Strategy Video Series: Episode 05
Employee Strategy

Strategy: Episode 05 Transcript

Hi, I’m Bonnie Janzen with Decision Analyst, and today we’re talking about employee strategy—and this is one part of our video series on strategy.

Employees are the lifeblood of any business and typically one of the most expensive parts of your business. So, finding, hiring, training, and retaining these employees is really one of the key aspects of any strategy in your business. This really applies to C-level executives all the way through the cashiers, customer service, technicians, engineers, etc.—and it’s a particular importance as the unemployment rate has lowered and it’s a very competitive job market. So, this can be critical in a seasonal business and where we’re looking to retain retail employees, shipping/warehouse employees, restaurant employees, any place where we really see big, seasonal shifts over time. So, it’s important to not only measure and understand employee engagement as a cost-control issue, but it’s also very important to measure that and track that over time, as it also maximizes our customer satisfaction.

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  So, some of the key things you might be asking in an employee —engagement survey—whether this survey is conducted by your organization or whether you’re working with a consulting firm—would be questions like “Do you feel that you have everything in your power or in your job that would make you successful in your position?” “Do you feel that your manager values your opinion?” (Which is obviously a very critical aspect of your job.) “Do you feel that you make a contribution to your team or to your organization?” “Do you feel that you understand what’s expected of you in your position?” and “Would you recommend your company or your team to a friend or a family member who might be looking [for a job]?”

And that can be really important, especially in a position where you might be looking for seasonal help, where you might have other people recommend, perhaps for a waiter or waitress, or for a customer-service-type position. So, in an employee-engagement survey or process or program tracking—by department, your corporate team, or regional, or division teams would be really important—and one of the key things that you would be doing is measuring that over time, looking across departments—and you may also be rolling this in to compensation plans and evaluating your team members with that.

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  So, another key aspect of the employee-engagement strategy would also be: “How can the employees be evaluated, or how could that experience be evaluated as part of your brand?” “How can the employee and the brand be linked together?”
  
  So, thinking about Chick-fil-A, for example—when you pick up your order, they frequently will say, ‘it’s my pleasure’ as you’re leaving their drive-through, or the counter, and so, that’s really one of their signature aspects of the customer experience.
  
  Also Starbucks, a few years back around 2015 started offering to their partners, (or their employees), an opportunity to go back and finish their degree at Arizona State. And so this was a way for them to differentiate their employees, or to their partners, as a way to recruit and retain the best employees possible. So, again, it was just a great opportunity to retain the people that they were looking for.

So, again, for you, for your company, for your organization—what is it you’re trying to achieve in terms of your employees? How can you get the best and the brightest? How can you retain those people? How do you link your brand and your customer and your employee together to improve the employee engagement but also the customer experience? Can you improve your employee engagement? Can you improve your margins and hopefully improve your brand experience overall? Thank you so much for joining us.

Contact Decision Analyst

If you would like more information on Strategy Research, or if you have any questions, or about the videos, please contact Bonnie Janzen by emailing bjanzen@decisionanalyst.com or calling 1-817-640-6166.