An article ‘Happier your folks, the better it works’ which points to Deloitte’s research, ‘Employee engagement in recessionary times – a changing talent perspective’ corroborates this thought.
The findings indicate that while the recession has brought about changes in ‘job roles’, ‘job competencies’ and ‘key performance indicators’, employees are asked to contribute more on ‘cost management’, ‘innovation’ and ‘quality’.
To me, aren’t these elements something we think of when starting up or aiming to be entrepreneurs?
So in effect, during the recession, organizations have been inclined to get employees to display creativity, leadership and entrepreneurship. Excellent signs.
So believes the Reebok India Head, Subhinder Singh Prem, who says, “We do not believe in creating an employee-boss relationship rather we have focused on creating an entrepreneurship model, where all senior employees act as businessmen.”
Another senior leader vouches – “Employees who receive organization decisions and strategies and employees start demonstrating more ownership in everything they do. The level of trust within the organization also improves significantly. All of this has a very high positive impact on employee morale and retention. Employees feel they are part of a larger family and part of the decision making process.”
Interestingly, the article also indicates that engagement as a concept is understood differently across organizations. For some rolling out an employee assistance program, running fun events, investing in leadership development, defining a referral program or rewarding employees are considered to aid engagement.
What employees expect is not just a set of ‘people oriented’ programs but transparency, direct communication, consistent messages and easy access to the leadership.
See this – ‘most companies surveyed felt that senior management should be clearly visible in building excitement about the future and creating a positive environment that boosts employee morale’.
The spike in the number of companies using Town Halls and face to face communication as compared to newsletters and blogs further demonstrates how Indian organizations are tuned to addressing their employees.
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I look so forward to each of your posts! So true…”What employees expect is not just a set of ‘people oriented’ programs but transparency, direct communication, consistent messages and easy access to the leadership.” Also, thanks for sharing the Deloitte research!
Great insight! Yes ‘cost management’, ‘innovation’ and ‘quality’ these do emerge as the main drivers in the current context. I guess one could add ‘risk management’ to complete the entrepreneurial story! Thanks again.
Dilip