6. Employee Engagement:
The Evidence
CEOs call on UK to deliver
GDP growth
by better engaging
employees at work.
A high-level task force of some of the UK’s most
recognisable organisations is calling for every
leader and manager across the economy to play
their part in tackling the UK’s employee
engagement deficit.
Analysis of the evidence shows that:
Only around a third of UK employees say they are
actively engaged at work.
20 million workers are not delivering their full
capability or realising their potential at work.
of people said they have more to
offer in
skills and talent than they are currently being asked
to demonstrate at work.
UK productivity was 20% lower than the rest of the
G7 in 2011.0
7. Employee Engagement:
Statistics and Case Studies
PROFIT
Companies with
engagement
scores in the top
25% had twice the
annual net profit.
CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION
REVENUE
GROWTH
Organisations in the top
quartile of engagement scores
demonstrated revenue growth
2.5 times greater than those in
the bottom quartile.
Companies with top
quartile engagement
scores average
12% higher customer
advocacy.
8. Employee Engagement:
Statistics and Case Studies
PRODUCTIVITY
Organisations in the top
quartile of employee
engagement scores had
18% higher productivity.
INNOVATION
EMPLOYEE TURNOVER
59% of engaged
employees said that their
job brings out their most
creative ideas.
Companies with high levels of
engagement show turnover rate
40% lower than companies with low
levels of engagement.
9. Employee Engagement:
Statistics and Case Studies
EFFICIENCY
An insurance company found that teams with
higher engagement had 35% less down time
between calls – equivalent to one ‘free of charge’
employee to every eight employees.
HEALTH & SAFETY
Organisations with engagement in the bottom quartile
average 62% more accidents than those in the top.
11. HOW CAN ENGAGEMENT HELP IN TIMES OF CHANGE
AND TROUBLE?
As part of the Employee Engagement Task Force, representatives from the Public and Private
sectors and the TUC came together to develop a toolkit for maintaining employee engagement
during restructuring, change and adversity.
The video is freely available of the Engage for Success website at www.engageforsuccess.org
Case studies and good and bad experiences from councils, police forces, small businesses and large
corporates were explored and some key questions to ask yourself and your organisation were
highlighted.
Everyone interviewed felt that times of change, if handled well, represented great opportunities
for their organisations to go from strength to strength. And that developing cultures where
engagement is ‘just the way we do things around here’ is how to do it
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12. Back to our basics…
Strategic
narrative
Bob Kerslake – Civil Service
“be open, be clear, let people know what’s open for influence and what isn’t”
Stephen Hughes – Birmingham City Council
“you can never do enough communication” – Stephen learnt that
he could have gone out earlier, more often and more personally to his people
to help them understand and form the changes in direction BCC had to make
Sally Hopson – Pets at Home
“Uncertainty cripples people” – be honest about the plans, bad news
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13. Back to our basics…
Strategic
narrative
Trust your people, people can deal with most things life throws at them
Are you willing to be open and honest,
even if you don’t have all the answers yourself?
How confident are you that your strategic narrative,
for you, your team and the organisation, is understood?
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14. Back to our basics…
The line management role in any change is vital
Engaging
managers
BAE – “it’s easy to do one way communication” but actually you need
to be out and about talking with people (not to them) and understanding
where people are in their acceptance and understanding of what’s
happening. Don’t presume that you know. Find the pockets of frustration and
anxiety – don’t dent their existence but let people talk
One of the Trade Union Conveners in BAE commented that the policy of
consistent and regular communication even when there was nothing new to
announce helped people become less anxious
In BCC, the emphasis on line management support kept people enthused
about the end goal
The TUC have seen an acknowledgment of the key role of managers in
building engagement and supporting change, and also investment in giving
managers the skills they actually need (resilience, empathy, listening,
preparation)
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15. Back to our basics…
Everyone’s different…
Engaging
managers
Are you confident that you have all the information available, as people
absorb it and formulate questions at different paces – treat them as
individuals
Is the management population equipped with the skills and information they
need?
What do you need? A question to explore later…
Remember, sometimes the awareness is enough. Treat people as you would
like to be treated
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16. Back to our basics…
Employee
voice
The West Midlands police force, they found that the more input people had
to what was going on, the higher levels of satisfaction they saw
“they can see their own footprint”
Bob Kerslake again – “be honest if you are getting it wrong” – don’t be
afraid to respond to feedback and change direction if necessary. Loose the
defensiveness and embrace the fact that your people might well have better
solutions that you’ve come up with…
You said, we did – listen and action the feedback
Surveys – take the bad with the good. Don’t respond, reflect (Eric Collins,
Nampak, BCC)
Sally Hopson – don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you’re ‘doing
engagement’ because you’ve run a focus group. It’s a state of mind, not a
one off event
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17. Back to our basics…
Employee
voice
Speak to the people who can make the difference, and listen to what they
say…
Have you got the right mechanisms in place for people’s voices to be heard?
How do you know?
Do they trust the organisation enough to speak out?
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18. Back to our basics…
Integrity
Stella Power – Cabinet Office – you need consistency between values and
behaviour, what is said and what is done
Bob Kerslake “you need a sense of humility” – change is hard!
Fran O’dowd (Accord Union) – be honest about the good, the bad and the
changes to the change
Innocent Drinks – live by your values, especially in the tough times
BK – people need to see and trust that changes are fair, transparent,
professional
Accept that you will need to re-energise the change process in order to
make it sustainable
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19. Back to our basics…
Integrity
Role model at all levels of the organisation, become the change you want
to see
It’s all about trust
What mechanisms do you have in place to build trust?
What group is the conscience of your organisation through this time?
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20. What gets in the way?
Attitudes:
>
‘Spare me another **** HR/comms initiative’
>
‘Don’t you know there’s a recession on?’
>
‘I’ve not got time for the soft and fluffy stuff’
Not sharing good practice – where it’s working, showcase and share
Leader behaviours don’t model the VALUES
Command and control – it’s easier!
Micro-managing – it’s stifling and drains everyone’s energy
People skills for the line – this is tough, they may need help
Too impatient – this needs time, application, relentless focus and effort
Transactional around a survey, rather than transformational around the culture
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21. LEVEL 1 – TRANSACTIONAL: We act on employee feedback through surveys
Compartmentalised Thinking
SERVICES AND SECTOR
STRATEGY
STRATEGY FOR:
IT; ESTATES; CAPITAL ETC
EMPLOYEE / HR STRATEGY
Survey & act on it
eg Performance management,
communications, listened to etc
NB: CIPD: 75% of Employee Engagement focused as above
Reactive engagement. About discretionary effort
LEVEL 2 – TRANSFORMATIONAL: It is a way of doing business
It is a way of running and doing business
WE TRACK
PROGRESS OF
STRATEGY
“ONE PAGE”: Services Strategy, Country,
Positioning Strategy AND
Values/Behaviours to deliver it
People at heart of delivery and
at heart of strategy
TWO-WAY
WE MEASURE: Concerns,
commitment, feedback
NB: CIPD: 25% of Employee Engagement focused as above
About proactive engagement
People help
shape
strategy
People give
continual
VOICE
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22. HOW TO GET MORE OUT OF
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