Struggling with Employee Engagement and Productivity in US Staffing: How Can We Improve?

My Dear Seniors and Friends,

Recently, I joined a US Staffing Company that is incorporated in the US. We have an offshore office in Hyderabad. We are working on W2 & 1099.

It's a job with many challenges. In our organization, all employees are seniors and have been working for the past 3 to 5 years. They are not performing their duties properly. Every day, they are calling 15 to 25 job seekers, whereas the average call ratio for an employee should be a minimum of 50 to a maximum of 75. Instead of working, they are sitting idle and discussing with each other unnecessarily. They are not coming on time (strict timings are from 7:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m.), and they do this every time. We don't work after 3:30 a.m., and if there is any urgency, they are taking leaves continuously for 4 days a week. On Fridays, they come to the office and work for one day. Our MD has observed all these issues and has warned them several times. Finally, he told them that if they are not willing to work, they may quit the organization. They are not listening to him. When I joined, he assigned this challenge to me, asking me to ensure that every employee comes on time, every time. We are paying them very good salaries, and we are paying on time, every time. Yesterday, one of the employees came to me and discussed all these issues.

Finally, what I observed is that there are no employee engagement activities during work hours. Maybe this will motivate them to work. Please suggest how I can create a healthy environment. As far as I know, as employees, we spend most of our lifetime in offices. How can I retain and attract them to work and be productive? Please, seniors and my dear friends, suggest your ideas on this. Your immediate response is highly appreciated.

Regards,

Enhancing Employee Engagement for Better Productivity

Globally, employee engagement activities are observed to raise job satisfaction and commitment to the organization. As an HR professional, it should be your key performance indicator (KPI) to boost employees in aligning with the corporate mission by setting clear goals, providing benchmarks for progress, and communicating employer expectations.

Since your role is not typically a regular shift and slight deviations for night shifts can reveal important insights, you can:

- Measure quality work by limiting the number of calls to X per day (adjusting as needed) for tasks such as gathering resumes, screening candidates, sourcing, aligning, and sending to clients. Assign specific groups for sourcing and scrutinizing, and rotate duties based on requirements. This approach ensures fairness and avoids biases.

- Organize weekend programs on the premises, particularly on Fridays, with activities like group games and debates. This can boost engagement, especially considering that weekends in the U.S. are often less productive.

- Enhance employees' workspace either in terms of quality or size. Reward them with high-profile assignments that align with their unique talents.

- Encourage employees to discuss any challenges privately to maintain a positive and mutually beneficial business relationship.

I hope these suggestions are helpful for enhancing employee engagement and productivity within your organization.

Best Regards

Dear Murali, take a few of them into confidence and understand the cause of their behavior. Despite a good salary and warnings, if they continue with negative behavior, there must be some important reason, mostly related to a lack of job satisfaction.

Engagement and Challenges

Games and activities are fine, but more than that, the work assigned to them should be challenging. Only engaging activities will not be helpful.

The Importance of Communication

Any solution without obtaining all the facts is incomplete. Therefore, you have to talk to them. Play the role of a counselor. As an HR professional, you cannot avoid this conversation; there is no alternative.

Regards, Arun Chitlangia [Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

As someone who has been working in US staffing for the last 11 years, to assess the situation of the organization, you might need to look into the various aspects of the operations in place. Does your organization have a challenging work environment? Does your organization have an aggressive incentive plan? Is performance assessment done at regular intervals?

If you can first assess these parameters and put in place the required processes. Also, sometimes it's necessary to flush out old blood and bring in some new blood to have the right balance of the work environment.

Also, if someone is working for so long in an organization doing the same routine work, complacency sets in. I don't think your measurement of doing a number of calls should be the criterion of measurement of work. It does not mean that someone who makes so many calls is being productive to the company. It should be only one of the measures of the work, especially in the US staffing business.

Doing only a specific job of 1099 or W2 hiring is not an easy job.

Also, as Mr. Chandrakanth has pointed out, having outdoor programs once in a while rejuvenates the staff. You get to know different dimensions of their personalities and take necessary counseling action.

There is no one solution to your problem; you have to mix and match the suggestions and choose to do the right thing at the right time. Maybe the management also has to give a look at the Business Process and do some tweaking or adding a new and different approach to excel in business, which might be interesting and motivating to the staff.

You may reach out to me at [Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]. I would be glad to help you if you need any more assistance.