Why John Deere Measures Employee Morale Every Two Weeks
Synopsis: Many companies go to great lengths every year or two to determine just how motivated their work force really is. Studies have linked stronger employee engagement to higher customer satisfaction and profits. But it’s important to remember what comes between the motivated employee and the satisfied customer: the innovative products and services that employees create and the company sells. As the pace of product or service innovation increases, the pace of monitoring employee morale must increase too.
Examples: For John Deere, the agricultural equipment manufacturer, incorporating up-to-the-minute digital technology has become critical to its product innovation. As it accelerates new product introductions and feature releases, and quickly gets them into the hands of customers to get their feedback, frequent monitoring of employee motivation has become as essential as operational and financial metrics are to understanding whether the business is firing on all cylinders. At the end of every two-week development cycle, teams review what went well and didn’t go well, and what should change. This tests how employees are feeling about their work. Deere managers call it a “motivation metric” or even a “happiness metric.”
Question: How do you keep your finger on the pulse of employee morale in the fast-paced world of continuous product innovation?