Employee engagement is a complex and dynamic concept which has gripped the corporate world as an essential strategy to gain competitive advantage, particularly given its tangible links to improved performance. But more than this, it is now becoming imperative to achieve results and your key performance indicators.
We know engaged employees are more committed to their employers, and are willing to release their discretionary effort to make a significant contribution to their organisation.
According to Gallup, companies with engaged employees are likely to grow earnings 2.6 faster than those that don’t. So with clear commercial benefits at stake, why then are many HR Directors still struggling with their Executive Boards to get them to view engagement as a key priority?
As uncertainty increases and the economic landscape changes, organisations of all sizes are under more pressure to make efficiencies as budgets are frozen. Impulsive decisions are frequently made to address short term issues and investments in people are often one of the first costs to be reduced.
Many businesses fail to recognise that particularly in a heightened state of economic turbulence the stakes are even higher and that this makes the need for engaged employees even more acute. The financial ramifications of non-engagement can be immense.
In reality, such an approach can exacerbate underlying issues as we need the engagement of our employees now more than ever. Are we also in danger of making decisions about what we need to do without involving our workforce? Are we assuming we know what is important to our employees at this time?
In difficult economic times, specific aspects of engagement become predominant, especially in the wake of redundancies. Employees need to feel stable and secure, they need to trust their manager, believe that their role remains important with a clear sense of purpose, as well as continued involvement in decisions which affect them.
The redundancy process is typically handled with special attention and sensitivity but often the welfare, engagement and performance of those who are left behind is ignored. Their attendance does not necessarily translate into performance as research highlights, “…remaining employees can suffer from survivor syndrome, (an inability to do anything but the most basic of tasks)" *
Employees exhibit a myriad of emotions and behaviours as they deal with uncertainty and change, possible restructures, additional workload and the loss of colleagues. Without serious consideration this can be a significant cost to the organisation, which all too often remains unmeasured.
Just a few cost-effective actions tailored to managers and employees can have a huge impact in helping to achieve organisational goals. To find out about some of the key actions you could take to improve engagement during uncertainty, click here...
* Vinten, G and Lane, D. “Counselling remaining employees in redundancy situation” Career Development International 7/7/2002 430-437