Engaging Out Loud: How to Become a Workplace that Employees Love

Learn about the qualities that can make a workplace that employees will love.

According to a September 2022 Gallup poll, “quiet quitters” make up at least 50 percent of current U.S. employees. By that they mean people who are just doing the bare minimum and are psychologically detached from their jobs. The key areas of discontent among these employees included clarity of expectations, opportunities to learn and grow, a connection to the organization’s mission or purpose. and feeling cared about,

To learn how to avoid this phenomenon, we checked in with two ARDA members known for high levels of employee engagement, Marriott Vacations Worldwide (recently ranked fourth on Newsweek’s Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces list) and Grand Pacific Resorts, an award-winning resort management company known for its associate-centric culture. Here’s how they’re rising above the crowd.

• Clarity of Expectation: Grand Pacific’s culture is centered on its core purpose of enriching lives by creating experiences worth sharing. “Our associates are the heart of our core purpose,” says Nigel Lobo, Grand Pacific’s chief operating officer. “We bring that to life by intentionally focusing on enriching the lives of our valued associates.” To make that happen, they combine onboarding for new hires with an ongoing training and development process as well as reward and recognition programs. Grand Pacific’s BE EPIC (Balance, Empowerment, Enthusiasm, Passion, Integrity and Consistency) program anchors a recognition program that encourages owners, guests as well as fellow associates to reward behaviors that exemplify the BE EPIC values. 
• Opportunities to Learn and Grow: MVW offers a myriad of development opportunities for employees. In addition to its Leadership Development Program, MVW annually conducts talent reviews throughout the organization to ensure strong succession plans are in place. They also have an intern development program, a general manager development program (Apollo), and recently strengthened their established high potential program (Venture to Leadership). 
• Connection to the organization’s mission or purpose. In addition to its core hospitality mission, MVW supports employees in making their world a better place. As part pf employee appreciation events, MVW’s corporate offices and resorts often complete a community service projects. After celebrating with a beach-themed bash during last year’s event, MVW’s Florida-based associates prepared 4,200 kits for Clean the World, a global foundation that recycles discarded soap and toiletries from resorts. 
• Feeling Cared About: Although Grand Pacific has many programs to show that employees are valued, Lobo believes it was best made evident by how they handled the COVID shutdown. “We kept our employees’ health benefits active,” he says. “We checked in with them, helped them complete their unemployment applications, and sent them grocery cards to make sure they had food on the table. Going above and beyond reinforced our enduring Grand Pacific family culture.” 

MVW also demonstrates they care about employees, which was proven by employee responses in the survey used by Newsweek award. “We are proud of our caring culture and are so pleased that our associates love working at MVW,” says Michael Yonker, executive vice president and chief human resources officer: “We’re always exploring new ways we can care for our associates, our communities and each other, as well as for our owners and guests. We recognize that success is never final, and we continually work to improve our suite of benefits—so that every associate knows how important and valued they are.” 

Judy Kenninger is principal of Kenninger Communications and has been writing about the shared-ownership real estate industry for nearly two decades.