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by Mark Heymann, ISHC - UniFocus Chairman & CEO
Issue Date: May 2008, Posted On: 3/12/2008
Over the years my company has done a lot of work in the area of employee surveying and during this time, without exception, all of our clients wanted to assess how engaged their staff was. Because for some reason, it is believed that if your staff is truly engaged, the performance of the operation and the overall results will be significantly improved. And, I think this perception is correct, as I can see from the results generated in my own organization, as well as those of our clients who have an engaged staff. But, what I question is how organizations go about increasing the level of engagement.
It is not all of the methods that I question, my problem is that our industry has not utilized, or much less embraced, a proven process to heighten engagement but rather keeps trying the same approaches over and over again.
Before I turn to this “hidden” process though, let’s first evaluate what engagement means:
- Engage: involve; to attract and hold by influence or power; to interlock with; to bind to do something; to pledge oneself
- Engaged: occupied; pledged; greatly interested, committed
- Engagement: the act of engaging or state of being engaged; a promise to be present at a specified time and place; the state of being in gear
When we look for our team to be engaged, we are looking for a level of commitment that rises above a simple employment relationship. We are looking for a level of involvement that says, “This is my business and this is how I would treat my customers, my costs and my product quality, since it is mine.” When our employees demonstrate that type of attitude and their actions demonstrate this type of approach, we can all say we have an engaged team.
The president of a company that I recently had breakfast with wanted to know what it would take to get his restaurant manager treating the restaurant operations as if it were his own. The one thing that I said might be missing if one is to achieve this level of real engagement, of the sort I have described, is the old adage WIIFM (what’s in it for me). And if you can identify what is in it for me (the employee), the engagement that we are all looking for will more easily be achieved. Yes the issues of regular performance reviews, fair compensation and a good work environment all have a role to play, but I don’t think that’s enough. Even the idea that “well, they get to keep their jobs” isn’t sufficient.
What we are looking for from an engaged individual is in essence a partner. And for those of us that have been partners in businesses, you SHARE in the results. As a full partner you share in the good times (making money) and in the more lean times when profits are not at the level we aspire to. The challenge, as I see it, is how to create a partnership with the staff, when in reality, there isn’t a complete sharing in the results but maybe there is a middle ground that gets us far enough along on this path to become fully committed teams that function like partners.
And that middle ground can be achieved with a process called Gain Sharing. While the name suggests that this “partnering” only occurs when gains are achieved, the process has an impact even if the market creates an environment when no measurable gains are attained, as it gets everyone in the organization to focus on what they can control and impact. Sometimes, just staying where you are is really a gain. For example, the Steward cannot directly impact the restaurant’s average check, but can directly impact cleaning supply costs, utensil costs and other items that have a measurable effect on the bottom line.
There is not enough time or room in this article to delineate all of the measures that can be impacted by each department and/or labor category. The purpose here is to introduce the concept for consideration as a means of increasing engagement by addressing the WIIFM aspect of commitment. Many organizations have incentive plans, but they do not often go below the management level. Gain sharing is designed to be directed at any group where improved results of issues under their control have a measurable impact on the bottom line.
The first step in the process is to determine the items that a group has control over. The next step is to set the baseline (historical results) that has been achieved. Once the baseline is set, one determines some goals and goes through the process of determining what changes in process can be implemented to have a positive impact on the specific metric. Finally, a percentage is established as to the amount of the gain that will be shared with the group.
In some cases gain sharing is already built in, especially in sales related areas such as restaurant service staff, sales staff and other commissionable positions. But there are many other positions in a property that rarely share in gains that are achieved. By utilizing gain sharing across the entire organization that promotes timely measures that any employee can comprehend, from the company’s perspective as well as his/her own, that will benefit the entire organization. And while some may say that it is a fundamental of the employee’’s job to control these issues, by creating this “partnership” you will see engagement rise and operational results improve.
This article appeared in Lodging in the March 2008
issue.
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