Employees not engaged? Burned out?

HIAWATHA -- In a world where technology has revolutionized so many aspects of daily life, why not apply it to employee engagement?

That is Melanie Wertzberger’s approach, and she founded a company to do it.

The Hiawatha native came up with the idea for Shaka while working as a financial analyst for a high-growth company with about 400 employees.

“As the company grew, opened new offices and eventually went remote-first, it became increasingly difficult to make meaningful connections with co-workers,” she recalls.

“I wanted a structured way to meet people, and this is how the idea for Shaka was born -- software that would schedule coffee chats for me with people who worked in different departments and offices who often had a much longer tenure at the company than I did.”

From there, the Shaka software evolved and added features based on other “pain points” the 27-year-old heard about employee engagement at work.

‘Warm hello’ logo

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The Shaka company logo is “a hand symbol where you have a closed fist with a thumb and pinky out,” Wertzberger says. “In Hawaii, this hand gesture is used to represent a sense of community. Hawaiians will wave the Shaka in passing to offer a warm hello.”

The spirit behind the gesture represents the culture Shaka wants its users and clients to create, by fostering “a really lighthearted and fun brand, which represents our product well.”

Wertzberger started Shaka while living in California but moved back to her hometown just over a year into building it. She says she actually found more resources available to her in Iowa.

“Iowa wants to see technology companies sprout up and female business owners thrive,” Wertzberger said. “Shaka has been supported by both state grants and Iowa venture capital Funds. Also, amazing, affordable talent is here in Iowa, too.”

Meeting employee expectations

Wertzberger finds employers often are overwhelmed with employee expectations.

“Never before have employees expected so much from their workplace -- flexibility, support, appreciation, equality, a fun culture, opportunities to learn and develop, nice perks, and the list goes on,” she says.

Her top three recommendations for employers are:

Set “cool people” goals: Ask your managers to support one goal each employee has outside of work to become a more interesting person.

“At Shaka, we call these ‘cool people goals.’ Our team revisits our ‘cool people’ goals every six months.

“For example, I have had employees get fitness class teaching certifications, build a personal website for themselves, read historical fiction, save enough money for a new car and practice snowboarding.

“Once everyone has set their ‘cool people goals,’ genuinely support your teammates toward success as if it were another KPI (key performance indicator) on their list. This is the easiest way to show your employees that you care about them as an individual.”

Conduct “stay” interviews: A “stay” interview is like an exit interview but when an employee isn’t leaving your organization. Ask him or her why they continue to work for you and how their work life could be improved.

“These last about 15 minutes, and you can reach out to me (contact@joinshaka.com) if you would like a list of ‘stay’ interview questions that you can use.”

Make micro-investments in employee programs: Employees need change, but you are never going to please everyone. So stop overhauling programs and instead start using small, lightweight tools to show your team you hear and care for them.

“Many times, I see a company that did a survey and the worst data point is their employee mental health, for example. So, they ignore the eight other quieter pieces of problematic data and focus just on the loudest one,” Wertzberger says.

“Next, they rework their benefits, buy a new piece of software and host quarterly events on this topic. However, they see low participation that falls over time, and it looks like a big waste of money. This is where Shaka can be really helpful if your company is using Slack or Teams.”

Impact

Wertzberger embraces the impact Shaka is having on her clients.

“Hearing that their Shaka Challenge brightened their work week -- that they got to have coffee with the CEO, or that they gained more appreciation for what others do at their company -- is consistently the biggest source of inspiration and pride for our team,” she says.

Shaka is now striving to work with clients that have more than 50 employees, so it is offering a 30-day trial program for Slack and Teams, inviting leaders to install the software for free.

“We are also building a better pulse-surveying solution so leaders can get a good sense for when the culture at their company is struggling,” Wertzberger adds.

Her advice for people starting their own business?

“There are so many resources available here in Iowa,” she said. “Find an entrepreneur who knows the system and take them to coffee to drink from their knowledge.”