Staff Engagement Solutions

What is it?

Staff engagement reflects the extent to which staff beliefs and behaviours reflect the values and vision of the organisation. Although still seen by some as a 'fluffy' towards staff happiness, engagement is now recognised by the leaders of outstanding organisations as a key driver in the delivery of successful outcomes.

Thanks to its increasing acceptance as a viable business driver, staff engagement has been 'hijacked' by those who seek to make it gimmicky. But engagement isn't a gimmick and whilst gimmicks may play their part in encouraging team spirit and collaboration, at it's heart engagement is about treating staff as valued team players. The key to engagement success is through the education, engaging, empowering and enabling. But engagement is not just in the hands of the leadership. Staff engagement is everyone's responsibility.

Why is it important?

In a commoditised world, competitive advantage and business success can only be delivered by getting the best out of people. Quite simply, without engagement the leadership can seek to change the culture as much as they like but nothing will happen. Engaged staff come to work with a smile on their faces; they actively seek out solutions and work towards positive customer outcomes. As a result clients stay loyal, reputation increases and access to funding becomes easier. Our consultants are experienced in designing and implementing a staff engagement program which will deliver exceptional customer outcomes and ensure strategic success.

The Benefits

For the doubters who still fail to see people as other than a commodity the figures speak for themselves:

• In a Client Contact Centre - every disengaged staff member costs the company 46% of their salary in lost production.
• Gallup - companies with 9.3 engaged staff members for every disengaged staff post earnings per share which are 147% higher than their competitors.

Aside from the cost issue, the entire ethos of an organisation can transform when engagement comes into the mix. Out go silos, personal benefit and job titles, in comes a positive can-do attitude, loyalty, contribution and innovation. Creating competitive advantage results from getting the best out of staff, building strong connections with customers and competing effectively and efficiently. None of this will happen unless staff engagement is given priority.

Measurement

Staff Engagement is measured using a range of subjective and non-subjective methods to get a complete picture and identify what's currently working well and what needs to be changed or improved. These may include the use of a staff satisfaction diagnostic tool, online surveys, focus groups and interviews. Whatever the method chosen the golden rule is to take action, whatever the results. Studies have shown that in cases where surveys result in little or no action, the levels of staff engagement fall. Staff need to feel valued and ignoring their comments is the equivalent of a slap in the face.

Engagement surveys also need to be carried out on a regular basis if they are to drive engagement. Sadly less than 25% of businesses actually survey their staff more than once a year, leaving a huge amount of untapped potential. To maximise their effectiveness staff engagement surveys/insights should be used as real time management information, just like any other figures on a performance dashboard. They should be frequent with comparisons used to flag up when some things are going well, and when some are not - thereby giving leaders an opportunity to change things straight away.