How are some companies overcoming revenue loss, a fiercely competitive market, de-motivated and underperforming employees and others aren’t? Read on to find out more.

Siobhan Hammond, Bernard Hodes

The recent recession has had an impact on almost every single business around the world.  Some businesses have been more able to adapt to the financial pressures, others have simply gone out of business.  This article explores what separates the successful businesses in a downturn from the less successful – and it isn’t all about making tough decisions.

A recent government report states that there is a significant difference in bottom-line results in companies with highly engaged employees when compared with companies with low levels of employee engagement.  The report highlighted a 52 per cent gap in the performance of operating income over the year between companies with highly engaged employees versus companies whose employees had low engagements scores.

So, it makes sense that everyone is talking about the importance of employee engagement, specifically as all sectors of the economy are still facing uncertain times.   The Sunday Times recently published the 100 best companies to work for and identified that whilst the economy is showing signs of recovery, job satisfaction is on the decline.  The research highlighted that in the depth of a recession people were grateful they had a job – now things are beginning to improve people are looking for a sense of purpose and direction at work.  They don’t just want a job – they want to have a job that leaves them feeling motivated, energised and valued.

Hodes have found that those companies that are able to articulate the future strategy and help people understand where the business is, where it needs to go and what it’s doing to get there are in a much better position.  By helping people to visualise the future, people feel a sense of purpose, and loyalty.  It also creates a more open trustworthy relationship between the leaders of the business and employees.  This in turn has an impact on productivity resulting in happier customers.

Recent research from Accenture on consumer behaviour during a recession indicates that customer loyalty isn’t all about price.  A key factor for loyalty is the quality of customer service.  The companies that tend to lead economic recoveries recognise that customer service begins with engaged employees.  They know they need to retain their best talent and a key part of this is articulating the priorities and goals of the business, particularly during more challenging times when People are troubled by uncertainty.

Engaging employees through innovative ideas, inspirational communication and the commitment of the leadership team is what is proven to actively improve productivity and in turn customer service.   This was what was at the heart of Marks and Spencer’s success. Despite the business challenges of the last year Marks and Spencer’s reported an increase in the engagement of their people.  They put this down in particular to a major drive on communication that has taken place in the last twelve months. This has not just been about keeping their 78,000 employees informed but also offering them a voice through an array of channels to ask questions of management and share their views in forums such as daily ‘huddles’.

Hodes have worked closely with the CIPD (click here to download the CIPD report) to gather evidence and insights into the power of employee communication and we found that only one in ten employees feels fully informed about what’s happening in their organisation.   What’s all too easy for companies to overlook is their biggest asset – their employees yet we know from research and experience this is what sets the best and most successful companies apart.

shammond@hodes.co.uk
07843 069 252

The concept of the employer brand is not rocket science. But only if you accept the core tenet that it encapsulates the deal between an organisation and its people, can you turn it to your complete advantage. That deal needs to be understood, aligned and managed. And as the word “deal” states, it’s a two way street, even a three way street in highly unionised environments, Many enlightened organisations have recognised that it’s a way of life, not a project – it’s a framework for how best to attract and retain talent – that’s a framework for HR if I am not mistaken.

When we started on this book two years ago HR people were not always convinced that using the “employer brand “words was advisable. But today it’s almost standard language albeit that too many organisations feel it’s something for the “good times” and can be put on hold when the going gets tough.

I am sure all of you recoil against that logic but unfortunately reputation management gets prioritised for the city and investors and not for existing and potential employees. Someone said something to me recently which I thought was hugely insightful. The best time to seal employee loyalty is now, when there is only your voice in the ear of your employee – in other words, not many of your people are being headhunted or seeing alternative options right now. You have their complete attention. That will change as the market turns. Do you know what they will be thinking when the additional voices start? Understanding the deal you have with your people is therefore vital right now.

Despite the growing acceptance of the importance of the employer brand CEO interest let alone understanding is still found wanting.

Yes there are the enlightened but the current turbulent times are exposing the packing order of stakeholders in many a boardroom. The analysts and investors as a community are a magnet to the attention of the top team and yet who is going to deliver their strategy whether they are talking short or longer term – their people. Not only is this disappointing but for those organisations where this dynamic is playing out they are storing up issues for the upturn.

When finalising the book we struggled to get a top CEO to go on the record on this debate. Yes arguably a book is not how and where any CEO should be taking a position. But surely I am not alone in harbouring huge concern that in these current turbulent times employer reputations are not grabbing more attention with top management.

Why don’t companies engage immediately when embarking on an Employer Brand journey? Many organisations don’t consider strategic involvement of key stakeholders before it is too late. Those getting it right start with engagement from the very first touch point of the journey.

The global financial downturn we find ourselves in has a dramatic impact on most organisations priorities and focus. Many businesses are facing a situation with less revenue and are being forced to review all areas of the business to see where it would be possible to save money. Support functions not directly involved in sales or marketing activities like the HR and communication functions are often the place where people look for initiatives they consider a non-priority. HR and communication professionals are very likely to experience that their area is being reviewed and existing and planned projects and initiatives are at risk to being put on hold, scaled down or simply dismissed completely.

The level of engagement that senior stakeholders have with your initiative or project will have a big impact on the level of sponsorship and continued levels of funding you will receive. If your stakeholder groups have been highly involved and exposed to your initiative and project, they feel more ownership for it and have sufficient insight about the aim and the objectives to take the right decision about what needs to happen with its future. This helps overcome the tired old objection that HR and communication initiatives are deemed to be more of a ‘nice to have’ than ‘need to have’ and critical to the business success.

Employee Engagement is one of the most high-profiled topics in HR at the minute. However, because employees for many initiatives are the ‘end’ receiver of the outcome, ‘engagement’ seems to be something that finds its way into the project plan under ‘communication’ to all employees after the main part of the project has been completed. In reality, engagement needs to be something which is actively being worked into your planning before and during the project.

It needs to be invested in as a key lever for the project’s success.

Only considering ‘engagement’ as an end activity and in relation to just the employees is a missed opportunity. What you should do is consider your stakeholder group in its totality and think about how to engage them from the outset.

When your initiative or project is of a strategic nature like reputation and employer brand management the stakeholder group to consider in addition to your employees are colleagues in other departments (locally and globally), the management board and external stakeholders like scarce talent/skills groups and in some cases investors, communities and partners to mention a few.

Every interaction with these different stakeholder groups is an engagement opportunity that should be considered, planned and maximised throughout the project.

When you think about engagement in these terms, a traditional communication plan suddenly becomes redundant. A comprehensive engagement plan considering all the above stakeholder groups and working on more than one level will be much more relevant. Communicating progress to all stakeholder groups (keeping them in the loop) being the obvious one. However, working on how to involve the stakeholder groups actively in all stages, generating the buy-in and ownership along the way apparently for a lot of organisations being the less obvious one.

In times of change you don’t get many chances to get things right. Resources are scarce and the commitment to people related initiatives and projects can be limited. However, if you have been actively engaging your stakeholder groups from the beginning, then this is the key to the survival and success of your project.

Engagement starts now!