Engagement and Communication

We all know how important communication is to the success of a business, but did you know that recent research showed that engaged employees can improve business performance by up to 30%?

What would the impact be to your business if you improved performance by 30% using the same resources? Good employers have continued to engage with employees during the recession – engagement does not have to cost money. Engagement is really just ensuring you have good communication channels, again something that was really important during the downturn.

It is estimated that 33% of employees plan to change jobs after the recession – it’s not too late to start engaging with them to ensure you are not losing key workers and spending money on replacements, leading to an impact in your performance.

You don’t need to have formal employee forums or trade unions to foster good employee relations with your employees, although this does help. You can engage and communicate with your staff on a number of business matters, including how to reduce costs and how the business can make improvements to performance. Remember, your staff are at the front end of your business and really understand what works well and what does not – listen to their suggestions and provide them with feedback on what can and cannot be changed.

Some good tips include:
• Explain where investment is being made in the business and why
• Engage staff in any cost reduction plans – communicate cost cutting in meaningful ways that they understand.
• If you have to make difficult changes, share your plans and introduce them over time
• If you have to cut services or product lines, focus on delivering the best quality possible and take pride in what you do.

During tough times, it’s even more important to keep communicating with staff. In the absence of information, staff will assume the worst and all that worrying will get in the way of them delivering their job.

Do you want to discuss how you can engage your workforce? If so, please contact us on 0800 612 4772 or get a Free Quote for HR Services via our website.