Strategies for Sustained Employee Engagement

Josh Bersin coined the term "irresistible" for companies that sustain employee engagement long-term, not just during growth phases. These firms endure thanks to four key factors: having a compelling mission, promoting productivity for excellent outcomes, prioritizing engagement, and promoting employee happiness through trust, fairness, and social cohesion.

Bersin identified irresistible companies by examining over 5,000 organizations in Glassdoor's database, where workers rate aspects of employee experience. Despite being rare, these workplaces span all industries, sizes, and ages.

Irresistible workplaces attract talent, customers, and stakeholders while empowering individuals to innovate. This leads to increased revenue and profits. To achieve this, leaders must understand recent changes in technology and social awareness, implementing seven management practices to create an irresistible workplace.

Prioritize People, Not Positions

Most organizations still rely on outdated top-down management systems from the Industrial Revolution. In today's landscape, where work is predominantly creative and cognitive, this approach falls short. High-performing teams offer adaptability and speed, forming and reforming based on specific tasks and required skills.

Small teams, resembling winning sports teams, build trust and relationships, allowing easy team member transitions based on interests and workload. In some organizations, squads of up to 150 individuals with a maximum of 8-10 members, tackle long-term missions. These are part of tribes, composed of working toward programs or projects. Originating from Spotify, this network enhances cohesion and information sharing across the enterprise.

Empower Leadership in High-Performing Work Teams

Just as sports teams have coaches, work teams need leaders who support, develop, and inspire. Instead of bosses, managers should be seen as coaches guiding their team members. Agile teams continuously learn, solve problems, innovate, and work towards clear goals, holding themselves accountable. In successful workplaces, leaders understand the importance of autonomy, development, and purpose for their teams. They help team members see their progress daily and connect it to the organization's mission.

Managers offer feedback, resources, and support to promote growth, even if it means team members move on to new opportunities. They prioritize physical gatherings for team bonding while respecting individual preferences for remote work locations and hours.

Recognize Effort Over Titles

The job market is changing as young adults increasingly take on gig economy roles alongside their full-time jobs. Two-thirds of younger workers are already engaged in additional paid work, with more expected to follow suit. Currently, many people are leaving their jobs, shifting career paths, and individuals prioritize varied work experiences over long-term loyalty to one company. Diverse opportunities are valued over climbing the corporate ladder.

Leaders should create opportunities for lateral movement and job rotation to promote learning and growth. During hiring, focus on skills, passion, and energy rather than solely on college degrees, and identify qualities that enhance performance in specific roles.

Reward Employee Mobility

Acknowledge and reward employees for moving within and outside the organization to acquire valuable knowledge, skills, and relationships. As workers develop diverse abilities, they offer unique strengths that differentiate them from each other and AI systems and machines.

Some organizations eliminate job titles, urging candidates to apply to the organization rather than a specific role, and promoting a mindset where employees can utilize their skills where needed.

Transform Managers into Coaches for Workplace Success

In irresistible workplaces, value stems from intangible concepts like innovation and collaboration, not tangible assets. Coaches, not bosses, understand the business, create plans, and communicate a vision. Regular one-on-one meetings enable coaches to advise, develop, and inspire their team members effectively. Managers guide rather than command. At Southwest Airlines, pilots and crew members collaborate willingly, with pilots assisting flight attendants and vice versa, promoting a culture of willingness and teamwork.

Irresistible companies discard competitive performance systems for coaching models. Regular feedback and check-ins, along with annual reviews centered on personal growth, replace inter-employee rivalry. Coaches collaborate with employees to set goals based on objectives and key results for easy tracking and adjustment. These organizations compensate employees based on their value, rather than job titles or levels.

People-First Environment with Innovative Compensation Strategies

Remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic proved transformative for numerous companies. It improves employee well-being, engagement, and productivity, showcasing the advantages of workplaces that prioritize flexibility, freedom, fairness, and transparency over rigid rules and office politics.

Leading companies aim to build an amazing workplace culture, focusing on employees' overall experience. They stress inclusion, recognition, and well-being, designing the workspace for teamwork, collaboration, creativity, and flexibility. Equipped with top-notch tools, it supports workforce health and convenience.

Irresistible organizations provide managers with training to lead remote teams, highlighting the importance of diversity, inclusion, belonging, fairness, and well-being. Coaches excel at listening and appreciating employees. In these respectful cultures, leaders acknowledge and reward their team's strengths.

Compensation Strategies for a Competitive Edge

Google is updating how pay is decided, shifting from individual managers to a committee approach. This group considers skills, reputation, leadership, and growth potential, beyond the current job. The change signals leaders recognizing generous compensation as a competitive advantage, nurturing a skilled and committed workforce.

Employees know the reasons behind their pay, accessing the organization's philosophy and colleagues' pay ranges. Irresistible companies pay above market rates, ensuring a fair living wage, and customize pay and benefits to individual needs.

Learn and Streamlined Leadership

Leaders in irresistible companies prioritize continuous learning for all employees, removing layers of management to enhance autonomy and ongoing development. Evaluations shift from Facetime to valuing employees' contributions. To adapt to changing needs, organizations train and promote existing staff, ensuring cost savings and heightened engagement.

As lifespans increase and retirements stretch further, continuous learning becomes crucial. Automation rapidly makes current skills obsolete, urging the swift adoption of new ones. Learning and development transform, focusing on digital, self-directed, and just-in-time learning, aided by real-time support from predictive AI and machine learning.

Irresistible leaders prioritize both hard and soft skill learning, providing easy access to tools and technologies for employees to acquire new abilities. They nurture a growth mindset, encouraging continuous skill development.

Conscious Capitalism for Impact

Workers increasingly prioritize purpose in their roles. Organizations must meet expectations by committing to environmental, social, and governance responsibilities. Employees seek work that contributes to societal and environmental goals, leading to purpose-driven success.

Now, capitalism cares about everyone, not just profits, emphasizing responsibility to all involved. Irresistible companies practice conscious capitalism, gaining loyalty through good citizenship and meeting the environmental priorities of Millennials and Generation Z. The COVID-19 pandemic inspired empathy and unity in young people. In top companies, leaders ensure everyone feels connected to the mission and values guiding all decisions, and serving all stakeholders with integrity.

Empower  Together

Irresistible companies empower their teams to create mutual value. They use design thinking to shape work and improve the employee experience by understanding needs and promoting thriving environments. Technology connects teams and benefits employees both at work and in their personal lives.

At Autodesk, they use Slack creatively to connect all employees, promoting collaboration across departments. Similarly, the Mayo Clinic employs an interactive mobile app, granting doctors instant access to vital information and expertise on diseases. Leaders, when transparent and respectful of employees' rights and preferences, can use technology and data to enhance connectivity, work-life balance, and overall well-being. Irresistible companies prioritize empowering employees to create value together.