In these changing times, it makes sense that employee engagement is the holy grail of many businesses. However – we so often get it wrong. From badly managed benefit schemes through to poor leadership styles, here are the top 10 errors and how to avoid them.
1. Lack of subtlety
Employee engagement is a complex and incredibly subtle process – requiring everything from brand communication and carefully managed recruitment, through to effective reward structures and managing talent. In short: engagement cannot be bought or bargained with.
Therefore attempting to engage employees through anything other than a sustained mix of activity will get you nowhere. Tactics that rely on lavish company events or yearly bonuses may work in the here and now, but are rarely effective in the long-term.
2. Reliance on culture
On the flip side, many smaller businesses and ‘young’ companies rely on a close-knit, familial culture to sustain the business. And while this works well in the early days, as businesses grow, so do expectations.
Very few people will do anything for a business that ignores the demands of their home life and the financial pressures that families bring. That could mean taking a fairer (but sensible) approach to salaries, introducing flexible working or share schemes and simply spending more time listening to your employees.
3. Poor communication of benefit schemes
Many larger companies appreciate the role of benefits in demonstrating commitment to employees, yet fall down when it comes to appropriate and timely communication of benefit schemes.
It’s all very well giving employees the option of a pension or private healthcare, but unless employees understand the real worth of their benefits, they do little to engage employees.
If introducing a new scheme, ensure that you plan for its roll-out, through a combination of briefing sessions and supporting materials. For schemes both old and new, think about technical tools, such as online benefits systems, which enable people to directly interact with and control their benefit information – promoting both understanding and take-up.
4. Organisation-focused appraisal and assessment structures
All too often organisations introduce complex appraisal and assessment structures that focus solely on organisational requirements, with little consideration for individual needs.
Effective appraisal structures will recognise the importance of both organisational and individual objectives – tying up aspirations together. In this way, employee and organisational development becomes a mutually supportive process, whereby employees understand their impact on organisational development and take pride in supporting it.
5. Accepting hostility between departments
Sales vs. Marketing; HR vs. Payroll; Finance vs IT. Pistols have been drawn between departments since business began. And while departmental hostility is in many ways expected, it shouldn’t be allowed to fester. Underlying resentments can lead to deep dissatisfaction, bullying and even loss of valuable employees.
Changing attitudes is important, but it has to come from above. Line managers must demonstrate their commitment to working more cohesively with other departments, so that positive attitudes filter down to employees.
Broaching this matter with the managers concerned can encourage them to identify the causes of problems together and find appropriate solutions.
6. Misalignment of employees and organisational ethos
All too often, an organisation is either unclear about its ethos or simply ignores it during the recruitment process. Yet communicating organisational values to applicants is integral to hiring the right people – those who will understand and perpetuate your ethos.
Likewise, clarity on what is expected of people post-hire, continues to be critical. For example, through promoting people with the right attitude, organisations can demonstrate that employees who support the organisation’s ethos are highly regarded and will be rewarded as such.
7. Top-down leadership
Leadership is often misinterpreted as a matter of ‘I lead, you follow.’ True if you’re the pied piper perhaps, but not if you’re a manager. Good managers will accept input from employees as a means by which to guide their own leadership – understanding that dictatorial methods are rarely effective.
Management styles can be hard to change, but there are many experts in this field who can help you train your managers on the ways in which to engage employees. Make use of them.
8. Brand vs. operations
A brand that runs contrary to business operations is one of the greatest no-nos for employee engagement.
Whether customer service, technical excellence or employer attributes, many companies are guilty of untruths about the way that they operate. Not only does this impact the viability of your brand, but it often leads to mockery and disillusionment amongst employees.
The trick is to practise what you preach. Highlight to the powers that be any conflict between the brand and the reality of your business and try to assist them in resolving it.
9. Badly managed acquisitions
Acquisitive companies are notorious for focusing on revenue at the expense of employees. What this often means is that effort is ploughed into product as opposed to employee alignment, with little thought for the impact on motivation and productivity.
Well-executed acquisitions will consider all elements of the process: acknowledging key employees; planning for integration of cultures and thereby gently bringing organisations together.
10. Leaving it all to HR
As many of you will know, businesses often place responsibility for engagement at the feet of HR, with negligible involvement from the line.
Yet line managers play a pivotal role in engaging employees and should accept this as a core responsibility. Whether absence management, appraisals or disciplinaries, line managers should be directly involved in handling personnel matters – leaving everything to HR will only result in buck passing and disconnection from employees.
Michael Richards is Director of 2nd Head
