EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Companies urged to use managers in the engagement process
Employers must take action to motivate and equip their managers to act on engagement surveys, says Aon Hewitt. Data from the firm’s European engagement database shows that the vast majority of employees across the UK and Europe believe that their employers view employee engagement as a tick-box exercise. Only 18% of employees strongly believe that survey results will be acted upon.
To gain a better understanding of the role that managers could and should play, Aon Hewitt ran a European research project in June 2011, which canvassed the views of more than 700 managers across 10 European countries, resulting in the report Managers: Your Strongest or Weakest Link in Driving Employee Engagement?
According to this survey, nearly half (47%) of managers indicated that they spend only two to five days a year on activities relating to their annual engagement survey.
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Jenny Merry, UK Engagement Practice Leader at Aon Hewitt, said: “It's clear that while most organisations monitor levels of employee engagement, many are failing to act effectively on the findings.”
Sadly, according to Aon Hewitt, all too many organisations view employee engagement as simply an annual event, or checklist item. Merry said: “As well as yearly measurement and action planning, there should be a strong and prevailing employee engagement philosophy and strategy which reinforces the impact that having engaged employees can make on performance.”
Aon Hewitt’s research confirmed that organisations with a strong engagement culture were much more successful at transforming employee surveys into actions. For example, managers who reviewed their survey results and identified actions had an overall engagement score of 63%, versus 27% for managers who had access to results but did not even review them.
Merry said: “One important link that many organisations are failing to leverage is the role of middle managers in stimulating engagement. These are the people who have daily contact with employees and therefore have a critical role to play in influencing, engaging and empowering teams.”
Empowering middle managers – 4 key principles
Aon Hewitt highlights the following key principles when strengthening the role of middle managers:
1. Only engaged leaders and managers can create engaged teams.
2. Managers need to have been set clear expectations regarding their role in engaging employees.
3. Managers need support in the form of role models from senior management, but also access to tools and experienced HR advice.
4. Managers are more likely to take action on engagement when they have seen the hard evidence of the impact it has on performance.
A final word
“The well-worn phrase ‘people join organisations and leave managers’ is not the whole story; people leave organisations which have not properly equipped managers to be engaging. Managers could and should have a positive impact on employee engagement. With careful planning, expectation setting and support for managers, it is possible to make this a reality.” - Jenny Merry, UK Engagement Practice Leader, Aon Hewitt.
Want to know more?
Title: Managers: Your Strongest or Weakest Link in Driving Employee Engagement? Aon Hewitt, October 2011.
Survey details: The results are based on a survey of 730 managers across Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The survey took place in June 2011. Aon Hewitt’s European engagement database is drawn from more than 2,000 organisations across 41 countries in Europe.
Availability: For more information about the research, contact Aon Hewitt, email: enquiries@aonconsulting.co.uk or tel: 0800 279 5588.
Aon Hewitt is the “global leader in human resource consulting and outsourcing solutions”. It designs, implements, communicates and administers a wide range of human capital, retirement, investment management, health care, compensation and talent management strategies. Aon Hewitt has more than 29,000 professionals in 90 countries. For more information visit www.aonhewitt.com.