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Engagement is a topic that has been high on corporate priorities during the last couple decades. Managers explore the degree to which their clients are actively engaged with their company. Consultants help managers determine the degree to which employees are fully engaged. One of the reasons why you may receive an email questionnaire after buying a candy bar is corporate curiosity about the engagement of customers. In all cases that we have seen, these engagement studies involve full-time workers.
We were intrigued by learning about a consultant called Upshift, a firm that is studying engagement of contract labor. The primary task of Upshift is to provide a staffing platform for contract labor.
However the company has also helped its clients to improve their ability to engage contract labor. They published seven suggestions for improving the engagement process, and these are:
- Set clear expectations before the work shift begins.
- Provide precise parking and arrival instructions.
- Say the name of the temporary worker three times on the first day.
- Make formal introductions of the new worker to coworkers.
- Provide recognition and acknowledgment from the manager or line foreman.
- Offer frequent and effective training.
- Create a standard operating procedure (SOP) for every line foreman or manager who works with contract laborers.
Our first reaction was that the seven suggestions are so obvious that they should not need to be listed. Our second reaction is that too many managers and supervisors treat contract workers as second-class citizens, which causes these people to look for another assignment in today’s tight labor market.
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