Category Archives: Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement, News

Finding Happiness at work

Written by Nick Gold, MD of leading UK and international speaker bureau, Speaker’s Corner

At this time of year, with Happiness at Work Week (20-27 September) taking place, businesses are starting to look forward with a small degree of optimism.  This optimism is not necessarily derived from the current state of their business or even their sector, but rather from being able to make proactive plans rather than in reactive mode which has been the default setting for the past 18 months.  This is a challenge, but one which can be met with a degree of excitement and anticipation as the business has a chance to make an impact both within its business surroundings, but also for the people who work within the business.

And as we look forward, we fully understand the landscape has changed from a personal perspective for the employees that work for any company.  The pandemic has brought, for everyone at any level, an internal retrospective of what is important to them, a challenge to their values, their beliefs, and their drivers.  The status quo, which existed for many years in lifelong careers- built on foundations for the future and a structured work life with a 9am-5pm existence, is nothing more than a distant memory.  There is an appreciation that while our work and personal lives are of course distinct, they are also immeasurably intertwined.

There has been a re-evaluation of people’s expectations of work, who they work for, why they work, what they do and how their work can help them achieve their life goals including not only what they want to do, but who they want to be in life.  Work is now a part of every individual’s whole being as opposed to a separate personality within their life.  Pre-pandemic, there was significant research which said that Gen-Z on average had 5 different personas within their social media accounts to reflect different aspects of their lives. My supposition is that the pandemic has brought all of us, not just Gen-Z, to an aspirational goal that we are no longer having to create different personas dependent on situations as every choice we make is for us to be our true selves.

For the employer and at this time of year when ‘Happiness at Work’ week comes to the fore, this creates challenges which should be embraced and open a world of opportunity.  The return to, and the future of the workplace has led to many discussions about remote working balanced against office working.

The advent of hybrid working (the buzz word of the day) seems to advocate a balance between the two and straddles the media outcry that it is a linear choice between one way of working or the other.

But life isn’t clear and linear nor does hybrid working create a balance which delivers clarity and happiness for all.

This is therefore a chance for an employer to treat each of their employees as an individual and deliver to them the platform and environment for them to have the opportunity to embed their work into their lives with a smile on their faces and a sense of completeness as work becomes part of who they are, not a separate identity.

Business leaders need to take the time to understand what its lines in the sand are and what it needs from its employees for the business to thrive.  This does not mean putting in processes which define how people should work or where they should be, but rather what it needs from its employees to help benefit the business.

This could be as simple as the whole business being together for an hour a week or for each team to spend time together.  This could be flexibility around core hours or hours of work.  This will be different for all business but is not based around what currently exists or at least existed pre-pandemic but rather what will be of benefit for the business going forward.  It might even be dependent on the role of the person within the business or even the length of time they have been at the company.

Within these parameters, the business can then offer their employees the choice, the flexibility of their working days in the office or remote working to help everyone on their path to achieving happiness not only within the workplace, but in their journey through life.

This is much easier to write in words than it is to put into practice. For every new direction business takes it leads to more questions and more dilemmas. But just as individuals are trying to find a pathway through to achieve our happiness at work, at play and at life, so are businesses seeking to find their new meaning and ways in this new environment.

With an open culture, with a spirit of transparency, with dialogue and conversations, then not only is this new way of thinking focussed on the business delivering to their employees but also for the employees to be part of it.  It means the employees understand the choices being made and why.  It means the individuals within the company take ownership of what doesn’t work as much as what works.

With this co-operation and community, not only will this deliver great happiness in the workplace for the people within it, not only will it deliver an environment for a business that means it is set to push forward but also it will bring the business and the people who work for it closer together and on a pathway of growth.

Employee Engagement, HR News, News

UK employers more worried about motivation than resignation

  • Nearly six in 10 employers (59%) feel their employees are struggling to stay motivated and engaged as part of a distributed workforce
  • However, less than a quarter of employers (24%) feel that COVID-19 has negatively impacted retention
  • Only 22% of employers agree that investing in a strong workplace culture could support a low employee turnover. 
  • UK employers are missing out on opportunities to engage their employees

According to a recent study, more UK employers are worried about staff motivation than retention.

