We listened to the 2016 Budget with interest last week, to see what it will mean for us and our clients.
There were some interesting trends and issues that came up, and below are some of the things that internal communicators, HR professionals and leaders should be thinking about.
Here are our takeaways.
The productivity puzzle and how to overcome it
The Budget spoke a lot about Britain’s productivity, which has been a consistent disappointment since the financial crises. You can get the full stats on the FT’s website. It reminded us of last summer, about how much more productive employees are in France.
So, how do we solve this seemingly ongoing problem? It has to be about working smarter, being very clear about your focus as a business and the contributions of each employee.
Often the best ideas for improving productivity come from the employees themselves, but too often businesses forget to ask the people on the front line. Or, if they do, they don’t take action on the ideas quick enough.
What to do: Take on the challenge head on, and ask the people in the know how to solve the problem. Use technology like Yammer, Survey Monkey or mobile apps to facilitate and move on relevant actions quickly. Whatever you do, feed back!
Falling unemployment levels is good news
Britain’s employment rate has held a record high, of 74.1 per cent, while the unemployment rate stayed at 5.1 per cent. While this is great news it means that there is more choice of jobs for employees than ever before.
So we mustn’t take employees for granted. The norm for Gen Y and Gen Z is to change companies and careers often, and the focus of businesses needs to be on retention, not just attraction.
That means giving the best possible experience and helping them feel they’ve got a longer-term journey with you rather than simply 2-4 years.
What to do: Map your employee journey. Does every touchpoint offer your employees the best possible experience?
Putting the next Generation First
Throughout the speech the chancellor made numerous references to putting ‘The Next Generation First’ (watch this video to see just how many!).
The catchphrase is a very relevant one for businesses, who need to be thinking about ways to attract this new workforce, whilst not alienating existing generations of colleagues.
Flexible working, workplace design, purpose, clear vision and values, CSR, celebrity CEO status, authenticity and the ability to make a difference in their role…we all know what needs to be done, but we now have to do it!
What to do: It’s not practical for every business to implement everything that the new generation desires, but be honest about what you do offer and what you expect in return. It is this honesty that is most powerful.
We hope that you’ve found the above useful, and if you’d like to chat to us about your internal communications and employee engagement we’d love to hear from you. www.synergycreative.co.uk
