Your Best Employees Will Quit! Here's How They Become Evangelists Instead
That’s me in the picture above giving my 5 min Ted talk on how Employee Engagement = Content Marketing at Woman and Color. Then I made it into an article because I am a writer, first and furthermore, SEO but at some point, this will be a reference guide for companies who have learned to market smarter —not harder. Keep reading…
We’ve all had at least one or two jobs we’ve absolutely loved.
Like the crush, you’ve been crushing on for so long — now is crushing on you — and you don’t know where it will lead — but you’re completely on board — and your confidence is through the roof — type of love.
Don’t you just love that reciprocal type of love?!
Fortunately for me, I’ve had 2 and more jobs I’ve loved and they reciprocated the same. Only this type of love also came with a paycheck.
One, in particular — matched my expertise, allowed autonomy in my role (after I passed the 3-month probationary period of course) and they hooked me up with my very own Mac computer.
For my design/techie nerds — you know the level of importance of having premium tools to execute your job to its highest standard. Now any place I apply to I request a Mac computer…most will probably deny it, and I’ll deal, but it would be a bonus. *Employers are you writing this down?*
As a result, in the first 3–6 months, I brought in noteworthy wins. I increased client numbers and engagement exponentially, marketed and promoted two sold-out events then slam-dunked the organization into a major publication feature.
I was on fire.
The team and I were jellying.
In a nutshell, I was in my element and becoming a significant asset to the company. However, something was still off.
Uh-oh, the honeymoon phase was fizzling out.
I didn’t feel my efforts were valued. No matter how much I was helping to raise the organization’s profile, my manager, still made me feel disposable.
Instead of allowing my feelings to decrease my productivity, I arranged a meeting to address my concerns.
Let’s PAUSE here.
You’re the employer, and you have a high-performing player, like myself *pops collar*.
Do you:
A) Pile on the responsibility
B) Carry on business as usual
C) Provide professional development opportunities
In the world of high employee engagement C) Provide professional development opportunities is always the answer.
However, it’s not the case in most workplaces.
Let’s hit PLAY on my little story.
I entered the meeting feeling confident that my work ethic and the results I was bringing to the boardroom would make it a smooth conversation.
Sorta like this: “How can we best support you?” “What do you need to keep performing at this level?” “Do you need another Mac computer?.”
What happened next — I was not expecting.
Instead, I was met with disappointment.
More responsibilities were dumped in my lap (along with a few of my colleague’s tasks), my requests were blocked as well as my professional development and business — it carried on as usual.
A couple of months later, when I was offered to extend on my contract — it was a no brainer for me to decline. Especially with no plans on my employer’s end to bend in our stalemate negotiation.
In most cases, employees in my position would not quit — they’d tough it out and hope it got better. They’d tried their darndest not to harbour resentment or worst become disgruntled.
We know how this story goes though, employees who are not heard usually become bitter and the workplace slowly becomes toxic. And toxicity can become cancerous to an organization’s growth.
Employees are the Biggest Asset to a Company’s Brand.
Global studies reveal that 79 percent of people who quit their jobs cite ‘lack of appreciation’ as their reason for leaving. (FORBES. 2018)
Now, here’s how they become evangelists instead.
MAKE THEM YOUR THOUGHT-LEADERS AND IT WILL BOOST YOUR ONLINE REPUTATION
Every single employee that walks through the door is an expert.
By creating content that pulls from the vast experience and expertise of the team — it builds a rock-solid online presence.
By getting employees involved with what they’d like to see the company highlight, it unleashes their professional knowledge to produce whitepapers, articles (like this), infographics, video series, case studies, interviews, checklist etc.
The content ideas are endless, and this ensures a positive online reputation.
MAKE THEM YOUR BIGGEST BADDEST ADVOCATES AND YOU’LL RECRUIT IN OLYMPIC-RECORD TIME
When companies provide the social tools & resources employees need to do their job well, it cuts down on inefficiency costs and recruiting new hires isn’t a chore.
Being able to tap into an employees’ social media network is invaluable. On average, employee networks have 10 times as many connections as a company’s Profile Page of followers. (LINKEDIN. 2017)
It’s no longer a faceless organizational logo promoting initiatives, events or job openings on Twitter. The team now becomes an army, and the know-like-trust factor of the brand explodes.
MAKE THEM HAPPY AND THEY’LL STAY
When employees are valued and appreciated, they put a ring on it and are committed.
Companies should not hesitate to provide professional development opportunities, offer flex work environments or encourage external endeavours and advancement in their careers.
That includes outside passions and side-hustles.
An engaged employee is a high-performing one, and that only attracts more high-performing players to the team.
Companies like Hootsuite, Google and LinkedIn, put employee engagement as a top priority —by featuring them in their online publications and supporting their employees’ creative and innovative pursuits.
Something any true diverse and inclusive organization should aspire to attain.
In the end, you get to decide how your brand shows up online — but more importantly, you get to have a reciprocal type of love.
*Interested in a communications consultant that can train the team and help you form the social media policy at your organization? Download the free report and let’s see how I can help!
