peter.nakamura

Links of the Week (Aug. 30 – Sept. 5)

Links of the Week is a selection of articles and blog posts about #EmployeeEngagement and #Millennials that were the most popular on my Twitter feed this week. I’ve added some personal thoughts and opinions to the links below as well. Enjoy!

The Comprehensive List Of Employee Engagement Activities (Business 2 Community)

While I’d say there’s nothing really new in this list, I do like the idea of “Learning Lunches” and more engaged training opportunities for team members. Showing that you care about the growth of your employees can really help a lot with fostering engagement.

How Technology is Shaping Millennials’ Investing Habits (Nasdaq)

It was surprising to learn that estimates suggest “only 26% of Americans under 30 are investing in stocks.” That said, millennials are making a smart move by investing in ETFs and low-cost index funds more so than their parents.

Employee Feedback Is The Killer App: A New Market Emerges (Forbes)

A must read. A great, in-depth article about the changing landscape of employee feedback. Annual employee engagement surveys are just not enough anymore to understand how your employees are feeling. The author cites some really interesting companies like Waggl.it that are changing the world of employee feedback.

The Big Mistake Most Organizations Make with Employee Engagement (Colin Shaw)

Discusses some really interesting findings from a Foresee study on customer satisfaction and employee engagement. When you have more engaged employees, your customer retention and profitability increase.

That’s the round up for this week! Come back for more next week.

Links of the Week (Aug. 23-29)

Can technology improve employee engagement (Vanilla+)

In 2012, the UK economy lost as much as £26 billion due to low employee engagement scores. To combat this, internal communication and social media platforms like Yammer and Jive are common ways companies are trying to improve employee communication and recognition.

Is Employee Engagement for Millennials Even Possible? (Business 2 Community)

In the Millennial Mindset Study that this article cites, the number one concern that millennials have about the modern workplace is the lack of training and development. Another survey by the Intelligence Group on millennials revealed that 79% of those surveyed would like a boss that acts as a mentor. Great article on how engaging millennials isn’t about paying lip service to the latest fads or technology but understanding what this generation wants and needs.

An Education Fit for the Times: Who Will Engage the Millennials? (Huffington Post)

An analysis of MOOC (massive open online courses) Stats and Trends “found that by the end of 2014 over 2000 courses had been offered by close to 500 universities reaching over 16 million students.” Despite the massive reach of MOOCs, the drop-off rates are quite high and it’s difficult to tell if it’s a reliable learning system. Millennials want more continuing education programs (CEP) than any other generation and it’ll be interesting challenge for universities and companies that offer MOOCs/CEPs that are not only engaging but effective.

Field Guide: Millennials Vs. Baby Boomers (Parade)

This one is fun! I thought it was interesting that an average millennial has 250 friends on Facebook. Not to mention 50% of “Young Boomers” (ages 46-55) are now jumping onto social media sites – making them the fastest growing demographic to make the jump.

If You Were Already Worried About Employee Engagement, Prepare to Panic (Entrepreneur)

“The most productive employees might actually be the least engaged, according to a 2013 study conducted by Leadership IQ surveying 1,000 employees.” The article provides some advice on how to make sure you can keep your high performers motivated and engaged before they leave the company.

Millennials Don’t Want More Customer Service — They Want Different Customer Service (Forbes)

Great post. Millennials are the most active generation when it comes to spreading the word about companies they buy from so ensuring they have a great experience is key. The article discusses a hybrid approach of technology and human assistance as the way to go.

That’s the round up for this week! Come back for more next week.

Links of the Week (Aug. 16-22)

The Secret To Employee Engagement Is Shoves And Tugs (Forbes)

Great article. The author makes a really good distinction between a “shove” and a “tug” and shares an important lesson on why you should be aware on when to use a “tug” at the right time. Must read.

Opportunity cost of employee engagement (WorldStage News)

Why should you care about #EmployeeEngagement? This article has a great summary of the impact that an engaged culture has on a company.

Why Your Sustainability Strategy Can Be Pivotal to Employee Engagement (TriplePundit)

More than 70 percent of millennials expect their employers to focus on societal or mission-driven problems; 70 percent want to be creative at work,” according to the Deloitte U.S. Leadership 2014 Core Beliefs Culture Survey.

