TORC

Engagement in action - Rory McElroy spurs on teammate, Graeme McDowell

Clear evidence is emerging that many employees are waiting keenly for the economy to pick up so they can jump ship to pursue new career opportunities; and I guess after years of gloom this is quite understandable.

I recently met the HR Director of a multinational finance company in Dublin which has a voluntary redundancy offer open to about 20% of the workforce – incredibly those taking the offer have no interest in applying for the 100 or so open vacancies in the company although well qualified for the roles! – and these roles are hard to fill.

Of course it is a concern when employees would prefer to leave rather than stay.

How can companies protect themselves from the prospect of losing their highly trained and valuable staff whenever the opportunity arises?

“Employee engagement” refers to an employee’s job satisfaction, loyalty and inclination to expend discretionary effort toward organisational goals.

The key drivers from an employee perspective are:

Communication – this will always be at the core of any successful engagement process. Leaders should ensure that staff know where they stand, how the business is performing, how they and their work contributes to the business etc

Self Awareness & Career Planning  – formal processes are increasingly being implemented by our clients

Skills Development and Social Learning – does not need to be a major investment – a lot can be achieved in a series of modular, on-line workshops, webinars, learning networks

Empowerment – having the right environment and tools to do what needs to be done

Wellbeing – address physical, mental and work-life balance issues

Reward – check to see if the C & B structure recognizes effort, contribution and fits with overall business strategy

Companies typically measure engagement through an annual employee survey but there are simpler ways of gauging the current engagement baseline. From there, a menu of strategies and interventions will most likely be necessary to overcome any weaknesses.

Above all for an engagement exercise to work it must be supported and driven by the leadership team – each team member will have a key role to play depending on individual management style.

If you wish to see some relevant case studies:

1. Talent Management

2. Onboarding