More and more businesses globally are realising the severity of having disengaged staff in their workforces, especially the impact to a company’s bottom line. Quite often staff retention and engagement are left to HR to deal with, something which they are not usually specialised in. Their area of expertise probably lies more in advising on appropriate policies and applicable laws as well as resolving issues that arise between management and employees.
Its actually more the responsibility of the directors, senior managers, managers, and team leaders. They should be working in unison to combat the problem of poor retention and engagement. I also believe that staff members themselves have a small responsibility in helping with this, though they do need a reason to be engaged at work before I can talk about how they can join in and help maintain it.
The focus therefore falls back to our leaders. These people also need to feel engaged so they can inspire their teams and in doing so alleviate the problem of disengagement. This means it has to start with the people at the very top.
When it comes to work force engagement, everything must always come from the top and be in line with the business’ core values. We know that without regular attention and focus on them, the values can lose their potency over a period of time and go off track; along with this so can staff morale and their level of commitment to the business. Do they remember or know why the company started in the first place and what it is all about? Do they know the story of how it began? Do they understand what kind of culture the company is trying to build? Do they know what the long term goals of the business are? Do they care?
Last year Towers Watson published the results of a study of 31 economies around the world. It showed that more than one-third of employers surveyed (35%) reported an increase in employee turnover over the same period. Alarmingly, the study also found that just 4 in 10 employees report that they are “highly engaged”.
Many leaders will say they run a ‘staff survey’ and say that engagement is the responsibility of HR or those running the survey. The actions and messages, even the body language, a smile, a good morning, the ‘feel’ that comes out of the boardroom from directors, senior managers and managers will permeate its way down through the workforce, all the way to the newest starter in the least senior position. Start with what comes out of the boardroom if you want to stop your people leaving.
This guest blog was provided by Robert Lattibeaudiere
Business Strategist and High Performance Consultant for i2i (Impossible 2 Inevitable)
Robert Lattibeaudiere
To this I have added my own unique approach for creating business cultures that have brought me success in sectors such as Telecommunications, the Travel Industry (Co-op Group), large contact centres, direct sales and Retail.
Latest posts by Robert Lattibeaudiere (see all)
- Why Do So Many Resent Success, Is It A UK Thing? - February 8, 2017
- Five Easy Steps To Onboarding New Employees - September 28, 2016
- Are You Inspiring Your Team Or Getting In The Way? - September 13, 2016
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