Robert Macleod takes a look at employee engagement
I was recently speaking at
an international conference and had the pleasure of attending some
of the opening speeches. Two of the speakers were Professors from
business schools and an analogy from one of them really struck a
chord with me. His talk concerned the leadership challenges that
the current economic situation has brought about. What he said was
"people turn up to work everyday but they decide how hard they
work!" This really struck a chord with me and summarises the
challenge every manager faces, especially in times when things are
not going to plan. Sadly, he didn't have such a succinct solution
but described in essence it is our leadership skills and behaviours
that will successfully engage our people or not. Inevitably, it has
made me think about what I do to engage my team and what I can
change to engage them more in our work. It's a good question to ask
yourself too if you are a manager, or even as a management
team.
The whole issue of employee engagement is a hot topic and
something the Government are keen to encourage more of. In a report
last year on the subject by David MacLeod and Nita Clarke,
'Engaging for Success', they described engagement as ...."going to
the heart of the workplace relationship between employee and
employer, can be a key to unlocking productivity and to
transforming the working lives of many people for whom Monday
morning is an especially low point of the week." But as with
anything, its fine identifying an issue, but it's the solution that
is the most important thing. To help with this, we've produced a
short report on some guiding principles when thinking about
developing your strategy and how we can help. As with most tough
questions, there's not always a single answer for everyone, but an
answer that is appropriate for your organisation, your values and
your objectives, and our guidance will help you devise this. If
you'd like a copy of the report please contact us.
No doubt you'll also know someone who has been affected by the
volcanic dust cloud and flight ban across Europe over the last
week. For most workplaces, it will mean that some people just
aren't physically available to attend work by no fault of their
own, but an act of God as some insurers are calling it. Not great
news when we have enough challenges on our plate. A recent report
by The Work Foundation suggests that our productivity as a country
lags 20% behind that of other leading European countries, even
before the eruption and not helped by it. But it goes on to suggest
that it is other types of absence that can more severely affect
this and it is time for us as employers to take more note of it -
the health and well being of our people. Currently, over 25% of the
UK workforce has a work-limiting illness or injury, and chronic
disease amongst the working age population is set to increase over
the next 30 years; it's a problem that's not going to go away.
Addressing this can also be a great engagement strategy too. So to
help you develop your thinking and practice about health and
wellbeing we have produced a model of good practice - Health and
Wellbeing Good Practice Award. This has been developed following
extensive piloting and sponsorship from the Department of
Health.
And finally, April 2010 marks the 15th anniversary of Assessment
North East, and I would like to thank you for your support over the
past 15 years and look forward to working with you into the
future.