Stage vs. Behind the Scenes

Myth: Mary believes that she’ll remain center stage under the spotlight, but even more so now that she’s the boss. She looks forward to receiving more recognition than ever!

Reality: True success for managers comes from stepping out of the spotlight and moving behind the scenes! It means guiding a team from the bottom up and shifting the recognition that you’re used to receiving to others. A great leader is happy to let others shine and understands that their success is found in the reflection of their people’s accomplishments.

Learn more about Officevibe’s employee engagement solution — the trusted sidekick of 50K managers around the globe to learn how their team really feels so they can take action in real-time

{emphasize}

Quick tip: How to recognize your employees

1. Offer recognition on specific projects or incentives.
2. Recognize them publicly to expand appreciation and build a positive vibe on the team.
3. Encourage peer-to-peer recognition to help colleagues build relationships.
4. Give praise as close to the event as possible to keep it timely and relevant.

{emphasize}

How to measure behind-the-scenes success

It might not always be tangible, but it will always be great.

The Curiosity Factor :

A professor measures their own success by how well their students perform, but even more so by the questions they ask in the classroom, and their desire to learn more.

In the workplace, seeing your employees test new initiatives, challenge ideas, and ask out-of-the-box questions is a great sign of success! It means that you’ve removed fear from their day-to-days. Curiosity and creativity thrive best in environments where people feel safe to dream big and fail without shame.

The Collaborative Vibe:

A dance instructor measures success by how well their students perform on stage as a cohesive whole, and not just individuals.

Brainpower is always stronger when it’s collective, this is why a team that supports each other and works together harmoniously to achieve goals will produce better results than a team that works in silos. Helping employees form bonds by creating a culture of trust, respect and vulnerability will ensure successful co-creation. Try holding open monthly retrospectives where employees can share their feelings on what worked well and what can be improved upon.

Now go on!
Be awesome.

* https://www.thebalance.com/what-does-a-manager-do-in-the-workplace-1919121
* https://hbr.org/1989/09/general-managers-in-the-middle

We’re back with episode 3 of Vibe Check for a conversation between Julie Jeannotte, HR Expert and Researcher at Officevibe, and Matt McFarlane, Senior Director of People Experience at Oyster. In this episode, they explore the role managers play in employee retention, the importance of understanding the expectations employees have of their managers and vice versa, and how it's important for managers to have the support they need to form and maintain healthy long-term relationships. 

In this episode, we explore: 

• How HR can equip managers to improve employee retention 
• How to build trust between employees and managers 
• How to maintain retention during an economic downturn 

Communication is always the key 

While there are many reasons for turnover, what remains constant is the need for a shared commitment to consistent, transparent conversation. Staying on top of how people feel puts valuable data at your disposal, and it’s the way in which you digest it that matters. One of the key takeaways from this conversation is the need for transparency, reliability, and accuracy to build a healthy company culture and foster an environment where people feel valued, want to stay, and put in great work. 

📺 Watch the full episode for valuable insights and interesting stories to help inspire your retention strategy. 

Meet our illustrious guest  

Matt McFarlane is the Senior Director of People Experience at Oyster HR, a global employment platform that makes it possible for companies everywhere to quickly and compliantly hire talent anywhere. 

Matt is experienced working across complex, globally distributed environments and is passionate about building first-rate workplaces and cultures based on a foundation of people-centricity and operational excellence. 

This article is an excerpt from Vibe: Inspiring people leadership. The second edition of the Zine focuses on engagement, retention, and profitability. Grab your copy.

It’s no secret that the world of work as we know it is evolving — and fast. During significant change, we often look to our leaders for guidance and support in anticipation of what’s to come. Earlier this year, the Josh Bersin Company, one of the leading authorities on corporate talent, learning, and HR technology, published a set of predictions for the world of work in 2023 and beyond. Here, they explored the directions in which the professional world will go and shared ways organizations can get ahead of the curve and lead their teams to success despite challenging times. 

We turned to our steadfast leadership members to hear their thoughts and points of view on these intriguing predictions from Josh Bersin. Read their takes on these hot topics, from productivity and recruitment to talent intelligence and performance management. 

{emphasize}Leadership views on the current and future state of work 

• People analytics will evolve into talent intelligence
• HR organizations will move to a new operating model: systemic HR
• Productivity will become an essential measure of employee success
• New models of performance management will take hold
• The role of recruiters is increasingly important
• Further reading to inspire people leaders{emphasize}

People analytics will evolve into talent intelligence

By Martin Gourdeau, General Manager  

Efficiency vs. effectiveness is taught in most management studies but is unfortunately forgotten by many as soon as they enter the corporate world.   

There are many reasons for this, but at the end of the day, it mostly comes down to the alignment of interests. Efficiency is fundamentally “profit-driven,” while effectiveness is a “checkmark” concept. The vast majority of employees are hired, reviewed, and promoted on “checkmarks.” Was X accomplished? Check. The presence of this phenomenon is, unfortunately, directly and linearly correlated to the size of the business.  

However, now and then we witness a global turn of events that shifts the collective focus on efficiency. The brutal economic correction the tech industry went through in 2022 was one of the most drastic in recent history. The unprecedented cash injection from most of the central banks in developed countries, in response to projected COVID economic repercussions, led to years of abundant capital. But human nature kicks in; abundance can lead to complacency, and complacency means a broad focus on effectiveness vs. efficiency.  

Want to grow into a new market? --> Hire. 

Want to deliver an ambitious project? --> Hire more.   

Meta roughly doubled its headcount between 2019 and 2022, while revenue was up about 65% during that same period.    

So here we are. The music stops, and the pendulum swings the other way. The news is full of companies undergoing layoffs. The business elite has completely changed their narrative. All we hear about now is sustainability, strong fundamentals, unit economics, and free cash flow. Companies need to do the right things and do things the right way. It’s no surprise that a few engaged, clever, and complimentary A-players will outperform a team that is 5 or 10 times larger if that second team is dysfunctional.  

What if you could engineer that first team consistently? Enter the next chapter in people analytics: talent intelligence.   

The macro-economic context has created a catalyst to fuel the next generation of HR tech landscapes. The most important asset in any company is people, and the technology to unlock their full potential will be invaluable moving forward. History shows us that technology isn’t a threat but an opportunity. Organizations that fully learn to leverage talent intelligence tools will have an unfair advantage over all the others. In this market, businesses should take all the unfair advantages they can get. 

Insights into action
Without tools to help you measure and act, your employee experience falls behind. The best employee experience software not only enhances your employee experience but offers actionable insights as well.

