In the first instalment of this blog on employee engagement we took an extract from a recent employee engagement survey conducted by Changeboard in partnership with Oracle. The results are real food for thought, leading us to the question, what can we do about it? Each week we will look at the major blockers to employee engagement, with solutions that will lead to great improvements when implemented.

Over a quarter of those employees, 27% in the survey, reported they perceived a lack of voice in the organisation in which they work. That’s huge non-engagement within a workforce. If over a quarter of your employees felt their views weren’t worth putting across; how much missed opportunity for correcting recurring mistakes, or innovative solutions are being missed and that’s just stating two obvious ones. The interesting point here is it’s a perception and perceptions can be changed, that’s the good news. But how could this perception come about in the first place? Could it be because there is a lack of communication between management and employees? Could it be there is a ‘tell and do’ culture not ‘challenge and involve’? It could be for a number of reasons, all primarily centred upon a lack of two-way communication and a willingness to demonstrate a belief that employees often have answers to recurring issues and challenges they face and are not constrained by known imposed barriers in their thinking, unlike some management.
What we can do is help start the engagement process through listening groups, compile common themes and threads to help leaders understand a different perspective, start action learning sets composed of diverse groups from around the organisation in order to generate solutions and to bring the organisation closer together. We can influence leaders to implement employee involvement schemes like encouraging attendance at various meetings in order to broaden their knowledge of the business, back-to-the-floor sessions for managers to reconnect with the day to day running of the business and experience for themselves the outcomes of their decision making.

Reveal Solutions are Leadership and Management Development specialists, designing and delivering bespoke learning interventions that improve employee performance, wellbeing and engagement.