Source:  Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 1/26/11

Cold poultry plants with high line speeds and large employee populations can be a challenging environment to work in. Yet, actions as simple as calling employees by name, saying hello and finding out what is important to them can retain staff and boost productivity, poultry industry executives were told Tuesday during the first educational session at the 2011 International Poultry Expo here.

“A paycheck is not enough to retain employees,” Paul Pressley, executive vice president, industry programs for the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, told attendees at the Animal Agriculture Sustainability Summit at the Expo.

Plant supervisors play a critical role in employee productivity and retention, said Pressley, noting that employees don’t leave jobs; they leave managers. Focusing on employee engagement can lower turnover, improve attendance, and boost productivity.

While companies often seek to engender worker pride by sharing the company’s core values, Pressley warned that, in truth, most employees’ experience of the company comes down to their experience of their own job and of their direct supervisor.

Citing a Gallup survey that showed a correlation between employee engagement and a company’s success, Pressley shared a number of tips from employee engagement expert David Zinger and the Employee Engagement Network, some of which are paraphrased below:
• Engage employees daily – learn their names and know their stories
• Involve employees in decisions that affect them – they may have ideas you haven’t thought of and will be more inclined to buy-in to the final outcome
• Communicate plainly, honestly and often
• Explain “why” as well as “what” you are asking employees to do.
• Ask a lot of questions to get to know your employees
• Learn your employees’ strengths
• Find out what is important to them in their lives
• Stand up for your employees in public; address setbacks in private.
• Say hello.

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