HRANB Newsletter

A common concern among CEO’s and senior human resources officers is the ongoing challenge of attracting and retaining the best talent for key roles, embodied in the popular phrase – the war for talent.

Lost in this discussion is perhaps the larger and more pivotal issue of winning the hearts and minds of the rank and file. While clearly attracting top performers in senior and specialized industry jobs is a fundamental need, the long term success of a business and ability to retain star assets, particularly when challenged by new and powerful market entrants, is contingent upon a highly motivated and engaged employee workforce.

Measuring the attitudes of employees within a company has become more of a science in recent years, identified as “engagement” rather than the traditional employee opinion survey or satisfaction index. This evolution has occurred primarily through the expectation of organizations that their human capital experts’ strategies and objectives are held accountable through quantifiable means together with more focused research on the impact of employee engagement on the growth potential of labour intensive businesses.

Surprisingly, and in the face of mounting evidence, when leadership turns their thoughts to both current and emerging competition this issue of the level of employee engagement rarely if ever appears on the planning session flip chart describing which organization has the upper hand. In a study published in 2004 exploring over sixty leading corporations around the globe, the authors concluded a highly engaged workforce regularly delivers a 20% better rate of productivity than businesses that had not invested in this relationship with their employees. When considering the bottom line impact of a 20% productivity gain, a huge competitive advantage is available to companies willing to invest in a comprehensive and robust program to improve engagement.

Employee engagement, an evolving and compelling approach to assessing employee effectiveness, is most accurately described by the Institute for Employment Studies, a British research group associated with the University of Sussex: ‘a positive attitude held by the employee towards the organisation and its values. An engaged employee is aware of business context, and works with colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organisation. The organisation must work to develop and nurture engagement, which requires a two-way relationship between employer and employee.’

When contemplating this issue, it is also interesting to consider whether a workforce is represented by a union. In most cases organizations tend to invest more heavily in employee communication and engagement programs when in a non-union state as the motivation is often to remain so. One can argue, however, the importance of a highly developed relationship between a company and its employees is even more acute in a unionized environment as the investment can effectively neutralize the perceived operational and cost disadvantage and allow for a conversation built on trust during critical periods of change or challenge.

There are many examples of organizations, large and small, who have successfully implemented employee engagement strategies that form a core pillar of their company values, a critical element for success. A philosophy of engagement that only exists in the objectives of the HR function and do not transcend each manager with relationship responsibility will fall well short of the goal. In the volumes of analysis compiled over the years about Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the world boasting over one and half million “associates”, few references to their people strategy are attributed to their competitive advantage. In fact, beyond the well documented approach to cost management and supplier relationships, likely the most crucial advantage Wal-Mart enjoys over most retailers is the disciplined and consistent approach undertaken to build relationships with their employee stakeholders. When managers are assessed in the Wal-Mart world, their people management performance receives equal billing with all other key performance indicators.

Five Keys to Achieving Optimum Engagement

Analysis
Selecting the right instrument to measure the current state of employee engagement is crucial. As this approach is based on substantial accumulated research, organizations must resist the urge to modify and amend the questions contained within the tool. Significant adjustments will water down the usefulness of the data and negate the ability to benchmark industry data. The quality of the products available in the marketplace range considerably from adequate to excellent, and as such, investing in a superior product will greatly increase the value of the data. Equally important is developing the plan to address the findings of the survey both in terms of demonstrating the organization’s willingness and ability to improve in the short term, and addressing the medium to long term behavioural shift required.

Vision vs. Project
Although often referred to as a project or objective, the change required for sustained improvement in employee engagement must be become the foundation of a company’s culture and prevail in each internal relationship. If the engagement assessment reveals a significant gap, the journey will be longer and the resolve of leadership necessarily determined. Accountability for dynamics of organizational behaviour change must rest with all key opinion leaders.

Communication
The cornerstone of a fully engaged workforce is a meaningful and systemic dialogue between the organization and its employees. Most organizations make a reasonable effort to deliver information to their employees, but few encourage and cultivate feedback. Among the success factors in achieving world class engagement, creating opportunities for employees to regularly voice their opinion and contribute to the decision making process may well be most critical and at the same time most challenging to achieve. In addition to meeting the needs of their constituents, employers who choose to make this investment also benefit from the front line experience gleaned from the customer.

Representation & Opportunity
Consistent with building a comprehensive two way communication program, engagement is enhanced through employees having a seat at the table, assisting in plotting their own future and the future of their enterprise. Building systems to allow for these partnerships to grow will depend on the size, complexity, and structure of the company. Engaged employees are confident that their regular and over and above contributions will be recognized and provide them opportunity for professional growth regardless of their status within the organization.

Leadership & Trust
While the success of an engagement strategy is contingent upon universal acceptance, clearly the tone is set by leadership. The extent to which employees trust and feel they have achieved a personal relationship or connection with the enterprise leader will determine the degree of cultural implementation. Leaders of engaged companies inspire, instil confidence, empower, encourage discourse, and demonstrate concern for their employee’s health and well being.

As Canadian business leaders continue their appropriate focus on attracting and retaining the best talent in the face of a shrinking labour market, world class enterprises enjoy a competitive advantage having learned the task is measurably less taxing when their employees are fully engaged.

Paul Mansbridge, CHRP has twenty two years experience serving as a senior human resources officer with two of Canada’s largest enterprises. Paul can be reached at smansbridge@rogers.com