I just posted this article over at RealBlogging about the summary of a recent study on employee engagement. [Podcast available here.]
While the study was about employee engagement, I wrote about it in the context of real estate brokerages where it's a little different. By and large, rather than employees, you have independent contractors. Agents in a brokerage firm tend to be viewed as self-sufficient entrepreneurs who are responsible for their own motivations and sense of engagement. As good as that may sound, the unfortunate thing is that there are enough managers in real estate brokerages who tend to adopt the philosophy of "live and let live," "sink or swim," when it comes to newer agents in the office.
The irony is that those who need the most support in the office get so little of it relative to attention given to more experienced, higher producing agents.
Be it an employee or an agent, a newbie or a top-producer, workforce engagement is important because, among other things, an engaged office worker:
- Enhances customer service;
- Improves productivity;
- Improves the bottom line;
- Improves retention.
- Attracts new talent.
All of which are important to any real estate office.
So, who's responsibility is it to stay engaged? The employee's (agent) or the managers and leaders of the organization? Interestingly, of the 750 respondents (85% of whom were managers, directors, VPs and CEOs, by the way), a majority said that it was mainly the responsibility of the big guns in the organization to keep the team engaged. Only 16% of them said it was the responsibility of the employee.
Curious about the top three factors they said positively influence workforce engagement?
- Quality of learning opportunities:
> Rated 3.9 out of 5 by respondents from highly engaged groups;
> Rated less importantly (3.3) by organizations with disengaged groups. - Learning through stretch assignments:
> Rated 3.8 by respondents from highly-engaged groups.
> Less importantly (2.7) by respondents from disgengaged groups. - Frequency of training or learning opportunities:
> Rated 3.6 by respondents from highly-engaged groups.
> Less importantly (3.0) by respondents from disengaged groups.
Any manager types and executives out there? Have you engaged your training director lately?
