On the 12th March the South West Marks and Spencer HR Team ran its first ever engagement event in Cardiff. 60 HR practioners and other specialists in the field of communication, change & engagement joined together to share learnings and some thought provoking debate.
The event tackled a number of engagement challenges the attendees were experiencing, the table below outlines these challenges as well as the suggestions and learnings from the attendees.
Engagement Challenge
How do I handle a disengaged employee?
Suggestions/Best Practice from Group
- Approach in conversation, try and address the issue / to understand what motivates them / what they enjoy about work
- Highlight/congratulate on current achievements to them and wider team.
- Try a change of work responsibilities/environment for that individual
- Give them a “special project” to make them feel valued – giving them the chance to use some different skills
- Buddy them up with a highly engaged employees
Engagement Challenge
How to encourage completion of staff surveys with the following challenges –
- Different locations
- Different shift patterns
- Mix of office/ front line staff within organisation
Suggestions/Best Practice from Group
- Highlight why the organisation is asking you to complete the survey and explain that this will drive positive action.
- Use champions/steering groups to support communication of survey
- Use a combination of electronic and paper based copies of survey to reflect different groups in the organisation
- Consider using technology mobile/tablets
- Invest time in briefing the survey
- Target one area / department to get great completion & action from the survey to improve the results to get more areas interested in it
Engagement Challenge
How do I get my exec board/senior managers on board with engagement?
Suggestions/Best Practice from Group
- Have you ‘pitched’ the evidence to them?
- Use the David MacLeod report and information from Engage for success website www.engageforsuccess.org
- Understand their concerns – time? Money?
- Discussed that engagement doesn’t have to be another activity with a tick list, but encouraging a way of working to involve individuals
- Think about what results matter to them and then link how having a more engaged workforce can improve those results
- Encourage them to “try it and see” – get their buy in to try some engagement practises in one area of the organisation to measure impact upon results