Get executive buy-in for your employee experience tools by following the five steps outlined in our comprehensive Buyer’s Guide.  

HR organizations will move to a new operating model: systemic HR  

By Anaud Ganpaul, VP of Product 

Traditionally, human resources leaders have been key players in addressing internal and external changes that drive and support their organization’s business strategies.  

However, HR leaders and C-suite alike are recognizing that traditional siloed HR models no longer meet the demands of today’s workforce. They are now turning to a new operating model called systemic HR — a holistic approach to HR management that emphasizes how different HR processes impact overall business strategy.  

This operating model involves:  

• breaking down silos 
• promoting cross-functional collaboration 
• considering the entire employee lifecycle 
• creating a seamless employee experience aligned with business goals 
   

A key feature of systemic HR involves incorporating data-driven feedback and decision-making more efficiently with integrated strategies. This concept can benefit companies of all sizes but requires building a strong talent intelligence data and applications layer in their HR tech stack. Once implemented, a systemic HR model will provide feedback on these strategies’ effectiveness and can shed light on employee engagement, productivity, recognition, coaching, recruitment, skills, and help identify any learning gaps. Now that’s impressive!  

Managing multiple software components to get employee feedback can take time for overextended HR teams, managers, and employees. Bersin has coined the term “mid-market talent intelligence suites” to recognize the new breed of software providers that integrate these capabilities into a single platform. By leveraging this feedback, organizations can make informed decisions that drive better business outcomes.   

Systemic HR represents a significant shift in how organizations operate. With this holistic approach, HR leaders can drive organizational success by aligning their strategies with business goals. By leveraging talent intelligence to focus on employee engagement, development, and performance and adopting modern HR technology, organizations can create a seamless employee experience that leads their businesses to success.  

Insights into action 
  
Setting efficient goals is essential to the success of any business. Lead your team to the finish line every time with clearly outlined objectives at the individual and organizational levels.  

Productivity will become an essential measure of employee success  

By Jean-Luc Brisebois, Former Chief Revenue Officer  

Talking about productivity can often be uncomfortable for many managers; it can evoke images of the stereotypical evil businessperson putting the bottom line above all else. But in this current economic reality, dictated by stock markets and weakened by labor shortages, we must be more judicious when allocating our time and resources. We all need to do more with less, meaning productivity must take center stage.  

But there’s a line that can’t be crossed: while extra efforts will be required all around, you can’t just add more to people’s plates and expect great results. This is where the power of “no” comes into play; saying no to projects that fall lower on the list of urgencies to make room for initiatives with higher potential ROI. 

To me, one of the most important steps a leader can take is to align your team around the notion that resources are limited. Engagement will skyrocket if you: 
1. Are clear on your rationale around what needs to be put aside (and why). 
2. Combine this with concrete data to prioritize initiatives.  

At the end of the day, your team wants to know that their work contributes to the bigger picture. As leaders, we empower people to reach their objectives and guide them on their professional journeys to reach collective organization goals.  

Insights into action 
Even the highest-performing teams may hit productivity blockers. But equipping you and your managers with the right strategies to prevent and overcome them makes all the difference in the long run.

Learn how you can tackle the four most common roadblocks in the workplace.

New models of performance management will take hold 

By Umbreen Tapal, Former Director of Product Management

HR leaders are facing a unique challenge; on the one hand, there is more pressure than ever from the C-suite to demonstrate how people management practices are enabling teams to deliver results and ultimately drive organizational performance. On the other hand, HR leaders must keep employees engaged in a tight labor market where you can’t hire your way out of a talent gap. 

We’ve been spending a lot of time listening to and understanding the context of our customers. One of the key emerging themes is that although we’ve been talking about what is broken with traditional performance management for years, this moment feels like we are seeing a critical mass of organizations that are ready to move towards continuous and agile performance management.   

Another key theme we keep hearing about (and this is closely linked to the company performance results that the C-suite is looking for) is organizational alignment around goals. Goals need to be adapted and adjusted in a fast-moving business context. So, we see enabling behaviors around reflection, adjustment, and alignment on team and individual goals as a critical thread that connects the new continuous performance and people development process.   

This does not really come as a surprise as there is strong data indicating that high-performing organizations focus on goal alignment and clarity. When employees rally around common goals and have a clear vision of success, they are more likely to feel connected to their work and organization. Your employees must be motivated to reach collective goals to achieve high performance and satisfaction. Start prioritizing goal setting and regular progress check-ins and watch your retention rates soar.  

Insights into action  
Organizations that prioritize and actively work towards increasing employee engagement are proven to retain people who consistently do their best work.

Read on to learn more about why it pays to invest in your people.  

The role of recruiters is increasingly important 

By Jonathan Berlinski, Director, Talent Acquisition  

Truly understanding what it takes to fill a role within an organization goes far beyond a list of skills in a job description: you must consider the managers’ needs, technical and soft skills, culture fit, etc. Finding great people is a challenging skill to duplicate with any tool or piece of technology.  

Relationships and ambassadorship remain core to the recruitment function. It certainly helps to have an outstanding employer brand. Still, it takes skilled recruiters to: 

• amplify that message,  
• actively engaging with the right talent in the market at the right time,  
• champion the brand, and  
• provide a first-hand experience of what it is like to work within a truly great company.   

Building a distinctive employer brand goes hand in hand with candidate experience. First impressions are lasting, and every touchpoint with a candidate is an opportunity to create a relationship. Fostering that experience is a little extra work, but it’s well worth the investment.

I also think we’ll see internal mobility becoming a trend in 2023. As many companies look to scale down external recruiting in the current economic context, they will invest in the growth and upskilling of their employees. Internal talent mobility also provides external candidates with a clear message that opportunities for growth and progression exist within this company — a powerful recruiting tool and stance. 

Organizations need to support their recruiters by equipping them with the latest tools and technologies and helping them keep up with the latest trends. It’s equally important for recruitment units to collaborate closely with other teams, such as legal, marketing, and HR, to maintain awareness of what’s happening within the organization. And make sure they’re in sync with company objectives. 

Insights into action 
In the age of digitization, constant change, and a cautious economic landscape, workforce planning is becoming mission-critical. No longer can leadership rely on guesstimates or instincts alone. They must adopt a new mindset that puts data (and the priorities it uncovers) over politics.

Learn more about the future of workforce planning and what to use to make data-driven decisions. 

Further reading to inspire people leaders

The workplace has seen fundamental changes over the last several years. And there are no signs that it's slowing down. But change can be profoundly cathartic. It can even act as the catalyst for resiliency and growth during disruptive times.

