We all have witnessed minor or sometimes even major destructive acts done against specific groups of people, around us, and even at our workplaces. For example, when your boss piles over last minute work while you're busy, and you still get it done on time. They would probably say, ”You’re surprisingly fast”! This is a form of verbal microaggression. And these can take the form of not just verbal, but behavioural, or even environmental aggressions. 

Individuals of colour, women, people with disabilities, religious minorities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are among those who are often targeted, or seen different, which is something that is quite weird considering the fact that we live in the 21st century. Individuals who convey such behaviour towards others may not realise they are doing as these are sometimes unintended, and people are unaware that they are causing harm to others.‍

What are microaggressions?

Insults, rude comments, and overall irritable conduct are all examples of microaggressions.

They're a highly particular set of words, questions, or behaviours that are hurtful because they relate to a person's membership in a group that is discriminated against or stereotyped. And one of the things that makes them so unsettling is that they occur on a regular basis, often without any malice intent, in normal life.

In the workplace, microaggressions are prevalent. They're the unintended, everyday exchanges or acts that express bias toward historically oppressed populations. Microaggressions can have a negative impact on a person's ability to accomplish their job, their sense of security, and their general happiness.‍‍

Studies show that women of color generally receive less support from managers than white women—and Black women receive the least support. Black women are far less likely to get help navigating organizational politics and balancing work and personal lives, and managers are less likely to promote their accomplishments. The same dynamic holds true for access to managers: only about a third of Black women socialize with their manager outside of work, compared to about half of white women.

Microaggressions differ from overt prejudice in that persons who commit microaggressions may not even realise they're doing something wrong. Learning to notice microaggressions and adjust our language accordingly can have a huge impact on our coworkers' happiness, productivity, and retention

Here’s an example:

Person 1: “Wow, you are so articulate!”  

Alternative for person 1: “Thank you! That presentation was informative.”  

Here’s Why: Mentioning someone’s ability to articulate implies that you’re surprised by someone’s ability to do so. Empower others based on their talents and celebrate their wins

Look out for these forms of microaggressions

Microaggressions can take place in various forms. Here’s how it can happen:‍

Verbal microaggression‍

A verbal microaggression is a harmful or stigmatising comment or inquiry directed against a marginalised group of people. For example remarks like, "You're surprisingly good at networking’. This is a type of verbal microaggression

‍Behavioral microaggression‍

A behavioural microaggression happens when someone acts in a cruel or discriminatory manner toward a certain group of individuals. A boss neglecting a transgender person and insteadgiving tasks to a cisgender person (someone whose biological sex matches their gender identity) first is an example of a behavioural microaggression.‍

Environmental microaggression‍

When a subtle discrimination happens inside society, it is called an environmental microaggression. An organization campus solely buildings named after white individuals is an example of an environmental microaggression.

How harmful can microaggressions be?

Microaggressions can be detrimental and distressing for those who are subjected to them. Researchers that looked into the effects of racial microaggressions on individuals discovered that those who were subjected to them on a frequent basis had poorer self-esteem. 

These racial microaggressions were also found to be particularly damaging in professional and school contexts, according to the researchers. Researchers also discovered that those who had been subjected to ethnic microaggressions had higher levels of despair and trauma in another study. However, the study was unable to prove that the microaggressions were the actual cause of the individuals' depression.

Comments made by one employee can sometimes upset another even if they are made inadvertently and without intentional bias. Microaggressions are frequently caused by assumptions about a person's colour, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, or age.

Here’s how you can handle microaggression the right way:

Many businesses are beginning to recognise the size and necessity of dealing with workplace microaggression. It's critical to help employees realise how subconscious preconceptions might manifest in unforeseen ways so they can begin to be more cautious with their words and actions. 

While dealing with microaggression or any kind of bias, corporate cultures that are proactive in addressing it teach employees two golden approaches: 

• Speak up in a non-confrontational manner when faced with microaggression or unconscious bias.
  

• Make business decisions based on facts and avoid making decisions with unconscious prejudice.
  

Microaggression and its types with examples

Microaggressions in the workplace are classified into several types, the most common of which are microassaults, microinsults, and microinvalidations. Each type has the potential to have a long-term impact on the target's capacity to feel a sense of belonging or social acceptance at work and at home, which is a critical component of realising one's full potential and feeling acknowledged as a valuable member of society. 

Here are some of the most prevalent microaggressions with examples to look out for:

‍Microinsults ‍

A microinsult is a remark that conveys that the demographic group is not respected, but the target is considered as an outlier. In the eyes of the person who says it, it is often taken as a compliment, but it is actually a blatant insult to the person who gets it. Because of their own unconscious bias or prejudice, the person delivering the microinsult typically does not recognise they have insulted the target. 

A microinsult is when someone assures you that you are not like the bad stereotype of your oppressed group. For example, you’re so different from the people of your town, you don’t seem like a part of them at all!‍

Microinvalidation‍

A microinvalidation is a remark or action that minimises the experiences of members of historically marginalised groups. It is especially common for members of a group who want to see change or express themselves when it comes to the challenges they have faced as a marginalised member of society, but those who have not experienced the same thing or who do not want to draw attention to themselves and become a target dismiss, discredit, and even laugh at the target.‍

Microassaults‍

A microassault is a form of overt prejudice or criticism perpetrated against a minority group with the purpose of discrediting them. Indirect racial epithets carved into a wall, the posting of historically offensive symbols, such as confederate flags, slurs said to others related to religion or sexuality, for example. mocking a group's dress or cultural norms, or other language or actions that signal to the marginalised group that they are inferior and worthy of mistreatment or bias are examples of this type of microassault.

Smart tips to prevent and deal with Microaggressions at work

Microaggressions have a subtle but pervasive influence that can keep getting worse over time. When this happens, navigating them may be stressful for those on the receiving end. These can be destructive to an individual as the impact of microaggressions on an individual can be devastating. 

Set your worries aside, because we’ve got you covered. 

Here are a few smart tips to deal with microaggressions at your workplace:

‍Create a welcoming/ supportive environment. ‍

Encourage your team to listen to and respect one another, and provide a support and accountability system so that no one feels left out while dealing with microaggressions. Above all, make it clear that you support your team and their individual decisions to speak up when they feel forced to do so, as well as that you will similarly support whenever they need a little push to speak up.‍

Don’t hesitate in to create changes, even for policies‍

Changes in the organisation and/or policies should be advocated for. You may, for example, start a petition to require gender-neutral restrooms or request a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion survey to assess and understand how diverse employees feel at your organisation. You can also lobby for more resources and support networks for people from underrepresented communities, or for the organisation to undertake scheduled focus sessions to encourage greater empathy and awareness.‍

Encourage timely discussions‍

Start by holding informal small-group discussions about themes like racism, sexism, and ableism if your team is uncomfortable discussing them. Inquire if anyone on your team has ever been the victim of a microaggression at a previous job or with a client. Discuss with your team how they could react if they see a customer, client, or coworker performing a microaggression. It is easier to address in other situations if you practise expressing the words out loud in a safe atmosphere.‍

Create awareness‍

Increase coworker and friend awareness of microaggressions. This can help to alleviate some of the work-related stress that marginalised people suffer. You can share resources and promote awareness of unconscious biases, the various sorts of microaggressions that exist, and the reality that we are all capable of committing them as you continue to educate and grow.‍

Be sure‍

They can start by debating whether or not the microaggression occurred. A microaggression might be subtle at times, and a person must confirm that they are a victim. Support from family and friends, as well as social media groups, can assist in determining whether an action or conduct constituted a microaggression.‍

Respond at a convenient pace‍

A more moderate response might be to speak with the individual  privately afterwards to explain why the microaggression was offensive. The danger here is the temporal lag. A follow-up dialogue entails assisting the person who perpetrated the microaggression in recalling and then appreciating the impact of the microaggression. ‍

Discern‍

Determine how much time and effort you want to devote to dealing with the microaggression. Do not feel obligated to reply to every occurrence; instead, feel free to do so when the time comes.‍

Standing up is important‍

Take a stand for your coworkers from minority communities. There are various things you can do if you notice a microaggression happening. Try questioning the individual in a very subtle way by saying, “What made you say that”, "Could you just explain it to me?" If you aren't in a position where you feel comfortable speaking up right now, you can always approach the individual later.

We must overcome our fear of being wrong when it comes to educating ourselves and improving how we interact with others. The easiest approach to achieve this is to never make assumptions about someone and to always ask thoughtful questions. When employees endeavour to understand one another, the workplace becomes much better, resulting in improved outcomes and overall growth.

