On September 21, Baudville Brands hosted a day long summit for human resource managers across West Michigan. The Breaking the Barriers of Engagement Summit, held at the Downtown Market, featured presentations by Cindy Brown, Executive Director of Hello West Michigan, Andrew Bishop, Vice President of Sales for Baudville Brands and Bruce Bolger, President of the Enterprise Engagement Alliance. Each presentation touched on an aspect of engagement within the workplace. 

Cindy Brown kicked off the day with a discussion about people. She shared how important it is to attract talent and inspired us to talk about the wonderful aspects of our community. When hiring people from outside of our community it is important to not only think about what the person thinks about the place, but also what their significant other thinks. This person will play a huge role in deciding if they take the job or not.

Hiring the right people is a tough challenge, but keeping employees happy and with your company can be an even bigger hurdle. Andrew Bishop shared Gallup Inc.’s survey results that show how 49.5% of Americans are not engaged with their company. Higher workplace engagement leads to 37% lower absenteeism, 41% fewer safety incidents, and 41% fewer quality defects. Providing multiple touch points for employees can help them feel appreciated and energized at work.

Bruce Bolger rounded out the day with his presentation on Engagement 3.0. He shared that engagement is all about creating emotional connections & organizational alignment that produces a runway for greatness – whatever the goal or mark is. Every attendee went home with a copy of his textbook, Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap.

Thank you to Hello West Michigan, Enterprise Engagement Alliance, the Downtown Market and all of those in attendance for helping us to create a day full of engagement!