Increasing Employee Retention Through Employee Engagement
You’ve seen it happen many times. An organization that provides top wages and benefits loses a great employee to a competitor for no apparent reason. Of course, some employee turnover is to be expected, but if your company is truly engaging your employees, there is no good reason for the unexpected loss of quality staff members. Many companies already know that wages and benefits are important to employees, but compensation alone is not enough to keep the highly skilled, motivated and experienced workforce your business needs to excel.
Defining Employee Engagement
What is employee engagement exactly? AlphaMeasure defines employee engagement as the level of commitment and involvement an employee has towards their organization and its values.
The primary behaviors of engaged employees are speaking positively about the organization to coworkers, potential employees and customers, having a strong desire to be a member of the organization, and exerting extra effort to contribute to the organization’s success. Many smart organizations work to develop and nurture engagement. It is important to note, the employee engagement process does require a two-way relationship between employer and employee.
Why is Employment Engagement so important?
An organization’s capacity to manage employee engagement is closely related to its ability to achieve high performance levels and superior business results.
Engaged employees will stay with the company, be an advocate of the company and its products and services, and contribute to bottom line business success. Engaged employees also normally perform better and are more motivated. There is a significant link between employee engagement and profitability. Employee engagement is critical to any organization that seeks not only to retain valued employees, but also increase its level of performance.
Factors of Engagement
Many organizational factors influence employee engagement and retention such as:
A culture of respect where outstanding work is valued Availability of constructive feedback and mentoring Opportunity for advancement and professional development Fair and appropriate reward, recognition and incentive systems Availability of effective leadership Clear job expectations Adequate tools to complete work responsibilities High levels of motivation
Many other factors exist that might apply to your particular business and the importance of these factors will also vary within your organization.
Engagement Essentials
How will you know to what degree your employees are engaged? The first step is to determine the current level of employee engagement. The best tool to determine this base line is a comprehensive employee satisfaction survey. A well administered satisfaction survey will let you know at what level of engagement your employees are operating. Customizable employee surveys will provide you with a starting point towards your efforts to optimize employee engagement.
The key to successful employee satisfaction surveys is to pay close attention to the feedback from your staff. This is the only way to identify their specific concerns. When leaders listen, employees respond by becoming more engaged. This results in increased productivity and employee retention. Engaged employees are much more likely to be satisfied in their positions, remain with the company, be promoted, and strive for higher levels of performance.
Listening to employee ideas, acting on employee contributions and actively involving employees in decision making are essential to employee engagement.
Taking Action to Improve Employee Engagement
Nothing is more discouraging to employees than to be asked for their feedback and see no movement toward resolution of their issues. Even the smallest actions taken to address concerns will let your staff know that their input is valued. Feeling valued will boost morale, motivate and encourage future input.
Taking action starts with listening to employee feedback. Then the data needs to be analyzed. Next, a definitive action plan will need to be put in place and finally, change will be implemented. It is important that employee engagement is not viewed as a one time action. Employee engagement should be a continuous process of measuring, analyzing, defining and implementing.
What is the Alternative to Employee Engagement?
Conditions that prevent employee engagement seldom alleviate themselves. They should be assessed and addressed as soon as possible. Left to multiply, negative employee satisfaction issues can result in:
Higher employee turnover – Employees leave, taking their reservoir of knowledge and experience to another workplace Diminished performance – Competency of the workforce is reduced, at least short term, until new employees are trained Lost training dollars – Time and money invested in training and development programs for departing workers is wasted Lower morale – Remaining employees can be overburdened with new duties, in addition the unresolved issues that already prevent their full engagement
How Can You Attain Employee Engagement?
Listen to your employees and remember that this is a continuous process. The information your employees supply will provide direction. Insist upon increased engagement at the managerial level, and create and deploy a customized employee satisfaction survey from AlphaMeasure to assess your current level of employee engagement. Identify problem areas, make a plan and take action towards improvement.
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Proceed to AlphaMeasure for additional resources on employee satisfaction surveys and employee engagement surveys.
2004
Two Way Radio Vs Nextel, Sprint and Other Cell Phone Companies
Two-Way radios are making a huge comeback especially when it comes to On-Site Two Way Radio Communications. Surprisingly enough I have found that there are many companies using cell phones or Nextel to communicate within a building, campus, hospital, factory, plant and many other types of properties. Yes, the phones work but does it make sense to spend hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars a month on cell phone and Nextel bills? In many cases the answer is no.
