3 September 2009

 This article was written by Mike Emmott and appeared in issue 28 of Impact – The CIPD’s Quarterly Update on Policy and Research

When the HR trade press reported last month of the government-commissioned review of employee engagement by David MacLeod and Nita Clarke, one HR director was quoted as saying it was unlikely to tell employers anything they didn’t know already. At the same time, the CIPD was reported as describing the report as ‘the best thing that’s happened to HR for years’. So who is right?

 The answer is that these apparently conflicting comments both reflect important truths. The MacLeod report didn’t set out to be a ‘how to’ guide or toolkit, so HR professionals who have already made serious progress in implementing engagement strategies will find the report much with which they are familiar. On the other hand, the report showcases many examples of employee engagement in practice, and underlines the vital role of HR in delivering business performance. The CIPD strongly support the recommendations of the review which build on extensive discussions the review team had with a wide range of people, including many of our most experienced senior members. Employee attitude surveys make painfully clear how much progress remains to be made in raising engagement levels. The report refers to research for the CIPD by Professor Katie Truss as Kingston Business School, which found that only three in ten UK employees are actively engaged in their work.

 One of Jackie Orme’s priorities as Chief Executive of the CIPD is to raise the profile of the HR profession. The report quotes Jackie’s comment that HR ‘have a key role in helping companies develop the kind of organisational culture where engagement can thrive, and ensuring that managers have the skills to make engagement a reality’. Many respondents to the review pointed to the strategic opportunity engagement offers for HR to re-establish itself as the heart of business and organisational success, rather than being viewed as a cost centre or administrative function.

The report recommends a nationwide awareness-raising campaign to expose organisations in the public, private and third sectors to the potential benefits of employee engagement. The campaign will be led by Government and guided by a high-level sponsor group on which the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and professional bodies, including the CIPD, will be represented. The campaign is yet to be worked out in detail, but is expected to include a series of nationwide and regional events and conferences, seminars and workshops. It is hard to think of a previous government-led initiative on this scale that has focused so closely on the range of management issues for whish HR has responsibility.

The report’s second recommendation is about skills. It suggests that ‘more support should be devoted to the people skills vital to leader ship and management which lie at the heart of engagement, in addition to generic management skills. These softer skills include: the ability to consult; engage; communicate effectively; have difficult conversations; and interpersonal skills.’ This recommendation closely reflects the CIPD’s own proposals that a greater percentage of government financial support for training should be directed towards leadership and management skills.

Finally, the report recommends that more support should be made available to those who want to develop engagement. The CIPD’s own plans include a session led by David Macleod at out annual conference in November, a major conference on employee engagement early next year and research reports on a number of case studies currently in hand. We recently produced an HR director’s guide to employee engagement, which explains why employers should be interested and what the factors are that can drive or inhibit an engagement strategy, and we are considering what further practical support it might be useful to offer.

One major contribution the report has hopefully made is to finally put to rest any doubts about the business case for employees engagement. Evidence to date has rested heavily on studies by consultancies and the report helpfully summarises their findings. It also quotes John Purcell, who told the review team: ‘Despite the difficulties and weaknesses it is hard to ignore the volume of studies which show, to varying degrees, with varying sophistication, a positive relationship between high performance/involvement work practices and outcome measures.’

But the most convincing evidence probably lies in the sheer number of case studies reported of organisations – in both private and public sectors – where engagement activities have been accompanied by performance improvement. The report would be well worth reading for this evidence alone.

CIPD surveys underline the important role of line managers in raising levels of employee engagement. The top management team also need to pay a leadership role in establishing a culture based on mutual trust and respect. If the campaign that the report calls for is to succeed, it will require ongoing leadership and support from the HR community. The challenge now is to translate the consensus about what is needed into practical action.

The report puts employee engagement where it properly belongs: at the heart of business performance. Employer responses to the recession suggest that an ever-increasing number recognise people are indeed their greatest asset. Converting employee engagement into bottom-line results is what employee engagement is all about. HR professionals will see this report as an endorsement of what many of them are already doing, as well a stimulus to do more.

The CIPD has recently published a discussion paper, An HR Director’s Guide to Employee Engagement, which:

• Outlines key elements of the business case that can help persuade top management of the contribution engaged employees can make to an organisation
• Identifies the key factors driving employees engagement, as well as the possible barriers
• Highlights responsibilities in work places for promoting employee engagement and suggests what employers and government should do to create an engaged workforce.

Members can download the discussion paper by clicking here: