Statistics show that 19% of employees are actively disengaged and a mere 21% of employees are engaged. What about the other 60% — where do they fall in the employee engagement stats?
The Southern Tier Leadership Summit will be held Thursday, August 1st at the Cattaraugus County Campus of Jamestown Community College in Olean.
The full-day summit focuses on employee engagement and strategies for attracting and retaining top talent. Employee engagement is a human resources concept that describes the level of enthusiasm and dedication an employee feels toward their job and organization. It’s demonstrated by how employees think, feel, and act, as well as the emotional connection they feel towards their work, team, and organization. Engaged employees care about their work and the company’s performance, and feel that their efforts make a difference.
The keynote speaker will be James Stitt Sr., Executive Chairman of Cutco Corporation. Three additional speakers who are leaders in their respective organizations will share their expertise: Melissa Curran, Manager of HR/Office Operations, Cimolai-Hy; Bob Forness, President and Executive Director of Olean Business Development Corporation, and Joe Pillittere, Jr. of the Pillittere Group. All have led and continue to lead the movement towards more inspiring, fulfilling and productive workplaces.
Curran, a 2022 LeadCatt Cohort member, will speak on how to become a leader people want to follow and create an environment employees want to stay in. Forness is inviting former residents to Come Home/Stay Home. Forness (2006 LeadCatt Cohort alumni) will give an overview on his organization’s campaign slogan to bring people home for the more than 1,000 jobs coming to the area in the next 5-10 years. All of that but with a leadership twist on it! Pillittere will speak on how retention and engagement relate with the importance of solid communications that lead to positive outcomes. The Pillittere Group creates quality training and employee development programs for Western New York businesses and non-profit organizations.
“Satisfied employees boost the effectiveness of recruitment and retention. Employee engagement is the byproduct of trust, empowerment, and communication. We encourage all to attend the summit and learn why you should engage your employees,” stated Erica Dreher, summit chairperson.
The summit begins at 8 a.m. with registration and networking, keynote speaker at 9 a.m., and ends at 3 p.m. The cost is $60 alumni and current cohorts of Leadership Allegany, Chautauqua Leadership Network, and Leadership Cattaraugus; and $70 General Public.
Dreher added, “Thanks to these summit sponsors: the Allegany County Industrial Development Agency, the Cattaraugus County IDA and Fitzpatrick & Weller – your commitment to our mission (building leaders) and your contribution make a significant impact on the success of our event.”
The conference is hosted by Leadership Allegany, the Chautauqua Leadership Network, and Leadership Cattaraugus. To register with a credit card, please visit https://tinyurl.com/yc6dr383 or call the United Way office 716-372-3620. Please note credit card registrations will incur a small convenience charge. To invoice a group of employees, please email leadershipcattaraugus@gmail.com or memeyanetsko@gmail.com.
Since 2014, the leadership organizations have co-sponsored a summer Leadership Summit to bring together emerging leaders from across the region to learn new strategies that will help them become more effective leaders.