Research from Omnipresent, a global employment services partner, in partnership with Remote Social, shows that four in 10 employers (40%) feel that COVID-19 has positively or extremely positively impacted employee retention. In contrast, less than a quarter (24%) feel that it has negatively or extremely negatively impacted this area.

Despite this confidence, the data shows that organisations are still at odds when it comes to keeping talent satisfied: nearly six in 10 employers (59%) feel their employees are struggling to stay motivated and engaged as part of a distributed workforce yet just two in 10 (22%) agree that investing in a strong workplace culture could support a low employee turnover.

The survey considered the views of 250 HR managers and C-Suite professionals across the UK.*

Omnipresent warns that although the pandemic may be keeping employees tied to current roles, the actions businesses take now and in the coming months could largely impact retention – especially if employers fail to strengthen culture among hybrid or remote workforces.

Irene van der Werf, People Manager at Omnipresent, said:

“Employers should be wary of overlooking the value that a strong cultural strategy can have on keeping employees connected to a business. After all, satisfying remote or hybrid teams is about much more than providing the logistical means for employees to complete their work. To truly tap into the cultural requirements of a distributed workforce, employers must understand the environments and locations their employees are working from in order to tailor their people strategies appropriately.

“It’s important to remember that whether employees are working from the office, remotely in the UK or abroad, these settings will affect employees’ day to day needs. There’s a lot to consider – the most accessible methods of communication and networking, best benefits offerings, necessary learning and development opportunities as well as fair salary benchmarking. These are all components that have a huge impact on company culture and employee wellbeing and can greatly reduce employee satisfaction if they aren’t adjusted appropriately.”

The survey data shows that while employers are working on some cultural initiatives to aid in retention, more must be done to keep employees engaged at work.

According to the survey, more than half of organisations (53%) are setting up regular team catch-ups to socialise and 46% are providing support for the physical, emotional, and mental health of staff.

However, just 16% are supplying training for managers, only 28% are running regular company-wide meetings to keep everyone informed and just over a third (34%) are increasing communication cadence between managers and team members.

Consequently, experts at Remote Social, the platform that helps remote and hybrid organisations build culture and connection through play and shared experiences, call for employers to focus further on initiatives that bring employees together and strengthen their relations with the business.

Gerardo Contreras Vacca, Co-Founder and CMO at Remote Social, added:

“Organisations need to be deliberate in their approach to flexible work and how they plan to support employees moving forward. This starts with being open and transparent about where the organisation is heading, and how each individual’s contribution is critical to achieve that vision. Depending on the needs and preferences of employees, this could be through email updates, regular one-on-one meetings, or casual catch-ups. It’s important to be consistent.

“From the survey, we can see that less than a third of UK organisations are running company-wide meetings, just 18% use ad-hoc announcements or meetings and only 15% share regular internal newsletters among employees -a missed opportunity. These moments are vital as they provide the chance to increase a sense of shared identity among employees and ensure they are connected to the company purpose.”

 

*Results are taken from a global survey of 1000 HR managers and C-Suite professionals in 2021. Respondents are from the UK, US, Australia, and Canada.

Employee Engagement, News, Thought Leadership

Delivering strong leadership for a fast-growth business

Written by Janette Martin, CEO of 360 Resourcing

Businesses have faced several unknowns over the last 18 months, highlighting the importance of strong leadership to support and guide teams, especially when the ease of face-to-face interaction was stripped away so suddenly. This has made the art of communication and engagement a vital leadership skill that is essential to inspire, motivate and celebrate our teams.

 

Employee engagement

Employee engagement is so strongly linked to customer retention and business growth, that it should be a number one priority for any business leader. A positive step towards this is the creation of a clear culture and company values to help employees feel emotionally connected to their work and that they are making a difference.

I recall in 2007 I joined a business with undefined culture and was standing still in terms of growth. By instilling strong behaviours, internal culture and clear expectations, the business was transformed into a consistent and high performing business.  Company culture is the foundation of a business, it brings the team together to create purpose, innovation, and a shared vision, so it is not surprising that it is linked to business success.

A defined company culture should feed into hiring practises too; bringing in people that match your culture and align with your vision is vital to overall employee engagement and ultimate business success. People don’t like to see a high staff turnover with peers coming and going from an organisation, they thrive on high job satisfaction, promotions and development. A business that stands out to candidates and employees for all the right reasons helps to attract the right skill set and retain the talent that will maximise consistency and deliver results.