The second edition of VIBE: Inspiring people leadership aims to lift the fog on how HR teams can boost their people strategy by supporting their managers. It features thought leadership articles like this one, tips on how HR practitioners can strengthen engagement and improve employee retention, a look at the real cost of turnover (and how you can prevent it), and much more. Grab your copy and learn more about the deep connections between engagement, retention, and profitability. 

JJ here from the Officevibe team. I’m beyond excited to start this new series with you today. If you don’t know me, one thing you need to know is that I love to geek out on anything related to people and culture: employee engagement, fueling performance, team dynamics, DEIB, and people development. Name it, I love it all.

What I also love is getting inspired by all the ongoing excellence in the field. Whether that's the latest research, conference, event, or webinar — I want to discuss what's happening in the HR space with you in this blog series. It’s about sharing learnings and insights with you so that we can reflect on them, too. Hopefully, this will spark discussions on what’s going on in our wonderful world of work!

Today’s post covers my download from Steve Boese's session “What employees want: how to cultivate and improve employee engagement” at SHRM’s Workplace Culture Virtual Retreat in November 2022.

Steve is the Co-Chair of the HR Technology Conference with H3 HR Advisors, Inc, and a Technology Editor and Writer for Human Resource Executive Magazine. He is also the creator and co-host of the weekly HR Happy Hour Show and Podcast (the longest and most downloaded podcast about HR, talent management, recruiting, and workplace tech).

{emphasize}Here are my key takeaways from his talk:

• What's hit the hardest
• The arrival of the Great Reset
• There's a new employment contract
• EX tech is in
• A modern rhythm
• Cause and effect{emphasize}

What's hit the hardest

When polled live during the webinar on what has been hardest over the last three years, retention was the most popular answer from the audience, over adapting to remote work, adapting safety and security protocols, and employee engagement and well-being. Why? Second to compensation, people leave because of a lack of growth and development opportunities. Clearly, personal growth is a key factor for retention.

This reality in which growth opportunities are a top retention driver puts lots of focus and pressure on People & Culture teams to deploy new development and advancement strategies. Things like the below come to mind:

• building a talent and opportunity marketplace
• offering internal gigs to our employees
• bringing better visibility into internal roles and fast-tracking internal candidates
• implementing LMS systems to help with upskilling and reskilling (so much talk on this topic right now!)
• including career development as a regular component of one-on-ones

The arrival of the Great Reset

We are full of learnings from the last three years and can safely say that we are moving from the Great Resignation to the Great Retention. Employees have been reconsidering work's role in their lives for some time now. They are now centered on finding jobs and organizations that align with their values, priorities, and purposes.

This shift is being named the Great Reset. And as a result of it, organizations are rebuilding themselves. They are figuring out how they can respond to new employee expectations.

Speaking of new expectations, our own research highlighted that 70% of employees say they want to spend more time with their manager. Along with a need for more frequent recognition and clearer goals, meeting all these new expectations heavily relies on managers. Because of these changes, organizations must redesign work, structures, and processes to meet these new demands of the workforce. But I’ll come back to this later.

[ov_cta id="5119977"]

There's a new employment contract

Employee-employer relationships are no longer transactional: pay and benefits are now table stakes. Employee expectations are increasing and less tangible: values, purpose, social implication, and DEIB, to name a few. Competition is fierce, and organizations are looking for ways to differentiate. Culture is one of those differentiators. Let’s face it, competing on compensation is no longer a strategy.

Do you know how your team feels about your culture? Use this free employee survey template to gather their thoughts, perspectives, and insights to keep it thriving.

EX tech is in

There’s a massive rise in employee experience (EX) employee-driven technology:

• This tech is modernizing, and we’re moving past basic HR functions.
• Buyers and users are looking for simple, easy-to-use software and one platform rather than many for all things people-related.
• We’re seeing a trend for HR wanting to empower employees to own their data, like productivity metrics, engagement data, one-on-one notes and performance reviews, and enabling team members to request feedback from their peers on an ad-hoc basis.
• There’s a desire to make the EX simple and digital and to make it easy for employees to ask for help and info.
• Flexible compensation: there’s more and more popularity around letting employees personalize their experience, for example choosing amongst different types of benefits and tailoring perks to fit their personal preferences.

What we should take away from this: One size fits all no longer works.

A modern rhythm

Long gone are the days when we carve out a few weeks during the year to measure employee satisfaction with a survey that takes hours for employees to fill out and weeks for HR to analyze. Training is now happening on an ongoing basis with micro-learning replacing extensive training sessions. Annual reviews are being redesigned and complemented with frequent performance conversations. Yearly goals are being chunked out into smaller, more achievable quarterly goals.

I feel it only makes sense in the agile world we now live in — in which the only constant is change — that we transform the many parts of the employee experience into more frequent and ongoing events. Here are examples of EX moments that are becoming ongoing, as I like to call them:

• continuous feedback, sometimes even having the employee initiate the request for feedback
• regular check-ins between managers and team members
• flexible performance reviews
• frequent and timely recognition

Cause and effect

If a lot of the above impacts your People & Culture teams, I do want to draw attention to an important reality we tend to forget about:

Never has it been so demanding for managers to fulfill all their responsibilities for and with all their (unique) team members.

Yes, sharing continuous feedback and recognition and planning check-ins and one-on-ones that have meaning demands time and effort. The same goes for frequent performance reviews. However, they foremost demand skills like empathy, curiosity, and emotional intelligence.

We must remember that the manager drives so much of the employee experience. How much focus do we, the People & Culture teams, put on equipping our managers with the right tools and competencies to effectively lead their teams and engage with the new demands of their role?

What are you doing right now to help your managers develop these critical skills? How are you making their lives and work easier?

How do I do this, you ask?

Here are a few ideas:

• Enable your managers with software that is simple to use, built for them, and makes their one-on-ones and performance reviews easier to do. If this tool allows them to collaborate with employees in building one-on-one agendas and filling out reviews, it’s even better.
• Use tools that enable employees to ask their peers for feedback on an ongoing basis.
• One of the most stressful moments for managers is performance review time. It’s HR’s role to support them in the following ways:
  • Communicate to managers how emotions impact evaluations.
  • Give managers guidance on how to show empathy while assessing employees.
  • Give managers plans for how to prepare for and respond to emotions during the evaluation conversation.

Reflecting on the past year, we can see the momentum for the year ahead. The good news is, modernizing the workplace doesn't have to mean a complete overhaul. These suggestions here can start as small initiatives that have a major impact.

When you carry out a survey to gauge how your team is feeling, how do you share the results with them?

