Deborah Merkin
Recent Posts
Creating a Sense of Employee Purpose
At a large company like PwC it is a constant struggle to establish employee purpose. Employees don't want to feel like a cog in the wheel on the road to nowhere. They want to see their impact and want to have purpose in their job, whether they are in an executive management meeting or filing papers in the mailroom.
So how do employers work to establish purpose at work? Here are a few ideas that came from
PwC's recent summit on social purpose that could have a positive impact on an organization, large or small.
Aligning Employee Goals with Organizational Targets
Employee motivation can mean a lot of different things and come in a lot of different forms. It means your employees are excited to come to work every day and do their best to make the organization as successful as possible. Employee motivation can also get so granular that at the most basic level employee goals are in line with organization targets. I'm not talking about employee 6 month goals that go on review forms, I mean that their long term goals match the long term targets of their organization. Here are two unique ways to align employee goals with organizational targets to improve the overall harmony of employees' work life balance and workplace motivation.
The Use of Health and Wellness Rewards Increases
New research from
Mercer LLC shows a 3% increase in use of carrot style rewards in the context of health and wellness programs. These health and wellness rewards are largely tied to employees' achieving a certain change or reaching a certain biometric range for preventable conditions like obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc. According to the research, 23% of large employers are using positive reinforcements as health and wellness rewards.
A Towers Watson study from September also indicates an increase in outcome-based health and wellness rewards, with 18% using them currently and 10% planning to add programs in 2015. While some health and wellness industry professionals believe the days of spot rewards are over, in favor of an organizational shift towards discounting insurance costs, this shift is only being observed by larger firms. While smaller businesses cannot absorb the financial impact of larger policy discounts, spot rewards offer an alternative with the potential to scale up or add larger rewards at a later date. The increased use of health and wellness rewards at a variety of levels, from small spot rewards like
gift cards to large discounts on health insurance, signals a larger trend. Health and wellness programs and health and wellness rewards are becoming a mainstream, integral part of the way benefits and healthcare are delivered from employers to employees. Health and wellness rewards has become a mechanism for employers to make healthcare more affordable for employees, while also ensuring their workforce is healthy and productive, and healthcare is also affordable at the organizational level.
For more information on health and wellness rewards and how they are being used, head over to BusinessInsurance.com.
Your Employee's Wish List
Have you ever wondered what your employees would change about their workplace? In mid-December, Tinyhr released a
survey of more than 1,000 employees and found their top-five wishes for their workplace. The employee's wish list shows they are looking for...
The Importance of the Employee Suggestion Box
The employee suggestion box may seem like an antiquated concept. Who is going to drop a crumpled up piece of paper into a box, or send and email to an anonymous email address? With that attitude, no one. However,
Hugh Molotsi, VP of Innovation at Intuit Labs, believes that employee ideas can be the most underutilized tool in an employer's innovation strategy.
Here's the scenario: Your company encounters a large organizational issue. Senior management can't solve it. So, the organization spends thousands, if not millions, to bring in a consultant to try to solve the problem. It may work in the long-term, but how can you ensure ROI on such a huge investment? Alternatively, you could pose a brainstorm contest or competition (
think like a hack-a-thon) to your employees, spend a couple hundred dollars bringing in lunch or dinner for the staff, and empower your
employees to find the fix. Not only have you saved an enormous amount of money, but you've given your employees the opportunity to have a
direct impact on shaping your organization. An employee suggestion can turn into real solutions to problems and real improvements in your organization, without bringing in expensive and sometimes disruptive consultants. Do you invite your employee suggestion into organization strategy sessions or problem solving exercises? If you don't, it might be time to consider a change in 2015.