In the early days of my own career, ‘women in leadership’ was not the hot topic it is today but developing women into leadership roles is key to business success. A good example of this, in a business where all leadership roles happened to be women, we were achieving 133% growth year on year. Our team was engaged and empowered; however it is not about hiring just women into the workplace, it’s about diversity and inclusion and surrounding yourself with fresh and different points of view. Leaders need to embrace people’s differences to enable innovation by bringing together distinct opinions, ideas and backgrounds.

 

Encourage entrepreneurialism

The best advice anyone ever gave to me in my early career was ‘what would you do if it was your business?’. If everyone within a business is empowered to make decisions and empowered to innovate success has no limits. Investing in your people so that they are confident, passionate and their personal goals match the business goals, the growth opportunities ahead of you are vast. Having an empowered workforce and instilling a passion for growth and customer service are vital ingredients to business success.

Strong leadership is about taking the whole team on a journey and encouraging them to think for themselves.  If you have to be authoritarian, then you’ve lost your people and as a leader you have not conveyed your vision and goals well enough.  There might be times when decisions need to be made quickly to react to the market, this shouldn’t be the overall style of management. For micro-managing to be necessary, something must be off-balance, either poor leadership style or wrong person for the job.  Leaders who micro-manage are not empowering, inspiring or even really leading.

 

Communication and collaboration

The way leaders communicate to their teams has changed quite significantly as working from home, flexible working and virtual meetings have become the norm. Provided the vision, goals and culture you have developed are clear and inspire everyone to work together, this new way of communicating should evolve and fall into place. Consistent communication is essential to progress these goals and make everyone feel involved in the journey.

During a significant growth phase, openly discussing company culture and messaging is imperative to safeguard its place at the heart of your business. At 360 Resourcing this is something everyone is passionate to do.  Growth is an exciting time for any business, and it is easy to get over-excited and forget about the end goal, which is where strong leadership should help to keep the objectives clear and top of mind.

How we move forward now is key; leaders must keep talking to their people to understand what they want and how it can be delivered. Covid-19 has sparked a transformation of working and hiring practices and we, as leaders, need to adapt our businesses with it. Attracting the best talent and bringing them with you on the wider business journey will be fundamental to ongoing business success.

To learn more visit https://www.360resourcing.co.uk

Employee Engagement, HR News, News

Commitment to employers has decreased by a third since before the pandemic

New findings from Inpulse, the employee engagement experts, show that levels of commitment to employers have decreased by nearly a third (32.5%) since before the pandemic. In 2019, the average level of commitment to employers, as stated by respondents, was 43% compared to just 29% from those in 2021. Inpulse’s surveys reach thousands of employees across the UK and globally*.  A summary of the stats shows that:

  • Workplace happiness has fallen by 75% since 2019
  • Employee motivation has dropped by nearly a fifth since this time
  • Employee anxiety has increased by 78%
  • Thousands of employees surveyed

The data also shows that employee happiness has decreased by 75% since 2019 while employee anxiety has shot up by 78% for those who answered surveys where these emotions were included. Employee motivation also dropped by nearly a fifth over the past two years, from an average score of 21% to 17% in 2021.

Matt Stephens, Founder and CEO of Inpulse, said:

“For the past year, we’ve seen how the impacts of COVID-19 have taken a toll on employee anxiety and stress levels. But we are now seeing the fallout of this – how employee emotions are having a direct impact on employee connection, focus and loyalty to businesses. Worryingly, despite the incredibly high anxiety levels employees are feeling, negative employee emotions are still increasing and levels of commitment, motivation and focus are falling”.

Insight from the survey data appears to show that stress levels in the UK are less than in other regions. In the UK, stress levels increased by 23%, compared to a 39% increase for global respondents.

Stephens explained:

“Though at first glance the data suggests that UK businesses are currently handling employee stress better than their foreign counterparts, in reality, UK stress levels were already higher than the global average pre-pandemic. In 2019, UK stress levels sat at 22% compared to just 18% for global respondents. Because of this, even with this smaller increase, UK stress levels are still 2 percentage points higher than global levels in 2021.

“We can see from this that businesses really are experiencing negative emotions like never before and employers must take care to address the burnout and resilience problems of their workforces by accurately measuring and responding to employee sentiments. Without a timely response, these problems will detrimentally impact engagement, productivity, absence, and retention.”