For some, measuring employee engagement can be challenging — especially for managers overseeing large or distributed teams — but an employee engagement survey can help you craft effective communication strategies to elevate your organization's entire employee experience.

The employee survey results you collect can give you a detailed breakdown of how employees feel via honest feedback, and this transparency opens the door for more genuine conversations.

However, asking the right questions through your employee engagement survey is only the first step in your surveying journey. The most crucial part of conducting employee engagement surveys is communicating results so that together you can dive deeper into where your company needs improvement and develop a collaborative action plan.

If you're not sure how to move forward with your survey results, here's how we recommend you communicate your analysis to your team or the rest of your organization.

‍

Steps to communicating survey results

Engagement surveys are an excellent way to get your finger on the pulse of the employee experience at your organization. With these employee surveys, you can keep track of key engagement metrics like:

• Feedback
• Relationship with Manager
• Recognition
• Company Alignment
• Happiness
• Ambassadorship

Maximizing the potential benefits of an employee engagement survey requires you to communicate survey results effectively to teams throughout the company. To ensure your team sees a positive impact following your employee engagement survey, share the results with key players from every part of your company, including the executive team, department leads, and of course, the employees. By allowing people in every position to feel heard, you can set the stage for continuous improvement.

Wondering how to communicate employee engagement survey results effectively? Here's what we suggest:

1. Thank employees for participating

Employee feedback is at the core of engagement surveys, and showing your appreciation can go a long way. Actively acknowledging feedback can encourage employees to talk openly about their thoughts, enabling the entire company to make positive changes. Saying "thank you" can be as simple as sending a company-wide email or scheduling an all-hands meeting to share the survey results' key takeaways.

Showing you care allows employees to feel more comfortable sharing feedback in future surveys. If an employee has expressed concern (anonymously or not), it's crucial to respond to this feedback and address any issues before they burgeon.

2. Share an initial overview of the survey results

Providing constructive feedback to managers can be intimidating, but employees want to know that you're committed to improving their workplace experience. After reviewing employee survey results, share the key metrics in a company-wide meeting. You'll want to do so relatively soon after your employees complete the survey to showcase your focus and dedication to addressing their concerns in a timely manner.

In this initial overview, you can highlight company scores, key findings, and common employee perceptions. Remember: while, it's important to share positive survey results and what your company does well, be sure to highlight opportunities to strengthen your organization. The goal is to start an open dialogue between employees and company leaders, and the key is transparency.

Likewise, a great way to showcase your ongoing commitment to improving the employee experience is by providing details about how you plan to tackle current concerns. Whether that includes engagement initiatives or a separate revision process, your dedication can strengthen morale to show employees that you're taking their feedback to heart.

3. Analyze results with the leadership team

The next step is to meet with the leadership team to examine the details of the results more thoroughly. This is a good time to go over the company engagement score and overall trends as you evaluate the health of your organization. Focus on using employee feedback to develop solutions for concerns illuminated by the engagement survey results.

Here, the executive team can plan future engagement initiatives. This meeting is also an excellent opportunity for the leadership team to express any concerns so you can talk through them.

Put your money where your mouth is: learn how to analyze and take action with your employee survey results.

4. Analyze results with other managers

The next step in communicating your employee engagement survey results is breaking them down with other department managers or team leads. The whole of a business is only as strong as its parts. Successful communication requires honest conversations with people at every level of your organization, so, an honest conversation will involve reviewing team results – including employee feedback about manager satisfaction.

The importance of measuring employee engagement cannot be overstated. According to Officevibe data, 47% of employees regularly feel overwhelmed at work. Without collecting employee feedback through engagement surveys, it becomes much more challenging to uncover insight on crucial topics surrounding employee well-being. When used effectively, an employee survey can increase engagement and create a happier and healthier workplace.

Providing managers and department heads with actionable solutions to challenges can help foster a more collaborative environment during team meetings and improve manager-employee relationships. This process may take time, but the increase in productivity and workplace happiness will be well worth it.

Employee well-being should always be your top priority as a manager. Check in on your people using an employee wellness survey.

5. Communicate updates and follow up with your team

Completing the survey is the easier part. The real trick to improving engagement is continuously communicating with your team after the survey concludes. Bridge the gap between employees and managers by frequently giving, receiving, and using feedback to make adjustments in the workplace.

Doing so can help build trust with your employees and promote collaboration across departments. Whether you prefer bi-annual employee surveys or collect survey results more frequently, your dedication to progress will help your employees feel more comfortable participating in engagement surveys in the future.

Discover tried and true continuous feedback loop strategies to increase engagement in your workplace.

[ov_cta id="5117519"]

Communication tips and best practices

We know that every manager is unique and will have their own communication style. But it's important to connect with your employees and learn how to best share survey results with them. Let's explore ways in which you can best communicate with your people.

Be transparent

As with any company-wide initiative, leadership can set the example for addressing feedback. To encourage employee participation in open discussions, be honest about the survey results. Doing so can strengthen that budding trust between you and your employees.

Remember that trust in the workplace must be earned, so if you stumble, own up to it, be transparent about it, and be ready to learn from your mistakes. Your team members will likely feel more comfortable coming to you with their questions or their concerns if they feel like they can be open with you.

Additionally, avoid excessive jargon or lengthy explanations. Aim to make the results as clear and accessible as possible so your employees can easily understand company objectives moving forward.

Respect your employees' responses

Honesty and open communication is the bedrock of a healthy organization. Employees should never feel guilty about expressing their concerns. They need to feel comfortable giving and receiving feedback so the company can make changes, which means you need to be open to positive and negative survey responses.

Create a safe space for your employees to share their opinions and ideas through anonymous feedback channels.

Encourage employee participation

When your employee engagement survey concludes, you'll likely have multiple methods of delivering the results. Charts, graphs, and statistics can help paint a clearer image of the overall trends in feedback. Still, employees should also be able to connect the results to their personal experience in the workplace.

A simple way to get everyone on the same page is to implement several rounds of communication. These varying approaches can include:

• A town hall meeting: This method allows everyone in various departments to receive the same information simultaneously. Plus, you can record these meetings for later review.
• Focus groups: Gather employees from the same or different departments and encourage them to discuss the survey results. Doing so may highlight deeper issues and provide further clarity.
• One-on-one sessions: A fantastic way to break down hierarchal barriers is by holding one-on-one meetings. Employees have the opportunity to address managers and leadership directly about their concerns, and managers have the chance to communicate on a personal level with their people. As a result, you may see an increase in engagement.