Why pay so much money to talk to employees that are just a floor away, or a few blocks away? You can now have your own On-Site System. An On-Site System is usually made up of two-way hand held radios and sometimes includes a repeater that amplifies radio signals to penetrate through walls, buildings and underground garages, and it also dramatically increases your talk range.
This simple system is easy to use. One of the best and most exciting benefits from having your own On-Site Two Way Radio System is that you will not have any monthly air time bills to worry about. Surcharges, overages, and hidden taxes are a thing of the past to customers who switch to Two Way Radio On-Site Systems. Now instead of having a cell or Nextel bill every month, they have none.
They pay for the equipment and licensing (if required) and that’s it, they can talk for as long as they want. Whether it is an office building, hotel, school campus, or any other property, Two Way Radio On-Site Systems gets you talking to your people with instant communications at a push of a button. Another great benefit you can get dependable and durable two-way radios and accessories.
One product in particular is the new line of HYT two way radios that surpass most portable hand held standards. The TC-700 is light, rugged and durable that will last you years to come. Unlike cell phones, Hyt two-way radios can take a beating and come power packed with 4+ watts of power that gives the user clear communications where cell phones can not reach. The TC-700 also comes with a full one watt speaker. Most two-way radios only have half watt speakers.
The best thing to do is have a two-way radio company evaluate your current situation. They can come up with a simple solution or a universal solution that will meet your unique communications needs. Two Way radios and a repeater can save you thousands of dollars. No contracts or monthly bills to worry about. Two Way radios is not for everyone, but why not find out if they are?
Nextel Cell Phones
Many cellular phone service providers offer a large variety of cellular phones to their customers with each model having different features in an effort to please all of their customers. If you are interested in dealing with Nextel as your service provider, here is a list of a few of the cell phones that this company offers to help you decide the one that you may want to choose.
One model that is offered by Nextel is the Motorola I850. This model has Nextel’s Direct Connect Walkie-Talkie Service as well as its Group Connect. It also has a push-to-send feature that can send “Contacts” or “My Info” to co-workers or friends. It has a 2.2 screen that displays over 65,000 colors as well as a VGA-quality camera that enables you to take clearer pictures than you can with some other models. It has a high quality built-in speakerphone and the ability to record voice-memo reminders. This model also allows you to send text messages as well as pictures to friends and family. This phone would be ideal for the person who needs a little organization.
The Motorola Buzz IC602 cellular phone is also available from Nextel. This model is compatible only with Nextel Power Source Plans and has Nextel Direct Connect, Group Connect, Direct Talk, and Push-to-send Walkie-talkie Services. This phone also has a VGA-quality camera and a display that shows over 65,000 colors. An additional feature that it has is GPS Location Services that include Telenav Audible Driving Directions. This phone would be a good choice for businessmen who do a lot of traveling.
Another cellular phone that is offered by Nextel is the Motorola I335 phone. This variety also has the Nextel Direct Connect Walkie-talkie Services and a vivid color display. It can send and receive text messages as well as download games that you can play. This phone has a voice-activated dialing system and a built-in speakerphone. It has the capabilities to customize Real Music Ringtones and has access to various wallpaper designs. You can also record up to twenty voice reminders which is a useful feature if you are a businessman or college student.
The Motorola IC902 is another model of cellular phone that is offered by Nextel. This model is also only compatible with Nextel PowerSource Plans and includes Nextel Direct Connect, Group Connect, Direct Talk, and Push-to-send Walkie-talkie Services. In addition, this phone also offers Streaming Stereo Bluetooth Wireless Technology with a built-in MP3 player that can stream music as well as play downloaded songs. It comes with a 2.0 megapixel digital camera and camcorder to take pictures and videos that are clearer than other cell phones with the 1.3 version. This cellular phone also has GPS Location Services including Telenav Driving Directions. This is also the first PowerSource phone to support high-speed data downloads. This model has many of the same capabilities as your PC.
These are just a few of the many different models of cellular phones that Nextel has to offer. The Nextel office may be the place that you want to go to pick up your new cellular phone.