 

*Data taken from 192 employee emotion surveys between 2019 and 2021, with 201,619 respondents. In 2019 there were 54,645 respondents, in 2020 there were 138,567 respondents, and up to the current period in 2021, 8,407 respondents have taken part. Respondents are from the UK and across the globe, with 142,073 UK respondents and 59,397 global respondents across the three year period.

Employee Engagement, News, Tech

DV Signage teams up with Scale Space to launch Interaction.Works – a high-end collaboration workspace in response to Hybrid Working revolution

The workspace innovator DV Signage has partnered with Scale Space, the UK’s community for scale-ups, to offer an exciting new Collaboration-as-a-Service workspace to be branded Interaction.Works. The Interaction.Works concept responds directly to the emerging Hybrid Working trend as companies begin shaping the Future of Work as the UK emerges from lockdown.

Interaction.Works brings together the installation, integration and workspace design expertise of DV Signage, with the very latest Prysm 6K LPD Prysm 190 inch canvas and collaborative software, to create a cutting-edge collaboration space that can be configured for team collaboration events, management strategy and ideation sessions, remote team co-working, product launches, product demonstrations and more.

The very first dedicated Interaction.Works space, which will be complete within the next two weeks, is situated inside Scale Space White City, in the heart of a newly-designated Innovation District for West London owned by Imperial College.

The impressive 200,000 square foot Scale Space building provides a home to Imperial College Business School, Blenheim Chalcot’s portfolio of venture businesses and an increasing number of scale-ups in the digital and life sciences sector. Scale Space offers its members a unique combination of onsite university connections, venture building know-how and co-working office space with communal facilities to help them scale rapidly and successfully.

Interaction.Works is the brainchild of Richard Cobbold, founder of DV Signage who has teamed up with Prysm Systems and Scale Space in response to the massive changes in working practices driven by the pandemic:

“The WFH (Work From Home) revolution has all but eliminated 9 to 5, 5 days a week office-only working. Going forward firms will need to re-imagine their offices as branded venues that make the most of bringing their employees together, inspiring team co-working and enhancing group collaboration. Technology, architecture and workspace design that seamlessly blends that physical and virtual divide will be key.’

Interaction.Works will be London’s first dedicated Collaboration-As-A-Service showcase – combining the very latest in large scale collaboration technologies with  on demand professional facilitators and accredited training programs to ensure optimised business outcomes and enhanced digital productivity in the ‘new normal’.

“These are the technologies and business practices that have underpinned the competitive edge previously enjoyed only by the big multinationals. Interaction.Works for the first time makes these available to businesses of all sizes.

“As businesses begin to rationalise their workspace requirements around Hybrid Working, at-home employees will need to seamless mix with in-office teams. Interaction.Works shows how this is possible, either on-demand in our specialist shared facility or deployed directly to a corporate customer’s own workspace.”

Whether companies bring their teams together once a month, once a quarter or once a year, accessing Interaction.Works allows firms to benefit on demand from a fully managed, fully-catered, tech-supported and high-spec innovation environment.

Cobbold added:

“We ensure these spaces are highly accessible. We surround them with technical support and specialist training capability – and ensure that each and every time an organisation gets it teams together the purpose of that meeting is achieved: creativity is unlocked, deals get over the line and those that cannot physically be there have the same high quality, immersive experience as those that are.”

Michael Holmes, CCO of Scale Space added:

“We are delighted to offer cutting-edge collaboration facilities within our White City building. Previously a privilege of larger firms, this high-end technology will be shared as a service within our space, democratising its use and allowing our member companies and Imperial College MBA students to access tools they would not otherwise have easy access to. This will no doubt foster innovation, which is ultimately what we are here to facilitate.”

Employee Engagement, Mental Health, News

Nick Gold: Stress Awareness Month

Nick Gold, MD of Speakers Corner, considers how employers can harness stress awareness month to connect with and engage employees

As society starts to open up and the vaccine programme continues on at pace, we look forward to brighter times and, with a degree of newfound optimism, a pathway that steers away from the lockdown cycle we have been on over the last year.

April brings the change of seasons, longer days and brighter skies but also the chance to reflect and take stock with April being Stress Awareness Month.  Since 1992, this annual event has been driving public awareness towards the causes and cures for stress.  During the last year, as individuals and as a society we have experienced situations, circumstances and environments which have heightened our stress levels and bought to the forefront our mental health and resilience.

