Businesses CAN’T afford to have disengaged employees! According to Gallup, a disengaged employee costs a company 34% of their total annual salary. On aggregate 17.2% of a workforce is disengaged. Since the Dotcom boom of the 90’s, companies have been trying to obtain high standards of employee satisfaction through: company perks, wellness incentives and even subsidized food plans to satisfy the foodies. Has any of these strategies really helped with employee engagement? How do organizations get their employees engaged and find their swagger? Employee engagement is very tied to the MAGIC of the company. To capture the magic, employees must have five key elements to help them become successful. In the MAGIC of Employee Engagement white paper, it'll will break down each element and map out the benefits of each one.

1. MAGIC
of Employee Engagement
Issue: April 2018

3. Some would call it swagger, the French would
call it joie de vivre – the energy or the essence
of something great. In some companies the
magic is obvious and the culture contagious.
Companies that come to mind are usually in
the tech space like Google, Facebook, Shopify
and the millions of other tech start-ups out there.
Since the Dotcom boom of the 90’s, companies
have been trying to obtain high standards of
employee satisfaction through:
company perks, wellness incentives and even
subsidized food plans to satisfy the foodies.
Has any of these strategies really helped with
employee engagement? How do organizations
get their employees engaged and find their
swagger?

4. • Meaning
• Autonomy
• Growth
• Impact
• Connection
Employee engagement is very
much tied to the MAGIC of a
company.
To capture the magic,
employees need to have:

5. It’s transforming
a culture of
being
transactional to
being “ALL-IN”!

6. MAGIC
Meaning
growth
Impact
Connection
autonomy

7. t

8. Meaning is much more than just job satisfaction.
A person can like their job, be paid well and enjoy
spending their time at the office. But without
meaning, the honeymoon period dissipates.
MEANING
It needs to be more than just a mission statement
to satisfy shareholders – it’s the ability to make an
impact.
If an employee sees a clear line between what
they’re working on and how it impacts the world,
for the positive, they’ll take pride and ownership
of their job.
Meaning is a natural motivator – it becomes one’s
purpose. It gets you going and keeps you engaged!

10. Meaning is Lost
Traditionally, companies have a closed-loop or siloed
communications structure – lack of transparency.
Especially in a conglomerate, individual business units
generally have little to no visibility into other teams.
This can lead to inefficiencies and redundancy.
Quite often, communications are done through
Power Point slides. Where the employees are“talked-at”
versus a collaborative conversation – information ends
up getting lost and knowledge is not retained.

11. Employee engagement software is a platform that gives
employees a voice. It opens up the lines of
communications through chats, messaging, feeds, etc.
By giving your employees a voice, it breaks down the
hierarchical barrier. Employees are given a chance to
share ideas. Not just a 30 second, hand raising session,
during a Town Hall Q&A. It provides a better employee
experience, enabling them to collaborate with their
teams and the organization.
Just as social media has become a part of everyday
communications (giving every person a moment in the
spot light), businesses are embracing messaging as a viable
communications platform.
Voicing Your Meaning

12. SOCIAL FOR BUSINESS
When social platforms first came out, many businesses banned
the use of social media during working hours. As the market matured,
businesses saw how effective and engaging a social platform could be.
Take LinkedIn, a social business platform that connects businesses and
people. Not just recruiters and job seekers.
According to Neil Patel, a New York Times best selling author and a Top
100 Entrepreneur under 35 recognized by the United Nations, says that
“LinkedIn messaging is three times more effective than email”.
Is email dead? Not dead, but there is no denying that messaging/texting
is much easier. By the time you type up an email, wait for a response, then
take action…you can see how inefficient email can be, especially if you’re
in a large organization.
To drive productivity, businesses need an internal, LinkedIn platform to
manage employee relationships effectively.
Many enterprise Employee Relationship Management (ERM) systems have
been built on HR/Payroll or CRM platforms. These solutions can take many
years to roll out and they can be cost prohibitive.
With today’s new technology stacks, best-of-breed, employee engagement
tools are much more accessible and easy to roll out.

