Campbell Soup Employee Engagement Essay

Douglas Conant, the CEO of Campbell Soup Co. discussed the importance of employee engagement and how Campbells strategy to pay attention to this calculated paid off for their smart set. Conant took over in 2001 when Campbells was close to a takeover and its soup sales had drastically declined amid fierce competition. Furthermore, some of its best employees had left over(p) the company rather than wait out the hard times. Conant recognized that of all the elements related to corporate culture, employee engagement was the most highly correlated to shareholder re overrides.Therefore, to turn things around, Conant implemented the Campbell Promise of Campbell Valuing People, People Valuing Campbell with the strategy that To win in the market place, we believe you must first win in the workplace. Im obsess with keeping employee engagement front and center and keeping up energy around it. In 2002 Conant hired the help of Gallup, a polling and research firm, to better apprehend his com panys engagement levels. Gallup found that 62% of Campbells managers were not actively prosecute in their jobs and 12% were actively disengaged.Those numbers were some of the wrap up for any Fortune 500 firm ever polled. By Gallup standards the ideal level of employee engagement is to have a ratio of 12 actively engaged employees for every disengaged employee. Campbells ratio was only 21 that is, only 2 actively engaged employees for every disengaged employee. Strategies to Motivate and Engage Employees Bring batch barriers, literally Conant had barbed wire fencing removed from Campbells Camden, NJ facility to create pleasant work environment Promoting from within replaced 300 of the companys 350 leaders half of whom were promoted from within the company.This changed the culture and sent a message that few could ignore. Annual surveys of all 580 work groups simultaneously managers review the results with their pass reports and everyone is updated on their progress related to specific goals. Leaders are measured on their ability to inspire trust in those around them. Recognition Events commemorate at a high level when people do things well. CEOs acknowledgement Conant sends out about 20 thank-you notes a day to staffers, on all levels. Open communication every six weeks CEO has lunch with a group of a dozen or so employees to get their billet on the business, to address problems and to get feedback.