Partner Article

Employee engagement is a business discipline, not a bumper sticker

People are the core of any business, and this will never change. What is changing however is the way in which businesses are dealing with and managing the relationship between the employee and company, and vice versa.

The last twelve months have seen a considerable rise in the number of ‘Chief People Officers’ now occupying seats at the top table of companies, and so too a change to the way employee engagement is being conducted.

Employee engagement has been a hot topic for a while now, but now it’s the time for businesses to stop simply talking about it and actually incorporate employee engagement into their business strategies.

It’s important for the upper echelons of a company to appreciate that employee engagement is a business discipline, not a bumper sticker or throw away buzz word. Attention needs to be paid to the tools, methodologies and the practices affecting a significant change within a company, and the best way for a sea-change to be communicated is to have an advocate at the very top table of the company – this is where the Chief People Officer (CPO) comes in.

The job of the CPO is a challenging one and consists of three main areas: first and foremost they must be the voice of the employee at board level, conveying the sentiment, wishes and ideas of employees throughout the entire company; secondly, they need to convey boardroom plans and initiatives back to the employees; and finally they are the very agents charged with accomplishing company buy in and up take when it comes to the adoption of new business disciplines and practices, like employee engagement.

The CPO therefore occupies a pivotal position within an organisation. They are the mediator and spokesperson, the motivator and implementer, and the voices of both the employee and the board.

With more companies beginning to realise the importance of their employees as assets to be valued, rather than commodities to be exploited, the increased popularity of the CPO title is proof of this.

The next phase of the employee engagement process will be turning recognition into actual realisation, and a buzz word into a genuine business discipline with all the corresponding tools, methodologies, practices and measurements necessary to make it successful at all levels of a company.

With the introduction of the CPO to the boardroom it appears that finally the importance and value of HR has been acknowledged at C-level. Although positive, the increasing popularity of CPOs does not necessarily ensure employee engagement will follow.

The overall victory for employees, HR departments and companies overall will only be achieved when employee engagement becomes a fundamental business discipline emancipated throughout all levels of an organisation and it is important that companies remember this and don’t lose sight of it. But one thing at a time and let’s not overlook the creation of the CPO role as it is certainly a step in the right direction to delivering this fundamentally new business discipline.

Lee Grant is VP International at Youforce

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lee Grant .