Engaged Employees Need Engaged Managers

Regular readers of this column know that when it comes to unions, my mantra has been "management gets the union it deserves." If your healthcare organization has a union, or is in the midst of organizing activity, chances are that poor management or some sort of management-labor communications breakdown played a role. Ultimately the responsibility falls on management.

That came to mind when I read a recent item in the management-friendly HR Daily Advisor entitled: Warning Signs – Unions Organizing Behind Your Back.

The item was a synopsis of observations made by Mark Ricciardi, a Las Vegas attorney specializing in labor issues. While the observations were not specific to healthcare, Ricciardi's telltale signs included:

• Employees are unusually busy and excited
• Talking stops or groups break up when supervisor nears
• Employees request information about policies and benefits
• A new "spokesperson" emerges
• Employees who typically talk to supervisors no longer do so
• Employees no longer look you in the eye
• Employees question managerial authority
• New employee alliances form
• Changes in nature/frequency of employee complaints
• Increases in argumentative questions at meetings
• Increases in unauthorized "group" complaints
• Employees seem increasingly divided
• Poor performers show improvement

According to the Advisor, Ricciardi said HR should establish an "early warning system" that includes training managers to report all signs of labor activity, no matter how "trivial."

I believe these "warning signs" and "early warning systems" – however valid the advice – raise more questions about management than they do about workers. If working conditions at your healthcare facility have deteriorated to the point where "busy and excited" employees arouse suspicion and concern, you need new management. In fact, the very idea that a union could organize "behind your back" – as the title states -- positively screams that management has failed to engage employees.   

Let's be clear. I'm not rapping Ricciardi or the Advisor, which I browse every day. What they're saying is exactly right. In fact, Ricciardi has also said on the Advisor that the best way to keep union organizers out is to "consistently practice good, solid, fair employee relations," which he believes can only be accomplished by thorough management training. Bingo!

Employee engagement is not an exact science, thank God, because human beings aren't robots. Each employee brings to the job his or her own personality, skills, values, demands, concerns, and pet peeves. Nonetheless, there are some universal truths that apply to the vast majority of people. For example, treat your employees with courtesy and respect. Make yourself available. Give them your time. Learn their names. Encourage them to voice their concerns and listen when they do. Try to act promptly on those concerns, and if you can't resolve the problem, explain why you cannot.

If management demonstrates a genuine belief that employees are valuable team members on a shared mission, then managers have nothing to fear when their backs are turned. We talk a lot about employee engagement. We should concentrate more on management engagement.