THE BUSINESS OF DAIRY Chief Emoji Officer: Leadership and Employee Engagement SUBMITTED BY PAYLOCITY
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hen it comes to employee engagement, a simple emoji (or comment) from senior leadership can make a big difference. Though a record of more than 47 million American workers voluntarily quit their jobs last year, the “Great Resignation” was actually consistent with a growing trend pre-dating the pandemic. Employee engagement was already growing in priority among organizations, but studies show that currently just 36% of employees are engaged at work in the U.S., proving there’s still a lot of work to be done. Especially because two-thirds of actively disengaged workers are or are planning to look for new jobs. That’s in line with research saying that a toxic corporate culture is 10.4 times more powerful than compensation in predicting attrition rate. In the midst of what’s now being called the “Great Return,” it’s critical for organizations to consider innovative ways to attract and hold on to employees amidst this “quitter’s market.” Flexible schedules, remote work and wellness programs aren’t quite enough to provide 30 • Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.
the sense of belonging that people want. With all the disruptions in work and home life these past few years, “40% of people say they feel isolated at work, and the result has been lower organizational commitment and engagement.” At Paylocity, we wanted to test a hypothesis that a key difference-maker could be hidden in a somewhat unexpected place. Our clients told us that employees were more engaged when executives actively participated in “Community,” our social collaboration hub, and we found this to be true internally, as well. During the first few months of the pandemic, our CEO Steve Beauchamp began posting video messages that sparked massive amounts of views, reactions and comments. So, we dove into the data to put this theory to the test.
THE DATA TELLS THE STORY: LEADERSHIP’S ROLE IN EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Because Community is built right into our platform, where employees can do everything from reviewing paychecks and clocking in and out for shifts to taking training courses and pulse surveys, the data we needed was readily available.
