“Keep yourself in the picture” – September 2019

Monthly focus on employee engagement and employee communications

I’m passionate about employee engagement and communication in the workplace, and I keep an eager eye on news, current thinking, and future developments that affect the way we all work.

I’ve condensed the most provocative, insightful and interesting news and blogs that I’ve read from the past month into this article. You can read about:

• How employees around the world view their managers’ capabilities across a range of management and leadership skills. While managers were rated good overall at their jobs, almost seven in 10 employees feel they could do a better job. At least one in three think their bosses could improve their ability in coaching, communication, and handling performance-related issues.
• A review of ‘Bad Blood’, describing how a Stanford drop-out built a multi-million-dollar company on a foundation of lies and deception, and the disengaging management style that eventually derailed the company.
• The CBI report that highlights the changes the body is calling for to boost productivity in the UK: retention of flexibility of the labour market; adoption of great people practices through engagement; a workplace environment in which workers’ rights are respected and companies operate on a level playing field.
• Why the leadership of employee engagement is everyone’s role, and what leadership of employee engagement looks like in the modern organisation.
• Why seven in 10 employees are not actively engaged with their workplace pension. The findings are remarkably similar to reasons why employee engagement suffers poorly, including a lack of transparency, poor communication, and a lack of honest dialogue.

To access each story below, just click on the headline. I hope they help to inform and inspire, and perhaps provide discussion ideas for your next team huddle. If there’s anything I’ve missed or a topic you’d like me to tackle for you, please get in touch.

If you’d like to have a summary of my favourite articles and latest news emailed to you on a monthly basis, you can sign up here to receive those updates.

Over 90% of workers say the manager-employee relationship Is an important factor to remaining at their current job

This ‘Global State of Managers’ research comes from The Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated and Future Workplace, which examined how nearly 3,000 employees in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S. would grade their manager’s effectiveness across five factors: communication, competence, empowerment, professional development, and support. (Read more)

Why an uninformed workforce is bad for business

Among Claire Akins’ books for summer was ‘Bad Blood’, an exposé of 19-year-old Stanford drop-out Elizabeth Holmes. She built a multi-million-dollar company, but alienated her employees so much that the company failed to live up to its expectations and collapsed. It is a lesson in how to actively disengage employees. (Read more)

Make the UK a great place to employ and be employed

The CBI has released a report detailing the three changes that it believes are needed to boost UK productivity and competitiveness. It estimates that the UK economy could get a ￡110 billion boost should companies attract, lead, engage and develop their people more effectively. (Read more)

The leadership of employee engagement is everyone’s role

Gallup’s 2017 State of the American Workplace report showed that all the strategies put in place to promote and aid leadership of employee engagement since the turn of the new millennium have hardly changed how employees feel at work. Therefore, the question that must be answered is, how do you address the issue of leadership of employee engagement to promote all its benefits (such as greater staff retention, improved productivity, increased customer loyalty and growing revenues)? (Read more)

Seven in 10 employees are not actively engaged with their workplace pension

72% of employees are not actively engaged with their workplace pension. Confusion and a lack of understanding, a lack of goals, and a lack of current value are all failings in workplace engagement. 96% of employees believe their employers should be more transparent about their pensions, and 77% want examples to improve their understanding. (Read more)

I hope you find these stories informative, and please feel free to share this article with your colleagues and wider network. Once again, if there’s anything I’ve missed or a topic you’d like me to include in future digests, please get in touch.