💡Need help initiating a one-on-one conversation? We've got your back. Check out these tips from managers on how to make the most of your one-on-one meetings.

Collect feedback regularly

When the first survey goes well, it's easy to forget that improving engagement is a long-term commitment and process. What works for your team today might not work a month from now; goals, needs, and expectations can shift over time. To maintain the momentum following a successful survey, remember to be flexible and remain attentive.

The communication loop should always be active, with feedback coming and going between managers and employees regularly. Don't be afraid to repeat the survey process! Creating a highly engaging workplace is an ongoing, collaborative endeavor, and you'll need all hands on deck to discover what works best for your company.

🗝️ Feedback is key to fostering a healthy office culture. Try these tips for creating a positive feedback culture in the workplace.

Keep on surveying and boosting employee engagement

Developing effective employee engagement strategies can be challenging, but the work is worth the numerous benefits. From cultivating a better company culture to increasing employee happiness, engagement surveys give you fast, comprehensive insights about your organization's health.

Officevibe's Pulse Survey tool lets employees provide anonymous responses to your survey questions, eliminating that initial hesitation and making it easier than ever to begin the survey process. What kind of surveys you conduct will depend on your company's needs. With our vast array of employee engagement templates, you can find and use employee surveys for:

• Annual check-ins
• Employee well-being reviews
• Job satisfaction check-ins
• Remote employee check-ins

The most important thing to remember while conducting an employee engagement survey is to practice active listening. Be attentive, ask follow-up questions, and reflect on what your employee is telling you.

By flexing intuitive communication strategies, conducting employee engagement surveys, and analyzing feedback, you'll be one step closer to fostering a thriving culture.

When it comes to employee engagement, it's safe to say that the most engaged employees are the happiest, most productive employees. That's why it's so important for managers and senior leaders to check in often and be aware of how their teams are doing to ensure a positive employee experience.

While we encourage other methods and tools equally, employee engagement surveys play a key role in staying on top of employee satisfaction, commitment, motivation, a sense of purpose, and passion for their work. You'll hear us say this often: employees feel valued when they can communicate openly and feel heard. That's where an employee survey comes in clutch.

Whether you're just getting acquainted with building a solid employee engagement strategy or are looking to refresh your approach, we're here to help guide you through how to create your own employee engagement survey and how to measure employee engagement. Not sure where to start? We've got you.

{emphasize}Create your employee engagement surveys

• What is an employee engagement survey?
• Why should you have employee engagement surveys
• How to create an effective employee engagement survey
• You've sent your employee engagement survey. What's next?{emphasize}

What is an employee engagement survey?

To kick things off, let's start with the basics. An employee engagement survey is a set of strategic questions used to measure the connection an employee feels towards their work, team, and organization.

These employee surveys give employees a voice within their organization and are a great way to get a high-level view of employees' engagement levels over time. Surveys provide honest feedback directly to their manager, who then has plenty of actionable insights to work with.

When it comes to creating the right employee engagement survey questions, there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach. The employee survey questions should be carefully crafted to be aligned with your organization and its objectives. Staying aligned is essential for sustaining performance over time. Alignment and employee engagement go hand-in-hand when it comes to creating a happy and productive work environment.

The frequency of employee surveys also varies. From annual to quarterly, to bi-weekly, and even weekly – they all have their own purpose and value. The annual and quarterly kinds are usually conducted by the organization to give leadership teams high-level information on things like employee experience and company culture to help guide business strategy and HR initiatives.

The more frequent kind, like pulse surveys, provide a more accurate and timely way to get employee feedback that is current and relevant to measure employee engagement levels and job satisfaction in real-time.

Dive deeper into survey types and frequency in our guide on employee engagement surveys.

Why should you have employee engagement surveys

There are so many benefits to conducting employee engagement surveys. First and foremost, employees feel heard. Give them the opportunity to have a voice because, once again, when they feel as though their opinions matter, they feel more valued.

Receiving honest employee feedback also allows the organization to identify issues and opportunities. Are there problems within the team that managers might not be aware of? What can they do to improve a situation? How can they increase employee satisfaction? Figuring these things out allows managers, human resources professionals, and organizational leaders to make meaningful and effective changes.

Responding to employee feedback with actions is a great way to build trust, which in turn helps improve employee engagement. When employees know that their suggestions are taken into account and being acted upon, it opens the door to even more honesty in future surveys.

Having this level of trust also helps foster a healthy company culture. Employees feel more comfortable speaking up, the organization is more accountable for taking action, and everyone feels more in sync. Essentially, an employee engagement survey is a great tool for everyone.

Frequency is key. That's why having a continuous feedback loop strategy is a great way to gather feedback, opinions, suggestions, and comments from employees regularly.

How to create an effective employee engagement survey

Now that you're familiar with employee engagement surveys and why they are such an important tool, it's time to learn how to create one.

We'll walk you through the survey process with the three key steps you need to take – from establishing your metrics to crafting the employee survey questions to clicking send when you're ready. Once you're acquainted with these steps, you'll feel more confident in your approach.

Step 1: Establish which engagement metrics you want to measure

It's one thing to ask questions and gather information, and it's another to measure it. Before getting started on creating your employee engagement survey, you'll need to establish the employee engagement metrics you want to measure. What does this mean? Quite simply, there are several metrics you can measure to assess your employee engagement levels. You'll measure these consistently over time to get a clear picture of what's going on with your employees and teams.

At Officevibe, our pulse survey tool uses 10 metrics to gauge how people feel. These are relationship with manager, feedback, personal growth, relationship with peers, wellness, recognition, company alignment, happiness, satisfaction, and ambassadorship.

This comprehensive list is a great launchpad from which to categorize your employee engagement survey questions, which we'll get into in the next step.

Having a consistent view of these metrics gives managers the ability to see what's going well and what issues need tending to. The results of these metrics will help give you the ability to tackle and resolve issues that you may not have been otherwise privy to. Once you have this established, it's time to create the employee engagement survey itself.

[ov_cta id="5117519"]

Step 2: Build the employee survey

Now that you've established the metrics you want to measure, it's time to start choosing the specific employee engagement survey questions that are relevant to your team and tailored to your organization. A great way to start your engagement survey design is to map out the questions per metric category.

Here are some solid examples of questions based on the 10 metrics we covered in the last step. You can use them as-is or leverage them for inspiration when creating your employee surveys:

Relationship with manager
Do you feel that you can trust your direct manager?
Does your manager take the time to support you when you ask for help?
Do you think your direct manager cares about your well-being?

Feedback questions
Are you satisfied with how often you receive feedback from your direct manager?
Is the feedback you receive specific?
Does the kind of feedback you receive help you with professional growth?

