Page 108 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

79
The RESPECT Model: Building a Culture of Employee Engagement

make such blatantly disrespectful decisions. And it happens all
the time.
There is an old saying: “Do right by people and they’ll do
right by you.” I don’t hear that expression much anymore, espe-
cially in a difficult economy that makes it easy for bad super-
visors to tell employees, “You should feel lucky to have a job.”
I’m certain that hearing that from my supervisor would fire me
up, but probably just not in the way he or she intended. There
are still companies out there that have strong cultures imbued
with the philosophy of doing right by their people. One of them
is Mannington Mills, headquartered in Salem, New Jersey. The
privately held, fourth-generation company was founded in 1915
and produces residential and commercial flooring. Their corpo-
rate culture and philosophy are well articulated by their vision,
mission, and values statements, which I encourage you to read
in full by visiting their website (mannington.com). Two of their
core values are: “To care about one another, value and respect
each other’s rights, and foster an environment of fairness,” and
“To do the right thing always acting in the best interests of all,
never misleading or distorting the truth.” The difference I find
between Mannington and a lot of other companies is that they
actually live their values and use them in making business deci-
sions, especially the tough ones. Their adherence to their corpo-
rate values may help explain why the average employee tenure
is fifteen years and they have virtually no voluntary turnover.

Seven Drivers of RESPECT Model

In my research, I identified respect as the central driving force
behind engagement. I also identified several specific factors that