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Measuring employee productivity is generally one of the top priorities for most business leaders to add efficiency to organizational operations. Organizations today have decades of trends and data to fall back on when it comes to in office productivity. However, the present circumstances are completely transforming the way we work. Invariably, the rise of a remote workforce requires organizations to rethink their approach to measuring employee productivity. 

Challenges in Measuring Employee Productivity Remotely

While most organizations have mastered the art of measuring employee productivity in a conventional work environment, serious challenges are surfacing as the workforce is going remote. “Is my team still putting in the same effort and time”? is one of the biggest questions that managers are asking themselves. This challenge is arising because generally, productivity has been measured in terms of the hours that an employee puts in.  While this worked for industrial workers, measuring productivity in hours is not a robust way, when it comes to knowledge workers, in times when the workforce is remote. 

Additionally, business leaders wonder how much time are employees actually putting in, in comparison to the time they seem to be logged in. The inability to constantly monitor over employee work is proving to be a challenge for measuring productivity. Therefore, most organizations are now trying to experiment with newer ways to measure employee productivity.

The Way Out

Undoubtedly, measuring employee productivity for a remote workforce is challenging. Fortunately, some organizations, ahead of their time, have been successful in identifying the top strategies to win their way out. 

1. Measure deliverables, not time

To begin with, organizations need to completely let go of the time metric that has been in place for a long time. Simply calculating for how many hours an employee was logged on from their system may not be a robust metric for all employees to count on. For instance, no matter how many hours a designer spends on the system, what ultimately counts is the number/ type of design, he/ she is able to produce.  Thus, managers and business leaders must focus on the output that each employee ought to deliver. There should be a clear communication of measurable output for each task. Invariably, productivity or its absence should be measured on the performance of achievement of these said goals. This means that simply equating the number of hours with productivity is essentially flawed, especially when the team is working from home. At the same time, simply achieving the desired output in quantity is not the solution. Measuring employee productivity should be a sum of the quantity of output delivered factoring in the quality of work too.  

2. Two-way check-ins

The next metric to measure employee productivity is by stepping up communication. This means that the managers should make an extra effort to constantly check up on their team members to gauge the pulse of work. One can measure productivity by judging how prompt the employee is when checked upon. This means that the employee should be responsive and active in communicating with his/ her manager.

At the same time, the employee must be able to give a quick update on his/ her work during the day. Only when employees are working productively will they be able to give quick updates, else they will simply throw motherhood statements like, “I am on track” or “The work is going well”. Additionally, measuring employee productivity should include looking for two-way check ins. This means that employees should be actively reporting their progress to their managers without being prompted every time. When an employee has been productive, he/she would be more than active in sharing the progress, hence checking in regularly.  

3. Use productivity tools

Productivity tools like Asana, Trello, Monday, BaseCamp can be excellent tools for measuring employee productivity. On the one hand, they can help organizations clearly allocate tasks to team members with specific timelines and instructions. Secondly, it can help employees clock in their progress in real time. Since productivity is all about performing the work in hand, the ability to measure it in real time is a boon for organizations managing a remote workforce. What is most effective about these tools is the fact that they are completely transparent and ensure accountability. Each employee’s progress is captured and organizations can easily use these data points to reward the ones who are actually working hard, albeit remotely.

4. Have regular performance reviews

Conventionally, performance reviews have been an annual or half yearly process. However, with a remote workforce, this trend has to change. Organizations need to schedule more frequent performance reviews to measure how much an employee has been productive. At the same time, these virtual review meetings can be a way to gauge the challenges a remote workforce is facing in productivity when working from home. The frequency could be anywhere from weekly to bimonthly, depending upon the nature of work and more importantly, the team size. In case of small teams, reviews could take place every week. This could in fact be a chance for employees to illustrate how productive they have been and what value add they bring to the organization. Such presentations by employees will make measuring employee productivity a cake walk.

Measuring Employee Productivity: Reinventing the Wheel

To sum up, it is a no brainer that organizations need to rethink and reinvent the way they measure productivity if they want a realistic picture. Simply using traditional time logs will yield an incomplete picture, which will not be a value add to the organization’s top line. In such a situation, it is very important to also reinvent the hiring wheel and onboard individuals who are fit for the job, and they will ensure productivity. Invariably, when the employees are suitable for the role, measuring employee productivity becomes seamless. Wondering how to augment productivity with the right talent and team, stay tuned to this space as we will bring to you some insightful updates!

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Employee engagement is increasingly becoming one of the top ways for organizations to attract, retain, and develop top industry talent. Yet, despite significant investment and effort, many organizations are unable to gauge whether or not the employee engagement initiatives are impactful or not. This is because most organizations don’t have a system to measure employee engagement. 

While asking employees whether or not the engagement initiatives are working is one way of measuring employee engagement, there other employee engagement metrics and KPIs that can tell the tale. The objective of using these metrices is to ensure that the practices being adopted are able to move the needle as they intend to and identify the gaps to implement corrective measures. 

Let us dive deep into that. 

11 employee engagement metrics to use

1. Employee NPS

Employee NPS or Employee Net Promoter Score, is an effective and efficient way of measuring employee engagement. It involves encouraging employees to answer a simple question on how likely they are to recommend their organization to their peers and their network. The scoring is generally from 0-10. 

NPS rating can help organizations categorize their employees in three parts based on their levels of engagement:

• 0-6: Detractors, who are unsatisfied and disengaged 
• 7-8: Passives, who are neither engaged or disengaged 
• 9-10: Promoters, who are actively engaged and act as ambassadors of the organization
  

e-NPS= {(No. of Promoters – No. of Detractors)/Total No. of Respondents} x 100

Hence, e-NPS is a straightforward employee engagement metric that enables organizations to gauge the loyalty, satisfaction, and commitment of their employees, which is a direct reflection of their experiences. 

2. Voluntary attrition

Organizations that have higher levels of engagement are seamlessly able to retain their top talent and offer opportunities for them to grow and vice versa. As one of the key employee engagement KPIs, voluntary attrition seeks to capture the percentage of employees who leave an organization relative to those who were there at the beginning of the year. 

Voluntary attrition rate= {No. of employees who quit/Total no. of employees at the beginning of the year} x 100

A high voluntary attrition rate indicates an organizational disconnect and lower levels of engagement. However, this rate must be evaluated in a contextual setting taking into account the reasons for attrition. For instance, if an employee quits because he/she is moving to a different city, it may not indicate poor engagement experience. 

3. Absenteeism

Engaged employees seldom take unplanned leaves of absence. When engaged, employees are motivated to come to work as they feel valued and believe their contribution will make a difference to organizational success. Therefore, absenteeism rate serves as an effective employee engagement metric. 

Absenteeism can most simply be defined as the number of unplanned leaves that employees take due to illness or otherwise. 

Absenteeism rate: {No. of unplanned absences/Total no. of days in the period} x 100

Greater absenteeism rate is often a reflection of poor levels of employee engagement. 

4. Productivity

The relationship between engagement and productivity has been quoted very often to create a case for investment in employee engagement activities. According to a Gallup survey, companies with highly engaged workforce also scored 17% higher on productivity. 

Productivity as an employee engagement KPI focuses on the output that employees are able to deliver, relative to the input. Invariably, more engaged employees have higher levels of productivity and go the extra mile, while those who are disengaged, perform only what is expected. 

The levels of productivity for different functional areas need to be measured with different parameters. For instance, in the sales team, productivity can be measured with the number of conversions or sales closed. Whereas, for marketing, it could be the number of leads generated with a campaign or the increase in website traffic.

5. Vacation days used

Studies show there is a direct correlation between engagement levels and work-life balance. Work-life balance manifests itself in the vacation days used. If employees take a decent number of vacation days or paid time off, it indicates that they have a good work-life balance and are not overworked. 

This further reflects higher levels of engagement. Lack of vacation days used might point towards being overworked to the capacity of not being able to take time off, or a lack of confidence or comfort in asking for time off. Whatever may be the case, lower number of used vacation days indicates lower levels of engagement. 

6. Employee health and wellness

Many organizations believe that health and wellness is a driver of employee engagement. When employees are engaged at work, stress levels are regulated and do not impact health and wellbeing. A key trait of disengagement is anxiety, stress, and regular episodes of burnout. This generally leads to an increased number of sick days and lower productivity over time — making employee health and wellness an important employee engagement metric that organizations must keep a track of. 

Greater levels of engagement facilitates motivation and an excitement to work, ultimately leading to a healthier and happier workforce. 

