One of the important buzzwords of modern HR is “employee engagement.” Engaged employees improve your business. Disengaged employees damage it. Actively disengaged employees can destroy it.
We reached out to Scott Wright, executive director of advanced training programs at the North American Paint & Hardware Association (NHPA) to talk about employee engagement.
Wright cited an “Employee Engagement Data Study” by Gallup in the U.S., taken shortly before the pandemic, which surveyed all industries, not just the home improvement industry. The survey showed that 33 percent of American employees were “engaged” with their jobs; 51 percent were “not engaged.”
But even worse than that, Wright said, the survey showed that 16 percent of employees were “actively disengaged.” According to a Gallup press release, “Actively disengaged employees report miserable work experiences and are generally poorly managed.”
Note here that the blame for their poor attitude lands on their managers. The elements of improving employee engagement include clarity of expectations, opportunities for development, and opinions counting at work. The NHPA has executive training programs for home improvement store managers—including those from Canada—who wish to increase their skills in increasing employee engagement, among many other skills.
(To learn more about NHPA’s management training courses to help managers understand key concepts of leadership and personal development, reach out to Scott at swright@yournhpa.org.)
