Engagement - Make Someone Accountable
We are hearing it more and more, that engaged employees are the key to delivering differentiated customer experiences and better performance. And we are increasingly seeing companies spend more of their time focusing on how to retain, motivate and engage their employee base. But, as we look deeper, we see that it takes much more than talk to create highly engaged employees. Those companies that are serious about engaging their employees have:
1. Spent significant amounts of time talking to and listening to what their employees want.
2. Made significant investments in determining what drives engagement and how to measure it.
3. Recognized that they will need to create an employee experience that mirrors their desired customer experiences. In other words, they need to build the customer experience from the inside-out.
4. Made someone accountable for driving the move to engagement.
Yes, we did say that they have made someone accountable for driving employee engagement! If you are reading this and have yet to make someone accountable for driving employee engagement, you had better read on…
The best companies not only have Chief Customer Officers – increasingly they are putting someone in charge of driving employee engagement. Why now? Companies are realizing that they can no longer take the commitment and loyalty of their employees for granted.
1. They are realizing that valued employees, like valued customers, are free to make choices to engage, to commit, to stay, or to leave.
2. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that 80% of line workers and 50% of Executives are dissatisfied with their lives at work.
3. Three quarters of new recruits feel that their employers are failing to deliver on their promises making the recruits feel less committed to their work.
With those facts, we are seeing companies put employee engagement on their priority list. Here are some examples of companies, who clearly have engagement as a top priority:
Royal Bank of Scotland has Greig Aitken, Head of Human Capital Strategy. We love this title! What does it mean? Well, Greig is in charge of assessing how effective the bank is at attracting, engaging, and retaining the bet people and how its people strategy drives business performance.
HSBC has Nigel Fretwell, who is Head of HR, GHQ and Global Head of Employee Engagement and Diversity. And HSBC (North America) has Liz Rabii Cribbs, who is Director of Employee Engagement and Corporate Services.
Lloyds TSB has Andy Clarke, Director of Employee Engagement.
Wachovia has Mickey Addision, SVP Employee Engagement.
Canada Post has Mary Traversy, SVP Employee Engagement. “Employee engagement is not the flavour of the month,” Traversy says. “
What we are talking about is a culture change and that is a long-term process.” Canada Post’s employee engagement plan is being rolled out through local leaders and is evolving. “We’ll continue to do research, measure results and roll with the punches.”
Penna, Plc has Alasdair McKenzie, Head of Employee Engagement and Culture.
Network Appliance Inc. has Francesca Karpel, Manager Employee Engagement.
Who is driving employee engagement at your company? If you think engagement will be a top priority – maybe you should consider making someone accountable for it!