7. Employee ratings and review

This is an easy one to gauge and understand for measuring employee engagement. Engaged employees are often highly satisfied and motivated in their professional life. Thus, they speak highly of the organization. On the flip side, those who are disengaged may not have something good to say, but do have many cons to share. 

Regularly checking employee ratings and reviews on sites such as LinkedIn or Glassdoor is one of the top employee engagement metrics. Greater number of positive reviews, combined with a higher rating directly indicates higher levels of engagement. However, it is equally important to be mindful of the components which are contributing to a pleasant experience and areas that still deserve work, based on the reviews.

8. New hire-failure rate

Employee engagement kicks in from the very beginning. An employee starts feeling engaged or disengaged even before his/her formal onboarding takes place. Thus, an important way for measuring employee engagement is to track the new hire-failure rate throughout the employee lifecycle, but especially in the first three months. 

If multiple new hires leave the organization within 90 days of joining, it indicates that the organization was unable to engage them and their aspirations, reflecting a poor hiring and onboarding experience. 

New hire-failure rate: {No. of new hires who quit in the first 90 days/ Total no. of new hires} x 100

The lower the new hire-failure rate, the higher is the engagement quotient for organizations. This is simply because, when employees stay back after 3 months, it indicates that they feel some level of connection and interest that can be nurtured further. 

9. Customer experience

Engaged employees create an unparalleled experience for the customers. They go beyond simple customer service to focus on customer success and ensure that every concern of their customers is taken care of, with utmost priority. However, those who are disengaged will do only what is needed and for them, customers will not be on the top priority. Here customer NPS, like employee NPS can play a major role.

While customer NPS will be a cumulative measure of the product/ service, employee interaction, brand promise, etc. but it gives a fair picture of employee engagement as well. Since humans connect with humans, customer experience is mostly impacted by employee interaction, which is a factor of employee engagement. 

10. Internal promotion rate

The right learning and development opportunities lead to career growth and promotions. Therefore, greater levels of engagement result in better promotions within the organization, rather than scouting for leadership positions outside. Here, the internal promotion rate is integral for measuring employee engagement:

Internal promotion rate: {No. of internal promotions/ Total no. of employees} x 100

A higher internal promotion rate indicates that employees are leveraging and benefiting from the work exposure as well as from the learning and development opportunities presented to them, leading them to promotions and appraisals. Thus, making it a crucial employee engagement KPI.

11. Employee ambassadors

Finally, measuring employee engagement requires identifying the number of employee ambassadors in the organization. When employees are engaged, they participate more openly, spread good word about the organization, and much more. 

Identifying employee ambassadors is relatively simple.

• They bring in the best referrals for open positions. 
• They are most active in team building and other activities in the organization as well as on the intranet. 
• They post empowering stories about their workplace on the social handles. 
  

In short, they are walking and talking brand ambassadors and that’s one of the top employee engagement metrics that organizations can capture. 

Final Thoughts 

It is important to not only make an investment in employee engagement, but also ensure these investments are strategic and judicious. Having a strategic approach includes critical employee engagement metrics and KPIs in place. 

These metrics need authentic and genuine responses from employees as well as an analytical study of the workplace data to create insights which make sense. Employee pulse surveys, 1:1 meetings are great tools to gather continuous feedback from employees and create an action plan accordingly. 

To take your employee experience to new heights with our customizable employee engagement module. Book a free demo today!

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With employee experience becoming an important factor of organizational success, numerous HR professionals are falling back upon different theories of motivation. One such throwback has been to understand Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Many of you might have theoretically come across this theory which states that human motivation is a result of striving towards 5 basic human needs. However, using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a base to boost employee motivation and garner better experience is a territory worth exploring. 

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: An Organizational Lens

If you don an organizational lens and dissect Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, you will be able to create a clear match between the needs of individuals that he states and what employees seek at work. The 5 major needs namely physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem and self- actualization all can be realized through organizational offerings. 

A steady and fair compensation along with job security take care of the first two levels. While these might motivate the employees to show up at work, engagement is still a far way ahead. While they may not contribute directly, without meeting these needs, one cannot climb up the ladder. When employees identify with their work and have a healthy work culture, the need for belongingness is met, and the breeding ground for engagement is set. Recognition, acknowledgement for work and a realization of their value in the organization sets ground for self esteem and accelerates engagement manifold. Finally, alignment between employee’s goals and organizational values along with opportunities for growth and unleashing full potential lay the foundation for self actualization where employees are highly engaged which translates to greater productivity and better performance. 

Reinventing the Wheel Post Covid

While in the conventional day and age this approach of applying Maslow’s hierarchy of needs aligned with employee engagement seamlessly, the spread of Covid-19 and the advent of a new normal has put these claims on shaky grounds. Undoubtedly, challenges to satisfaction of each of these needs is on the cards. Fortunately, organizations are successfully reinventing their approach to satisfy these needs in the most creative manner and keep the engagement quotient high.

• Physiological Needs
  

In the pre Covid era, physiological needs from an organizational level were taken for granted. However, with major salary cuts and salary delays, these needs stand in deep danger. While organizations may not find themselves in a position to completely meet these needs to facilitate employee engagement, there are a few steps that can come into play. Organizations should make an extra effort to focus on employee wellbeing and ensure that the basic necessities, like food, rent, etc. are taken care of, even in the face of salary cuts. Organizations need to constantly monitor employee pulse in terms of their physiological needs and offer reassurance accordingly.

• Security Needs
  

Job security has been one of the top stressors in the face of Covid-19 and a direct threat to the second rung of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. There is a lot of anxiety about losing one’s job, which is coming in the way of engagement at work. Organizations can cross this bridge by facilitating transparency to the largest extent possible. It is important to keep the communication channels open and constantly educate your employees about the state of affairs, instead of hasty firing.  In fact, it is better to over-communicate than feed any sort of ambiguity and confusion among the employees on their future in the organization. Ambiguity generally leads to employees expecting the worst, which invariably impacts engagement and a feeling of insecurity. 

• Belongingness Needs
  

While some organizations are struggling with making ends meet due to the ongoing crisis, others which are more fortunate find challenges in the third step of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Employees feel a sense of belongingness when they are in a physical space, and with their coworkers and colleagues. In the face of remote work, employees are feeling lost and crave a sense of belongingness. To combat this, organizations need to step up their communication game and facilitate virtual interaction along with some team bonding activities. At the same time, virtual coffee and conversation sessions, beyond work, can be effective to drive that sense of belongingness and engagement once again. 

• Esteem Needs
  

Organizations that have their communication sorted are reaching the next rung of challenge in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This revolves around self esteem needs. In a traditional setting, the more organizations recognize and acknowledge employees, the more they feel motivated and engaged at work. However, remote work and the added ambiguity and adjusting to the new ways of work put performance recognition to a back burner. Top and average performing employees are being treated on a similar level. Thus, there is a lack of incentive to perform and engage better when there is no recognition and acknowledgement for the same in front of others. Organizations can deal with this challenge by offering digital incentives and recognition. It might be a good idea to feature some of the top performers in a weekly newsletter or shoot out a company wide mail recognizing them. 

• Self Actualization Needs
  

The most forward looking organizations have even esteem needs in control and are leaving no stone unturned to acknowledge the performance of their employees, albeit online. The last bridge to cross then, in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is that of self actualization. However, with everything else taking over and the lack of a conducive work environment, employees find themselves unable to unleash their full potential. To cross this bridge, organizations should ensure that the work being given to employees contributes to their growth and professional development. Virtual learning and development in a personalized avatar can further actualization. At the same time, online mentoring and coaching can go a long way into satisfying the pinnacle need. 

Take One Level at a Time

While this is a comprehensive approach for organizations across different levels, the best option would be to take one step at a time, depending on your current situation. Start with wellbeing and wellness and navigate your way to unleashing of full potential. Finally, leveraging HR tech tools in the market that can help you gauge different levels of needs of your employees and identifying solutions for each can a way to stay ahead of the curve. The bottom line is that in the new normal, reinventing your strategies in tandem with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can boost engagement to new levels. 

Diversity in the workplace is increasingly becoming a top priority for all organizational leaders. Initially, workplace diversity was merely a tick in the box with a narrow focus on just hiring professionals from different age, geographical and gender groups. The conversation has now matured significantly, with expansion not only in the scope of what diversity in the workplace entails, but also how it pans out. Let’s dive deep into the various aspects of diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Understanding diversity in the workplace

In the simplest terms, workplace diversity can be understood as a workplace which gives equal voice, recognition, representation and value to individuals of different backgrounds ranging from gender, race, culture, ethnicity to sexual orientation, religion and much more. More importantly, diversity in the workplace must not only take into consideration overt differences in looks and appearances, but also the covert ones, like differences in thoughts, opinions, perspectives, experiences, etc. At the same time, diversity and inclusion in the workplace is no longer limited to hiring diverse groups, but also ensuring their equal participation in all organizational processes and decision making. 

