People managers today must constantly come up with ideas to ensure their company’s employees are engaged, productive, and committed. To keep up with this increasing demand, Matthew Willis, SVP of North America at the global employee engagement and recognition platform Advantage Club, has one suggestion: theft.

“Some of our job is selling up as well as selling down and sideways,” said Willis. “But we’ve gotta keep these things fresh. The best way to do this is to steal.”

Of course, while speaking to a recent From Day One audience in Brooklyn, during his thought leadership spotlight titled, “Employee Engagement and Recognition: Trends and Tips With Help From Coach Ted Lasso,” Willis wasn’t advocating for criminal behavior. Instead, he was saying that HR folk shouldn’t be shy about adopting useful and effective strategies and approaches that other organizations may utilize.

To show just how much he believes in the stealing of ideas, Willis himself referred to life lessons exhibited through dialogue on the hit Apple TV series Ted Lasso, about an American football coach struggling to manage a British soccer team. Here are a few quotes Willis  lifted from the comedy show and how they apply to the current people management landscape:

“A challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn't it? If you're comfortable while you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong.”

Willis explored the robust cultural shift in employee priorities and attitudes toward the workplace, spurred by the pandemic.

“Everything shuts down, then all of a sudden we start the engines again and it’s pandemonium because it’s very hard to get people in the door,” Willis said. “Then we have things like the Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting, a hybrid workplace and an HR tech boom.”

If that wasn’t enough, more recently economic insecurity has crept in, which has already led to layoffs. 

Citing data from polling, Willis said up to 68% of U.S. employees are not “fully engaged” at work, which leads to a lack of productivity. Deloitte research, Willis said, recently found that a single disengaged employee costs up to 34% of their salary.

Then there’s turnover as a result of disengagement. Citing Microsoft data, 46% of the global workforce is currently evaluating their work situation for the long-term. Should a single employee be lost, it costs a company $4,700 on average, Willis noted. Meanwhile, engaged workers boost productivity, sales, customer ratings and profit, while lowering turnover, he continued. 

Perhaps the best way to get employees engaged is through recognition. Among workers, being recognized for a job well done or getting some kind of credit for one is the single most important area in terms of establishing job satisfaction, according to an American Management Association survey that Willis cited. But among supervisors, out of a total of eight such areas, including “interest in work” and “fair pay,” employee recognition placed second to last on the list. So there’s quite a disconnect between what employees want and what their supervisors think their employees want. 

Therefore, people managers across departments are probably going to have to get outside their comfort zone, ride that metaphorical horse and recognize employees more regularly and fervently. 

“There’s two buttons I never like to hit: ‘Panic’ and ‘Snooze.’”

Conditions have been difficult for people managers for a few years now, but with such a radical change in employee outlook, any new direction HR might want to take is on the table. So there’s no need to panic, Willis said.  

It will just require a bit of thoughtfulness to get moving, which can be fueled by data, mitigating the impulse to hit the snooze button about the issue.

Willis suggests identifying employee needs through any number of ways–particularly surveys and engaging with employee resource groups (ERGs). Then, employers should expand recognition opportunities, celebrate the work and, finally, analyze recognition results and tie them to key performance indicators (KPIs).

Another guide is Maslow’s celebrated Hierarchy of Needs. People have baseline needs just to survive. Above things like air, food and water, though they also require safety, then love and a sense of belonging. Finally, there’s the need for esteem and self-actualization. 

According to Willis, those same principles can inform an organization’s approach to employee engagement. He presented a chart that said offering workers with just enough so they can survive will promote disengagement. Going further up the pyramid–i.e., providing workers with greater senses of security, belonging, importance and self-actualization–will enhance engagement. 

“The more we create this sense of belonging, this sense of need that is in line with what the employee wants, the more motivation we get out of them,” Willis said. 

“Boy, I love meeting people’s moms. It’s like reading an instruction manual as to why they’re nuts.”

Willis said that quantitative data obtained through surveys is useful, but only to an extant. Qualitative data matters, too, perhaps even more so, and it can be procured through the establishment of workplace communities, most evidently in the creation of ERGs, Willis suggested. Virtual events can also be helpful, as well as the digitization of recognition and engagement efforts when in-person execution is too challenging. 

Willis also advocated for more one-on-one time between managers and employees and breaks during virtual meetings for social interactions. This will provide people managers and employees to create stronger bonds by simply getting to know each other better–without necessarily being introduced to any workers’ mothers–and establishing a greater sense of community. 

Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner Advantage Club, who sponsored this thought leadership spotlight.

Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.

(Featured photo: Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis with other members of the cast in the briefing room at the White House last month. Photo by Chris Kleponis-CNP/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)