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“There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow. It goes without saying that no company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.”
-Jack Welch, former CEO of GE
If we agree on this in principle, then it’s easy to see where HR’s role lies in practice.
Defining employee engagement for HR
According to the CIPD’s HR Profession Map:
The emotional connection all employees have with their work, colleagues and to their organisation (in particular line manager relationship) is positive and understood, and it delivers greater discretionary effort in their work and the way they relate to their organisation.
In other words, we want people to get a buzz from doing a good job (and therefore feel motivated to do exactly that) and also from belonging to the wider team and organisation. And – importantly – engagement is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ concept; different efforts will appeal to different people.
So what is it?
Employee engagement as an activity has long since gone beyond the annual staff survey. Today, if you want an engaged workforce, you need:
- Clear, open, honest, and two-way communications that go further than mere job or role-related information… not, what do people ‘need to know’; but rather, what do they ‘need to understand’.
- Flexibility and freedom built in to the way people are allowed to do their jobs
- The technological support and tools that allow people to get the job done.
- A varied rewards and recognition strategy that repays excellent performance with something the performer actually values.
The must-have HR behaviours
The Profession Map shows the broad range of engagement standards and competencies expected in the modern workplace:
- Engagement drivers and developing strategy – research-based plans and strategies tailored to the organisation.
- Measuring levels of engagement – the development and use of metrics to refine and drive the strategy.
- Employee engagement interventions – a variety of approaches to appeal to all preferences.
- Employer brand – development and delivery of an employer brand proposition, including organisational value and behavioural expectations.
- Workplace behaviour – the application of workplace psychology.
- Diversity of needs – understanding and acting on differing needs amongst the workforce.
- Internal communications – communicating to and across all levels appropriately.
Whether it’s as simple as encouraging a culture of supportive delegation, or as space-age as the latest internal social collaboration software tools, employee engagement is about creating maximum freedom of method within the remit of achieving strategic goals and objectives, resulting in innovation, collaboration, and commitment.
Maximum HR is a boutique HR consultancy providing the complete range of HR interventions. Our 'People' consultancy can help with resourcing, learning and engaging people.
Maximum HR
Tel: 01582 714280
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http://maximumhr.co.uk
