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Engaging in the new world
As David MacLeod and I were writing our 2009 report Engaging for Success, there was a widespread view that engaging employees, while possibly an interesting workplace approach, was nevertheless a nice-to-do. Many leaders, if they thought about it at all, probably considered it was a typical HR soft and fluffy initiative, which had nothing to do with the hard bedrock of profitability and productivity that kept them awake at night.
But as the impact of the financial crisis hit all sectors of the economy, something began to change. It became clear that those organisations which engaged with their workforces in meeting the challenges of collapsing markets and the credit crunch – in manufacturing particularly, – stood a fighting chance of coming out of the recession on their feet, rather than their knees. There was an increasing realisation that perhaps tapping into the wisdom of the crowd – employees in this case – could help provide solutions to improving efficiency, improving customer relationships and finding new markets. And subsequently in the public sector, the herculean efforts made for example in local government to reconfigure services in the face of unprecedented financial pressures demonstrated clearly that deep engagement with staff could produce a positive outcome for services, even in the most difficult circumstances.
Today as the UK economy builds again, companies and organisations face a whole extra set of challenges, as the impact of the extraordinary changes in the global economy hit home. The pace of change, driven by increasing international competition is bewildering. New technology disrupts established industries at a breakneck pace – just look at the effect of the move to internet banking on employment in the financial sector; think of the likely effect of driverless cars on the automotive sector and drones for delivery on logistics; witness the impact of social media on taxi services, remote control operations and biotechnology on health case. At the same time, customers whether of public services or private utilities have become more demanding, less likely to be fobbed off with the argument ' but we've always done things like that', or 'we're offshoring to increase our profitability', even if the call centre drives customers to distraction.
In the face of the breakneck change, too many organisations are trying to run 21st century organisations on last century's styles. Yet it has become crystal clear that the old view of how people behave at work, based on deference and trust, which command and control and carrot and stick management styles rely on, just does not hold water any more. Neuroscience tells us why these approaches backfire, because people will only embrace rather than resist change – and change their own behaviour – in an environment where it is safe to do so. In the immortal words of Daniel Kahneman: 'the brains of humans contain a mechanism that is designed to give priority to bad news.'
People are no longer willing to hang their brains on the door when they come into work, they seek meaning and fulfilment, and if their organisation does not or cannot provide a deeper purpose in an authentic way than simply meeting the bills, many will walk to another that does. How telling that in the recent Sunday Times survey of the top 100 graduate employers voted for by graduates themselves, no less than 4 were public sector, with the Teach First programme in second place. Also in the top 10 were the NHS, the Civil Service and the BBC; service sector organisations (including PWC on the top spot) took up another 3 places and although Aldi and Google made the list, they were joined by Britain's leading retail mutual, the John Lewis Partnership at number 10. Also making an appearance in its first year was Frontline, the new fast track scheme into social work. Hardly a ringing endorsement of our private sector from our future leaders. No wonder the CBI has embarked on a ground breaking campaign to restore trust in British business.
Of course this provides a tremendous opportunity for our public services to proudly proclaim their noble purpose, and place it front and centre in both their recruitment and their operations. Now is the time for public services to convert this in-built advantage of a strong story founded on meaning and purpose, into a prime engagement strategy with both employees and the communities being served.
And of course overlaid on all this complexity is the challenge of transparency with Glassdoor receiving over a million hits a month in the UK alone, and Twitter and Facebook open forums for real-time feedback, exposing the reality that can lie behind the corporate spin. It has become clear that reputational risk is the greatest danger facing even the mightiest organisations today, as the recent experience of Tesco demonstrates.
In this new world, employee engagement is a must have, not a nice to do. Deep engagement with employees, giving them a clear purpose aligned with the organisation, and space and opportunity to grow and flourish; managers and leaders who understand people and how to motivate them; employees with a respected and heeded voice about the work itself but also about the organisation's strategy and future; and an organisational culture driven by values which are reflected in day to day behaviours, from the top to the bottom. These are some of the key elements that will change organisations from being composed of sullen, despondent and intermittently effective employees, to ones where people face the future with confidence. Remember, the world will not wait for us to get this message. For the sake of individuals at work, organisations themselves, and the UK economy and public sector, we need to start engaging now.
Nita Clarke OBE is the director of IPA and Co-Chair of the Employee Engagement Task Force.
Updated: 22nd February, 2018
Author: Meghan Grant
News in Brief End 2019
A summary of this month's employment news.
Wages and profits rise or fall, but shareholders always win
Luke Hildyard from the High Pay Centre discusses their latest research, looking at shareholder returns. They find a picture of consistently rising shareholder returns, a trend which seems to continue even amid falling corporate profits and flat or falling real wages at some companies - a clear warning sign for the UK's corproate ownership and governance regime.
Election Aftermath – Where next for UK employment regulation?
As the dust settles on the 2019 general election and the end of a year of unprecedented chaos and uncertainty, IPA's Patrick Brione looks ahead to 2020 and what the year may hold for the future of employment regulation in a post-Brexit world.
News in Brief October 2019
Employee voice exists, whether you recognise it or not. The only question is – "are you listening?" The benefits of employee voice for organisations are explained and alternative forms of voice structures explored in this article, which also includes a look at what makes a system of employee voice effective.
The IPA is the UK's leading organisation delivering new ways of working based on employee participation, collaboration and trust.
Nita Clarke OBE
IPA Director
Working Well: Perspectives on Good Work and why it matters
To coincide with the government's response to the Taylor Review, the IPA have produced a report which draws together 16 expert perspectives on what Good Work means in modern Britain, why it is important and how to bring it about.
This training programme focuses around how to use the four key enablers of employee engagement - a strong strategic narrative, engaging managers, employee voice and integrity - to move from a purely transactional approach to engagement to a genuinely transformational one.
Every workplace is different, so every project we undertake is individually developed by our professional and experienced team, and delivered based on the needs and circumstances of the client.
Employee engagement is seen by a growing number of organisations as a key issue in measuring employee attitudes, managing the behaviours of management, developing operational and human resource policies, and establishing a strong employer brand. Find out more about what engagement is, the four enablers of engagement, the work of Engage for Success and what the IPA can do to help your organisation boost the engagement of its employees.
Mind over Machines: New technology and employment relations
This report examines the relationship between the introduction of new technology into the workplace and employee wellbeing, autonomy, voice and engagement. IPA for Acas, 2017.
Working Well: preview of IPA publication on good work
On 8th February, IPA will be launching our report on Good Work, to coincide with the government's response to the Taylor Review. This publication draws together 16 expert perspectives on what good work means, why it matters and how to bring it about.
The real impact of the EU on UK employment law
The UK is set to have a referendum on 23 June on whether or not to remain a member of the European Union. In this article, Rachel Suff, Public Policy Advisor at CIPD discusses how 'the world of work might be affected' if the UK voted not to remain in the EU. She highlights that a large part of the UK employment law is derived from the EU and that a vote to leave the EU could allow the review or repeal of legislation that came out of EU directives.
Involvement & Participation Association (IPA) is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales under number 648436 and registered as a Charity number 200468
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