Do Easter Eggs from the boss really keep employees happy?

Imagine the scene – your boss with a huge basket of chocolate goodies, hopping about like the Easter Bunny ‘hiding’ choccy eggs and bunnies for the Annual Works’ Easter Egg Hunt. How does it make you feel – about the boss, about your workplace, about how you’ll beat Terry from Accounts to that Lindt Bunny which just landed by the water cooler…what do Easter Eggs have to do with keeping your staff happy at work? Our Marketing Manager, Rachel Bentley, ponders on the theme.

by Rachel Bentley

Do Easter Eggs from the boss really keep employees happy? This the 64 thousand dollar question. Because, no matter how much effort an employer goes into creating a team with the perfect mix of skills and motivators, by ignoring each team member’s individual drives you risk leaving employees thinking ‘what about me?’

Whilst we go ‘big data’ on everything people related, we may be forgetting that it is each individual in an organisation which makes up that data grouping – with the highlight on INDIVIDUAL. Generic engagement activities (you name it, we’ve seen it – from cultural and branding changes to who turns the lights out at the end of the day….) will possibly hit the mark with some people, but the likelihood is that there will be many individuals who, ‘frankly my dear…don’t give a d@mn!’

So whilst the many chocoholics amongst us would LOVE the corporate Easter Bunny to drop by, there will be others who would rather have a bit of flexibility with their employee benefits options.

What Drives Individual Engagement?

To address individual engagement and realise the full potential of all employees, you need to understand what motivates each person. Only then can you create the perfect match between an individual’s drives and motivation, the job and the environment in which they operate.

We marketers call it ‘segment-of-one’ marketing when addressing the sphere of what is wanted by each customer/end user – it is the root of everything from loyalty schemes (think Tesco Clubcard!) to that hotel chain knowing EXACTLY what kind of room you like and which paper you read. So I was intrigued to see that my HR colleagues can glean the same level of distinction between employees by using a tool such as ‘Drives’ – part of the Korn Ferry Hay Group Talent Q psychometric testing stable.

How can HR180 help?

Drives is an online questionnaire that focuses on an individual’s values and motivations in the workplace. Its purpose is to measure the factors that help stimulate and energise people in their daily working lives. Once you understand what motivates your employees, you will know how to keep them enthusiastic, driven and effective. Drives can help create a positive culture within your organisation, help you get people engaged and reduce employee turnover.

And best of all it is something we can undertake on your behalf. Tim Frear, HR Manager, is a trained assessor for Talent Q products and we are delighted to have access to just about anything you might require for developing new and existing talent in your workforce.