14. AUTONOMY
When people think of autonomy, they think of anarchy,
like in Lord of the Flies. In this case, it’s about empowerment
– giving employees the ability to do their jobs effectively.
You’re providing them with options and the ability to speak up.
Which otherwise may not happen.

15. Everyone communicates differently. Type A’s may want to take
centre stage and command a room, while Type B’s may be more
comfortable with raising their hand in a digital forum or with
through non-verbal queues.
An employee engagement tool bridges the demographic gap
within an organization: Millennial who were raised in the digital
era, to new comers to the country and those entering into their
golden years.
Productivity and Absenteeism
Employees that are engaged are more productive and take
less sick days or days away from the office.
According to Gallup, in their 2017 Research, employees are
17% more productive and they use 41% less sick days than
those who are disengaged.
Disengaged employees don’t just affect their own productivity
but it negatively affects others around them.

16. How do you expect someone to perform well if they don’t
know what to do or what direction to take? It’s always difficult
for Managers especially when they’re growing a team.
How do they keep themselves performing at their peak while
mentoring those who just joined?
Often times, training is done through the firehose. New hires
get blasted with presentations, videos and everything else,
with hopes that the information is relevant enough to get them
up and running. It ends up being a sink or swim culture.
If they sink, you never end up recouping your recruitment costs.
Moreover, you might of just lost a person with huge potential
because they weren’t given the right tools to make them successful.
Onboarding

17. An artificial intelligence (AI) driven knowledge hub will address all forms
of training from new hires to continuous improvement. It doesn’t mean
that you’re implanting a chip in your employees head! If anything, you’re
proving them with an AI knowledge hub that will grow with them.
Through the use of a chatbot interface, it’ll assess where their skill set is at.
Once it determines a benchmark, it can adjust the learning materials
through: self guiding training documents, videos, tests, podcasts, etc.
Artificial Intelligence Training
For businesses who have staff in the field or need a simulated training
environment, you can use Augmented Reality (AR) to facilitate those
employees. AR will help give them real world training and lower the risks
involved when they are live in the field.
For instance, a Fire Fighter is a rewarding and high risk job. With AR, you can
simulate different emergency scenarios and it’ll show you’re new hires, how
to problem solve on the spot – without the risk of injury.

19. Stagnation kills growth! Day in, day out, doing the same thing…
that can kill a person’s spirt and a company’s employee retention
rates.
GROWTH

20. Based on Gallup’s, 2017 research, 51%
of employees are always looking for new
work opportunities – drivers include,
“quitting their bosses”to receiving higher
compensation, right down
to not answering their true calling.
Finding one’s true calling is both a spiritual
and professional journey. Often people
aren’t able to bridge those two. To be fulfilled
or to find work/life balance, one needs to grow
professionally and personally.
Being limited because of your current skill
set can be deflating. Organizations are
starting to look beyond just credentials
and work history, but someone’s potential.
By offering your employees growth
opportunities, means you as an
organization is invested. You’re banking
on their full range of skills – the ones
they have today and the ones they’ll
acquire.

21. Gamification
Instant gratification is what drives
social media users. Getting a thumbs up,
a heart, etc, stimulates the frontal cortex
of the brain releasing dopamine or happy
hormones. Gamification has the same
outcomes. Through badges and recognition,
employee engagement starts to sky rocket.
It can foster healthy competition and help with
knowledge retention. Gamification is a business
transformation tool – connecting employee
actions to business outcomes. It’s tangible,
measurable and fun!
Who doesn’t like being rewarded?
A reward system is nothing new
– but, being rewarded instantly is.

22. IMPACT
In today’s digitally, connected world, most
employees work more than 40 hours a week
– logging in after working hours, connecting
at work functions, conference calls and the list
goes on.
In many ways, where a person works and what
they do becomes part of their DNA fabric. It
becomes more than a job. It’s a part of who
they are. Employees that recognize their true
impact on an organization ends up becoming
your brand ambassadors.

23. Continuous Improvement
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve upon it. With an employee engagement tool,
you can see exactly where your employees are being engaged and where they’re
dropping off. You will have full visibility into what drives them.
You’ll have insights into the courses they’re enrolled in, the events they’ve signed up for
and the content they’re engaging with on your platform. You’ll be honed in on the
sentiment of your employees, individually and as a whole.

