Here are a few snippets on engagement from Tanith Dodge, the HR director for Marks & Spencer
Sold on engagement. If the 25 per cent of Marks & Spencer stores with the lowest engagement scores in staff surveys performed as well in sales terms as the top 25 per cent, M&S would increase its sales by £104m a year.
Defining moments. We must identify “what are the defining moments for our people – what really excites them at work.”
M&S 4 Predictors of engagement
- Focus on opportunity and well-being for the individual employee
- Pride in the company and the brand
- Trust
- Involvement
More time with the well. The company’s occupational health team used to devote 95 per cent of its time to the 5 per cent of staff who were sick. Now, it spends 95 per cent on staff who are well, she said.
Trust me. Polls show that 7 out of 10 employees don’t trust their boss or the company they work for.” She continued: “the only way to build trust is for leaders to really demonstrate that they live the values; that they walk, talk and embed the values.”
Inclusive employment. An example of M&S’s values in action is its long-running scheme to recruit “people who face social barriers to working”, including homeless and disabled people, and lone parents. The company recruits 750 people a year through this scheme; some 5,000 in all. Each one has a volunteer buddy, “whose pride in helping people really ripples through the store, and these recruits have the lowest absence and turnover levels, because they’ve been given a second chance.”
What’s the big idea. As an example of involvement, she referred to M&S’s policy of regularly asking employees, “what’s your big idea?”
CIPD. It looks like The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development had a great conference this year. Click here to read the full CIPD post.
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