Types of diversity in the workplace

As the understanding of diversity in the workplace has been expanding, so has the types of diverse groups which are being given equal recognition. There is no global benchmark on which types for diversity an organization has to take into account, as the backgrounds of individuals vary significantly. Here is a quick list of types of diversity that organizations consider significant today:

• Gender
• Culture
• Race
• Age
• Socio-economic background
• Ethnicity
• Sexual orientation
• Geographical background
• Disabilities
• Education
• Language
  

This list can go on based on the unique experiences of each organization. More often than not, gender diversity in the workplace, age, geography is common to all organizations irrespective of their location and industry focus. Other forms like cultural diversity in the workplace or diversity of religion, socio-economic background, etc. are more common to developing countries like India. On the other hand, diversity of race, ethnicity, etc. are more found in organizations headquartered in western countries. 

Benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace

Increasingly, organizations are viewing diversity and inclusion in the workplace as a business case bringing along multiple benefits for both the employees as well as the employers. Some of the top benefits of workplace diversity include:

1. Innovation‍

Diversity brings along different ideas, perspectives and experiences which enables organizations to innovate and think out of the box. According to a 2018 study by Harvard Business Review, companies with higher than average diversity had 19% higher innovation revenues. Therefore, diverse thoughts can lead to new revenue streams with enterprise-wide innovation.

2. Market expansion

‍Workplace diversity also promotes competitive advantage for organizations as they are able to cater to diverse customer needs and expectations. According to research, around 70% of diverse companies are better positioned to capture new markets. Diversity ensures that your employees understand diverse markets and are able to make inroads into them.

3. Profits

‍Focus on workplace diversity positively impacts the bottom line of an organization as well. According to a McKinsey study, companies in the top quartile of gender diversity are 15% more likely to have financial returns that were above their national industry median. Additionally, a diverse team can boost productivity by 35%. Invariably, increased productivity indicates greater profits.  

4. Talent pool

‍Organizations that value diversity witness twin benefits when it comes to onboarding human resources. Firstly, they have access to a much larger talent pool when they are not targeting a homogeneous group of individuals. Secondly, professionals themselves believe an organization’s focus on diversity and inclusion is an important attribute when they are looking out for opportunities. According to Glassdoor, 67% of job seekers said that a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers. 

Creating a business case for diversity in the workplace: Going beyond the numbers

In addition to showcasing how a focus on diversity and inclusion in the workplace could yield greater productivity, innovation and other business performance indicators, it is important to scratch beyond the surface. Here are a few practices that organizations leading the diversity and inclusion dialogue have put to play to create leadership as well as employee buy-in:

1. Identify their pain points

‍Organizations can converse with leaders and employees on a deeper level and understand their pain points and any instances of stereotyping, discrimination, etc. they may have faced. It may not only be limited to their professional life, but can span across. Exclusion and discrimination at times takes such subtle forms that individuals don’t even realize it is happening to them. However, when they are made aware about the same, they become advocates of inclusion. In such a situation, those in positions of power and influence tend to make a difference and get inclined towards managing diversity in the workplace.  

2. Communicate employee pulse

‍Unless leaders acknowledge that there is a problem and need for diversity and inclusion, getting the needle moving towards building a business case is very difficult. Therefore, it is extremely crucial to let the leaders know the pulse of the organization as a whole. Organizations must gauge how their employees value diversity and their inclination towards working for an inclusive organization. When leaders are presented with evidence from their own organization, they are bound to see the business case for D&I.

‍

3. Negative reinforcement

‍It is also important to showcase the negative impact of not focusing on such efforts will create a sense of urgency and importance. Simply talking about how lack of D&I results in employee turnover and the cost of each employee turnover will be a good starting point. When leaders do a cost-benefit analysis, the cost saved on replacement of employees will outweigh the cost of D&I initiatives, creating a clear business case.  

4. Identify business challenges

‍Business challenges due to a lack of focus on diversity and inclusion can serve as a clear business case. For instance, if all other organizations in an industry are focusing on D&I, the organization not considering it as a business case might face reputational risks in the market. Therefore, it is very important to identify business challenges which either arise due to absence of workplace diversity efforts or which can have a potential solution with such efforts. 

How to measure the level of workplace diversity?

Before jumping on to how to manage diversity in the workplace and promote it, organizations must focus on measuring and tracking a few key metrics. Unless organizations have a baseline on the challenges to diversity along with the diversity of inclusion goals, their efforts and investments will not entail 100% success. The following metrics can help organizations identify gaps, prioritize initiatives and set targets to achieve their diversity goals:

1. Recruitment

‍The first metric to measure is the first step of the employee lifecycle. On the one hand, organizations must measure if their final recruitment process has a fair mix of diverse individuals, balanced with the application mix. For instance, if 40% of women applied, look at the mix of men and women who have actually been hired to check if it has a fair representation of women. Additionally, focus on identifying reasons for weakness of applicant diversity. For instance, if applications from a particular group are virtually missing, organizations need to revisit the job description and other parameters to rectify their recruitment strategies and processes.

2. Retention

‍Next in line, organizations must also evaluate their performance in retaining workplace diversity. At regular intervals, 5 years, 10 years and so on, organizations must measure their diversity mix and compare it with the previous levels to understand if the level of diversity is increasing or decreasing. 

3. Promotion

‍Organizations need to also track the promotions they make and compare the ones awarded to members of diverse groups vis-a-vis others. For instance, if the representation of women at the entry level is 30%, a similar proportion must be witnessed years later at the top management. If the situation is any different, then organizations need to revisit their development efforts, promotion parameters and retention strategies. 

4. Pay and benefits

‍This parameter to measure workplace diversity doesn’t need much explanation. Those at the same level, performing the same role with similar skills and competencies must receive similar compensation and benefits. Organizations that fair well on this metric are usually more diverse and inclusive.

In addition, metrics like representation across departments, participation in events, development opportunities, etc. are also important to gauge the true level of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. 

Organizations can leverage a variety of tools to measure and track these metrics and subsequently, set goals, conceptualize strategies and improve their performance. Employee inclusion surveys are an effective way to gauge employee opinion on diversity at the workplace, especially to understand their take on fairness of promotions, recognition, participation, etc. Focus group discussion with employees representing diverse groups to understand their pulse and pain points can also be highly effective. Finally, unconscious bias tests like the Implicit Association Test by Harvard can help organizations understand their position in the diversity and inclusion spectrum. 

How to promote diversity in the workplace? 

The following section will focus on how to manage diversity in the workplace and promote the same. Open communication, transparency, treating everyone with equality and personally are a few established practices, there are others equally effective, but sometimes overlooked. Based on industry benchmarks, we have curated a list of the best practices for leaders striving to promote workplace diversity: 

1. Get hiring right

‍Hire talent from diverse backgrounds starting with application sourcing. The job description must be inclusive and shouldn’t even subtly indicate preference for one group over another. Additionally, the criteria for selection must be objective. Many organizations emphasize on a cultural fit when it comes to hiring, the meaning of which is mostly subjective. Generally, cultural fit refers to a homogeneous group of people Therefore, the parameters for selection must be objective and comparable, supported by a diverse interview panel. Finally, organizations should limit the notion of referral hiring, where existing employees refer individuals from their networks for the role. While this is an easy way to access reliable talent, however, more often than not, this limits diversity. 

2. Policies and practices‍

Organizations must have a zero tolerance policy towards any form of discrimination, bullying etc. on any attribute, including diversity. Such policies must be effectively communicated with strategic practices for strong implementation. For instance, there must be a clear and easy process for grievance sharing and redressal, strict action against the perpetrator, if found guilty, etc. At the same time, supporting diverse groups by infrastructural and other efforts is also important. For instance, having feeding spaces for new mothers, promoting braille signage or ramps for those with physical disabilities can promote diverse representation. 

3. Training and mentoring

‍Promoting sensitization training programs, mentoring initiatives and other such efforts are likely to reduce unconscious bias and other obstacles in the way of workplace diversity. Not only will such programs help everyone value the perspectives and contributions of others, it will also inspire confidence in diverse groups to come up the curve in all parameters. Communicating in a sensitive manner, showcasing empathy, etc. are all by products of such efforts. 

