Why companies can t engage their employees


Why companies can't engage their employees

It is in that very ˜softness' that the problem of not being able really to engage people or gain their interest lies. Our bright, new-age employees with lifestyle firmly planted in front of workstyle are not really being catered for at all. The FutureWork Forum (www.futureworkforum.com), an organisational development think tank of leading commentators and practitioners on the future of work in society, says that the five leading root causes of the inability to engage employees are:

  • lack of inclusion (they don't know what's going on)

  • feelings of deprivation and loss (they feel they are sidelined or see colleagues being axed)

  • perceptions of vulnerability (they worry about being fired )

  • no positive attachment to a boss or senior figure (often when the boss who hired them moves on, proving the old adage that you join a company but leave a boss)

  • history of the employee/employer relationship (can also include perceptions drawn from other employees' experiences).

Although the know-how clearly exists to get employees involved, we still seem unable to treat our employees in the right sort of way. No wonder they don't trust us.

So what happens now? We have lost the trust that may or may not have existed for a few brief hours. Now we have to find ways of encouraging talented people to join and stay with our firms. Engaging employees is a tough task in a multi-choice society, but we have no option but to try. The people wars are upon us again (it will take very little for us all to exhaust the talent available) and then the ability to inspire people will be at a premium.

And I think we have to talk about inspiration. During my interview process I spoke with one senior manager - who ran an executive development business - who told me that the secret of success and ensuring employee engagement was to ˜love your employees.' That strikes me as a step too far. People do not come to work to be loved. They come to make a contribution.

So who is going to win the people wars and why? Most important, can you emulate the eventual winners and even effectively compete with them?

I strongly suspect that those organisations that treated their people well in the downturn will be the ones to watch. In that I am personally highly enamoured of Cisco Systems, who - for the first time in their short history - had to create a redundancy programme on a worldwide scale. Cisco described having to let people go as a ˜trauma' for the company, but they handled it deftly, working on the one simple premiss of preserving people's dignity . They also realised that the people who were leaving would get other jobs and would be potential customers for the company in their new roles. Equally, they hoped that many would return as the good times rolled by again. The message this sent to the survivors was clear: they worked for a company where people at the top not only cared, but communicated that and lived by it. That is a salutary example of how companies can keep people focused with clear, honest, timely communication and actions.

My other favourite example is the work that Rob Kuijpers, the former head of transport and logistics giant DHL, has done to rebuild Belgium's bankrupt national carrier Sabena as SN Brussels Airlines. Kuijpers personally interviewed everyone about to join the new company and then set about creating a giant team atmosphere. Previously scattered around Brussels Airport, he put the entire staff (including pilots and cabin crew ready-rooms) in one building. Pilots and cabin crew eat with marketing, finance and administration and are picked up for their flights by a fleet of mini-buses. The office furniture is a mixture of styles and vintages and no one cares. Kuijpers is constantly on the go (his door has been removed from his glass cubicle ) and he meets with all the staff constantly. Prior to Sabena's bankruptcy many of the managers had never even met the directors! Now Kuijpers travels on the crew buses and flies in the cockpit with the crew: ˜that way you quickly know if there are concerns or worries'. In 2003 SN Brussels Airlines made the first profit of the Belgian airline for over 20 years . It was all done by engaging the people, providing leadership and showing them the vision and meeting that vision. The only problem today is that despite a wage scale that is low for the industry there is no attrition. ˜Everyone loves coming to work here, we're just a big happy family,' he says.

Interestingly enough, Kuijpers did this at DHL where - as a keen soccer player - he created the DHL World Cup. This generated amazing team spirit as DHL employees from virtually every country around the globe competed in regional competitions and then a final in a chosen country (Kuijpers was often known to turn out and play). ˜It is all about engaging people and giving them a vision and being very honest in your communications.'

Today at SN Brussels, Kuijpers announced to the unions and the staff the first profit before he went to the press or anyone else. ˜They made it happen, they should be the first to know.'

The loyalty and engagement levels that Kuijpers has created were firmly illustrated to me by witnessing a real life example. While I was talking to him, one of SN Brussels' pilots poked his head around the door. ˜I just came to say goodbye,' he said to Kuijpers, ˜thanks for everything you've done.' This guy was the first pilot to move on to another job elsewhere, but he bothered to seek out the boss to say goodbye . I can't see that happening at Delta, British Airways or Air France. Can you?

Certainly, the charismatic leader who has a vision and the common touch to carry it through helps a lot. It gives people purpose and makes them want to work.

Another telling point is that the boss of SN Brussels sees himself as the chief people officer (so do the heads of companies like Nokia and Cisco), believing that their job is to make sure that the right people are in the right place at the right time. ˜HR is a support unit for me,' says Kuijpers, ˜my role is to make sure the people part works, that's the critical software in this and every business.'

Kuijpers, of course, is the first to admit that SN Brussels is a medium- sized firm these days. ˜You can do this sort of thing with 2,000 people,' he says. ˜What it would take to do it with 100,000 I hate to think.'

Trouble is, not all CEOs think that way. Many who have come from finance and legal areas are not well versed in people issues. Being an HR professional in that situation can be tough because it is not always easy to get manpower considerations to the top of the agenda. But if we are to generate new exciting reasons for people to want to be a part of our business and fill the gaping hole left by trust's departure we do need to get top management's attention. Actually that is incorrect. Attention won't do, we need action (very visible action), to underscore and drive home the commitment to build a people-driven business.

Interestingly, the company that probably got it right - and took the emotion out of the transaction as well - was GE under Jack Welch. What he said was ˜I am not looking for loyalty, I am just looking for the best 10 years of your career. In return I will give you everything to make you the very best.' Other corporations have tried that and rarely succeeded. What GE watchers say is that what outsiders never realised was the level of commitment that GE made to the promise, the undertaking, to ˜prepare you for when you move on.' Everyone knew just where they stood, it was a clear-cut bargain; a well-managed employer/employee contract that no one reneged on.

CEOs must face up to the fact that the credence of corporations is in serious decline (there's no sign of that changing anytime soon). Most smart watchers of the business scene predict yet more financial high jinks in the years to come. Within that climate, trying to get the talent we all need to embrace our businesses wholeheartedly is not an easy task. Without top management showing the way and setting the example it won't work out.




The New Rules of Engagement(c) Life-Work Balance and Employee Commitment
Performance Tuning for Linux(R) Servers
ISBN: N/A
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 131

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