Public Sector HR Podcast

An engaged workforce is something that every employer wants to have. It’s not always easy to achieve, so in this month’s show we hear from two experts in the field of employee engagement, to find out how to get our employees to go that extra mile.

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Dilys Robinson is Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies and works in the HR & Consultancy team there. Much of her work is commissioned by employers or employer bodies and she has spent many years studying employees attitudes, motivation and commitment.

The IES definition of employee engagement was arrived at in 2002/3, following a major consultation exercise with IES member companies. It is:-

“Engagement is a positive attitude held by the employee towards the organisation and it’s values. An engaged employee is aware of business context and works with colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organisation. The organisation must work to nurture, maintain and grow engagement, which requires a two way relationship between employer and employee”.

Dilys’s findings have highlighted:

• THERE ARE STRONG LINKS BETWEEN ENGAGEMENT LEVELS AND ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE 

• ENGAGED EMPLOYEES ARE MORE RECEPTIVE TO CHANGE

• ENGAGED EMPLOYEES MAKE CUSTOMERS FEEL BETTER ABOUT THE ORGANISATION

• IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR, THERE IS A LINK BETWEEN EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT LEVELS AND TRUST & CONFIDENCE IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS Heintzman R and Marson B (2006) People, service and trust: links in the public sector service value chain. Canadian Government Executive

The 4 main drivers of engagement are:

• JOB SATISIFACTION

• FEELING VALUED BY AND INVOLVED WITH THE ORGANISATION

• PERCEPTIONS OF EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY

• VIEWS ABOUT HOW SERIOUSLY THE ORGANISATION TAKES HEALTH AND SAFETY

However, these drivers can vary considerably depending upon the organisation and the employee group. Feeling valued and involved is more important in the public sector than it is in the private sector. Surprisingly, the manager relationship did not emerge as the key driver in the public sector - it is important, but at sub-driver level, meaning that it is driving most of the drivers.

To find out what your own organisation’s drivers are, Dilys recommends conducting an employee attitude survey, or asking employees their views more directly via facilitated workshops or focus groups.

Her advice to People Managers is:

• EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES SHOULDN’T JUST BE SEEN AS AN HR RESPONSIBILITY - to succeed, it needs firm and real commitment from the top

• HR HAS AN IMPORTANT ROLE TO PLAY - in monitoring and understanding engagement levels & drivers

• MANAGERS AT ALL LEVELS SHOULD BE EXPECTED TO PLAY THEIR PART - and have a good understanding of what they need to do to be effective people managers

• GOOD QUALITY MANAGEMENT TRAINING IS ESSENTIAL - for first line managers and supervisors and should be reinforced throughout their careers

• HR SHOULD SUPPORT THE LINE - with good clear policies and procedures

• EMPLOYEES SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED - to raise issues and concerns, take responsibility for problems and make suggestions for improvements

And to keep employees engaged through these difficult economic times, Dilys advises organisations to be wise, keep faith with their employees and to continue with their engagement strategies, in order to give reassurance and encouragement to employees to do as well as possible. By doing this, employees will increase public confidence by representing their sector in a positive way, helping those in trouble. 

If you would like to contact Dilys, you can call her on 01273 873122 or email her at dilys.robinson@employment-studies.co.uk. You can find out more about the work of the IES from their website at www.employment-studies.co.uk

RBS Group is regarded as one of the world leaders in not only engendering workforce engagement, but linking it with the group’s overall business performance.

Greig Aitken is Group Head of Employee Engagement and is responsible for developing an engagement strategy that provides a detailed understanding to the group, of how effective they are at attracting, engaging and retaining world class staff and how efficient those staff are, at delivering superior business results, financial performance and customer service.

In this interview, Greig talks about how his engagement strategy impacts on the RBS Group performance, how he measures engagement and what lessons he has learnt along the way.

You can ask Greig about his work via www.rbs.com and he has recently been involved in a major study on Human Capital Management - which is available from IES.

An opportunity for you take part in a major new research project

Roffey Park Institute are looking for public sector HR professionals to take part in a major new research project they are about to undertake into the success of HR Business Partnering. There are a number of valuable benefits to be gained by participating, so if you’d like to find out more, contact Dilip Boury at Roffey Park on 01293 854040.

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I would love to hear your feedback and any suggestions for further shows. Either email me directly at karen@publicsectorhrpodcast.co.uk or click on ‘Comment’ underneath the show title and type away.