4. Promote executive diversity

‍It is important to have diverse representation from top to bottom. Unless diverse groups see diversity at the C-suite level, they will always doubt their capabilities to rise in a particular organization. Therefore, workplace diversity must focus on creating diverse role models in leadership and executive positions with influence and decision making capabilities. 

Managing a diverse team remotely: Top 6 strategies

With a quick transition to remote work as a result of the pandemic has pushed organizations to reinvent their strategies on how to manage diversity in the workplace for a remote team. Here are the top six strategies that most forward looking organizations are adopting:

1. Facilitate team communication, preferably with video

‍Facilitate communication and collaboration between diverse team members by assigning group tasks and projects. Ensure that team members have access to tools like Slack, Trello, etc. for effective collaboration. In addition, virtual coffee breaks with video interaction between different employees can be a great tool.

2. Be mindful

‍Managing workplace diversity remotely requires business leaders and managers to be mindful and don a blanket of empathy. It is very important to understand the different set of challenges that each employee is facing given the remote scenario and personalizing the approach to team management. A cookie cutter approach of expecting everyone to work at the same time and deliver the same output together might be an overstretch. 

3. Create virtual Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)

‍Transitioning to a virtual ERGs is the need of the hour. There are several ways to go about this. For one, organizations could simply take their existing ERGs online. At the same time, there is sufficient opportunity for organizations to lead the way for newer and smaller ERGs which were previously shunned off because of capacity constraints. With the flexibility to join sessions from home, such ERGs will see an increase in participation from both those who identify with the cause, but are shy of participating in person and allies too. 

4. Virtual team building activities

‍Virtual team building activities which require team participation could be leveraged by pairing up diverse minds. Finally, organizations need to step up their tech game with the right tools like Zoom to conduct virtual sessions and meetups.

5. Encourage digital training

‍Managing a diverse team remotely requires significant training to deal with individual and collective biases. As the workforce is going remote, organizations need to move such training to digital platforms. It might be a good idea to experiment with HR tech tools that help employees in the identification of bias and offer best practices to combat the same. Such tools can be calibrated to match the personal pace of each employee. At the same time, they can ensure complete anonymity and help employees navigate their way out of different biases. 

6. Lead by example

‍Team leaders need to keep their bias and comfort at bay when dealing with team members remotely. Firstly, leaders must ensure an open door policy to inspire confidence in different team members to approach them for anything without hesitation. Secondly, they should not fall back on certain favorite employees just because it is easier to collaborate with them remotely. It is important to give each team member the same treatment even when they are working from home. 

Challenges to managing diversity in the workplace

Most organizations today acknowledge the importance of diversity in the workplace. Additionally, they possess the right resources and make sizable investments towards diversity and inclusion initiatives However, not all efforts reap success. Here are the top reasons why workplace initiatives fail in organizations: 

1. Lack of Leadership Buy-In

‍Whenever an advocate of workplace diversity brings up the topic, there is little conversation on the way forward. Either it is outrightly dismissed, or the charge is given to an HR professional to deliberate on the next steps. Invariably, the lack of leadership involvement prevents the development of a culture that sees value in diversity and inclusion, causing such initiatives to fail. 

Mitigating the challenge: It is worth the effort to illustrate to the senior stakeholders the ROI of diversity and inclusion programs. This doesn’t simply mean quoting data points from industry reports. Rather, it involves projecting the impact of such programs with specific benefits to the organization’s priorities. 

2. Employee Resistance

‍Lack of leadership buy-in tends to percolate down to employee resistance. When employees feel that their leadership is not serious about a particular line of action, their commitment to the same also decreases. Especially employees that do not come under the diversity gamete see diversity training more as a mandate than something they look forward to.

Mitigating the challenge: It might be a good idea to not force everyone to attend each diversity training. While some sessions can be held organization wide which are generic in nature, others can have a sign up system. The freedom of choice is likely to boost participation and prevent such initiatives from failure. 

3. Tick in the Box Approach‍

For many organizations, managing diversity in the workplace comes from FoMo or the fear of missing out or just because that’s the latest trend. In such a situation, diversity & inclusion initiatives become more of a tick in the box, as opposed to genuine effort. This rarely has any real impact because it fails to deal with the unconscious bias and the whole sensitization and inclusion process, subsequently failing the strategy at large.

Mitigating the challenge: Organizations must focus on crafting a winning strategy which does not end on information dissemination, but actually focuses on behavioural changes with subtle nudges and consecutive sessions to bring about a cultural transformation.

4. Lack of Consistency

‍Conventionally for many organizations, diversity & inclusion initiatives were a result of an incident or an issue with a lack of a consistent approach to managing the diversity in the workplace. Efforts on a case to case basis lack authenticity and impact. 

Mitigating the challenge: It is best to have a consistent strategy to roll out the diversity and inclusion efforts instead of simply waiting for the next issue to fire up. Integrate diversity initiatives into the daily course of work and engagement activities, rather than making it yet another KRA for the employees, may be a good approach.

5. Poor Grievance Processes

‍The lack of an effective grievance process renders a situation where someone who is uncomfortable is unable to share the challenges they are facing. This will invariably mess with their mental wellbeing and in turn affect performance and engagement at work, leading to a failure of the initiatives.

Mitigating the challenge: Setting up an effective and robust process to manage grievances must be an integral part of any organization’s diversity strategy. Ensuring that the complainant is kept anonymous to prevent any form of domination or bullying along with a legally vetted process which ensures confidentiality will promote confidence within employees to share their grievances.

Building blocks for diversity and inclusion in the workplace

The foundation of diversity and inclusion in the workplace starts with a firm acknowledgement of the need for the same and a strategic plan of action. There is no doubt about the fact that successfully managing workplace diversity is the route to a positive employee experience. When each employee feels valued and receives a fair treatment, the engagement quotient is bound to soar high. Thus, organizations need to step up their efforts and manage a diverse team to reap benefits of innovation, belongingness and engagement. Here, organizations can leverage collaboration with platforms like SuperBeings to gauge employee pulse on diversity efforts. Such platforms can bring in consciousness and sensitivity at all levels with data-driven, real-time solutions based on industry practices to promote and manage diversity in the workplace.  

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The ongoing pandemic has brought to light the fact that a remote workforce will be a defining factor for the future of work. While it seemed overwhelming when the transition began, many companies are now accepting remote work as the new normal. In fact, some are even contemplating a shift to virtual working even after the lockdown opens up. For instance, TCS plans to shift to a long-term work from home strategy with 75% of the workforce operating remotely by 2025. These new opportunities come with accompanying challenges of managing a remote team. Managers are facing major challenges in ensuring seamless communication and collaboration. Invariably, organizations today are stepping up their efforts to strategize their ways of working to make it more remote friendly.

Managing a Remote Team: Start with the Basics

Managing a remote team can be quite a challenge. However, if organizations, and particularly managers follow certain basic practices, the journey becomes easier.

1. Set clear expectations, early on

‍Managing a remote team effectively starts with clear demarcation as well as communication of roles and responsibilities. Managers need to explicitly state deliverables and what they expect out of the employees. At the same time, KPIs or Key Performance Indicators, which can be captured and measured for a remote workforce must be agreed on and communicated. To ensure that everybody is on the same page is essential, because your employees will not be able to run to you every second like in the office. 

2. Provide the right resources

‍Working remotely requires employees to have a robust setup at home to ensure effective working. Managing a remote team, thus, requires managers to ensure that all employees have the right resources when working from home. This majorly covers all the hardware (computer/ laptop), software and broadband needs. Obviously, the resources to function effectively will change from company to company. Therefore, managers need to come up with an exhaustive list of resources and ensure that employees have access to them. It would also be a good idea to alter the terms of contract for employment, wherever suitable. For instance, the travel allowance can be changed to a broadband allowance. 

3. Leverage the top tools

‍Owing to major online platforms and tools, managing a remote team is increasingly becoming easier. Some of the major challenges of working virtually, including, communication, collaboration, productivity trackers, time management, brainstorming, etc., all have their solutions in these tools. Here are a few tools your team can leverage:

• Communication: Zoom
• Progress Tracking: Trello
• Collaboration: Slack
• Noise Cancellation: Krisp
• All in One Workspace: Notion
• Brainstorming: Miro
  

4. Ensure role suitability‍

The efficacy of managing a remote team largely depends on the people you have onboard. Thus, it is very important to ensure role suitability. This means that hiring of human resources should be on the basis of what skills and competencies the role requires. The needs and expectations for each role must be mapped to the skill set of potential candidates before hiring. Today, organizations can leverage several HR tech tools to make this journey smoother. When the person is suitable for the role, working remotely becomes easy and effective. 