Personal growth questions
Do you feel you have enough freedom to decide how you do your work?
Is there someone at work who helps you with professional development and achieving career goals?
Do you have the opportunity to grow within your organization?

Relationship with peers
Can you depend on your peers when you need help?
Do you and your team members collaborate well together?
Is your communication with your peers honest and transparent?

Wellness questions
Overall, how do you feel about your level of work-related stress?
On a scale of 0-10, how would you rate your organization’s efforts to promote employee wellness?
Do you think someone would say or do something if you felt distressed at work?

Recognition questions
How would you rate the frequency at which you receive recognition?
Does recognition feel genuine and meaningful when you receive it?
Does your organization encourage employees to recognize each other?

Company alignment questions
Do your organization's leaders acknowledge that employees are essential to its success?
Do you believe that your organization can reach its objectives?
Do you feel aligned with the company's values and goals?

Happiness questions
Do you enjoy the work that you do?
Do you feel that you have a healthy work-life balance?
Have you noticed your work taking a toll on your personal life?

Job satisfaction questions
Do you know what you need to do to achieve your goals and objectives?
On a scale of 0-10, how reasonable is your workload?
Are you comfortable in your physical work environment?

Ambassadorship questions
On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend your organization as a good place to work?
On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend your organization's products or services?
Do you feel proud to be a part of your organization?

Prefer not to start from scratch? Choose the survey that’s right for your team from one of our 5 free employee engagement survey templates.

Step 3: Send it out

After putting together your employee engagement survey questions, it's time to send them out to your team members. Before jumping right into it, it's important to have a strategy in place. There are several key factors that come into play when ensuring the proper use and success of your employee engagement survey. Here are our top quick tips:

1. Let's start with creating employee surveys of an appropriate length. While you may have many questions you want to ask, you shouldn't ask them all at once. Employees' time plays a factor, and you don't want them to feel overwhelmed. The amount of time an employee spends on an engagement survey will affect your response rate. In essence, shorter, more frequent pulse surveys result in higher participation rates and tend to have higher-quality survey data. Fewer questions tend to mean more time spent on each answer.
2. Consider survey format. For example, some more in-depth employee engagement surveys can be around 30 questions long, while shorter pulse surveys can be around 10 questions. Sometimes, you can even keep them to just a few questions. Remember tip #1, survey length can factor in on the quality of survey results.
3. Regarding frequency, weekly or bi-weekly pulse surveys are a great way to stay in tune with employees and understand the highs and lows they're experiencing in real time. Frequent employee engagement surveys make it easier to spot and address issues before they turn into bigger problems. Annual surveys serve their own purpose, as do these more frequent ones.
4. When sending out the employee engagement survey, be sure to explain to your employees why you're sending it. Be honest, transparent, and approachable. And most importantly, if this is an anonymous survey, be sure to clarify that. Allowing for anonymity can open the forum for employees to give more candid feedback and provide you with richer results.

You've sent your employee engagement survey. What's next?

Once the employee engagement survey has gone out and employees have taken the time to respond, it's up to managers, senior leadership, and human resources to review, reflect upon, and analyze the survey results. This allows them to measure employee engagement, identify issues, and close in on where there's room for improvement.

This data is so valuable. Measuring employee engagement survey results, analyzing them, and building an action plan can create tremendous changes within the organization and its culture. Taking the time to measure employee engagement, respond to feedback, and take action shows that management is listening and that they care. In turn, as we've learned, this results in greater employee engagement and employee satisfaction.

And it doesn't stop there. Repeat surveys enable you to gauge how well the action plan has been working and to spot changes in employee engagement and sentiments so you can continue striving for increased employee performance, happiness, satisfaction, and productivity.

While you want to analyze changes, be sure to vary the questions in your follow-up surveys and avoid asking the same questions. Survey fatigue is real. For greater employee engagement and more genuine responses, switch them up and keep them fresh!

Employee engagement is an ever-evolving thing that requires constant attention and acknowledgment. Officevibe Pulse Surveys make creating and analyzing the survey results simple. Easy-to-understand key findings and reports tap into top insights that can help guide you as you build your action plan with data-driven decisions.

Greater employee engagement makes for greater employee empowerment. In fact, did you know that 83% of employees who use Officevibe feel like their manager cares about their opinion? These kinds of numbers really help with employee retention, positive employee experience, great company culture, and even business success.

Let's effectively survey employees and make sure all employees feel heard. Our employee engagement solution can help you do just that.

Ensuring your distributed workforce is happy and engaged can be a challenge at the best of times; throw a pandemic into the mix and you have your fair share of work cut out for you.

Bragi, a Munich-based software company with employees around Europe, sought to make sure its personnel remained satisfied and motivated despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic.

Determined to keep their finger on the pulse of their far-reaching dynamic teams, Bragi introduced Officevibe to their employees in the summer of 2021. After several months of using the software to gather anonymous feedback from their teams, Bragi was able to launch an array of successful initiatives to boost employee happiness including additional vacation days and a home office spending budget.

We sat down recently with Dr. Franziska Grassl, Bragi’s People and Culture Manager, and Ipek Sümer, Talent Acquisition Associate, to learn more about her experience with Officevibe and how they were able to make meaningful changes based on the employee feedback they collected.

Why did Bragi decide to use Officevibe?

It was important for us to measure employee engagement to see people not only as resources, as is often implied in HR, but like actual rounded individuals. It’s so important for us to be to able to tap into our employees’ full potential.

I think having a tool like Officevibe allows us not only to gather direct feedback on particular topics but lets us dive deeper with pre-set questionnaires where you can look into specific feedback on specific themes. It also allows us to take note of how we are doing overall as a company when it comes to the different Officevibe engagement scores. We take [employee well-being] very seriously.

What did you like the most about Officevibe?

We examined different metrics, most notably we did a “deep dive” into the happiness metric four times so far. It seems to be a recurring topic that we really try to keep our eye on so that people can work productively and happily from home or at the office.

We also looked quite a lot at the analysis and reports offered by Officevibe. The feedback we gathered from the questionnaires and direct feedback features were so valuable in guiding current and future HR initiatives.

What did you learn while using Officevibe?

Home office topics and remote work challenges were frequently brought up. Of course, we can provide a nice environment at the office, but it’s equally important that our employees have that at home, too. We are a software engineering-focused company, so we are trying to establish an environment that will remain mostly remote moving forward.

I think with Officevibe we were more able to look at specific challenges and explore adding things that may be missing from their home office environment. Thanks to the feedback we gathered from Officevibe, we introduced a home-office budget to ensure that people have the work environment they wish for.

