Louisiana topped the rankings in a 2012 Gallup survey for most engaged employee workforces. In this presentation, Sparky Tom A. talks about why that is and what you can do to continue developing engaged employees.

1. Engaged Workforces
Let’s Get Moving

2. Introduction
 Tom Allsup
 15 Years in commercial IT
 Oil & Gas, Healthcare, Consulting
 MCSE
®
, MCSA
®
, MCP
®
, MCTS
®
 ITIL v3
®
 HDI-SCD
®
 LSU – ISDS Graduate
 8 year US Navy Veteran
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3. Agenda
 #1 Engaged Workforce
 Employee Engagement
 Who’s Engaged?
 Areas of Impact
 Strategies
 Wrap up
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4. #1 Engaged Workforce
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 Highest % of
Engaged Employees
 Lowest % of Not-
Engaged Employees
 Bottom 14% of
Actively Disengaged
Employees
Gallup, Inc. – State of the American Workplace Report 2013

5. #1 Engaged Workforce… How?
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 Cultural – blue collar/agrarian background
 Large indigenous resident population
 We’re just happy here!
 2014 U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research w/
Harvard University and University of British Columbia
survey shows 6 of the top 10 (including all top 5)
happiest cities in America are in Louisiana
 http://www.nber.org/papers/w20291
 The same research in 2010 had us holding 4 of the top
10

6. Employee Engagement
 Definition: “The emotional commitment an
employee has to the organization and its
goals”
 What it isn’t:
 Engaged doesn’t mean happy
 Ex. “Happy” attitude, but not productive
 Engaged doesn’t mean satisfied
 Ex. “Satisfied”, but will jump when a recruiter calls
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Employee Engagement 2.0: How to motivate your team for higher performance (Kevin Kruse)

7. Engagement Categories
 Engaged
 Works with passion and feel a profound connection
 Drive innovation and move the organization forward
 Not Engaged
 Essentially “checked out”
 “Sleepwalking through their workday”, putting time — but not
energy or passion — into their work
 Actively Disengaged
 Employees aren’t just unhappy at work; they’re busy acting
out their unhappiness
 Every day, these workers undermine what their engaged
coworkers accomplish
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Gallup, Inc. – State of the American Workplace Report 2013

8. Who’s Engaged?
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26% of professional
computing
occupations in the
2013 U.S. workforce
held by women
http://www.ncwit.org/resources/numbers
Born pre-
1945
Gallup, Inc. – State of the American Workplace Report 2013

9. Least and Most Engaged?
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Born pre-
1945
Gallup, Inc. – State of the American Workplace Report 2013
 Millennials
 Early point in their careers
 Highest % of not engaged
suggests indifference toward
work and employers
 Marginally less “actively
disengaged” than Traditionalists
 Traditionalists
 Many beyond “traditional
retirement age”
 Engagement #s suggests those
that are working are doing so by
choice or enjoy their work

10. 1
0
Question Primary Secondary Tertiary
Do I know what is expected of me at work? General
Do I have the equipment and material I need to do my
work right? Decision Making
At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best
every day? Well-Being
In the last seven days, have I received recognition or
praise for good work? Well-Being Development
Does my supervisor or someone at work seem to care
about me as a person? Well-Being
Is there someone at work who encourages my
development? Development Well-Being
At work, do my opinions seem to count? Decision Making Development Well-Being
Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel
my work is important? General
Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work? General
Do I have a good friend at work? Well-Being
In the last six months, have I talked to someone about
my progress? Development
This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn
and grow? Development
How’d you know?: Gallup®
12 Questions
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Gallup, Inc. – State of the American Workplace Report 2013

11. 1
1
Question Primary Secondary Tertiary
Do I know what is expected of me at work? General
Do I have the equipment and material I need to do my
work right? Decision Making
At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best
every day? Well-Being
In the last seven days, have I received recognition or
praise for good work? Well-Being Development
Does my supervisor or someone at work seem to care
about me as a person? Well-Being
Is there someone at work who encourages my
development? Development Well-Being
At work, do my opinions seem to count? Decision Making Development Well-Being
Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel
my work is important? General
Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work? General
Do I have a good friend at work? Well-Being
In the last six months, have I talked to someone about
my progress? Development
This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn
and grow? Development
How’d you know?: Gallup®
12 Questions
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Gallup, Inc. – State of the American Workplace Report 2013

12. 1
2
Areas of Impact
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 Each of the 12 questions should answer one
or more of these areas of impact
 Employee Well-Being
 Information that helps measure human welfare in all
aspects of life
 Employee Development
 Guidance when it comes to discovering employee
talents and developing their strengths
 Employee Participation (decision making)
 Decentralize the decision-making process and allow
employees to contribute benefit

13. Employee Well-Being
1
3
 Information that helps measure human
welfare in all aspects of life:
 Career Well-being: How you occupy your time/liking
what you do each day
 Social Well-being: Relationships and love in your life
 Financial Well-being: Managing your economic life
to reduce stress and increase security
 Physical Well-being: Good health and enough
energy to get things done on a daily basis
 Community Well-being: Engagement and
involvement in the area where you live
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14. Employee Development
1
4
 Guidance when it comes to discovering
employee talents and developing their
strengths
 Career Development Path: Are your people
completing Individual Development Plans (IDP)?
 Technical Development: Technical development for
IT folks critical to their views on engagement
 Professional Relationships: Developing
professional networking
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15. Employee Participation in Decision
Making Process
1
5
 Decentralize the decision-making process
and allow employees to contribute benefit
 Transparency!
 Visibility: Use a steering committee to provide
employees a voice in operations and publish results
 Leadership Empowerment: Provide team
leadership the ability to enact decisions
 Feedback: Let employees know the outcome of their
recommendations and requests (both good and bad)
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16. Strategies: Lead vs. Lag Measures
 Lead #1
 Promote positive feedback of team
members during weekly team meetings
based on project/client feedback,
certifications attained, etc.
1
6
 Lead #2:
 Contact at least one team member for a
well-being status update each week
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17. Strategies: Mentor Program
1
7
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 Employees are statistically the most engaged
within the first 6 months of employment as
they will ever be
 Critical to pair employees up with senior or
tenured members of the organization
 Using mentor/mentee relationships tie employees
to the 12 questions
 Mentor programs are NOT technical apprenticeships
 Primarily for professional development
Gallup, Inc. – State of the American Workplace Report 2013

18. Strategies: Reading Choices
 Strength Finder 2.0  Emotional Intelligence
2.0
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Gallup, Inc. – State of the American Workplace Report 2013

19. Wrap Up
 We’re #1… let’s keep it that way
 Employee Engagement is a business critical
function
 Understand your employees’ motivations
 Use the Areas of Impact to focus your efforts on
your leadership teams
 Investigate which strategies will work for your
organization
 Not a “one size fits all” approach
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