Sir Terry Leahy on employee engagement

If engagement does improve productivity and, resultantly, profits – why hasn’t every company got an engaged workforce?

Speaking at WorkAngel’s Influencers Breakfast event, Sir Terry Leahy, formerly CEO of Tesco, discussed why workplace engagement isn’t universal.

“I think the pressure of a competitors market really distracts management. They lose their way. And when businesses struggle one of the ways in which they go wrong is how they communicate with their workforce.

“I think modern bureaucracies are not very good places to be. It’s particularly difficult to maintain enthusiasm when you’re one little cog in a great big machine. Modern life, with so much reliance on systems and processes in order for you to replicate what you do, is quite alienating for people.”