About Lesson
There’s a difference between being at work and really being there. The Gallup Management Journal places employees in one of three categories:
- Engaged: These employees are passionate about work and feel connected to their company. These are the innovators; the movers and shakers.
- Not Engaged: These are the zombies in your organization. They put in their eight hours and the bare minimum amount of effort to get by.
- Actively Disengaged: These employees are disgruntled. They waste away their hours on the Internet and on the phone. They may even be actively sabotaging the work of other employees.
Here is a graph showing the makeup of the average organization.

(Source: http://gmj.gallup.com/content/20770/Gallup-Study-Feeling-Good-Matters-Workplace.aspx)
Your onboarding program should aim to increase employee engagement, thereby increasing productivity and reducing turnover. So how do we do this?
The Richard Ivey School of Business suggests that we put the ten C’s into practice.
- Connect with your employees. No matter what your position, take the time to speak with members of your staff individually.
- Give your employees the opportunity to advance their career. This means you should hold employees accountable, provide opportunities for learning and advancement, and ensure that people have meaningful and challenging work.
- Create a clear People can’t follow you if they don’t know where you’re going!
- Convey your vision, your expectations, and feedback.
- Congratulate employees when they make a contribution or do something positive.
- Give employees a chance to contribute to the organization.
- Give employees control over their jobs as much as possible.
- Create a collaborative Teamwork is a great motivator, and research by the Gallup organization shows that having a best friend at work is one of the biggest engagers.
- Ensure your company is credible and has a good reputation.
- Create confidence in your employees and in your company.