5. Build a culture of trust and ownership‍

Finally, it is very important to trust your team. More often than not, managers don’t have faith in their team and constantly nag them for their progress and deliverables. Invariably, a shift to a remote workforce requires a gradual change in the organizational culture. Once you start believing in your employees and trust them, they will start taking ownership of their work. And, once a culture of ownership and self motivation kicks in, managing a remote team becomes a breeze. 

These five practices are the basics that every organization, contemplating a long-term remote work strategy, must consider. Once you get the basics in place, you may want to explore more advanced strategies and practices that involve greater investment and leadership buy-in.

What Not To Do

While the above practices are a fair starting point for any organization towards managing a remote team, there are a few things that they should avoid at all costs. Firstly, managers should avoid being ambiguous. Ambiguity leads to chaos, confusion and misinterpretation which is likely to dent remote work effectiveness. Secondly, managers should refrain from micromanaging. Expecting your employees to share an hourly update can be overwhelming. Customize your management practices based on the individual employee’s working style. Finally, do not kill communication channels. Since communication is the foundation stone of robust remote work, going virtual requires stepping up communication, rather than downsizing it.  

Bottom Line

To conclude, it won’t be an overstatement to say that remote work is the new normal. The sooner organizations accept this reality, the faster they will be able to reorient themselves to work virtually. To maximize the productivity and efficiency of the remote workforce, organizations need to build the right strategies and processes. At the same time, there needs to be a focus on building the capabilities of the workforce to bring them up the curve and prepare them to deliver the same productivity. Invariably, a two pronged approach to strategy and developing human competencies is the way to managing a remote workforce. Organizations that are quick to act on these insights are bound to fast track their organizational productivity and impact. 

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Workplace diversity across different aspects determines organizational success to a certain extent. One of the many facets of human diversity shows in the form of personality traits. Invariably, different employees have different traits and thus, have unique strengths and weaknesses. While managing different employee personality traits can be a challenge at times, this diversity augments innovation and creativity in the workplace. It enables an organization to deal with a wide range of situations, because each personality trait is equipped to deal with one or the other challenge that might come along the way. 

Employee Personality traits: Customizing the Approach

Business leaders need to adopt a customized approach to deal with employees with different personality traits. Adopting a one size fits all approach might be biased against a few, thus, compromising their potential and performance. Managing different personality traits enables leaders to build on the strengths of their employees, while at the same time, helping them work on their weaknesses. Additionally, it creates a map for better collaboration, by pairing complementary personality traits together. 

Managing Employee Personality traits

There are five major types of personality traits observed among employees across different organizations. Here are a few quick tips to manage them effectively.

1. Openness

This refers to an employees readiness to adapt to changing circumstances and accept new avenues.

Managing those employees who score high on this personality trait requires managers to give them new avenues to explore. As they are responsive to change, they are always looking to go beyond the usual and, therefore, offering them new and exciting projects will augment their engagement. 

Those low on this personality trait are generally averse to change. The best way to manage them would be to introduce change incrementally. This does not mean you don’t push them out of their comfort zone. Just be sensitive to not push all the change in one day.

2. Conscientiousness

This generally revolves around an employee being diligent and hardworking towards their responsibility. 

Employees with high levels of this personality trait display commitment, dedication and discipline at work. Managing them is generally an easy task. To engage them, it is best to delegate them tasks which require reliability, These employees have great potential to come out as leaders. 

However, those who score low generally lack that reliability and rigour in their work. They might have the same or even more calibre as their counterparts, but generally lack the diligence. Managing them requires constant mentoring and coaching to encourage them and create focus. 

3. Extroversion

By nature, extroverts enjoy the company of others and fancy recognition and acknowledgement. 

Employees who recognize themselves as extroverts are outgoing and always ready to take charge. Extroverts generally make great leaders and excel at people facing roles. Managing them requires leaders to appreciate their work and boost their spirits. At the same time, they can get impulsive and it is the manager’s responsibility to ensure they don’t take decisions impulsively. 

Introverts generally prefer working alone or in very small groups. They take time to open up and managing them requires patience because they may not feel engaged the second they join the organization. They are best for intellectually driven projects and managers who leverage this can optimize their strengths. 

4. Agreeableness

This personality trait is often related with characteristics like warmth, compassion, cooperation. 

Managing those who have a high agreeableness quotient is quite simple because they rarely revolt. Adopt an empathetic approach while dealing with them. To facilitate their growth, equip them with skills to deal with confrontation and other difficult situations.

Those who score low in this are often crude, competitive and display raw emotions. Empathy is again the card to play here. Managers should be composed even when they are crude and explain to them where they are going wrong. Additionally, invest in coaching and mentoring them to be sensitive towards the emotions of others while displaying their opinions.

5. Neuroticism (Anxiety)

This refers to the propensity towards being very moody and experiencing emotions of anxiety, worry, anger, fear, among others. 

Managing neurotic employees requires empathetic managers, preferably with a coaching background or supporting apps or platforms. Such employees require constant positive reinforcement and feedback to ensure their wellbeing at work as well as out of it. 

Those on the other end of the spectrum are easier to manage. They have a better work life balance and feel satisfied with their professional and personal life. 

Managing employee personality traits at work

Managers need to adopt a very cautious and sensitive approach to ensure employee wellbeing and engagement. At the same time, each person is bound to have more than one of these personality traits. Therefore, organizations must invest in manager capacity building programs, mentoring and coaching to equip them with the right tools and skills to effectively deal with these different personality traits and stride towards organizational success. SuperBeings is one such platform organizations can leverage to advance personality and strengths based management and boost performance.

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As the nature of work as well workforce is undergoing significant change, employee engagement is becoming more important than ever. There is no doubt that organizations are putting their best foot forward to reinvent the wheel and adopt new practices. However, an often overlooked tool to boost employee engagement is manager engagement. There is enough research and data to show that managers have a direct impact on employee engagement. According to a study by Gallup, managers cause 70% variance in employee engagement. It goes without saying for managers to promote employee engagement, manager engagement is a prerequisite. If you go by the numbers, a fully engaged manager will have 50% more than the average number of fully engaged direct reports.

Boosting manager engagement

While we have established the need to promote manager engagement, it is important for organizations to understand how manager engagement is different from employee engagement. Undoubtedly, there will be a great deal of commonality between the two. However, replicating the same approach can be detrimental. Here are a few ways for organizations to streamline their manager engagement practices:

1. Focus on directed and personalized coaching

‍As professionals at a certain step of the leadership ladder, managers seek coaching which is personalized and goal directed. Coaching becomes important for professionals when they start taking charge and greater ownership and transition from a role of simple execution to strategic planning and guidance as well. It allows them to seamlessly connect and collaborate with their subordinates and get things in place. It is important for organizations to provide managers with such coaching support, either through platforms or coaching experts to help them charter their leadership goals and navigate the way. When they feel that the organization is making an effort to augment their personal and professional growth, manager engagement is bound to increase.

2. Have faith and trust their decisions

‍More often than not when organizations place individuals at managerial levels, there has been considerable display of credibility. Therefore, for manager engagement, it is very important that managers be given the autonomy to work the way they see fit. Organizations must have faith and trust in their managers’ ability to make the right decision and refrain from micro-managing. 

3. Give them the right resources to build successful teams

‍One of the key responsibility areas for any manager is guide their team and get work done. Invariably, manager engagement, thus, has its roots in team success. The more successful and productive a team is, the more engaged the manager is. In the course for the same, organizations need to ensure that managers have access to the right resources. Be it in terms of the right talent, tools to map and boost performance, platforms to promote coaching, mentoring and preserving mental health, among others.  Additionally, managers must have discretionary budgets to use wherever they feel necessary, without having to explain everything. This augments their belief of organizational faith in them and adds to their engagement and level of ownership.

4. Engagement in leadership forums‍

Focusing on developing their leadership skills as well as visibility in the right places, managers seek opportunities to expand their networks. Organizations can streamline their manager engagement efforts by offering managers the opportunity to attend as well as participate in leadership forums and industry events. This invariably comes out to mean that organizations are proud of their managers and like to flaunt them around. The net result is not only greater representation of your organization, but also manager affiliation and strengthened sense of belongingness. 

Manager engagement is different

The above are a few tips and tricks for organizations to embark on manager engagement that do not require much effort. As mentioned, the most important is acknowledging the difference between employee engagement and manager engagement and the need for a different approach for the former for best results. Organizations must offer their managers benefits beyond the normal like compensation and bonuses and really invest in their holistic growth. Leveraging digital platforms and solutions like SuperBeings might be an interesting approach to explore the latest coaching practices as well as behavioral nudges to promote performance, satisfaction and engagement. 

