Member Article

Building your image from within

It’s HR focus week on Bdaily. Here, Daniel O’Mahoney, of Bradley O’Mahoney Public Relations, highlights the need for enployee engagement in the workplace.

In recent months, I have visited a number of large companies in the region and, despite the recession, it is absolutely clear how many have upped their game when it comes to communicating and engaging with their employees.

The shame is that many more are still missing a trick by failing to communicate the great work they are doing in this area.

Successful companies recognise that while salary is clearly an important issue for most employees, they also increasingly judge a company by its commitment to offering clear career progression pathways and good training.

Increasingly, they also want confirmation that it respects the environment and that there is a commitment to community engagement. In short, it is important to people that they work for a business they feel proud of. And, why wouldn’t they, we spend more time at work than we do with family and friends!

More companies recognise that their behaviour is being continually scrutinised and, despite the recession, people are making decisions as to whether they stay with a company, based on these ‘softer’ issues. Likewise, those considering a new job offer will look at the internet to assess the reputation and image of a company.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the manufacturing sector, which is growing strongly and was perhaps the first to come out of recession. Here, one of the key reasons why companies are keen to demonstrate that they are employee-friendly is down to supply and demand - there is a worrying scarcity of the skilled engineers and technicians needed to ensure a company can actually meet market demand.

Skilled people can walk into a new job tomorrow.

For this reason manufacturers, who see the opportunity for growth, recognise that they need to do as much as they can to ensure that they do not just attract the skilled staff they need, but retain the skilled staff they have to reinforce the message to employees, that they are working for an ambitious, forward-thinking and responsible employer.

In my discussions with employers, what has been quite apparent is that many of them have been building greater levels of engagement with staff and local communities. They already do great things with, for example, charities and many allow staff to give time during work hours to support community initiatives. Indeed, the level of community involvement being undertaken by companies ‘under the radar’ is phenomenal. They do it quietly and without fuss, just wanting to help out.

This is to their credit, but with a little effort and a plan in place all of this great work could be nicely packaged to the benefit of the firm and would also demonstrate on a wider level, what great companies we have here in the North East.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Daniel O Mahoney .