How The Thrill of Transparency Impacts Employee Engagement

Transparency: The word is used so frequently that is almost an oxymoronic term like jumbo shrimp. Of course we all agree it is essential and that every organization should practice it but the question becomes are you really doing a good job at it? I don’t mean sharing your financial state or ensuring you’re practicing in an ethical fashion. No I am talking about how transparent you are with your own employees.

When I’m working with the rest of the Kango team and speaking with our customers I find it odd how often the issue of transparency rarely comes up in conversation around employee engagement. It’s not that transparency isn’t a key part of the organization’s culture or management structure. It’s that when they think of the term they don’t fully realize how important it is to use this concept in their employee engagement.

Transparency is important to employee engagement because it demonstrates

• How truly important the employee is
• How they are more than just some tiny cog in a bigger machine
• How to help managers become more transparent to their employees

Let’s look at these concepts in more detail.

How truly important the employee is—Even in the best of organization’s employees feel the stress of, among other things, being asked for more while receiving less. Seeing others receiving very public praise while seeing their own hard work and sacrifice seemingly go ignored widens that gap. This is when a transparent employee engagement system, like Kango’s, can make the employee feel like they are part of the larger success of the organization and make them feel the thrill of accomplishment.

How they are more than just some tiny cog in a bigger machine—The other benefit of transparency is that it is easier than ever to let the employee feel engaged and unique. Today’s engagement solutions allow for the manager to take 5 minutes, or less, to reach out to someone on the team who has done great work with a quick thank you or reward of some type. Kango has been able to determine that the reward of these little actions can help to mitigate the costs associated with hiring and onboarding a new employee.

How to help managers become more transparent to their employees—The unique value of transparency here is that the need to build a strong relationship by recognizing special life or professional events is now easier than ever. One aspect of the Kango solution for example allows for sincere congratulations from the manager as well as from members of the team when appropriate.

The employee can now be congratulated on something like a birthday or work anniversary in a fashion that is simple for all parties involved and rewarding for the individual since they are more engaged and feel a stronger bond to the team and the organization.

Parting Thoughts

When we hear the word transparency we often believe that has only to do with the financial aspect of the organization or its senior management. But transparency can also be defined as the process of demonstrating the respect the managers of the organization have for an employee’s contributions and other roles within the group. Transparency can also be about recognizing the employee as a human being and letting them know that they are more than just a cog in a machine. Transparency is essential for the execution of a successful employee engagement program and now, it is similar than ever for employers to do it.