Great article by the Director of Environment and Government Affairs at Tetra Pak explaining the rationale behind coming the mission of the company with environmental sustainability. Not to mention, more Millennials are looking for companies that are thinking about this when they job hunt.

How tech-savvy millennials humanize your workplace (Fortune)

Millennials aren’t just technology lovers. They want technology that adapts to their needs. The article makes the case that Millennials are helping to advance the way technology is being used in the workplace… for the better.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading!

Links of the Week (Aug. 9-15)

Millennials are saving – but they’re doing it the wrong way (MarketWatch)

Props to millennials for saving money – about 85% of us put away a portion of our pay cheques. On the flip side, only 26% of those under 30 years old are investing in stocks. A troubling stat since we still have time on our side to reap the rewards.

Companies Surveyed Flunk Employee Engagement (Human Resource Executive Daily)

Out of the six stages this study had setup to measure the maturity of employee engagement, only 19% ended up in the top two stages. The businesses that were studied all had at least 1000 employees. Is there a correlation between the size of the business and employee engagement?

The Chemistry of Building Better Habits (James Clear)

A great article on the importance of starting small with your habits and creating the right environmental triggers to keep you on track. I love reading his stuff.

Why You Should Put Your Workforce to Sleep (globoforce)

There are more studies out now about the importance of sleep and the impact that sleep deprivation can have on your life (re: depression, stroke, and even early death). So how do we combat this “badge of honor” impression we have for not getting enough sleep and how do we help solve this for our workforce? The article suggests a few ideas.

That’s it for this week. See you next week!

Links of the Week (Aug. 2-8)

Mortgages for Millennials (New York Times)

Interesting piece on how millennial tech savy-ness and want for transparency is changing the mortgage industry. If you’re in finance, look out.

We’re Making Life Too Hard for Millennials (New York Times)

Great opinion piece. Really highlights how rough millennials have it at the moment. It’s hard to believe that the median net worth for millennials has dropped by 43% since 1995.

‘Everyone, Everywhere, Everyday’ (Human Resource Executive)

Some insight into Discover (the credit card company) and their employee engagement efforts.

Millennials Expected to Change Benefits Landscape (Business Insurance)

I thought this was interesting, “many millennials see themselves as leaders, but at the same time they want training and coaching…professional development, in every survey I ever looked at, trumps money.”

Here’s Why Millennials Want to Work Part-Time (PayScale Human Capital)

“A recent study conducted by Accenture found that a mere 15 percent of 2015 college graduates want to work for large corporations, and ‘they would prefer to work at a company with a positive social atmosphere and receive a lower salary, than receive higher pay at a company that is less fun.'” Boom.

That’s it for this week. See you next week!

Links of the Week (July 26 – Aug. 1)

Links of the Week is a selection of three articles about #EmployeeEngagement and #Millennials that were the most popular on my Twitter feed this week. Articles from Business 2 Community completed the trifecta as all three top articles came from their website. If you haven’t checked out some of their content, it’s definitely worth keeping an eye out for.

1. Six Rules For Smart Simplicity And Employee Engagement (Business 2 Community)

Smart simplicity is all about creating an environment where: employees can work with one another to develop creative solutions to complex challenges.

I really liked this article given that I’m a big fan of simplicity in our personal and professional lives. According to Yves Morieux of the Boston Consulting Group, the complexity of today’s organizations is stifling employee engagement. It makes sense when you consider in the last 15 years (according to a BCG study) that the complexity of organizations have increased by 50-350%. Think about all the new procedures, paperwork, decision-making channels, etc. that you have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Yves and his team at BCG provide six rules for “smart simplicity” which include “knowing what your colleagues do” and “reinforcing the integrators” which can make a positive impact on breaking the organizational silos. Definitely worth a read if you’re struggling with complexity at your workplace. Check out Morieux’s TED Talk here.

2. Millennials Can Be More Loyal Than Other Age Cohorts – But Only If Brands Deliver On Emotional Values & Expectations (Business 2 Community)

Emotional values and higher expectations not only play a greater part in the Millennial decision-process but that a brand’s ability to deliver on required emotional values trumps rational ones every time.

According to research way back in 1985, marketers predicted that the Millennial generation was going to be the most “rational” generation ever. In other words, we would be the ones scrutinizing price and product quality like no other generation. Fast forward 30 years and we’re getting a new point of view about Millennials – we’re a very emotional generation. We have significantly higher expectations for brands to be authentic and “listened to” by us. Companies that are leading in this include Apple, Nike, Chipotle, and Old Navy. I’m not surprised by this. Given how much more complex the world has become, using our “gut feeling” to decide who to trust and who not to trust has become an important way to decide where we should be spending our money.

