Everyone’s family has a secret recipe for Thanksgiving that’s been passed down over the years. The pie, the stuffing and even the cranberry sauce all have a personal touch that has been tested and perfected lovingly over time.

Many times creating exceptional employee engagement can seem just like that Thanksgiving pumpkin pie – a mysterious recipe that seems just out of grasp, so secret you can’t wait for the day when someone will tell you how to make it perfect. You might test a few techniques here or there, but when the result isn’t perfect, it’s often times blamed on not having that top-secret recipe.

We’ve found that following and refining a recipe works well in the workplace too. The Harvard Business Review found that the single greatest advantage in the modern economy is a happy and engaged workforce. A decade of research proves that happiness raises nearly every business and educational outcome: increasing sales by 37%, increasing productivity by 31%, increasing accuracy on tasks by 19%, and adds a myriad of health and quality of life improvements.

What’s The Secret Sauce?

With twenty years of experience and numerous awards under our belts, we’re excited to give you our top secret recipe to employee engagement in the contact center! A study by Gallup found that 71% of employees are not engaged – 19% of which are actively disengaged at work. With the use of this homemade recipe, we’ve brought our contact center employee engagement up significantly and our employee turnover has plummeted.

Bon appetit!

The Recipe:

1 cup of strengths based coaching communication

If a manufacturer could get their equipment to produce 20% more by telling it how great it’s doing, they probably would. In a contact center, people are the labor resource and their engagement can completely change a company’s success level. By focusing on the strengths of your employees and continuously putting them in the position to leverage them instead of attempting to change their weaknesses, you will find that employee engagement increases drastically. Accept at the front end that formal coaching requires significant investments of both time and money, but what makes these investments worthwhile are the proven (and consistent) results they produce. Make your business the part of your employees’ day where they feel successful.

4 teaspoons of team-based management structure

Surveys repeatedly indicate that the number one cause of turnover for employees is their relationship with their direct supervisor/leadership reporting role. In a contact center, making sure every employee has one direct manager, and they know exactly who that is, is critical to establishing successful teams. According to a study by Quantum Workplace, employees who exited a company most often cited the primary reason as manager effectiveness and trust in senior leaders were lacking compared to those who were retained. Management must work as a team in order to boost the engagement of the entire organization and promote trust in the leadership.

1  dash of public celebrations of success

You know how good it feels when someone recognizes your hard work in a simple email? Think about how much better it would feel if your boss was carbon copied? As humans, we crave the acceptance and admiration of those around us. Find ways to publicly acknowledge the triumphs of your employees and you’ll see your employees more engaged almost immediately.

2  cups transparency from leadership

When the leadership team allows for employees to see them as individuals and not just resources the company feels more personal and genuine. Spend time with your front-line employees. Tell them where you are succeeding and where you need to improve as a company. Most importantly, ask for their feedback and provide transparent answers to their questions.

3  tablespoons of communication from the needs perspective of the business (What’s in it for me?)

When employees feel included as contributor to the big picture, and especially able to have an impact on the outcome in that big picture, they will undoubtedly be more engaged. We hold a weekly town hall with all employees and a quarterly meeting where the leadership team conveys the needs of the business to all of the management and team leads. The honest progress on high-level goals is shared in a way that makes each member of the team leave the meeting with a renewed sense of direction. When an employee feels like they can directly affect the business, they will be much more engaged.

A More Engaged Workforce and Conversational Marketing

For an increase in employee engagement and the myriad of benefits that come with it, which for us included double digit increases in sales, productivity, and quality measures, it’s time for your team to take the next step. A more engaged workforce can be used to heighten the marketing strategies of the company. There will be no need for canned responses or a predominant pressure on average hold time. Instead, your employees will be well primed to build relationships with your customers through one-on-one conversations. They’ll be able to support your brand message and extend your marketing efforts in an extremely effective, yet often forgotten way.