Employee Engagement Matters

“Paychecks can’t buy passion.” – Brad Federman

It is getting to be a rather tiring topic. To be successful, you must have employees who are engaged. You can Google the topic and find all kinds of advice.

The fact is, there is an overwhelming number of people who are not engaged in their work. To me, that means they really don’t like what they do. Per Gallup, you have Three Types of Employees:

Engaged employees work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company. They drive innovation and move the organization forward.

Not-Engaged employees are essentially “checked out.” They are sleepwalking through their workday, putting time but not energy or passion into their work.

Actively Disengaged employees aren’t just unhappy at work, they are busy action out their unhappiness. Every day, these workers undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish.

My motto, on this topic as it is with most things inside a busy CPA firm – – Keep It Simple

I’m sure you have some people in each classification. To drive engagement, it’s simple, you have to be proactive.

• Be sure your people know what is expected of them.
• Let them know how important they are to the success of your clients and your firm.
• Make sure you explain to them how their career can, or will, advance.
• Give regular feedback so that they know how they are doing and where they are going.
• Be a caring boss.
• Over communicate
• Set a good example
• Show them you have a sense of humor

If you do some of these things and are proactive maybe your “Not-Engaged” people will become Engaged.

For the Actively Disengaged, give them the opportunity to get a new job elsewhere.

About the Author

Rita Keller is the Founder of Keller Advisors, LLC. She is a widely respected voice to CPA firm management. Through her presentations and workshops, she interacts with thousands of accountants annually.  Named as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People In Accounting and one of The Most Powerful Women In Accounting, she acts as an advisor and coach to CPA firm leaders across the country.  She can be reached at rkeller@ritakeller.com.