The workplace recipe of success.

Fitbit is a wearable technology with the goal to make you a healthier person. Fitbit’s success comes from the constant feedback that allows the individual to monitor performance and make adjustments and continually move towards the performance goal.
The principles of constant feedback that Fitbit wearers use is remarkably similar to Joseph Folkman’s research collected from over 400,000 employees. His thesis states that individual development is a significant driver of employee engagement. He has proposed there are four key areas to help employee engagement and to no one’s surprise the focus is on feedback and job fit.
The four areas are:
- Bosses have to be skilled at giving feedback
- Employees need to be involved in development decisions
- Employee recognition is key
- The better the job fit the better the performance
None of these above insights should be new to the HR professional but what is interesting is that according to Folkman’s research, leaders who excel in these four areas have employees that are in the 80th percentile of employee satisfaction and engagement. Now that is something to strive for!
Click here to read greater details regarding Joseph Folkman’s research.
When looking at improving employee engagement remember feedback and job fit are key elements to have as part of your HR performance management system.
Discussion Questions:
- Research an additional article on employee engagement. Compare and contrast Joseph Foklman’s conclusion to your research article points.
- As feedback is key to employee engagement, what type of performance management system would you recommend to a manufacturing organization with 500 employees?