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engagement industry briefs
[ EVENTS ]
The 2015 Engagement University & Expo
convenes in Denver April 14-16. The event
is co-sponsored by Omni Resort Interlocken,
Denver, where the event will be held, and
the FIRE Light Group, which provides event
planning and logistics. Based on responses
to post-event surveys, the program will be
enhanced in the following ways:
• People-Centric Awards and Case Studies.
Education will feature case studies from
winners of the EEA’s new People-Centric
Awards program highlighting America’s
Top 25 People-Centric Companies.
• Expanded Engagement Education. Based
on attendee feedback, Engagement
University education will be expanded into
a full two and a half days, with multiple
sessions on all areas of Engagement
presented by Enterprise Engagement
textbook contributors and other experts.
• Engagement Exhibits. The Rewards &
Recognition Expo, the official successor
to the industry’s 65-year-old Motivation
Show, will be expanded to include other
types of engagement solution providers.
• Tuesday-Thursday Schedule. Based on a
solid majority of survey respondents, the
program will begin on a Tuesday and end
at noon on Thursday to minimize time
away from home on weekends or from the
offce during the week.
• Expanded Roundtable Discussions. Based
on the popularity of this year’s on-foor
Roundtable Discussions in Nashville, the
program will be expanded in 2015 to
include opportunities to meet with even
more experts in all areas of engagement.
6 engagement strategies Vol.18 Issue 3
6 engagement strategies Vol.18 Issue 3
PERFORMANCE
America’s top business leaders are confident in their ability to outperform the
business decisions or addressing specific obstacles, according to Deloitte’s Business
competition. However, they aren’t acting with confidence when it comes to making
Confidence Report 2014: The Gap Between Confidence and Action. A majority of execs
say they’re very confident that their organizations will outperform the competition
over the next 12 months. But when asked about their confidence in their ability to
address specific obstacles to growth, nearly half had some doubts. The inaugural
Deloitte Business Confidence Report, conducted between July 7 and Aug. 4, 2014,
explores America’s top leaders’ confidence in the overall direction of their businesses,
CHANNEL PARTNERS how they are addressing obstacles to growth, their outlook on talent and leadership
and their views on innovation.
MANAGEMENT
Chris Becwar, Director of Marketng and Strategic Alliances at global
channel management frm CCI, notes that as the competton for partner
engagement has increased, more channel leaders have been realizing Cord Himmelstein, VP of Marketing and Communications at
that they haven’t been listening close enough to the real needs of Michael C. Fina, notes that managers are the No. 1 influence
their partners beyond typical margin and channel confict discussions. on employee engagement in the workplace, while being one
Vendors are realizing that if their channel investments don’t focus on of the most under-trained positions in the business world. As
shaping their partners pre-sales habits and ‘teaching them to fsh’ vs. a result, there is a wealth of white papers, scientific studies,
‘feeding them for a day,’ sales lif on partner investment will tend to and entire organizations devoted to figuring out what makes
hover between low to zero. This is inspiring vendors to re-examine how managers effective at motivating and leading others. But
they target their partner incentves, SPIFs, and rewards. Becwar says there’s one study by Quantum Workplace, The 50 Best and
that a new generaton of more confgurable, integrated, and easy-to-use Worst Recognition Comments of 2013, that goes to the
incentve management tools has been springing up that make it easy to horse’s mouth to find out what employees are really saying.
target partner rewards at just about any measurable, pre-sales partner Quantum Workplace compiles some of the most compelling
behavior taken with a vendor’s partner program. recognition-related comments found in Best Places to Work
and TeamPulse surveys for the annual publication, and it’s
a great snapshot of the ground-floor recognition needs of
today’s employees.
COMPANIES
RETENTION
Maritz Holdings Inc. and Allegiance Software, Inc. (Allegiance) have CULTURE
announced their intent to create a new independent company, MaritzCX,
through the acquisition of Allegiance and subsequent combination Career management programs are
with Maritz Research Inc. MaritzCX will address the multi-billion-dollar Henry Albrecht, CEO and co-founder of Limeade, notes in a recent post for supposed to help employees understand
customer experience (CX) industry via a combination of four key elements: Culture University that employee engagement is all the rage these days. advancement opportunities and chart
CX software, data and research science, deep vertical market expertise And it should be, considering that only 13% of employees feel engaged by career paths with their organizations,
and managed program services. MaritzCX will have 900+ full-time the work they do and that low engagement leads to high turnover, which resulting in greater engagement.
employees in 18 offices and five global regions serving 500 clients and can cost companies up to 150% of an employee’s salary. But with so many However, research from Towers Watson
one million users in 100 countries. The MaritzCX platform – to be called factors involved in employee engagement – job satsfacton, stress, work/ reveals that employers and employees
the Allegiance platform – will provide flexible, self-service capabilities life balance, purpose, relatonships, physical and emotonal well-being alike agree that career management
programs are largely failing to meet
that allow clients to create or change reports on their own, and will – Albrecht says it can be tough to achieve. Don’t want to lose your best
integrate with Salesforce.com, Adobe, and other popular data systems. people? You have to create a culture of well-being prominently throughout these goals. This finding comes at a time
your HR and business that includes 5 key strategies: Bosses lead; Use all your when many employees believe their
communicaton tools; Know what’s working and change what’s not; Play up careers are stuck in neutral and say they
local pride; and Pay today. would need to leave their employer to
advance their careers.
According to the Towers Watson Global
Workforce Study, less than half of all
employees (46%) and only 59% of high-
potential employees – a group that
employers should be working hard to
ENGAGEMENT keep – say their organization provides
useful career planning tools. An even
smaller group (42%) report that their
The Conference Board, Deloitte and Sirota have announced the formation of the employer provides advancement
Engagement Institute. According to the web page announcing the new organization, opportunities. Furthermore, roughly
these companies have come together to found a research community to advance 4 in 10 employees believe they would
the state of engagement. It will consist of leaders across industries who will work have to join another company in order to
collaboratively to shape how organizations understand and drive engagement.
Activities will include research and peer learning. Companies involved with this advance their careers.
initiative include Apple, Oracle, Shell, Colgate Palmolive, Accenture, ITT, Nokia
Solutions and Networks, Michelin, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Philips, Unilever,
Target, Caterpillar, Xerox, ADP, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Hilton Worldwide, Proctor
& Gamble, Monsanto, AT&T, Amazon SanDisk, and Lowe’s, among dozens of others.
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