From a business perspective, with employees working remotely and the business landscape shifting constantly, the pandemic has challenged traditional leadership traits and pushed companies to re-evaluate how they operate in order to ensure their employees have the best possibility of delivering success and exceeding their potential.  A results driven business needs to be able to demonstrate, both to its employees as well as its clients that results are more than just the numbers on the financial reports.  All individuals associated with the business, in whatever capacity, need to feel valued and that these values are aligned with the business.

This has created an opportunity for companies to demonstrate their relationship with their employees.  A chance to forge bonds and demonstrate shared values both to the employees but also as a company to the wider community.  The impact of the pandemic on individuals is varied and has no set pattern, different people have experienced different situations and reacted in different ways.  Individuals are managing their stress levels and striving to maintain a good state of mental health with both differing degrees of success and through the use of methodologies suited to their personalities.

As such, the nature of this individualism with regards to a shared issued means that business can’t prescribe a ‘best practice’ document or layout the process as they might have traditionally done when dealing with a new situation.  A company needs to provide a platform for open conversation by employees, a culture where it is understood that individual issues are a shared responsibility, and it is in everyone’s interest for a successful resolution to be found for each individual.

The truth is that companies are not equipped to deliver this to their employees without a degree of cynicism and suspicion dragging the process down, especially for those companies that have historically taken pride in their strictly adherence to historical culture and order within their company.  An employee will look on a voice from the internal machinations of the company with thoughts around demonstrating vulnerability to the company and possible ulterior agendas from the company perspective.

However, this can be overcome through the use of external voice, an external speaker who can bring fresh thought, ideas and perspective both from a position of gravitas through their knowledge and expertise but also independence.  The external voice, especially when it is clear they are attending a one-off session to instigate thought and encourage conversation, has no agenda above and beyond the message and content they are trying to deliver.  They provide an environment, both during the session and beyond, where their ideas can be utilised as a basis for an open dialogue, where they discuss stress, the impact of the pandemic and trigger signs or potential refinements of working practices are seen as positive discussions for the individuals.  The company is one step removed and solely there to support their staff as they navigate through these times which should ensure the business is seen by its employees in a positive frame – supporting them in the best possible way.

The impact of that single session by an external speaker is that it gives the framework for the business to demonstrate an open conversation culture.  The restricted time of the session means that the key objective of the speaker is to provoke thought, to challenge, to inspire, they do not have the space or time in one session to resolve as this should be seen as the start of journey for every individual on the session.  It creates a shared bond between the individual and the business that stress is not a tightly managed problem which can be resolved, boxed up and put away but something that needs to be managed through open conversation, through the appreciation that each individual needs the support in the best way.

The business can kick start this by laying a platform of external voices providing guidance, framing the nature of stress and opening up the culture of the company. This open dialogue and understanding will be critical to the health of every individual within the business and their impact on the success of the business over time.

 

Benefits, Employee Engagement, HR News, News

Howden: Extend core protections to ALL workers

A survey undertaken by consultancy Howden Employee Benefits & Wellbeing (Howden) highlights that the majority of employers are not yet providing a strong employee benefits foundation to support the core needs of their workforce.

The research – which was undertaken in December 2020 – suggests that almost 2 in every 3 employers (63%) don’t yet offer the four major elements that Howden considers essential to provide protection and practical assistance to all employees and their dependents.

In addition to the workplace pension that all employers must provide, Howden defines the four “core” benefit areas that good employers should always aim to offer as:

  • Life assurance
  • Income protection
  • Access to private health professionals & treatments
  • Financial wellbeing support

Steve Herbert, Head of Benefits Strategy at Howden says;

“The last 12 months has been a period of unprecedented health crisis and associated personal financial risks, and should act as a massive wake-up call to employers in all sectors to revisit their core employee benefits to ensure that they provide adequate protections and reassurance to all workers and their families when the need arises.”

