The Right Stuff

When our hominid ancestors first started to use tools, such as stones, twigs and branches, the development was so consequential that it ushered in a new era -- the era of homo habilis, the "handy man."

Well, we are still in that era. After interviews with thousands of employees and hundreds of focus groups, researchers from The Gallup Organization have found that in the hierarchy of employee priorities, having the right tools to do one's job is second only to knowing what's expected of one at work. In a nutshell, working people are as reliant on tools for productivity and identity as their earliest forebears.

SUPPLIES MATTER

Unlike the hominid handy man, however, employees are unlikely to procure the necessary tools on their own. Instead, according to Gallup research, they look to managers for that. And when their needs go unmet, they tend to leave the company. In fact, when Gallup asks employees whether they have the proper tools for their jobs, a positive response corresponds with enhanced employee safety, customer loyalty and employee retention. A negative response means that employees may well be eyeing the exits.

To be sure, Gallup wasn't dabbling in evolutionary psychology (at least not intentionally) when it decided to ask employees about tools. Rather, the question specifically, "Do you have the materials and equipment you need to do your work right?" was included in Gallup's Q¹², a 12-question survey designed to assess the level of employee engagement. (For a list of all 12 questions, visit the Q¹² Center.) Each question measures how well a particular employee need is met, so that employers can emphasize strong areas and remedy weak ones. The goal is to raise overall Q¹² scores, because high scores indicate that employees are engaged in their work, which has positive implications for a company's bottom line. Conversely, low Q¹²scores reflect a disengaged workforce, which weakens business outcomes.

Since 1992, when Gallup began asking employees whether they have the necessary supplies and materials, it has become evident that employees have differing views of what constitutes a "need" and, indeed, of what constitutes "supplies and materials." Some answer the question with regard to the objects they need, such as staplers or aerodynamic chairs. Others think about whether they have access to the information they require. Still other employees respond with relational needs in mind; that is, whether they have the tools and trappings that facilitate doing business with colleagues and customers. A window office, for example, or a corporate credit card might fulfill a relational need.

To boost the score on the supplies question, a manager must determine what is behind the responses. "A good manager never underestimates the importance of dialogue when it comes to materials," says Gallup seminar leader Catherine Langley.

Such dialogue is needed even when the supply in question is a specific object. For example, when employees at a Saks Fifth Avenue in Miami gave low marks on the supplies question, the store manager queried her sales staff. They said they wanted a three-way mirror so customers could better view their outfits. The manager thought they had such a mirror, but found it in a dressing room that was being used for storage. Communication was essential for a quick, easy and inexpensive fix that benefited the manager's two key constituencies, her employees and her customers.

Indeed, the problem is often access to equipment, rather than the piece of equipment itself. When a hospital in Florida received a mixed score on the supplies question, the manager did some probing and found that no one was stocking the linen closets on weekends. It wasn't that there were no linens, it was that they weren't in the closet on Saturdays and Sundays. Once the dialogue got going, the solution, says Gallup senior analyst and consultant Heather Wright, was pretty straightforward. "The hospital just made sure that supplies were stocked on Friday and Saturday nights, so that the staff had enough to get through the weekend."

Without communication, an employer might also fail to realize that some employees consider access to information an unmet need. "In companies that have operations around the world, employees are especially sensitive to information needs," says Leda Machado, a Gallup practice leader in São Paulo, Brazil. In the Latin American unit of a large multinational software company, for example, low scores on the supplies question were traced to a feeling among employees that they were out of the loop on the company's business strategy. The solution: Managers were instructed to schedule more formal and informal meetings with employees to discuss corporate strategy.

Similarly, in a branch office of a telecommunications firm in China, low supplies scores were attributed to inadequate computer equipment and poor communication among branches as well as between each branch and headquarters. Eva Liao, an analyst in Gallup's Beijing office, notes that such communication can often be a problem for branches, particularly in a large country. In this case, managers launched a program that would track who knows what at each stage of a project. Moreover, after a project closes, the manager and the project staff meet to discuss how the project was executed.

When relational needs are at stake, the supplies question raises thornier issues. For some employees, supplies and materials fulfill psychic needs for recognition, respect or praise. A corner office, for example, may sate the need for respect. "It would be great if we could just ask the boss, 'How do you feel about me?' but it often comes out as 'When will I get a window?'" says Curt Coffman, global practice leader for Gallup's Workplace Management Practice. Employers must respond to relational needs that, when met, enhance performance, customer service or other company goals. But if meeting a relational need gratifies only the employee's ego, the employer must hold back.

To determine the validity of a relational need, Coffman suggests that managers ask the employee to assess how much its fulfillment would benefit him or her, the company or department and the customer. This process shifts the analysis of the need to the employee. Based on the employee's own conclusions, a manager can then give concise reasons why a need will or will not be met.

More than two million years after the appearance of homo habilis, the same rules apply. Whether it's sticks or software, survival depends on knowing what supplies your employees need and making sure they have them when they need them.