Running the people side of the pool and spa business is often the most challenging part of the job, especially this year with unemployment rates low and the economy booming. At The Pool & Spa Show in Atlantic City on Monday, January 27th, a special day-long program was offered titled “Employees: How to Improve Productivity, Performance & Retention.” Heading the program was Jay Forte, Humanetrics, LLC; Luke Breslin, Jackson Lewis, PC; and Mark Kremen and Robert Kane of Training Unlimited.
According to Forte, nearly 70 percent of today’s employees are disengaged from their work – they do just enough not to get fired or don’t add any real value. Though organizations spend nearly $1 billion a year on employee engagement fixes, this disengagement rate has remained constant for nearly 20 years. What accompanies disengagement is average or below average performance and increased employee turnover. In a workplace with nearly four percent unemployment, it is critical for leadership to have a plan to consistently and successfully bring in, engage, develop, inspire and retain their talent – to get the people thing right.
Forte said that today’s employees want and need a positive employee-focused workplace culture. They want to work in a workplace that values, includes, develops and challenges them to reach their potential. “They want to work in roles that align to their abilities and interests, and in organizations that share their beliefs. They want to have supportive, guiding and coaching relationships with their managers that improve their self-awareness, self-belief, personal responsibility and skills. Care about your people as people – they will then drive the results.”