Howden points out that employers and employees might have to live with the longer term impact of COVID-19, and possibly other epidemics too.  Herbert continued;

“Whilst it is certainly true that the COVID-19 “R” rate is now largely in retreat – and that the vaccination programme is making significant inroads towards protecting the UK population – employers should be under no illusion that this threat is neutralised.  The reality is that COVID-19 is now largely endemic in the UK population, so the likelihood of the nation and its employers achieving a true “Zero-COVID” strategy looks rather remote.  It follows that employers will have to find a way to co-exist with COVID-19 with only minimal risks to their organisation, its workforce, and their dependents in the months and years ahead.

It’s also worth highlighting that the number of infectious diseases across the globe has been rising over the last century, and that there have been many significant threats in the last 20 years alone.  So establishing a benefits package that helps protect workers against these future unknowns is clearly a sensible step for all employers to take as we emerge from the current restrictions.”

 Howden suggests that as well as a workplace pension, all workers – regardless of status – should be provided with Group Life Assurance cover, Group Income Protection support, a suitable healthcare plan, and Financial Wellbeing support as base-level benefits offering in the 2020s and beyond.

Herbert concluded:

“The four core protections that we have highlighted will provide a welcome level of reassurance and security to employees in these increasingly uncertain times, and can be enhanced with further options and additions to create a more compelling benefits offering as required by the sponsoring employer. 

 COVID-19 has demonstrated just how fragile all our lives and livelihoods can be, and workers will look far more favourably on employers that aim to provide at least the four cornerstones of employee benefits as an automatic component of their future remuneration package.” 

 

Ends

For more information about the range of Employee Benefits services available please visit the Howden Employee Benefits & Wellbeing website:  www.howdengroup.com/uk-en/cover/employee-benefits-and-wellbeing-consulting

Employee Engagement, News, Wellbeing at Work

Air France KLM European Sales and Service Centre continues strong employee engagement partnership with Thrive

Air France KLM ESSC has continued its partnership with Thrive, which has involved the development of an employee engagement and communications app, ‘My Wem’.

Air France KLM is one of the world’s leading airlines, employing over 80,000 staff.  The company’s London based European Sales & Service Centre (ESSC) plays a crucial role in the success of Air France KLM; with now 200 of their employees working remotely, handling thousands of enquires each day from travellers around the world.

The ESSC needed to streamline communication, reduce the use of email and create a community to keep colleagues connected and the ‘My Wem’ app was launched to achieve this.

Internal Communications Officer at Air France KLM ESSC, Georgina Gray says; “We needed a cost-effective platform to keep our people engaged and connected. We could see that remote working could potentially leave our colleagues disconnected, especially now with the current Covid conditions and we wanted to break down department silos. We also wanted to future-proof our communication channel and thought an app-based solution would be the best choice.

The ‘My Wem’ app which is available on our team’s desktop and mobile phones has created a ‘virtual campfire’ for all of our employees. It has shaped our company culture, increased morale, and employee recognition. The app has aligned to our company values, it has simplified communication and increased the voice of the employee which is key to successful communication strategy. “

Since its launch, the ESSC has seen 120% increase in its employee’s engagement in the app. They have also seen an increase in productivity, reducing time spent with a more streamlined approach to HR procedures and information sharing.

James Revell, ESSC General Manager mentions “It has been so satisfying to see colleagues’ opinions on and interactions with internal communication improve so much since the roll out of My Wem”.

Georgina Gray adds – “Previously colleagues had to go through several steps to locate HR information that is now readily available for them on their app which immediately saves us time for colleagues to dedicate and focus on their role. Successful communication should be two-way and not just top down. We have the possibility for each colleague to participate in communication with the UGC (user generated content) feature as well as being able to like and comment on content”

James Scott, CEO, Co-Founder of Thrive adds;  “We sincerely value our partnership with Air France KLM European Sales and Service Centre and hope to continue to support them through these challenging times and beyond. Their employee app has been embedded across their organisation and its success is attributed to the Air France KLM ESSC team. Our goal is to help as many organisations as we can in shifting from traditional methods of employee communications and engagement such as team briefings, printed newsletters, notice boards, printed payslips and forms to instant, modern, secure, engaging mobile apps that their employees love.”

 

About Thrive

Thrive provides the technology and support to assist organisations in igniting their internal communications through the successful launch of employee apps. With the Thrive app, every employee can easily access real-time information they need to support their role, organisational updates across all areas of the business and feel supported and recognised as they carry out their duties.

The Thrive App brings everyone together, including desk-less workforces with limited or no access to corporate emails or intranets. Its client-base includes councils, healthcare companies, manufacturing businesses, food firms, retailers and other organisations across the UK, Ireland and internationally.

