Employee Engagement - The Facts

Employee Engagement continues to be the buzz phrase in a tough economic climate.  With under pressure bosses needing to navivate choppy waters, face uncertainty on a daily basis and keep their customers and stakeholders happy - or at least not as 'unhappy' as they may be, keeping employees motivated, committed and focused is quite a challenge.

This infographic details some research data together with my recommendations on how you and your organisation, whatever industry, whatever size and whatever culture you operate within, can boost employee engagement.

Yes, I know, it's always easier said than done.  But it CAN BE DONE, and quickly too. Take a look and feel free to share your thoughts with me.

Summit prove a popular choice for Middle East HR leaders

Following our participation in the 7th Middle East HR Conference held in Dubai last week, we are pleased to announce that Summit has received a number of invitations from HR leaders in the region to visit the UAE and Arabian Gulf during December 2010.

During the 4-day conference, an abundance of HR Directors and Managers approached us to discuss how we could help them overcome their most pressing challenges including:

- Succession Planning
- Attracting and retaining high-quality managers
- Supporting government initiatives to develop more home-grown talent
- Enhancing Employee Engagement in multi-cultural teams in a transient region

Summit is pleased to announce that it intends to visit Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia during December 2010 and looks forward to being of service.

Inside the Dragon's Den

In case you have not heard about “Dragons’ Den”, it is a British TV series showcasing the efforts of several entrepreneurs to convince investors (the Dragons) to fund their ideas. Think “American Idol” with business ideas rather than songs. Same amount of abuse, too.

Last month I was invited to participate in a jury at a French Business School that evaluated “mock” investement funds that were based on financial, but also environmental, social, societal and sustainability aspects. Twenty-three teams of students presented their ideas about which companies they thought had the greatest potential to do well, while adhering to stringent non-financial criteria.

It was an eye-opener!

Even while taking the current financial crisis into account, funds that focused on companies with high ethical standards of internal and external behaviour did and are expected to do better than those only focused on financial criteria. It really warmed my heart to hear that and I thought that if students learn such lessons before starting their careers, they might focus on those important ethical issues that are often overlooked when you are in the thick of the daily business grind. This might lead to a gentler invisible hand guiding the markets in future.

And the nicest bit of information was that those companies that are expected to do well and do so on a higher ethical level than other companies, also had the highest training budget! :-)

Counterintuitive? Maybe, but very much in line with the findings of Boston Consulting Group, as publishes in People Management magazine in April 2009 (page 9).

In that report, executives were asked which cost-cutting measures worked during the last recession. Cutting back on training did not! On the contrary, it led to a decline in employee engagement.

We have to keep in mind that training is not just a way to enhance employees' skills, but also their motivation levels. If we don't invest in their development, what kind of message that does that send about how much we value them?