Page 115 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

102B RE-ENGAGE

:
Engagement Declining among Senior Executives
Managers searching for signs of employee angst should
look up the ladder instead of down. Employee engagement
is falling faster among top executives than any other group,
according to research from the Corporate Executive Board
(CEB).
Only 13 percent of senior executives at the vice presi-
dential level or higher say they are “willing to go above and
beyond what is expected of them”—a decline from 29 per-
cent two years prior. In the December survey of the CEB’s
79,000-member employees worldwide at 123 organizations,
20 percent of all respondents said they were disengaged,
compared to 10 percent two years ago. (Employees are clas-
sified as either engaged, neutral, or disengaged.) 11

: A CHECKLIST OF ENGAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR
SENIOR LEADERS

Though leadership styles may differ and leadership practices may vary
with business objectives and market conditions, below are some of
the practices, based on our analysis, that Best Places to Work share in
common. Check those that you believe your leadership team is cur-
rently doing well, and place an X next to those you believe your lead-
ers should be doing or doing significantly better.
The best employers:

Communicate clear direction and realistic plans for continuing company
—
success.
Work to build a culture of caring as well as a culture of high performance.
—
Select and promote managers who treat employees right and get results,
—
and coach, develop, or remove those who cannot do both.
Train managers in the people management skills needed to keep em-
—
ployees aligned and engaged.