Getting to the heart of the matter

It may seem like an impossible task in the current climate of corporate cutbacks,  increased job losses and a resurgence of strike action but experts insist there are still ways to keep your employees enthused about their work.

In our cover story this issue we focus on storytelling as a powerful tool in corporate knowledge-sharing (in a recent survey it was revealed that 49 per cent of organisations used storytelling as part of their employee engagement agenda). Business narrative techniques are becoming more and more mainstream as business leaders realise the limitations of problem-solving and implementing change through statistics and surveys. As Margaret Wood from training company Zynia says: “Telling a story enables people to look at issues without being personally threatened.”

It is this attention to the ‘softer side’ of engagement that helped Premier Foods (page 15) successfully navigate the engagement minefield of acquiring a company twice its size and the employee uncertainty that followed. As Premier Foods say in their case study, “good communication is about winning hearts and minds”, and is as much about listening as well as telling.

Friends Provident (page 21) have used the ‘listening’ angle of their internal communications to take their employee engagement to a different level. By distributing a detailed questionnaire to all employees online they not only cut down on the time that employees sent completing them, but were able to achieve a 93 per cent response rate. Understanding what their engagement drivers are have helped them measure success with their current employees – and to identify areas of strength in the eyes of their potential employees.

So, how do you go about understanding what engages your employees when you have to consider the opinions of over half a million of them? We profile John Bell, the head of engagement at the Cabinet Office (page 12), and hear about how surveys are the main source for their engagement work, helping them get the most out of their employees. As Bell says: “We live the ethos of engagement – it sits squarely at the heart of our [HR] programme.”

What seems to be evident from those contributing to this issue is that one of the major requirements in today’s business culture is honesty: what employee engagement requires is a deep level of sincerity at every level.



Katie Pattullo
Editor