Thomas Mahan - EmployER Engagement

Mahan and Nelms present the reader with excellent data and sound recommendations to improve employee retention and engagement. As an HR professional, I especially appreciate the authors recommendations to utilize turnover costs to build the necessary business case to senior officers; to have employers pilot and adopt their own best practices (rather than chase the most current HR fad); and for Operation Managers to own employee retention and engagement. EmployER Engagement is a must read and must follow road map for any organization genuinely interested in building a more productive w orkplace.

Michael F. Cassity , MA, SPHR

Division VP- Human Resources (Retired)

HCA

EmployER Engagement insightfully makes the case for leaders to have the courage to connect and engage with employees. Mahan and Nelms provide excellent data to support the Employer Engagement premise and the necessary tools to build effective strategies for organizational engagement and retention. The manager who effectively connects with employees demonstrates engaging behavior, and in return so will employees. The ideas shared in this book helped me define more and better actions.

Phil Brown

Sr. Vice President, Mohawk Industries

Mahan and Nelms vividly describe the shifting workforce dynamics and the need for employers to better engage their people. This mandate is to not only compete, but to ultimately survive. There has never been a more critical period in the war fo r talent.

B ob Ravener
Author, Consultant, Speaker, Board Member, Former EVP and Chief People Officer, Dollar General C orporation

Strong, bold, and convicting with many original thoughts and ideas and some that are painfully obvious (but need to be said). Alarming in that many executives dont already get it. Motivational, quotable, and easy to follow. Right from the beginning of EmployER Engagement , Mahan and Nelms have knocked this out of th e park.

Mike Fitzgerald

President, Fitzgerald MSI, Peak Performance Consulting

Former EVP and Chief Talent Officer, State Bank and Tru st Company

Within most businesses, there are two major costs that are rarely managed properly. One is healthcare costs which could be reduced significantly, and the other is the cost of human capital. These two talented and experienced authors have written a book that may be the absolute best source on how to do the latter. I doubt anyone has studied the topic more. They offer what I call empirical wisdom that is solid and actionable, and which has been proven repeatedly to reduce cost significantly, improve productivity and engender a state of well-being among the workforce. Some books are a good read, some are a good resource to be visited frequently. This book is both. I strongly encourage anyone trying to manage a business to buy this book. It may challenge your existing paradigms regarding leadership, employee engagement, recruiting and retention. Much of what is being taught about these topics is not true and simply does not work. If you want your organization to be a class act, staffed with highly motivated, energized people, this book will point you in the right d irection.

W. Terry How ell, Ed.D.

CEO, Sky Solu tions, LLC

Author: Healthcare is Killing US: The Power of Disruptive Innovation to Create a System that Cares More and C osts Less.

Mahan and Nelms draw on decades of experience in employee engagement to offer an unconventional approach to reducing turnover. In a market with increasing opportunities for employees, it is no longer productive to shame employees for their shortcomings or dazzle them with token benefits in the hope that they respond with increased engagement. Rather, the authors suggest, it is incumbent on the employer to create an environment that is favorable to employee satisfaction through careful listening and active response. Mahan and Nelms motivate this fresh approach with extensive data, then offer a road map to help employers be better listeners and, ultimately, improve firm performance through reduced turnover cost and a healthier employer/employee rela tionship.

Kara Sm ith, Ph.D.

Massey School of Business, Belmont University

Mahan and Nelms have researched and succinctly captured principles and truths necessary to create an organization in which employees can realize their most personally important needs. Contrary to the past, this book establishes the responsibility of employee engagement rests on the shoulders of the employer and it provides strategies and tools to accomplish this responsibility. It provides perfect insight and a compelling business case for the most challenging issue facing all companies today: how to attract and retain the best talent in the relevant industry. I recommend this reading for all organization leaders.

Linda M. Mea dor, Ph.D.

President. Succ ess Optics

Mahan and Nelms do an outstanding job sharing science and data in a common sense way. EmployER Engagement validates instincts associated with engagement and retention, but pushes you to think about these constructs differently. As the business world becomes more competitive and as employment trends continue to be positive, organizations must have an even greater sense of urgency to retain their employees. EmployER Engagement provides excellent ideas that one can actually USE to drive change today.

Kim No well, SPHR

Former Chief Peop le Officer

Sav-A-Lot & In gram Barge

As a former client of Work Institute, I am fully aware of the value gained by asking employees for feedback using the approach laid out in EmployER Engagement . Mahan and Nelms remind us not only of the value of the right data, but the necessary steps to ensure employee feedback drives meaningfu l change.

Glen Maul
Managing Partner, The Maul Group Former EVP and Chief People Officer, Brookdale Sen ior Living

Mahan and Nelms understand the critical elements required to compete and win in the 21st century. EmployER Engagement provides proven and scalable recommendations for any organization actively working to create an engaged and motivated w orkforce.

J ohn Maketa

Chief Revenue Officer of Caliper

Co-author of the best-selling book, Now Youre Thinking! and the recently published book, Leading wi th Vision .

Come, labor on!

No time for rest, till glows the we stern sky,

Till the long shadows oer our pat hways lie,

And glad sound comes with the se tting sun,

Well done, w ell done!

Jane Borthwick

Foreword

I am thankful to be able to contribute my thoughts to EmployER Engagement: On Becoming a Preferred Employer. While my core area of expertise is what employees, especially leaders, can do to engage themselves, there is clear merit in evaluating and acting on all conditions that foster or impede the willingness and ability of an individual to become engaged. These conditions include the organization, the manager, the team, and the j ob itself.

As you well know, the topic employee engagement is ubiquitous. It is difficult to pick up a business newsletter, review a company website, or peruse the management literature without reading about employee engagement promises. Thousands of consultants are offering their own customized surefire methods to improve employee engagement. Companies are jumping on others best engagement and retention practices, and billions of company dollars are spent on employee engagement ini tiatives.

Yet employee engagement sits near an all-time low. Companies, despite enormous spending, have little to show for their efforts. Most employee engagement promises have failed. Many companies blame this failure on employees and resort simply to whining and allowing disengagement to continue. Worse yet, some simply watch employees quit to pursue a better workplace. Some think the solution is to hire additional people, resolving turnover and absenteeism by increasing expenses through hiring more internal and external recruiters. Others just switch survey vendors to get prettier reports or are somehow seduced into being satisfied with simple and cheap passive questions, rather than understanding and acting on requirements necessary to improve engagement. Please note: I am not criticizing what employees offer in compromised studies; I genuinely value their contributions. Instead, my criticism is in what they could have said but didntas the survey did not allow it. Employees must be presented the opportunity to fully articulate their observations and, equally important, the organization needs full employee input to inform remediation and developme nt plans.