Quick Trick to Help Every Employee Do Better| 2-Minute Video

If there was one thing you could do to help every employee do better at their job, you’d likely do it, right?

And if there was one thing you could do to help every employee feel better at work and in life, you’d likely do it, right?

Helping employees improve performance is important whether they work on-site, remote or hybrid. Specifically, almost half of companies are working to improve team productivity and engagement, according to data from Clear Review. They’re putting productivity and engagement first to help overall development.

Why We Want to Help Every Employee

But that’s with reason: Companies recognize that when you help employees improve their productivity, they grow professionally — and personally, hopefully.

So what’s the key to helping employees do better? Connection.

That’s what experts tell us and research backs it up.

What’s Up in This Episode

In this episode of HRMorning’s 3-Point, Amy Leschke-Kahle walks us through what ADP found when it looked at employee productivity, performance and engagement. Turns out, employees do better across the board when they feel connected to their boss. Even better, it doesn’t take much to make those connections and build stronger relationships.

Click, watch and listen for more details on how to to help employees perform better through a relatively simple tactic that can fit in nearly anyone’s schedule.

Transcript (edited for clarity):

We have a simple trick to help employees do their jobs better.

And that’s not something I say often – if ever.

You see, at HRMorning, we don’t like to tell our readers and viewers that any solution is simple or easy. Why? Because we know your jobs are difficult. And easy or simple rarely fixes real problems.

But this seemingly easy trick to help employees perform better has results.

ADP’s Amy Leschke-Kahle explains …

Leschke-Kahle: For team leaders and managers, one of the easiest things that we can do is increase the frequency of connection with our employees. Now it may seem like, “Well, that’s going to take more time and isn’t it going to be more overwhelming?” The answer is actually, no. It doesn’t need to be big and complicated. What we’ve seen in our data so clearly is that at least a weekly connection between a team leader and member results in team members not only being less stressed, but also having better performance. And they feel more productive. They feel more highly engaged at work.

So, the fix could come across as simple or easy. But it won’t happen with a snap of the fingers.

Leschke-Kahle: We just have to be intentional about creating those connections between ourselves and our colleagues, our direct reports, and also our leaders. I don’t know why we assume that it’s a team leader, a manager’s job, to initiate that connection with their direct reports. If you’re a direct report, and we all are, there’s no rule that says that you can’t ask for a check-in. There is no rule that says you can’t tell your team leader, “Hey, this is what I’m working on this week. This is what I need from you in order to get past some of these hurdles.“

There you go. You want better performance, it starts with connection. So …

• Connect. Remember, Leschke-Kahle said it doesn’t have to be big or complicated.
• Check in. Ask employees and colleagues how they’re doing, what they need and if you can help.
• Check up. Remind employees that they can – and should — initiate check-ins. Same goes for managers. Connect with your boss, too.

The research is there: Making connections at work improves just about everything. Whether you work on-site, hybrid or remote, you want to take time to connect.