CHTMAG.COM STAFF PSYCHOLOGY FEATURE Turbocharge your staff DECEMBER / JANUARY 2016 15 CLEANING HYGIENE TODAY The concept of “employee engagement” has been widely talked about for a number of years now. No doubt, some still see it as an airy-fairy notion. But more managers are waking up to the reality that employee engagement not only goes to the heart of the relationship between the employer and the employee – it’s fundamental to the performance of the business. Employee engagement is more than motivation and loyalty; we’re talking here about the underlying commitment between the employer and their employees. And yes, employee engagement is measurable, and so is its impact on company performance. Several global management consultancies – including Gallup and the Hay Group – have been researching this relationship. Their findings are significant. The studies show, that the environment created by the employer, not surprisingly, influences the levels of engagement amongst its employees. More telling, the research reveals that how engaged your employees are influences their loyalty, absenteeism, creativity, work injuries and performance, and in turn, directly impacts the performance of the business, and the bottom line. Over several years Gallup has carried out meta-statistical research (pooling the results of multiple studies across a range of sectors) quantifying the impact of employee engagement on organisational and team performance. Its latest work found that businesses in the top quartile for employee engagement had a 37 per cent lower absence rate, 22 per cent lower employee turnover and 48 per cent fewer safety incidents than businesses in the bottom quartile. The same companies also enjoyed 10 per cent higher customer ratings, 21 per cent higher productivity and 22 per cent higher profitability. The Hay Group, meanwhile, puts the headline improvement in performance when a workforce is ‘highly engaged’ at 30 per cent. Most service businesses can only dream of achieving even half that kind of return through other means, whether by winning new business, streamlining costs, or innovation. So why aren’t they all striving to ensure their employees are highly engaged? And where should you start? “Before you ask your HR or personnel manager what they’re doing about employee engagement, consider your own management style.” WHOSE JOB IS IT ANYWAY? Before you ask your HR or personnel manager what they’re doing about employee engagement, consider your own management style. The reason is that the research shows, when you drill down and explore the factors that affect how engaged an employee is, the person who has the biggest influence is the direct line manager. Managing people isn’t easy. You’re constantly juggling demands, overseeing your team, trying to keep on top of your own workload, and all probably within a high-pressure environment. It is all too easy to forget that your most important job is to keep your team engaged. That’s because, as a manager, at the end of the day, you are nothing without your team. The good news is that the ways to engage your team are not secret, they don’t require a highly scientific approach or an MBA, and most are entirely within your control. It does mean taking a step back and making time for people. That, at its simplest, is the key to influencing how the members of your team feel, and in turn how motivated they are to work hard, be creative and perform. The same principles apply at a company level. So senior management buy-in is required for initiatives such as employee surveys and regular, clear communications. But managers at every level, and especially those on the front line, have a huge part to play. So here is a quick line manager’s guide to driving employee engagement. This may be heresy to some of your colleagues, but in the service industry I always argue that employee engagement should come before customer service. If we create an environment in which our employees are engaged and really care about what they do, then great customer service will follow naturally. We need to take time out of our busy working day and dedicate it to our employees. It doesn’t matter where someone sits in the hierarchy of your business; everyone is a person with emotional needs that need to be looked after. If we want every member of our team to give of their best, and our business as a whole to perform at its highest possible level, they must be engaged.
CHT December/January 2016
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