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“People leave managers, not companies”, 

you must have come across this famous quote by Marcus Buckingham at least once in your professional life. Even a study by Gallup corroborates the idea that 50% of employees cite a bad manager as the top reason to quit their jobs. This clearly indicates that managers play a pivotal role in ensuring a positive employee experience resulting in better performance and productivity. Invariably, promoting manager effectiveness at work has become a top priority for all organizations. Through the course of this article, we will answer all questions you might have about manager effectiveness, the best practices, common pitfalls and much more.  

What is manager effectiveness?

You can understand manager effectiveness as a term that is dynamic and can have different connotations for different professionals. Put simply, manager effectiveness entails the ability of a manager to successfully achieve organizational goals while balancing employee expectations. The concept goes beyond manager efficiency, where only the inputs and outputs are concerned.  Rather its importance lies in ensuring that in addition to the work being done efficiently, there is progress for both the individual and the organization at large. Effective managers are able to better lead their teams, add efficiency to the work and drive organizations to create impact. 

The role of manager effectiveness in organizational success

Before jumping on to the ways to gauge and subsequently improve manager effectiveness, let’s quickly reflect on the top reasons why manager effectiveness is essential for organizational success.

1. Greater employee engagement‍

Effective managers have the potential to motivate, engage and inspire their team members in a way that augments their performance. According to a study by Gallup, managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores across business units. Therefore, effective managers facilitate employee experience leading to attracting and retaining the best talent.

2. Balance leadership and employees

Managers act as a channel between the senior leadership and the employees at any organization. Effective managers play an important role in ensuring that all organizational goals are met and at the same time while promoting employee wellbeing and growth. They are better able to align organizational and employee goals to create a win-win situation.

3. Resilience and transformation‍

In the VUCA world, manager effectiveness is important to adapt to the fast-changing world. Effective managers are resilient and agile in their decision making to ensure business continuity, even in the face of uncertainty.

Traits of a highly effective manager

While the importance of manager effectiveness has been established, what an effective manager should be like is still a topic of debate. Almost everyone has their own version of manager effectiveness, but there are certain traits that all effective managers share. Invariably, these should be considered as the starting point for every manager seeking to lead and influence a team to drive results. For the ease of understanding, you can consider an effective manager as someone who is:

1. A Team Player‍

Right from a transparent delegation of tasks to facilitating seamless coordination and collaboration between everyone, manager effectiveness involves ensuring the team works like a well-oiled machine. However, according to a survey by The Predictive Index, 30% of employees believe their manager lacks team-building skills.

2. A Mentor and Coach‍

Effective managers help teams achieve their goals and reach the pinnacle with adequate mentoring and coaching to facilitate subtle behavioral nudges for growth and development. 

3. A Good Communicator‍

Highly effective managers have clarity of thought and expectations and are able to put them into words clearly. Communication is vital both within one’s team and when interacting externally. 

4. An Active Listener‍

Effective managers are open to listening to their team members on feedback as well as opinions on the overall culture. It could be through 1-o-1 conversations, group discussions, performance reviews, or personal interactions.. 

5. An Appreciator‍

This involves acknowledging the hard work they put in, even if the results are not exactly what you expected. Additionally, recognizing, appreciating, and rewarding good work is a key trait of an effective manager.

6. A Confident Decision Maker‍

A manager is essentially the one who shows everyone else the direction to sail in. At times, the decisions are hard and might not be ideal for some. However, effective managers are confident of their capabilities, experience, and, thus, their decisions. 

7. A Reliable Resource‍

Manager effectiveness requires a high-reliability quotient. This involves not only supporting and championing your team whenever they need it but also setting a good example for the organization and for others to follow.

How to measure manager effectiveness: Key manager effectiveness metrics

If you are striving for success across your managerial talent, you must have a standard manager effectiveness index in place. This involves a comprehensive approach on how to measure manager effectiveness. Thus, you need to explore some key manager effectiveness metrics. Here is a list of top 5 manager effectiveness metrics that you can rely upon while building their manager effectiveness index:

1. Engagement scores with surveys and pulses

You must gauge the employee engagement scores as a part of the manager effectiveness metrics. Measuring employee engagement via pulse surveys to gauge manager effectiveness is important because lower levels of engagement are the root cause of absenteeism and turnover. Even if employees stick around, unless they are completely engaged, expecting them to deliver 100% productivity might be an over expectation.

2. Turnover and retention rates

The turnover vs retention rate is an important parameter for the manager effectiveness index. The idea is to gauge the reason for leaving for every outgoing employee. A sub-metric that deserves measurement for manager effectiveness is the rate of high performer turnover. This is the turnover rate of high performers vs the turnover rate of others as a whole. Retaining high performers signals manager effectiveness while higher turnover points to the opposite. If you look closely, effective managers create an empowering work environment in which employees look forward to growing in, resulting in high retention rates.

3. Rate of promotions and succession planning

Manager effectiveness is linked to promotions and succession planning in two ways. Firstly, you must map the rate of promotions for a particular manager with the average rate of promotions. Effective managers are likely to have greater promotion rates in an organization as great leaders nurture more leaders. Secondly, effective managers also invest their time and effort in succession planning. Thus, measuring if a manager is able to create an environment that promotes growth and nurtures a pipeline of leaders for the future is important.

4. Employee absenteeism

How to measure manager effectiveness requires measuring employee absenteeism, i.e. the number of days employees take off from a particular team, and a comparison with the general organizational trend. In addition to quantification of absent days, the reasons for absenteeism must be explored. Effective managers breed a culture of positive mental health, wellbeing and prosperity, and promote lower absenteeism. Measuring employee absenteeism signals a manager’s ability to ensure that workload is optimized and employees feel secure and happy at the workplace.

5. Recruitment score

The manager effectiveness index involves understanding how well a manager is able to recruit new employees. Recruitment score is generally calculated on the basis of surveys and opinions of candidates who participate in the interview for a particular role. It will help you gauge a manager’s ability to bring in the best talent and result in organizational success. 

SUPER TIP: To learn about 5 more metrics to measure manager effectiveness, check out detailed article on how to measure manager effectiveness

What are the top manager effectiveness survey questions?

As mentioned above, employees and team members are the best resources to measure manager effectiveness and gauge your position on the manager effectiveness index. While the above section states different manager effectiveness metrics, below is a list of manager effectiveness survey questions, that you must ask you employees for , a comprehensive picture:

• Do you have clarity of goals and expectations from your manager?
• Do you regularly receive constructive feedback from your manager?
• Has your manager put in effort to facilitate your personal and professional development?
• Does your manager make decisions collaboratively?
• Does your manager regularly communicate with you on different topics?
• When was the last time you received recognition for your work?
• Does your manager encourage you to share your ideas and opinions?
• Does your manager treat everyone equally?
• Do you feel valued as a part of the team?
• Does your manager actively listen to your concerns and perspectives?
• How comfortable are you in providing feedback to your manager?
• How would you rate your manager (1-5) on their overall effectiveness?
• Does your manager care about your wellbeing?
• Does your manager discuss your long-term professional plan in the organization?
• Do you feel overworked or underworked with the delegation of work?
• How much have you been able to grow and develop under your manager?
• What are the top 3 attributes you admire about your manager?
• What are the 3 things you would like to change about your manager?

Improving manager effectiveness at work: How to be an effective manager or leader 

The following section will focus on decoding the top practices that you can implement and encourage the adoption of for improving manager effectiveness at work. The list reflects the best practices that have been tried and tested across industries and can serve as competent benchmarks:

1. Understand different personalities‍

Your managers and leaders must adopt a personalized approach to management, especially in the new normal, post-Covid. Manager effectiveness is about leaving behind the cookie-cutter approach of having a similar way of dealing with all employees and delegating work. Rather, the focus needs to be on different personalities and play on the strengths each employee brings to the table. A personality-based approach to team management can help in offering the right nudges to employees with tools like the SuperBeings platform.

2. Offer management training‍

According to research by MDA Training, 58% of managers claim to have not received any leadership training. Conventionally, most managers watch and learn from their bosses, especially about team management practices. However, in the new normal, it is important that you invest in manager training. The focus should be on developing important aspects of manager effectiveness like emotional quotient, empathy, etc. to offer the right mentoring and coaching to boost employee morale and engagement.