What changes have come about at Bragi as a result of using Officevibe?

These HR initiatives, like additional vacation days and a home office budget, are a start, but we are also introducing an encompassing performance management tool that will involve not only a performance review but also coaching and disciplinary features among other elements.

For example, when we looked at our fairness and transparency scores, we received constructive feedback to take into consideration. We now try to tackle these problems not only by trying to improve the manager-employee relationship through team-building events but by really trying to establish an accountability structure where managers are not only encouraged to be nice but are also accountable and responsible for the people they are leading.

With the insight from Officevibe, we have guidance on where the focal points should be for these kinds of initiatives. The software is easy to use and has quite a lot of templates and questionnaires that are extremely useful.

{highlight}Officevibe is the incredibly friendly people-first employee experience platform— the fresh, new way to engage, recognize, align, and enable world-class leaders and teams. Easy to use and super powerful, it creates an environment that encourages genuine conversations, with conditions that inspire a better vibe for all, no matter where you work.

Officevibe is the ideal way to show employees the big picture and how they can best be a part of it. It equips managers with the right tools to lead, tackle tough situations and guide important conversations, the human way.

See how Officevibe’s intuitive features can help you collect invaluable feedback from your employees and develop deeper connections with your team members.{highlight}

Officevibe launched a new recognition feature, and you’ve seen nothing like it before.✨  

Leaders worldwide have found cultivating and maintaining a strong company culture one of the most challenging aspects of the pandemic. And now, as we adapt to new ways of working, this pain point is exasperated because teams and people are becoming more dispersed. 

Expressing appreciation and giving recognition (lifelines of the employee experience) is more critical than ever. Directly tied to motivation and engagement, they satisfy the universal human need to be seen, heard, and valued. But a remote context means spontaneous social interactions are becoming rarer, leaving fewer opportunities for people to share appreciation and recognition.

{emphasize}Why now is the time to rethink your employee recognition program

• Not all forms of recognition are created equal
• Why recognition is important
• Distributed teams crave recognition more than ever
• How recognition software falls short 
• Reimagining recognition
• The Officevibe special sauce
• Appreciation is not the same as recognition
• Good Vibes: the recognition engine 
• Why you should switch to Good Vibes{emphasize}

Not all forms of recognition are created equal

Our research to better understand the impacts and challenges of distributed work revealed that: 

Some research participants even confided: “I feel like I only hear from management when something’s wrong. Otherwise, it’s dead silent.”  
 
That tells us that recognition is now more than ever an engagement lever leaders need to pull on to retain the people they've worked so hard to attract.

Kudos Fridays, praise walls, and reward programs are all meant to foster recognition in organizations.

But are all recognition techniques equal? And are they still our best options in this new distributed work environment?

And so, the team of experts at Officevibe took it upon themselves to design a recognition experience that would make your recognition culture actionable, turnkey, and most importantly, habit-forming. 

Why recognition is important 

Has the Great Resignation hit you? According to Bersin and Associates, highly effective recognition programs can reduce voluntary turnover by 46%. Good recognition initiatives will help keep your employees, increasing their engagement, productivity, and performance.  

Our data supports this:

Recognition frequency and Happiness at work are the two engagement sub-metrics with the strongest correlation across all Officevibe engagement metrics.

What does this mean?

Employees who score high on Recognition frequency tend to score high on Happiness at work.

And employee recognition statistics show that employee happiness is a significant player in overall employee satisfaction.

Holding the power of so much sway, you would think every organization would prioritize recognition programs. However, knowing something is good for you doesn't mean you'll necessarily do it—or do it often.

Of the 100,000 employees who currently use Officevibe, 34% say that they don’t feel recognized often enough. And the expectations are even set pretty low. A study by Dr. T. Kaufman et al. on the effect of performance recognition on employee engagement  indicates that employees only expect to be recognized once a month or even once a year (!) 

A lack of recognition has real consequences. Employees who don’t feel recognized are three times more likely to suffer from burnout.  

All in all, recognition has a major impact on the wellness of people at work and their overall engagement. A lack of it can exacerbate a climate of negativity, leading to voluntary turnover. 

Distributed teams crave recognition even more 

In a remote work environment, it’s really easy to drop the little things, like saying hello in the morning without following up immediately with a work-related request. That is the transactional nature of remote work, and it’s killing organizations’ workplace culture.  
 

Employees can quickly feel like their achievements are going unnoticed by management. A colleague recently confessed: “My manager only hears about me when there is something wrong.” We can all relate to this feeling – being engaged by our work yet feeling like our work and its impact are invisible to others. 

Our research on the shift to distributed work revealed that remote work accentuates this feeling. The change has caused a severe drop in the quality of our work relationships. Many of us feel like our emotions, work, and contributions are far less visible than before during office days.
 

Again, it’s no surprise that this is happening more. Spontaneous interactions between team members have declined, and collaboration has become less dynamic.

Microsoft research has found that employee communication networks became static and less interconnected during the pandemic-driven shift to remote work. Yet, collaborative relationships can expand into more creative and meaningful outcomes—a fertile ground for recognition. 

So employees want to be recognized, and organizations want a culture of recognition reinforced by the managers. How is this currently being addressed? 

How recognition software falls short 

There are countless recognition tools, but our analysis clearly shows that the offer is somewhat homogenous and unoriginal. Vendors offer the same features, and you don’t have to dig too deep to realize that they have some fundamental flaws. 

Praise walls are for extroverts 

Most engagement software supports public and private recognition, often through a Slack integration. Some can be gamified, offer leaderboards and reactions, and connect to your company values. 

The problem with praise walls or kudos channels on Slack is that the more successful they are, the more noise they generate. Employees will likely be notified about recognition between coworkers they have never met in larger organizations. As a result, it becomes easy to 'mute' the channel to avoid these distractions. Bye-bye recognition culture!

Recognition overload, however, is rarely an issue. For example, Officevibe’s parent company has a quiet company-wide kudos channel. We’re close to 300 employees focused on improving employee experience, yet we average between two and three posts per month in our Kudos channel. Not exactly what we would call a “strong culture of recognition.”  

It could indicate that some employees are uncomfortable with posting/receiving kudos publicly, as we discovered in our research (more below). As a result, they send a message privately, which is positive, but their manager has no visibility into it, and this valuable information gets lost. 

When managers have access to peer-to-peer recognition, it allows them to understand their team members' strengths.

