Jill Christensen
Jill ChristensenAuthor Blogger
Jill Christensen is a guest blogger for EmpowerPoints, an employee engagement expert, best-selling author, and international keynote speaker. She is a Top 100 Global Employee Engagement Influencer, authored the best-selling book, If Not You, Who?, and works with the best and brightest global leaders to improve productivity and retention, customer satisfaction, and revenue growth by re-engaging employees. Jill’s Website | LinkedIn Profile

According to Ethan Wolff-Mann, a reporter for Yahoo! Finance, one of the biggest lessons consumers have learned is that your data is probably not safe.  CSIS reports that two-thirds of people who interact online have had their records stolen or compromised. Identity theft is the most common type of data breach incident, accounting for 59 percent of all global data breaches.

And it’s a costly endeavor.  Per the 2019 Cost of Data Breach Report from Ponemon Institute and IBM Security, the global average cost of a data breach is $3.92 million.  While these are the direct costs, there are indirect ones as well, such as reputational damage, and customer and employee turnover related to a lack of trust.

Squandered trust – a pillar of existence for many organizations and also a pillar of employee disengagement.  An engaged employee can be described as one who trusts senior leaders and feels an emotional connection to the organization.  The moment trust is lost, disengagement – and a lack of productivity, creativity, retention, customer satisfaction and revenue growth – ensues.

What is the single biggest driver of trust in leadership among employees?  It occurs when an employee thinks a leader cares about them.  It’s that basic.  Now you can understand why I continue to say that employee engagement is simple.  Because showing you care is as well.

WHAT CAN I DO?  Here are 11 simple ways to show your employees you care, compliments of Forbes.com and contributor John Hall.  Being a great leader isn’t difficult, replacing great employees is.  Don’t let it get to that.