3. Who’s Got Time to Manage Employee Engagement? (Business 2 Community)

The main problem is that, while everybody sees an engaged workforce as wonderful in a “flower-powery, everybody-hold-hands” kind of a way, the reality is that there are often far more seemingly urgent things to be getting on with.

We’re wrapping up a trifecta of Business 2 Community articles and this is a good one. According to a report entitled “The changing nature of employee engagement” conducted by the Engage for Success movement, only 41% of the companies surveyed could make a link between employee engagement to broader business performance. Employee engagement seemed to be valued by most respondents but they had other more pressing issues to address. On top of that, if you consider how 42% of respondents believed that line management (i.e. front line managers) were the biggest challenge to creating a more engaged culture, the issue becomes event more challenging. The article argues that the key to developing a better Employee Engagement strategy has to start with the measurement of the current state (e.g. employee engagement surveys) and future state along with someone with the time and knowhow to implement the strategy. Yup, easier said than done.

Hope you enjoyed this roundup! See you next week.

Links of the Week (July 19-25)

Links of the Week is a selection of three articles about #EmployeeEngagement and #Millennials that were the most popular on my Twitter feed this week.

1. Improve outcomes by connecting the employee and customer experience (Computer World)

69.4% of companies do not measure employee experience at all.

Solid article on the importance of technology in delivering a better employee experience. Also includes some actionable tips around how to incorporate technology and communication into your business. I’ve seen more and more studies come out now that indicate that the key competitive differentiator in today’s world is how engaged your employees are. Engaged employees are much more attentive to the needs of the customer and deliver an experience that goes above and beyond the customer’s expectations. Customers in today’s world are looking for that experience.

2. How Software Will Transform Employee Engagement (Forbes)

An Officevibe study pointed out that 65% of employees would prefer more frequent feedback, even if that feedback came as little as once a week.

Keeping in sync with the technology theme this week, here is another article from Forbes. We’ve seen technology significantly impact business units like sales, marketing, and customer service in the past couple of decades. Now, the article argues, we’re seeing technology impact the HR department. The article provides some examples of companies that provide services in incentives, feedback systems, and mentorship that will help improve employee engagement.

3. Are Millennials Ruining the World? (Business 2 Community)

Millennials aren’t the problem and they are—because they are part of the natural cycle of societal evolution.

I loved this article. Finally, somebody explaining how societies have always categorized “young people” as being irresponsible, lazy, and selfish. To categorize “Millennials” in that way is unfair especially because we’re such a diverse (and humongous) generation. The quotes from Socrates to Seneca to Peter the Hermit all illustrate that this is just all part of being in a society where we have young people.

Hope you enjoyed this roundup! See you next week.

Links of the Week (July 12-18)

Links of the Week is a selection of three articles about #EmployeeEngagement and #Millennials that were the most popular on my Twitter feed this week.

1. 6 Surprising Insights of Successful Employee Engagement (Fast Company)
This article got the most attention by far this week. While I would say none of the 6 insights were particularly surprising, there were a few things that were nice reminders. First, the concept of “employee engagement” is still a relatively new idea. It’s only been 25 years since it was first introduced and we’re clearly not good at it yet (re: only 30% of the workforce is “engaged”). Second, the cultural tone set by the organization is a huge reason why employees become loyal to a company. The Quicken Loans and their dedication to rebuilding Detroit was a good example.

2. Employee Engagement Starts With The Manager (Stephen Lynch, LinkedIn)
A great reminder about the importance of the manager in engaging your employees. I loved the point about employees being your #1 customer: “before you create customer evangelists, managers need to create employee evangelists”. It’s a helpful, punchy post with good tips on how to engage your employees.

3. 7 Hot Trends In Employee Engagement (TriplePundit)
Highlights the growing importance of employee engagement. Solid tips on how to start a employee engagement program like centralizing the communication of new engagement through one department while ensuring there is dialogue and trust being built between employees and management. I also liked the idea of starting as early as you can. Employee Engagement is like a savings account, the earlier you invest the more returns you’ll see down the line.

Hope you enjoyed this roundup! See you next week.