Great leaders can leverage these tools to improve the performance of their team or individual contributors by setting targets to fill gaps or identify new opportunities for members to use their strengths in new ways (with a change in role or responsibilities, for example).  

Reward programs reinforce transactional interactions  

Rewards programs let you receive and send recognition, earning you points that can be redeemed for tangible items like vacation time or a blender. Incentives are a legitimate way to boost participation, but they can also undermine the impact of recognition.

Are peers really appreciating your work or just playing the game?

Using points as currency reinforce transactional interactions, which we want to avoid as much as possible in a distributed context. 
 

Don’t force me to give John a kudo 

A new, technologically-enhanced approach is integrating your engagement software with your company’s Outlook. When two employees have met, it prompts them to give each other kudos. As many of us simply don't think of giving recognition, this is a smart solution. The downside is that this can be stressful and also feel forced. 

Say you received a message asking you to give Mary, whom you met with last week, kudos. You’ll wonder, “Will she know if I don’t give her one? Did she get prompted to? Why didn’t she send me one?” Or worse, “Did she send me a kudos just because she was asked to?”

It's as if both the host and Airbnb guest could see each other's reviews before writing their own. Would you be 100% genuine? 

Our internal experiments revealed that users of such solutions felt the recognition received was unauthentic. 

Reimagining recognition 

Recognition sits comfortably between employee engagement and performance and is a popular request from our Officevibe clients. Our team wanted its approach to recognition to be different from what was out there. So we ran an innovation challenge focusing on the theme of recognition.

Our innovation challenge

How Good Vibes was born

The entire company was invited to design and test a prototype. Over a few weeks, five teams competed in the challenge. Beyond the inspiring ideas that the project yielded, the most valuable part was the insights generated from testing the solutions.

That’s how we learned that: 

• Many employees are not comfortable being recognized publicly 
• Recognition can be a way for companies to reinforce their values 
• Peer-to-peer recognition should feel authentic and come from the heart  
• Participation should be voluntary, not mandatory; otherwise, it feels disingenuous 

Ultimately, the more you force people to give recognition, the less they will value it. On the other hand, if nothing is done, recognition won’t come by itself. So what is a product designer to do? 

The Officevibe special sauce 

Having understood the needs of both employees and organizations, we were able to design an experience that would enable our clients to truly foster a recognition culture.   

How might we help employees notice the positive around them and prompt them to recognize their peers?

When nudging users to adopt a new behaviour, designers optimize triggers, user motivation, and/or ability. We knew that our triggers would need to be gentle enough for the recognition to be genuine and that trying to convince employees to give each other praise through rewards was a dead end. The only option left was to make it easy (and fun) for teammates to recognize and appreciate each other. 

Reducing effort was the name of the game. In addition, we based our brainstorms on our design principles: simple, human, and memorable. It meant our solution needed to be dead simple and authentic and that it should be as fun to receive recognition as it is to give it. After all, the simplicity and fun of Officevibe’s Pulse Survey have always been our best selling points. 

Appreciation is not the same as recognition... but is still nice 

Early on, we thought about tying recognition with our performance modules (1-on-1s, team goals, and more) so that employees could celebrate each other for a job well done. This type of recognition works because it’s scarce: only the top achievers get recognized; otherwise, it would be meaningless.  

Thankfully, recognition is not only about celebrating outstanding achievements (a formal form of gratitude that flows down the chain of command). It can also be acknowledging, in your own words, your colleagues for who they are. Or for their valuable contribution to the team! This is appreciation, and it is infinite. Even if you were to thank every one of the 3,000 employees in your company, the gesture would still matter. 

Recognition is appropriate and necessary when it’s earned and deserved. Appreciation, however, is important all the time.

It would be a huge oversight not to discuss the connection between recognition and your organizational culture and values. When you think about it for a minute, the behaviours your team members get recognized for telling you what matters to them and what makes teamwork work. It’s through behaviours that your culture becomes tangible. 

Closely examining what traits and behaviours people receive recognition for will tell you how your values are lived in the daily interactions between your people.

Are they closely aligned with the culture and values you think you share as an organization or is your recognition data telling a different story?

If so, you may need to reconcile the two so that you can proudly say that your team is “walking the talk” in terms of values and culture. 

The amazing Brené Brown sums it out with this quote: 

Good Vibes: the recognition engine 

Our objective: To make it fun and easy to recall and identify behaviours and traits worthy of recognition so that team members can flex their recognition muscles.  

We crowdsourced pre-written prompts that jogged positive memories from our team members and managers. We called it “Good Vibes.”

Extroverts and high-achievers often get all the attention. We were more inclusive because we used both recognition and appreciation in our final concept. We created Good Vibes cards that could apply to various personality types like the cheerleader, the wise introvert, the risk-taker, the unsung hero, and many more. 

Prompts take the form of cards which can be shuffled until you come across one that makes you think of someone or a positive behaviour they exhibited. It’s just like browsing the Hallmark cards display until you find a card that makes you think of someone. I think the most important aspect of this design is that it's simple (no anxiety over the blank page) and evokes only positive situations for the user. 

Employees won’t adopt a recognition culture if it’s not fun, so we put extra care into creating a delightful receiving experience: it feels just like unwrapping a gift. Did you say confetti? 🎉  

With an existing habit already ingrained in our users’ routine (to respond to their five-question weekly Pulse Survey), we identified it as THE moment to trigger recognition. And so, team members will occasionally encounter Good Vibes after completing the Pulse Survey.

This trigger has the potential to create a wave of peer recognition, and the frequency is our best bet in building the recognition muscle. Just like our famous, often imitated yet never duplicated Pulse Survey questions, Officevibe customers will be able to benefit from our expertise in selecting traits and behaviours that are worth praising. Our internal HR experts contributed and reviewed the collection to ensure high quality and inclusivity. 

Where is the manager in all this? 

Recognition between peers is visible between the recipient and sender and their team's managers. People's good deeds won't be invisible anymore, and we can close the recognition loop. And another reason why Officevibe should be used in preference to Slack, or at least in addition to Slack.

Good Vibes offers teams the opportunity to connect on a deeper level, building communication habits that are frequent, valuable, and meaningful.

Why you should switch to Good Vibes 

We believe that recognition works within a holistic management approach. 

Good Vibes helps teams:

• Build participation and engagement
• Become more inclusive 
• Develop good communication practices
• Make recognition more meaningful and genuine 
• Express clearly what your company values

Our vision is to help employees recognize the behaviors valued by organizations so that the culture can be reinforced organically through its people. 

Personally, I am grateful to have had the chance to work on something that can improve the lives of thousands of people trying to adapt to their new remote work reality.