Engineering engagement

If you want to truly engage your employees maybe you’re not catching them young enough. Faced with a dwindling supply of engineers over the long term, in Germany leading engineering firms are distributing ‘discovery boxes’ to kindergartens throughout the country. They contain science experiments suitable for small children, such as how to construct a basic electric circuit and the fundamentals of how a car works. Leading companies such as Siemens, Bosch and ThyssenKrupp are among the companies that believe young children should be given the chance to build an interest in engineering and to consider this as a viable career option.

In Denmark, however, engineer-heavy organisation The Rockwool Group (page 19) has a different people plan. With full backing and endorsement from the president and CEO Eelco van Heel, the organisation has transformed from very much a metrics- and process-led business to a thriving values-led organisation with a clear people focus. The Peoples and Brand initiative has enabled employees to understand where the firm is going and how important their contribution is to its success.

It was vital for Birmingham City Council (page 15) to make sure their ambitious public sector transformation programme was not seen by their employees as ‘just another initiative’. With 60,000 staff their communication plan had to hit the mark and make everyone aware of the strategy in place and how it would affect them. And with such a big workforce it is the managers that play a key role in communicating the information to their teams.

It is these line managers that are going to play a crucial role in the future of employee engagement, according to Dilys Robinson at the Institute for Employment Studies (page 28). She suggests that more attention should be paid to training line managers (possibly at the expense of high flyer development schemes). After all, these managers will be the crucial link to inspire their teams and beat the challenges of the current economic climate.

As Rockwool have discovered, it is all about encouraging managers to take responsibility for their actions, creating the ‘spark’ of enthusiasm needed to keep their team engaged and motivated. Something those three-year-olds in Germany will know all about if they have successfully engineered their electric circuits.



Katie Pattullo
Editor