3. Be open to feedback‍

Improving manager effectiveness requires managers to widen their horizon by accepting and appreciating employee feedback. Managers must actively seek feedback on what is working and what is not to provide a pleasant employee experience. For instance, managers need to continuously gauge employee pulse on whether one-on-ones work better or team meetings. Alternatively, what is the correct ratio for the two. You must encourage your managers to accept that sometimes they might not know the best and honest employee feedback can be a great corrective measure for improving manager effectiveness.

SUPER TIP: Answers to all your queries about continuous feedback in the workplace is just one click away.

4. Celebrate milestones

Manager effectiveness requires leaders to celebrate small wins and milestones achieved by the team. Constant recognition and appreciation alongside feedback is a great motivator for team members to put their best foot forward, without pressure and entails better performance. According to global studies, 79% of employees who quit their jobs cite a lack of appreciation as a key reason for leaving.

SUPER TIP: Timely recognition is the secret to driving employee engagement and retaining top talent.

5. Invest in coaching and other wellness practices‍

Finally, with mental health and wellness becoming a priority, manager effectiveness involves investing in coaching and other practices. Managers need to go the extra mile to showcase their care and empathy towards the employees. Coaching platforms and wellness tools can be effective solutions. Coaching is mostly used to assist employees in clarifying their long-term objectives and integrating them with their professional goals and performance. They can help employees navigate the new challenges that come along the way with customized practices. This would be a boon for leaders when it comes to team management practices. 

SUPER TIP: Maintaining employee wellness in your workplace is extremely essential to boost your employee engagement.

Promoting manager effectiveness as a first-time manager

The above practices are beneficial for managers who have been in their role for some time and are looking to augment their effectiveness and performance. However, you must be having another set of managers who have recently transitioned into leadership roles. According to a study, 44% of first-time managers claimed they were unprepared for the new role. At the same time, 87% reported that they did not receive any training for a new managerial position. 

Here are some tips for new managers to accelerate their professional journey and make an impact:

1. Change your mindset towards team growth

For most professionals, till they reach a specific position on the leadership ladder, they only have to focus on outperforming themselves. However, as a manager, one must change their outlook towards their team and its collective growth. First-time managers must adopt a growth mindset to help their team members develop as professionals to promote manager effectiveness. This requires focusing on the strengths that everyone brings to the table and making an effort to leverage the same. For instance, you must encourage them to build a team with complementary rather than similar skills.

2. Build a rapport to take everyone along

An effective manager builds healthy relationships with everyone in their team, as well as those above and below them. Here, it is vital that first-time managers pay heed to the opinions and perspectives of everyone around. On one hand, this will help create an image that they take everybody along. On the other hand, building a rapport will facilitate collaboration which is crucial to managerial success. You can help your new managers to achieve this by enabling them to get to know team members and others beyond work. Encourage them to try to learn about their personal life (with their consent), learn about what they wish to do beyond work, etc.

3. Motivate, mentor, guide, and support development

Motivation and mentoring can take many forms. The objective is to ensure that each team member is able to reach the pinnacle of success and stretch beyond their comfort zone. You must encourage your first-time manager to create appropriate conditions to promote the personal and professional development of all team members. Setting up formal mentoring and coaching programs can be the first step. Inspire them to learn the aspirations of team members and make a conscious effort to give them assignments that can aid in their professional success.

SUPER TIP: Here is the best guide to conduct effective 1:1 meeting for the managers.

4. Nurture your emotional intelligence & communication skills

Emotional intelligence is likely to help new managers look at things from the perspective of the team members and others and ensure that they become empathetic leaders. At the same time, it is crucial to develop communication skills especially focused on active listening. Leading the people's practices, you must invest in tools that offer regular behavioral nudges for development as emotional intelligence and communication skills cannot be developed overnight and require a constant monitoring system.

5. Empower the team

Effective managers provide their teams with the right resources and tools and guide them to get things done, rather than getting into the details of every task. This creates a team that is efficient and responsible enough to take care of the operational work. This allows the manager to focus on high-order tasks and decision-making to attain scalability and success, which is critical to promoting manager effectiveness at work. Understanding team needs and providing the right resources is important. For instance, if the team is working remotely, investing in collaboration and communication tools like Slack, video conferencing tools like zoom, etc. makes sense.

Where manager effectiveness fails: Micromanagement

Till now we have focused on different ways to gauge, promote and improve manager effectiveness as well as explored practices for how to become an effective manager or leader. It is now time to focus on one of the most common pitfalls that come in the way of manager effectiveness. Often, in the process of effectively managing a team and guiding them towards success, professionals tend to lose balance and incline towards micromanagement. Put simply, micromanagement is a practice where a manager or a person in a senior position closely observes and monitors the subordinates with excessive control. 

According to a study, 69% of professionals said they considered changing jobs because of micromanagement and another 36% actually changed jobs. While micromanagement negatively impacts retention of quality talent, it affects other parameters of performance too. 71% said being micromanaged interfered with their job performance while 85% said their morale was negatively impacted. 

Therefore, you must focus on denouncing a culture of micromanagement. Here are a few tips to ensure the same:

‍
1. Perfectionism is a myth

Micromanagement often stems from an obsession with perfectionism and the need to ensure that their team delivers the best execution possible. While it is good to aspire for perfectionism, it is important to acknowledge that sometimes good is good enough. Interfering in everything in the name of perfectionism should be kept under check. This doesn’t mean compromising and delivering below-average quality work. Encourage your managers to not go overboard in an attempt to achieve utopian perfectionism.

2. Delegate to the right people

One of the major reasons managers and leaders find themselves micromanaging is because they do not delegate and distribute responsibility. The best approach is to find the right people who have a fair balance of attitude and aptitude. The more responsibility you delegate, the less you will find yourself micromanaging. Put simply, if you are responsible for everything that goes on in your team, you will closely monitor them and try to impinge your way of working on them. However, when you delegate, you loosen your grip and make room for others to take charge, which is essentially required to avoid micromanaging and promote manager effectiveness.

3. Be inclusive and offer feedback

Managers should be inclusive while making decisions that impact the whole team. When different opinions are taken into consideration, the delegation also becomes easier. At the same time, feedback is critical to letting go of micromanagement. Taking control because you feel your team isn’t competent enough is not wise. Rather, offer constructive feedback on what went wrong and illustrate areas of improvement. This will encourage the team to step up and work on their weaknesses. Invariably, this will result in better performances, allowing leaders to take a step back and avoid micromanaging.

4. Build trust and step back slowly

Managers cannot expect to step away from micromanagement within a single day. The best approach is to let go of one thing at a time and build trust gradually. When one gives away the responsibility of one task to the team and they carry it out well, trust and faith build in their capabilities. This nurtures the confidence to take another step back. The idea is to not boil the ocean all at once, rather, step back from micromanagement one task at a time.

5. Set the expectations right and early on

Managers often claim that they micromanage because their team members shirk away from responsibilities. However, the challenge here might be a two-way street. It is very important for manager effectiveness to set clear expectations right from the very beginning. This means that all team members must be made aware of the responsibility they are supposed to take and what is expected out of them over the course of their tenure along with a roadmap to maximize their performance which doesn’t require micromanagement.

6. Prioritize and value one’s worth

By micromanaging, managers reduce their value and impact on the organization. At times, some operational or administrative task is likely to take over other important and high-value work. Therefore, managers must put time into tasks and work that only they can accomplish. The focus should be on facilitating others to do the work by providing the right resources, guidance, and mentoring, rather than getting their hands dirty all the time. Having a priority list of all the work that needs to be done and focus should only be on those that cannot be done by anyone else. For the rest, effective managers only oversee execution.

7. Manage culture not work

It is vital that managers and leaders utilize their time and effort in creating and managing a positive work culture rather than managing every task at hand. Nurturing a culture of responsibility, transparency, and accountability is imperative for managers looking to take a step back for indulging in every task that comes to their team. Managers and leaders ought to focus on promoting intrapreneurship within the team where all members stick out their hands to take ownership and come up with the best solutions to optimize productivity and performance. With such a culture in place, manager effectiveness is bound to improve by leaps and bounds.

Getting started with manager effectiveness

Improving manager effectiveness in an organization is not a task for a single day. It requires constant efforts on the part of the senior leadership, employees as well as the manager themselves. If one looks closely, scoring high on the manager effectiveness index requires promoting subtle behavioral changes in the managers based on real-time insights and data. Here, collaborating with platforms like SuperBeings can be effective. It empowers organizational managers with the right tools, insights, and recommendations to become an effective leader and manager.

Suggested reading:

Building a High Performance Team

How to measure manager effectiveness

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