Language is the centrepiece for employee engagement

EOH Bloggers — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 15:46:12 +0000

Why it’s good to talk……

So many organisations have engagement on the top agenda. But, why is it still so important? We know that organisations where employees are truly engaged out perform in their market place, keep their customers, retain employee loyalty have better productivity and bring in great financial results. This is despite a climate of uncertainty, increased stress levels, pay freezes continuing and high unemployment levels in young people.

I see the results of organisations annual employee engagement surveys and it is no surprise that 4 out of 10 employees are not engaged (passively disengaged!) and that pay (normally a hygiene factor) recently moved to 3^rd according to Aon Hewitt global survey and that 65% of employees cite stress for being off work and that it is caused by a combination of work and external pressures. HR Directors are frustrated as they know that management style is one of the biggest causes of work related stress.

So I found myself recently speaking at an event on this and asked the group of senior HR professionals how important language is at work. For me it comes down to a number of things, and relationships with immediate managers is the biggest influence on employee engagement;

Are your employees allowed to express themselves freely at work? We know that employees become disengaged when they feel constrained and afraid to speak up. Is it okay to say “I’m feeling stressed” at work? Or would their manager frown upon this and think they are weak, unable to cope? Would your managers know what sort of opening questions to ask or would they say “Why can’t you get your act together” or “What do you expect me to do about it”? Many line managers fall into this trap without the guidance of HR encouraging them to ask instead, what support they can offer or saying what they have noticed. Do your managers really care? They should as talking openly and honestly with people is real engagement and can make all the difference to motivation and productivity.
Do your employees speak positively about you as an employer either to each other, your customers/clients or to potential new recruits? Do you really know what they are saying? Have you ever spent any time listening to them, being on the ‘shop floor’, out with your customers, following up with applicants after the recruitment process?
Do your managers avoid having difficult conversations? They want to appear nice and be liked, but people value being told the truth, they know where they are then. Senior leaders have an important part to play in this with regards to being credible. Helping senior managers to have effective dialogue with people is key to this, being friendly helps, but being honest is far more important.

I would encourage HR professionals to really focus on how they can enable dialogue and understand if the language used in their organisation is really fit for purpose. Think about simple things like your policies and procedures, are they too technical, full of jargon, 9 pages long? Will people really read them if they are? Not likely so simplify them, think of the words you use, try to make it more of a dialogue and two way discussion, shrink them to no more than 2-3 pages!

What about how you engage with employees using social media? Can you tap into technology to really engage with your employees in short bursts? Using twitter as a discipline in terms of no more than 140 characters really makes you think about how you might communicate and engage with people. What will they remember having read? I am not suggesting setting everyone up on twitter, but, limiting your communication to short bursts might have more impact and get the messages through?

Encourage managers to spend time face to face and just talk. It is amazing how many surveys I see where 60%+ of managers feel they give plenty of time to their employees and meet with them regularly for reviews yet the employee (less than 30%) feels they get hardly any time at all and their manager doesn’t really value them. So this often results in poor communication, lack of direction and reduced motivation.

Yes, there needs to be dialogue around deadlines and targets, giving direction and instructions, discussions on performance both good and bad. But, it is the way these things are talked through that matters in engagement. I would encourage a blend of informal and personal conversations balanced with directional dialogue and encourage managers to be more inclusive.

For me engagement is not about a diamond ring! It really is about good old conversations, dialogue and plain talking It is about relationships with managers and I think HR can ensure that the language of their organisations flows through the whole employee lifecycle.

Esther O’ Halloran

EOH HR Takes

EOH Bloggers — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 16:52:31 +0000

June 2013

What do HRD’s need to do to embrace technology for future agility?

I find myself asking the question of does HR need to have a mindset that is more technical, given the rapid global rise in social media technology and the move towards M-Learning? And I believe the answer is Yes we do. We are in a society where the socio demographics are moving to a more ageless society where access to mobile technology particularly, is the norm. Workforces can consist of baby boomers to millennials, so how do you get them to all work together? Technology can help this happen and HR teams need to be more aware of how they can harness this. So what do you need to do?

I think understanding some of the terminology used helps and then you can see how you can utilise this to engage your employees. For example here are some of the things I hear about from my 21 year old nephew;

“Smart Boredom”, do you allow employees to use their mobile devices in moments of downtime to do on-line banking or shopping? Think about how you can use “smart boredom” time more from an employer perspective. Could you set aside space/time to allow them to do this? Would they value this openness and be less likely to abuse trust? I believe most employees would. Our lives are becoming more entwined with work life balance merging together as we use technology more for everyday things.

“Gameification”, no this is not an illness but rather our minds have become accustomed to a level of addiction in experiencing games. How many of you love Angry Birds or play Words with Friends? Think about how you can tap into this ‘addiction’ and get employees engaged onto your own internet site making learning more fun, interactive, competitive even?

“Quantified Self”, as a form of personalised data management. Generation Y think nothing of using technology to manage themselves or even engage with employers. Think of Apps such as ‘Runkeeper’ where you can track all of your activity and see how you are performing. Wouldn’t it be great if you could do that with training or performance management?

“Collaborative Social Hubs”, think Costa! How many of us use coffee shops as a hub when we work remotely? Can you create virtual hubs for your remote workers? Do you have a more relaxed space away from desks where people can use laptops/tablets and work over coffee, do you encourage this? On a practical note you could save on office space by creating different work zones for people in a more informal style! Why do you think there are so many full coffee shop brands on the high street all offering free wifi and more due to open? I think it’s because although we like to have the freedom to work remotely we are still sociable and like some form of human interaction, so how do you get this in the workplace, bringing employees together? People like to share.

I think the use of mobile devices will continue to increase over the next decade and the way we work and learn will be quite different. Tapping into Apps for learning and training tools will be key for agile organisations. I can visualise a group of employees not in any fixed place all sharing and learning at the same time. Emails, thoughts, top tips, how to do things better, videos, people collaborating with each other in a virtual space and instant records being created of the learning. Through this sharing you can engage employees and even customers potentially as trust will be key. Employees (and potential employees) will make recommendations very quickly on social media, a bit like Trip Advisor and you want them to be saying positive things about you as an employer, so being technology savvy and up to speed with innovation will be key to your organisation’s success as an employer of choice for the future.

Anyway that’s my Thought for today.

Esther O’Halloran

EOH Business Solutions

Language is the centrepiece for employee engagement

EOH HR Takes