Matthew Coleman

[Quoted] “We do a weekly book club at work, and when we were rolling out a new book recently we wanted to do something special for it. So we spoofed ‘Watch Me’ by Silento.”

The results… speak for themselves.”

-Matthew Coleman, Director of Marketing

[Quoted] “Every week we hold a 1 hour book club meeting (half the company on Wednesday 10a-11a, half on Thursday 10a-11a). We use this time for discussion on personal development books on subjects like motivation, financial discipline, stress management, interpersonal relationship development. It’s one of the highlights of the team’s week, and one of our primary employee engagement drivers.”

There is a ton of talk about the keys to employee engagement, including an endless number of blog posts and research reports that claim to reveal the secret to getting peak performance out of your team.

Want to know the truth? You have to put your employees first.

That’s it. It’s a simple rule for success for any business. It’s also a critical one.

Employee turnover is a major concern for employers. In fact, according to a 2015 study by SHRM and Globoforce, employee turnover/retention is the number-one workplace challenge facing HR leaders today.

Employee turnover is a business killer. Want to see how much it’s stealing from your business? Plug your own numbers into this employee turnover calculator and see for yourself.

Employee engagement is a good news/bad news proposition.

On the bright side, employee engagement is at its highest level since 2000, and overall employee engagement was up 2 percent from 2013 to 2014, per a January 2015 Gallup poll. Overall, 31.5 percent of U.S. employees are engaged at work. This is a good statistic, but only in the “sort of” sense.

There’s also bad news. The percentage of employees that Gallup categorized as “not engaged” remained flat. It now sits at 51… Show more

Employee engagement is a good news/bad news proposition.

On the bright side, employee engagement is at its highest level since 2000, and overall employee engagement was up 2 percent from 2013 to 2014, per a January 2015 Gallup poll. Overall, 31.5 percent of U.S. employees are engaged at work. This is a good statistic, but only in the “sort of” sense.

There’s also bad news. The percentage of employees that Gallup categorized as “not engaged” remained flat. It now sits at 51 percent, more than half of the U.S. workforce. For “actively disengaged employees,” it’s 17.5 percent.

Combined, that’s a mind-numbing 68.5 percent of employees who are apathetic, unenthusiastic, and not committed to the company. Essentially, they punch the clock, count down the hours, and collect their paycheck.

In the United States, we have a real problem with disengaged employees. But are disengaged employees the issue, or are they a symptom of a larger problem? Show less

[Quoted] A simple thanks will do. An easy answer is regular praise and recognition. “Not everyone is motivated by money,” suggested Matthew Coleman, marketing director at MyEmployees. “In fact, many will turn down a job that pays more money if they currently work at one where they feel like they are contributing to something bigger than themselves and are regularly appreciated.”

Businesses are always looking for ways to run a tighter ship.

It happens to everyone at some point or another. When it does, you start to look for ways to save money anywhere you can. This is where many companies make a fatal mistake.

That fatal mistake? Mismanaging personnel.

When a business starts an employee recognition program, the focus is typically on generating goodwill and excitement for the staff. That is a noble effort, and it’s a great start! But, unfortunately, a program only built to be a “pat on the back” for a job well done doesn’t last very long. There are several reasons why most employee recognition programs fade or fail, and one reason inevitably becomes justifying the cost.

Most businesses know, on some level, that the cost of employee turnover is a problem. They view it as a mere inconvenience that must be dealt with, a cost of doing business. That’s until you put a dollar amount on its effect. Even seeing an “estimate” of what you’re losing will shock you!

[Quoted] “Any time someone asks about the core strength builder of our company culture, I point to two words: book club,” says Matthew Coleman (@matthewjcoleman), Marketing Director at MyEmployees. “As a company, we read self-development books together, with topics ranging across motivation, productivity, financial security, inspiration, and more. Every Wednesday morning from 10 to 11, everyone in the company meets to talk about what we've learned and to share insights. The time is paid… Show more

[Quoted] “Any time someone asks about the core strength builder of our company culture, I point to two words: book club,” says Matthew Coleman (@matthewjcoleman), Marketing Director at MyEmployees. “As a company, we read self-development books together, with topics ranging across motivation, productivity, financial security, inspiration, and more. Every Wednesday morning from 10 to 11, everyone in the company meets to talk about what we've learned and to share insights. The time is paid on-the-clock because the company invests in each employee as a person, not just a worker. It's a bonding experience, bringing together co-workers who share office space as well as people from departments that don't normally get to mingle. Here's the blog post that describes the vision our CEO had when he originally started book club: Build Your People First, and They'll Build Your Company.” Show less

[Quoted] “Creating a better workplace is all about improving employee engagement, and employee engagement is best addressed as a leadership issue,” says Matthew Coleman (@matthewjcoleman), Marketing Director at MyEmployees. “First, use an anonymous employee survey to gather feedback from the team, and you'll find out exactly what they think about their workplace, their job, and you. Next, use what you find out to make improvements in the leadership team on things like communication, motivation,… Show more

[Quoted] “Creating a better workplace is all about improving employee engagement, and employee engagement is best addressed as a leadership issue,” says Matthew Coleman (@matthewjcoleman), Marketing Director at MyEmployees. “First, use an anonymous employee survey to gather feedback from the team, and you'll find out exactly what they think about their workplace, their job, and you. Next, use what you find out to make improvements in the leadership team on things like communication, motivation, and/or appreciation. Finally, let your improvements take root over a period of about six months, and then re-survey the team. You'll get a new result in the follow-up assessment that you can use as a quantifiable measurement of improvement.” Show less