This software as a service solution enables HR, Marketing, Internal Comms, Corporate Comms, IT, Operations and other professionals to create and promote important, relevant, timely and customised information. Reaching everyone, everywhere, every time with an engaging, secure mobile app that is ridiculously easy to use. https://www.thrive.app/

About Air France KLM  

Air France KLM is a major global air transport player. Its main businesses are passenger transportation, cargo transportation and aeronautical maintenance. Together, Air France and KLM carry more than 77 million passengers per year*pre COVID. They operate 548 aircraft, enabling them to fly to 318 destinations in 118 countries. Members of the joint Air France KLM frequent flyer programme Flying Blue earn Miles and claim rewards on SkyTeam routes. Air France KLM makes every effort to answer questions and accommodate customer requests, all of which is assisted by the European Sales & Service Centre.

Employee Engagement, News, News for HRDs

Why your employee engagement strategy should be inclusive and a collaborative effort in 2021

Julie Cameron, MD and founder of DRIVE Engagement, talks about engagement strategies and how to re-engage your team

For years, businesses of all sizes have pumped time and thought into their employee engagement strategies – and rightly so. After all, data proves just how costly it can be to run a ship with a disconnected and unengaged crew. According to Gallup, disengaged employees can result in 37% higher absenteeism, 18% lower productivity and 15% lower profitability within the workplace.

Despite these statistics providing a very clear narrative on why employee engagement is so integral to business success, the reality is that businesses often misjudge how to address it properly. More often than not companies address engagement from a top-down perspective. Doing so means that these strategies fail to address the real issues at hand and do not reflect the wants and needs of the most critical part of the business; the employees themselves.

In this article we will talk about the difference between a hierarchical and an employee led engagement strategy and explain how a firm can reap all the by-products when they really get their teams motivated and engaged in what they do. With companies tightening their purse strings as a result of the pandemic, hopefully we can demonstrate that employee engagement no longer needs to be pushed down the ‘to do’ list in 2021.

2020 and the fractured workforce

And if employee engagement wasn’t seen as important enough, in March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic gave many businesses even more of a reason to focus on it. As so many businesses closed their doors and moved to a remote (and somewhat fractured way of working), they witnessed employees feeling cut off from their peers and line managers. Not only this, but employees also needed to adapt to new ways of working and deal with differing motivations in their personal lives; leaving employees feeling anxious and uncertain. This sudden shift forced HR and leadership teams alike to question how to keep their employees engaged through such an unusual and challenging time, and specifically, how to do this at a time when the purse strings were very tight.

Businesses across the UK took to the internet in a bid to find answers to their questions. In fact, in December 2020, search volume for the term “employee wellbeing” reached its highest ever level; 300% higher than the same month in the previous year. Plus, in May, the question “How to engage employees” was searched more than it had been since 2008.

Whilst the internet does, of course, provide a wealth of information, what many businesses often fail to recognise is that the answer to creating a fruitful employee engagement strategy can often be found much closer to home and within their teams themselves.

Management led vs direct employee feedback

In order to determine the most effective employee engagement strategy, the one that will dramatically increase engagement in an organisation, the first step is to acknowledge that a problem exists in the first place. To do this, it is important to recognise the characteristics of an ineffective strategy.
Many firms often make the mistake of treating employee engagement as a human resource (HR) issue. Often, someone from HR convinces the CEO to commit some budget to an employee survey. Once the survey is complete, the data is then kept locked-away, senior leaders brainstorm ideas and then implement changes that they believe will engage employees. This is where we see those extrinsic initiatives such as free fruit, early finish Fridays, lunch and learns and perhaps a monthly Zoom quiz. Sound familiar?

There are two important issues which arise from this example. Firstly, a misunderstanding of what “employee engagement” is and the weight of influence it has on how successful a company is.

I should stress that employee engagement is not about the satisfaction often felt from receiving material benefits, rather it refers to the emotional commitment an employee has to their organisation, specifically its vision, its purpose and its goals. What we’re talking about here is the difference between extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation.

A top-down approach to the implementation of an employee engagement strategy means front-line leaders are acting as the regulators of employee engagement. A strategy that has been developed through the lens of one or a few senior individuals has the potential to result in something which is dangerously disconnected and unrepresentative of the employees themselves. After all, leaders should never assume they have all the answers.

