Presented at the

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Presented by Kwame Charles
Director, Quality Consultants Limited
HRMATT’s 9th
Biennial Conference
Hilton Trinidad & Conference Center
May 13, 2013

2. 3 POINTS TO PONDER
1.Why you should know what your people are
thinking
2.How to find out
3.What to do about it
HRMATT’S 9TH
BIENNIAL CONFERENCE – MAY 13TH
& 14TH
, 2013
2

3. HRMATT’S 9TH
BIENNIAL CONFERENCE – MAY 13TH
& 14TH
, 2013
3
Do you know what your people areDo you know what your people are
thinking?thinking?

4. Why you should know what your people are
thinking
EMPLOYEE BEHAVIOUR
• Job Performance
• Productivity
• Discretionary Effort
• Ethical Behaviour
• Say, Stay, Strive…
EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES
•About the Organization
•About Management
•About the Supervisor
•About the Job…
CUSTOMER OUTCOMES
• Customer Service
• Product/Service Quality
• Customer Satisfaction
• Customer Loyalty…
BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
•Sales Growth
•Productivity
•Shareholder Value
•Profitability…
© Quality Consultants Ltd.

5. THE SEARS ROEBUCK EXPERIENCETHE SEARS ROEBUCK EXPERIENCE
A 5%5% increase in employee
attitude, as measured by
employee surveys, led to a 1.3%1.3%
increase in customer
satisfaction, which in turn
resulted in a 0.5% improvement0.5% improvement
in revenue growth.
Why you should know what your people are
thinking

6. WHAT ARE CARIBBEAN EMPLOYEES
THINKING?
FINDINGS FROM A REGIONAL SURVEY
HRMATT’S 9TH
BIENNIAL CONFERENCE – MAY 13TH
& 14TH
, 2013
6

7. The 2012 Employee Benchmark Survey was
our7th biennial survey of employee
workplace attitudes and opinions in the
Caribbean. Its objectives were to give
participating organizations feedback on
ten key measures of employee satisfaction
and engagement and to benchmark them
against each other with a view to helping
them improve their satisfaction and
engagement levels and, ultimately, their
business performance.

8.  Strategic Alignment
 Leadership
 Talent Management Practices
 Management/Employee
Relations
 Internal Communication
 Supervision
 Work Organization
 Customer Focus
 Corporate Social
Responsibility
 Employee Engagement

9.  29 Companies
 5 countries
 Over 7,000 employees
surveyed
 Over 4,500 respondents

10. SURVEY HIGHLIGHTSSURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
54% of employees satisfied.
That is, just over half of the
employees are satisfied with
the 10 key organization and
management measures.
These are the folks who are
willing to “go the extra mile”
for the company.

11. SURVEY HIGHLIGHTSSURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
24% of employees neutral.
That is, just about a quarter
of the employees are neither
satisfied nor dissatisfied
with the 10 key organization
and management measures.
They’re just interested in
doing the bare minimum.

12. SURVEY HIGHLIGHTSSURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
22% of employees
dissatisfied.
That is, just over one in five
employees is dissatisfied
with the 10 key organization
and management measures.
These folks have “quit but
forgot to tell the company”!

13. OTHER SURVEY HIGHLIGHTSOTHER SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
While over 80% of the employees are proud of
their company, only 60% are satisfied working
there and would recommend it as a great place
to work.
Just over half plan to stay with their company
for a long time, are willing to go the extra mile
for it and look forward to coming to work every
day.
And only a quarter would remain with their
company if offered another job with more pay
and benefits.

14. OTHER SURVEY HIGHLIGHTSOTHER SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
Two out of three employees think their companies
are doing a good job of focussing on their external
customers and on CSR.
Three out of five are satisfied with their immediate
supervisor.
But only two out of five are happy with their
company’s leadership, talent management
practices and internal communication.
In fact, less than 50% think their company’s
leaders provide good leadership for their company
and have confidence in their leaders’ decision
making, and less than 40% believe what their
leaders say!

15. OTHER SURVEY FINDINGS:OTHER SURVEY FINDINGS:
Different people think differentlyDifferent people think differently
Employees in Retail & Distribution have the
highest satisfaction levels, while those in the
Energy Sector have the lowest satisfaction
levels.
The higher up you are in your organization
the more satisfied you are.
Employee satisfaction varies with years of
service: The U-Curve Effect.
But we’ve found no significant gender
differences in our surveys.

16. If you don’t know what your people are thinking,
find out! What you don’t know could hurt you!
How do you find out? Ask them! THEN DO
SOMETHING ABOUT IT! And then ask them
again…
Leadership matters. Hold your leaders and
managers accountable for improving employee
satisfaction and engagement by putting it in their
performance scorecard and rewarding them,
coaching them or sanctioning them accordingly.
Build trust in management through clear,
consistent , open and honest communication,
keeping your promises and matching your words
with your actions.
Build partnerships with front-line supervisors.
They’re an important link in the chain of
command, and they have the employee’s ear and
What should you do?What should you do?What should you do?What should you do?

17. Improve internal communication through regular
town hall meetings, inter- and intra-
departmental meetings, using social media and
multiple communication channels. Know your
audience. Not everyone gets the message in the
same way.
Build employee feedback mechanisms into your
management systems through focus groups,
surveys, suggestion schemes, social media.
Review your performance management systems
to make sure they’re objective, transparent,
evidence-based and fairly and consistently
administered by your supervisors and managers.
Make sure they recognize and reward excellence
rather than mediocrity or longevity.
Identify your organizational strengths and
leverage them to reduce your weaknesses. Use
Appreciative Inquiry, internal benchmarking and
best practices.
What should you do?What should you do?What should you do?What should you do?

18. Link what your people are thinking to
their behaviour and job performance and
to your organization’s outcomes through
analytics.
e.g., absenteeism, timeliness, productivity,
retention, reduction in accidents, injuries
wastage, rework, etc.
e.g., customer satisfaction/complaints, sales,
shrinkage, etc.
What should you do?What should you do?What should you do?What should you do?

19. HRMATT’S 9TH
BIENNIAL CONFERENCE – MAY 13TH
& 14TH
, 2013
19
“ To win in the marketplace,
you have to win in the
workplace.”
Kevin Kruse, The Power of
Engagement