Workscape Institute

[On May 27th, J.P. Donlon, the Editor-in-Chief of Chief Executive Magazine, interviewed CEO Tim Clifford on the topics of employee engagement, aligning individual strategy with employee goals, and visibility and governance over corporate compensation in the TARP ERA.  The video interview was broadcast live to a select audience of CXOs from midsized and large organizations.  The segment above is one of a series of responses made available on YouTube for public consumption.]

In this video, Workscape CEO Tim Clifford articulates the two components of “engagement.”  Tim observes that the “engagement” can be distilled into two measurable areas for employees:

1. Discretionary Effort
2. Staying with the company

The first of these components – discretionary effort – has many facets, all of which can lead to greater individual, team, and company productivity.  Examples include:

• Being flexible with hours to accommodate a client request and deliver an exceptional service experience
• Extending the extra effort to help a colleague complete a task
• Actively considering – and implementing – ways to more quickly conduct your job’s responsibilities
• Thinking strategically about further ways to add value to the organization

The second component – staying with the company – is interesting because it is not often viewed through the lens of employee engagement.  The importance of creating a culture and a compensation plan to drive employee retention is well understood, yet here Tim adds greater insight by looking beyond the simple statistic to link the underlying factors of company commitment to organizational productivity.  These factors include:

• Feeling a sense of stability in your position
• Appreciating the total compensation that it provides (health benefits, salary, bonus, etc)
• Enjoying the people that you work with
• Understanding how your role is aligned with the organization’s strategy
• Understanding how your performance affects your compensation

These factors all help bring focus and energy to the workplace, as well.  While they may not lead to employees working longer hours or collaborating in new, innovative ways (components of discretionary effort), they remove the anxieties that can impede productivity and empower employees to focus full-time on getting work done.