Sense of belonging

Instead, I would contend that it’s important to consider the drastic evolution of the demands and desires of the employees themselves. The emphasis on what is important (and what motivates us) has shifted somewhat over this past year, and although financial security is still a key focus, there is a deeper sense of personal drivers and motivators when it comes to measuring employee engagement.

There is so much to be said about belonging and feeling part of the greater whole. Nurturing the emotional connections between employees and their workplace will motivate them to remain committed to the company in the long term and bring tangible benefits for everyone.

The key to creating this feeling of belonging is to focus on techniques that give all employees a real voice. For instance, where solutions to problems that the company faces are found by the team themselves collaboratively and are not dictated by those at the top. It all starts with collaborative problem solving and giving each team member greater autonomy to be part of the solution. It’s important to gain employee buy-in to corporate efforts to re-engage by empowering and enabling. Without doing this, you may face a sea of shrugged shoulders and find your engagement programme fails to make significant progress.

Facilitating structured opportunities and giving a voice to people at all levels in the workplace will help ensure employees feel like they are a driving force in a company, wholly connected to its vision and goals, rather than feeling like the company is pulling them along with instructions from the top.
And, in these difficult times where people are more displaced than ever, it is essential to focus on longer term rational strategies. Not only does it make good business sense, but it makes good employee sense as well. Ultimately, it’s this kind of tangible engagement that is win-win, because it continues to pay back year after year, therefore making it entirely free and extremely cost effective to implement.

Bolstering employee engagement and helping employees to feel connected during the pandemic has been and will continue to be one of businesses’ biggest challenges. But now is the time for businesses to intensify their commitment to health, wellbeing, diversity, employee experience and engagement, because those firms who focus on techniques that give their employees a real voice, enabling them to maintain connections and to continue to build relationships with one another, will reap the benefits longer term.

Employee Benefits, Employee Engagement, News

UK employee engagement firm engages employees by giving them 75% of its shares

Employee engagement experts, Inpulse, the firm that was able to measure that UK employee anxiety levels rose by 240% in the space of a year after the impact of COVID-19, is transferring 75% of its company shares to its employees. According to the founder of Inpulse, the move to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) empowers employees, clients and the business long-term.

Matt Stephens, Founder and CEO of Inpulse, explained, “Last year, after seeing how our employees dealt with all the changes brought about by the pandemic and how they rose to the challenge of helping clients through tough times made us consider ways of involving them more in the business. What better way to engage and reward our employees than offer them ownership of it at no cost to themselves.”

“My conviction is to put the employee at the heart of the business and focus on clients’ needs not shareholders’. The EOT was a perfect move to ensure our team is fully invested in Inpulse’s future. We couldn’t and wouldn’t have done this without full trust and belief in each one of our team and this will only reinforce everyone’s collective desire to support our clients.”

Inpulse supports employee engagement by helping clients measure and understand their employees’ emotions – perhaps about wellbeing, diversity and inclusion, culture or change.

The announcement will have no material day to day impact on the company or Stephens’ role as Founder/CEO.

He continued, “In effect, this is about making our business as successful as possible. We’re providing the incentive for superlative performance, as well as supporting business mainstays of productivity and innovation. One of the biggest reasons we chose an EOT was because we are helping our team and because employee-owned companies tend to outperform others.”

Bertie Tonks, Chief People Officer at Collinson, added: “This is the sort of reason we love partnering with Inpulse. They don’t just support engagement, they live it. Many companies choose venture capital or private equity funding, but Matt and the team live by their values. It’s personal to each of them and is growing organically. I love it.”

According to the Employee Ownership Association, sales in employee-owned companies increased by 4.3% and operating profits increased by 5% in 2019. On top of this, the top 50 employee-owned companies realised 6.9% productivity growth.

An Employee Ownership Trust transfers control of a business to employees, while having tax incentives for the shareholders. An EOT must pass control of at least 51% of a business to employees; after independent valuations, Inpulse’s founders has passed 75% of the shares, via a Trust, to employees.

Stephens summarised:

“We have complete independence to plan what’s best for clients, plus this move helps us attract and retain our staff. I keep a shareholding, so I’m also fully invested, as well as able to look at new business opportunities.”