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Are you a Trusted Employer?

What your employees need to see you produce

  • Measure, measure, measure
  • Employee measurement is a handshake
  • Can you be trusted as an employer?
  • The trust factor is emerging
  • We are in a period of resignation
  • Sample question and report – employee effort score
  • Without trust
  • 4 keys to establishing trust
    1. Be honest
    2. Be respectful
    3. Be empathetic
    4. Request feedback

In this article, there will be some anecdotal testimony, some real testimony but anonymous to protect the innocent, and real research to support some of the suppositions. First, and most importantly, the discussion about what is the “new normal” does not exist in this article because there is no new normal. Yet.

For professionals in timeshare and resort management, measuring employee experience (EX), and SLT level employee engagement is the one constant event that should be taking place, and in case you think this is a commercial – well, we can’t help that. When Resort Trades extended their very flattering invitation to produce an article on the topic of Employee Experience (EX), they did so based on our subject matter expertise. Our Bio’s are available on our website – www.mobiusvp.com.

To the matter of measuring EX. The number of intersecting dynamic lines is measurable and reportable. If you use a pen and a ruler to draw straight lines to where they may all intersect, you will end up with what looks like an inkblot. Every employee in every job will have a different experience, and an experience they would love to share (aka – report). (“Report” should not be viewed as a word that is associated with “narc”, “whistleblower” or any other word or phrase other than as an answer to the questions asked in a “how are you doing” sort of way).

Related: Attract and Retain Employees

Measuring their experience is a handshake. It represents reaching out, leaning in, or whatever engagement lens you wish to associate with the positive attempt to determine loyalty and trust among employees. Most importantly, you are not measuring whether you can trust them, it is to determine whether they trust you.
The entire trust factor is beginning to emerge as a consumer trend, much like convenience or loyalty. You really need all 3 in the minds of the consumer. In today’s environment, you need those sentiments to be very strong among your employees to have a positive score from your customers or timeshare owners. As Richard Branson puts it “If you look after your staff, they’ll look after your customers. It’s that simple.”

Since we are in a significant “period of resignation” as it has been coined in the media, we need to be very mindful that our employees – or associates – or talent – or assets or whatever you call them are one of “us”. Where we expect loyalty and trust, so now do they. The word “Furlough” became directly related to the phrase “I am going to update my resume and start looking”. If by chance that very valuable asset had the opportunity to change their life, they did it, and are still doing it.
The words– “you are on furlough” were made famous during the pandemic and – were haunting then, so much so that they created a big division between loyalty and trust. If you were fortunate enough to get them back, and they stayed unless your culture has changed, they are likely won’t stay long.

There is one report about one question that has the very same function: convenience and trust. It is referred to as the Customer Effort Score / Employee Effort Score. In the employee experience measurement, the question has a 7-point scale: My supervisor helps me perform to the best of my ability. Where the Customer Effort Score, same 7-point scale: ABC Company made it easy for me to handle my issue. So, the closer to 7 the better the result, the greater the likelihood of establishing loyalty because trust has been established.

Graph of Employee Effort
Graph of Employee Effort

They’re calling it the great resignation, but they could call it “if I don’t trust you, I’m leaving.” A study conducted by Ernst & Young found that only 46 percent of employees surveyed had trust in their organization and only 49 percent in their boss/team.

Without trust, employees are less engaged, less willing to give 100 percent effort, and can be toxic to the organization. Organizations with these non-trusting employees cannot meet their goals or customer commitments. This is not something that organizations want to happen, but many claims they were blindsided when it does.

Related: How To Engage Employees

Courtney Scott, Director of People and Culture at INCOG BioPharma adds “Trust is earned or given equally between employee and employer. Trust is a mutual relationship between an employee, their manager, and their teammates. Trust is not tied to an enterprise.”

So, what can an organization do, build trust? We’ve identified four keys.

1. Be honest with your employees.

Your parents told you, and we hear it all the time; honesty is the best policy. Without honesty, there can be no trust. Most organizations are very good at sharing the good news, it’s the excellent organizations that earn trust by speaking openly about difficult situations. Answer employees’ questions and give the facts. Excellent companies know that if they don’t give the employees the facts, whether it’s not meeting company goals or a need for downsizing that the employees will get their information from some other source and that information could be totally inaccurate.

2. Treat employees with respect

The same level of respect that you want to be given. Hold them accountable to agree upon standards and help them to become the best employees that they and you want them to be. Managers should be aware of the employees’ strengths and those areas that might need added attention and be willing to give help in those areas that need it.

3. Show Empathy

90 percent of US workers believe empathetic leadership leads to higher job satisfaction and 79% agree it decreases employee turnover. The majority (88%) of respondents feel that empathetic leadership creates loyalty among employees in the face of a great resignation. New EY Consulting survey confirms 90% of US workers believe empathetic leadership leads to higher job satisfaction and 79% agree it decreases employee turnover | EY – US

4. Ask and give feedback

“Feedback” has become the new buzzword recently and justifiably so. Feedback has replaced the dreaded yearly employee evaluation. Give your employees feedback as often as they and you think is needed and always ask for feedback from the employee. Trust is built when employees see that management is open to their feedback.

By executing these four keys to trust, your organization will become one in which your employees are succeeding, and your organization will be succeeding.
By building trust with the employees your resignation numbers will drop significantly. Again, measure, measure, measure. Be certain whatever you do will support your goal to ensure an effective employee experience strategy. From assessing through measuring current staff sentiment to manage recommended improvements. Measuring EX will motivate your team to higher productivity, higher retention, and more engagement.

Mike Hill has over 30 years of experience in privately owned, and publicly traded industrial distribution companies. Mike is currently a Senior Consultant with Mobius Vendor Partners, an Indianapolis-based company working with companies to improve their employee’s experience.

Robert A. Kobek is President and CEO of Mobius Vendor Partners and CustomerCount©. Prior to forming Mobius Vendor Partners in October of 1999, Mr. Kobek spent more than 30 years in the direct marketing industry and government. In 2007 Bob and Mobius launched CustomerCount©, a feature-rich, cloud based survey solution providing intuitive real-time reporting, fast turnaround on updates, and detailed and dynamic data gathering for process improvement and customer loyalty.

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