First day as a new manager? How HR finds out if they need to react
First day as a new manager?
Your very first day as a new manager can be nervous.
Measuring employee engagement continuously, this HR Manager checks the impact of events like a new manager, the first day of SAP and other key situations.
Some workdays are more eventful than others. It could be the arrival of a new branch manager, the announcement of a merger, or the day you lose a huge sales order. How do your employees react?
As our device (which measures employee mood continuously) has established how your people feel on a ‘typical’ workday, it analyzes the impact for you.
By comparing a day to a ‘typical’ day at Dallant, an international flavors manufacturer, the HR Director analyzes how their employees react to different events.
This helps him generate meaningful conversations:
“We recently implemented SAP as a way to further professionalize our business and we are still fine tuning a few things. I realized something was up, so I sat down with the management team in our factory last Thursday to analyze our latest employee engagement results”, explains Joan Manel Torres.
“I saw the results and I knew I needed to react”
Using a projector he pulled up the analytics of how their employees had pressed the green or red button on their device at the exit door, to give feedback:
“We discussed the days with very high or low results. We studied the impact the day we announced we’re changing to SAP and the first day of the internal SAP training”.
First day as a new manager? How did your people react?
“We consistently see big differences between the employee engagement levels at our sites” the HR Director adds passionately.
“Even when you think there wouldn’t be much difference in how an event impacts the mood on a given day, or how a company communication will be received… we see very big differences.
Some sites react negatively whereas others react positively, he clarifies.
This way, his HR department knows if any sites need help or attention.
First day as a new manager? Joan-Manel can also see how a new manager is received by his new coworkers at the site, from the first day he or she takes the reins.
The trend is then followed in the department and business.
Our employee mood dropped the week we implemented SAP
As for Dallant’s SAP rollout, there were also differences among the company’s workplaces:
“We measured how much our employee engagement dropped when we deployed the system as it affected the way people report their flexible work schedule. It clearly created unnecessary stress!”, says Joan-Manel Torres with a sympathetic look.
There are also other day findings that surprise the HR department:
“Sometimes I analyze a day where something has happened that I assume will have an impact on people pressing green or red as they leave. Turns out it didn’t have too much of an impact!” he continues.
Is it the right time to send that important communication?
The ongoing insights into their employee mood mean the HR Director also knows if it’s the right time to send out a communication (or not!) by analyzing the previous days.
This way he can improve the chances of the important message being well received among his fellow employees.
“We track things like the effect of a tight delivery deadline approaching; our employee engagement level typically drops on those days”.
“I also compare things like the impact when our HR department sends our monthly newsletter, which includes the feedback to all employees of how our collective employee mood is evolving, or the day we send out a survey, and the day we report back on the survey findings”, he continues enthusiastically.
Continuous workplace improvement
“We analyze the impact on a day when we see sudden changes in sales orders, purchasing or when there’s a lot of stress in the supply chain” says Joan-Manel.
When the HR Director popped over to the factory to discuss the SAP rollout and the latest findings with his colleagues, he was careful to focus on improvements:
“We took into account the variables behind the red and green results. We discussed the consequences of how we implemented SAP, and different actions we are going to take to improve at work”, says the HR Director with a content grin on his face.
“I know if I need to take action”
By analyzing the impact on a certain day the HR Director knows if he needs to take action or alert a manager at any of his work sites.
“And of course, we always see a nice spike both in participation and employee engagement in the factory the day the paycheck arrives!” he says with a smile.
The Celpax is a device that continuously measures how your employees feel at work. People respond to “How was your day”, by pressing the green or red button at the exit door.
The ‘Day Analysis’ feature uses a simple rating system to let you know how a certain day was in comparison to a typical workday.
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Hej! I’m Rebecca, co-owner at Celpax. We use simple tech tools to measure and boost morale with HR data at work. And build a better society while at it! First day as a new manager? Check out our employee morale survey. Or say aloha on twitter.
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