How can engagement be seen as more than an HR initiative?

Many organisations have developed sophisticated machinery around the subject of engagement, focused on the HR department surveying employees on a regular basis. A range of questions is asked around how well the company is meeting the employee’s personal need to be well managed and recognised, and how satisfying the experience of working with the organisation is as a whole.

Results tell managers how well they are providing high quality leadership and management and how likely their employees are to stay with the organisation. But is this the whole story? Does this pass the ‘so what’ test?

Global statistics on engagement vary a little between parts of Europe, the UK, US, India, SE Asia and China, but overall the studies show that whilst 21% of employees are highly engaged and willing to go the extra mile, 38% are fully or partly disengaged and 33% of all employees are actively looking for a new job at any one time. However, only 5% of highly engaged employees are actively looking for a new job, indicating that engagement is a key driver for retention.

Equally, organisations such as RBS, Sears, AXA, B & Q, and Kimberley Clarke are able to show that parts of their organisations with a high degree of engagement show up to 20% higher profitability than the average for their companies. So, research is telling us that engagement is an important strategic lever for organisations to reduce cost and increase effectiveness of the resources base.

Through our surveys, we know what employees think of the organisation in terms of how well their personal needs are being met, but do we know how focused their discretionary effort is on growing the business of the organisation?

Do we know whether employees believe the view of the future espoused in the corporate strategy? Do we know if they are engaged in delivering that strategy? And do we know their views about the pace of change, growth and development of the organisation? Do we know how much more they think the organisation could achieve if only the management processes could be got right?

How can we make engagement a key strategy to take the business forward rather than merely an HR initiative to deliver feedback to the business?

Measuring engagement is essential and more than 70% of organisations currently use surveys to gain feedback from their employees in order to benefit from this source of organisational learning.

In a recent study by Hewitt, 85% of ‘Best Companies’ do so. So, we are measuring the employee response to the organisation; a very valid thing to do. But are we asking the right questions? Are we taking full advantage of the survey opportunity?

Whilst working with a recent client, it became clear that though receiving this feedback information was very valuable to their organisation, it did not in itself enable change. It did not give clear indicators to the leadership of the factors they could change to improve engagement with the organisation. Leaders were not engaged with engagement! The decision was taken to broaden the survey questions and encompass employee opinion on aspects of the strategic agenda.

Gathering feedback about how employees viewed (for instance) the speed and effectiveness of decision making, delegation of authority, involvement in key decisions, and the goal alignment process gave much more focused information about the issues and priorities for relevant organisational change.

This has helped them to target the few key initiatives that encourage a climate of engagement and increased the impact and attractiveness for employees to become part of the engaged group. It has enabled a two-way communication to develop through the survey mechanism and enabled clarity of vision throughout the various layers of management.

The engagement model developed by the UK Institute of Employment Studies(IES) shows that a feeling of being valued and involved leads to engagement with a number of factors combining to create this feeling:

• Senior managers show employees that they value them
• Employees feel able to voice their opinions
• Good suggestions are acted upon
• Employees have the opportunity to develop in their jobs
• Managers listen to employees
• Employees are involved in decision making
• Employer demonstrated concern about employee health and well-being

In summary, the process of employing a survey can reinforce engagement drivers by asking questions that clearly communicate the current priorities for the organisation and show employees that you take their feedback seriously, seek their ideas and value their contribution in achieving the company strategy. This, in turn, enables management to act on the feedback, working in partnership with HR to generate a culture of engagement.

How is your organisation doing?

Can we help you develop your survey process to generate the action you want?

Coote Harvard is a consulting, coaching and training firm specialising in helping organisations like yours create conditions for extraordinary employee engagement. We help you and your teams understand, survey and develop the drivers of engagement and minimise personal and organisational barriers to success. We focus on practical ways to link Human Capital and operational performance and promote success behaviours throughout your organisation.