Recognise This! – Improving employees’ physical environment with no concern for the culture they work in every day can result in decreased engagement.

An interesting study was conducted in the Philippines, comparing the results of “employee engagement” efforts at two companies. Company A “made substantial changes in the area of human resources management including improving HR rewards systems, having more opportunities for training and development, and instituting more programmes that foster team building and camaraderie. In addition, Company A also made significant changes in their physical facilities including upgrading rooms and offices as well as improving IT for greater efficiency.”

Company B, on the other hand, only made substantial changes in improving the physical environment and IT facilities.

The results aren’t surprising (quoting):

• For Company A, employee engagement increased by an average of 5 per cent after a year. Organisational commitment increased from 90 per cent to 94 per cent; job satisfaction increased from 82 per cent to 87 per cent; and intention to stay increased from 77 per cent to 83 per cent.
• For Company B, results showed a significant decrease (10 per cent) in employee engagement after a year. Organisational commitment decreased from 91 per cent to 85 per cent; job satisfaction decreased from 85 per cent to 78 per cent; and intention to stay decreased from 84 per cent to 72 per cent.

Yes, people need IT resources to do their jobs efficiently and well. Employees need their physical environment to be safe and comfortable.  But this is the baseline. To improve engagement, you need to – quite literally – engage employees on another level.

The same is true with compensation and recognition. Fair and appropriate pay is the baseline. Without that, no amount of recognition and rewards will meet employee needs. But once those base needs are met, you can begin to meet employee higher-order needs for self esteem and self actualisation with strategic recognition. Think of it as the difference between engaged employees and survivalists (as explained on the Globoforce Blog recently).

The “soft” stuff isn’t really soft. Investing in these basic human requirements for success in the workplace results in increased engagement and ultimately increased performance and productivity.