24. CONNECTION
Many friendships are built at the workplace.
When you spend just as much time in the trenches
with your colleagues as with your family, its hard not
to build connections.
In a global economy, many teams work across different
time zones and continents. A platform that can enable
face-to-face contact, not just virtually, is key to
fostering relationships.

25. In Facebook, it keeps you up to date on current
events. You have visibility into the events your
friends are attending and it provides an opportunity
to connect with your friends, in person.
A social, corporate event calendar helps employees
stay connected with other colleagues. It’ll give you
chance to connect with your colleagues in person
and share in knowledge transfer and experiences.

26. COST OF DISENGAGEMENT
Businesses CAN’T afford to have disengaged employees! According to Gallup,
a disengaged employee costs a company 34% of their total annual salary.
On aggregate 17.2% of a workforce is disengaged.
Calculation:
An Employee Relationship Management (ERM) isn’t going to be able to
address your entire 17.2% workforce. But if it could address just 2% of it.
Is it worth it investing in the tool? You bet!
An employee engagement tool is more than just a piece of software.
It’s a transformational tool that brings out the MAGIC in every person.
By fostering a work environment that encourages growth, meaning and
empowerment, it’ll drive growth. It’ll make retaining and recruiting top
talent much easier – with magic, you don’t need the extra perks.
Employees will see value in the culture!

27. TheAppLabb is a product innovation and development firm. Our goal is to improve human
experiences through intelligent and immersive technologies – driving business results for our clients.
Email: info@theapplabb.com
PH: (464) 688 - 2786
Version: April 2018 - TheAppLabb ©
URL: http://wwwtheapplabb.com
PH: (416) 745 - 3164
Over 11 years of experience with 360+ global clients and over 500+ apps built, we offer strategic
consulting, UX and UI design, custom software development and out-of-the-box industry solutions
for multiple vertical markets.
Let’s create some magic. Together we’ll turn your ideas into reality.
Transition from being a company focused on employee satisfaction
to a company that cares about employee experiences.
Ready to take the leap?

28. PH: (416) 745 - 3164
References:
Neil Patel - Social Media Cold Outreach: How To Send a LinkedIn Message to Anyone on LinkedIn
https://neilpatel.com/blog/social-media-cold-outreach/
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai - Brain Reward Pathways
http://neuroscience.mssm.edu/nestler/brainRewardpathways.html
Harvard Business Review- Why People Really Quit Their Jobs
https://hbr.org/2018/01/why-people-really-quit-their-jobs
Gartner - Gartner Reveals Top Predictions for IT Organizations and Users for 2013 and Beyond
https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2211115
Paul Petrone - How to Calculate the Cost of Employee Disengagement
https://learning.linkedin.com/blog/engaging-your-workforce/how-to-calculate-the-cost-of-employee-disengagement
Brooke Cagle - Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/g1Kr4Ozfoac
Izuddin Helmi Adnan - Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/ndxwXAt0jpg
Bekir Dönmez - Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/eofm5R5f9Kw
Michael Heuser- Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/tI665XBDiAA
Hermes Rivera - Unsplash -https://unsplash.com/photos/V7WJpTmNXjU
Charlie Hammond - Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/1_Iz-bm9sQg
Photo Credits:
um
Human Resource Today - Employee Satisfaction vs. Employee Engagement in 2018
http://www.humanresourcestoday.com/2018/employee-engagement/?open-article-id=8135829&article-title=employee-
satisfaction-vs--employee-engagement-in-2018---decisionwise&blog-domain=decision-wise.com&blog-title=decision-wise
Bence Boros - Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/dBc8nCqNg5E
Leo Manjarrez - Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/q6vBkixu1zs
A# U# - Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/XjIFw2ydEcU
Jason Leung - Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/_joJ1MbZexo
Erlend Ekseth - Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/0a5VbkqqFFE
Curtis MacNewton - Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/vVIwtmqsIuk
Phil Coffman - Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/anV_zgNDZhcmillions
https://issuu.com/theapplabb/docs/employhttps://issuu.com/theapplabb/docs/employ