Employee engagement

New year resolutions for your organisation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s that time again. That time when we start to think about what we can do differently as the new year hurtles towards us. For most organisations, this will be things like increasing turnover, expanding in size, and taking on more staff. That’s nothing wrong that – they’re all really good areas to look at, and we’d say go for it.

However, we’ve come up with a few alternative new year resolutions to consider for your organisation. You might feel some aren’t as important as others and might not help grow your bottom line. That’s fine. They might not all be relevant, and you might not want to implement them all (maybe you already have), but they’re worth thinking about as they’ll help the wellbeing and happiness of your staff in most cases.

Create a Code of Conduct
We’ve gone with this one first because we think it’s probably the single-most important thing you can do in your organisation if you haven’t already. We’re pretty sure you don’t need us to go into details why, but read any newspaper or news website from the last four months or so and you’ll find a story about an abuse of power and improper conduct. A properly documented Code of Conduct means your people will have somewhere to turn if anything happens and shows them you’re taking the issue seriously.

Close the pay gap
Another big issue for 2017 (we wrote about it many times). And we expect it’ll stay that way in 2018 as all companies with more […]

By |December 22nd, 2017|Employee engagement, leadership|Comments Off on New year resolutions for your organisation
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Looking after millennials in your organisation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s thought that around 75% of the global workforce will be made up of the millennial generation (born roughly between 1980 and 1999) by 2025. That might still seem a long while off yet, but it’s actually less than a decade away, so it could be wise to start thinking about how to look after this generation in your organisation.

There’s a good chance a fair number of this cohort will end up employed in your organisation, and you’ll probably already have many of the generation’s first-born already working there. This population is the first to not know what life was like before the internet and who came of age after the 2008 crash, so their expectations in the workplace are very different than the generations preceding them.

If you’re thinking all you have to do to keep these workers happy is to throw a few beanbags around the place, and offer a few trendy coffees at your canteen, think again. Millennials actually care about a lot of the things other workers do, like engagement, trust and being valued. But they also like to know what a company’s values are before they join and would rather have a great working environment (think a home-from-home) than a big pay packet.

It’s also important to understand how these younger workers feel about personal motivation and recognition. Having someone say thanks for a great job and to feel they’ve made a difference is just as important – if not more than […]

By |November 30th, 2017|Employee engagement, leadership|Comments Off on Looking after millennials in your organisation
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Do you really need that meeting?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most people in most organisations have suffered their way through at least one pointless meeting. You’ve probably all got examples where a meeting was over too quick and felt like a waste of time, went on too long and you lost interest, or you didn’t have a clue what the people at the meeting were on about.

Even worse is when meetings are used as an excuse to procrastinate and put off what really needs doing. A meeting for meeting’s sake where everyone gathers to go over old ground and for the organiser to look like they’re doing something positive.

Any of these scenarios are hugely frustrating. You’ve got work to be getting on with and your time could be better spent doing it. To add to the frustration, you might not have much time to get the work done now as the meeting cut your afternoon in half and you’ll have to work late to catch up.

Meetings are a necessary evil in most organisations, and can’t be avoided totally in most cases. However, to be really effective, they need to carefully planned and thought about beforehand.

What’s the meeting about? When’s the best time to have it, and where? Who needs to be there? What do people need to know before they arrive?

These are all relevant questions to ask yourself. It’s all well and good sending meeting requests to people to come to this or that meeting, but make sure you give them some context with the invite.

This might seem obvious, but invite the right people. If someone’s not needed […]

By |October 3rd, 2017|Employee engagement|Comments Off on Do you really need that meeting?
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Getting your organisation Investors in People ready 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the second in our series of blogs around Investors in People (IIP), and why you should get your organisation accredited by IIP. The first blog was a little while ago and talked about leading and inspiring people, which is the one of the three key indicators under the ‘leading’ heading in the organisation’s own standard.

For this piece, we’re going to look at the second key indicator, living the organisation’s values.

Here’s what IIP says this means:

‘People and leaders act in line with the organisation’s values at all times. They have the courage and support to challenge inconsistent behaviours.’

If you’re a regular reader of our blogs, you’ll know this is a subject we’re pretty fond of and have written about before. Even if IIP accreditation isn’t something you’re interested in, living your organisation’s values is still a behaviour you should adopt, and get everyone else to do the same.

What we’re not going to do in this blog is tell you what values your organisation should have. That’s for you to decide. It’s your organisation and it’s up to you how you want people to behave. We’re more concerned with some ways you can make sure you (and your people) are always aware of your values, and act in line with them no matter what.

Let’s assume you’ve got your values in place and everyone in your organisation knows what they are. This could be because they’re on display around your offices and when people log in to your intranet system, plus there’s loads of supporting information to explain exactly what they […]

By |September 16th, 2017|Employee engagement, news|Comments Off on Getting your organisation Investors in People ready 2
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Four-days, flexibility and fresh fruit key to employee happiness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’ve ever wondered what the secret is to keeping your employees happy, some of the answers might surprise you.

According to a recent survey of 2,000 UK workers conducted by Reed.co.uk, the perfect job would be one with a four-day week of no more than 24-working hours, a salary of £61,000, and free fresh fruit every day. Oh – and a boss they could go out for a pint with.

There’s a lot more to it than this of course, but it’s clear from the survey that employees now value work-life balance more than anything else, with things like being near to the office, being able to work from home and being flexible around children’s school activities and holidays being right at the top of the list of desirable perks. Leaving on time every day was also really important for respondents.

Other lifestyle perks employees value include free or reduced gym membership and local leisure facility access, fresh fruit and free tea and coffee available onsite, and being able to wear jeans to the office.

As you’d expect, financial security still featured highly with good pension schemes, private healthcare packages and fair bonus schemes also seen as very important.

Now here’s where it get interesting. Having a say in their career and an opinion that’s valued, along with being in charge of their own workload and regular reviews and performance appraisals were among some of the most important things employees now want. They’d also like an understanding boss who they could also socialise with.

However, only 21% of workers surveyed said they were already in their […]

By |July 27th, 2017|Employee engagement|Comments Off on Four-days, flexibility and fresh fruit key to employee happiness
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