Sheppard Moscow was involved in two recent events in Dublin and London where over 100 people from a wide variety of national and international businesses met to listen to and share ideas on employee engagement. The concept has been around for a number of years. So, why is it attracting so much attention now?

In our view there are a few contributory factors:

• There’s a growing body of indisputable evidence that a more engaged workforce performs better and feels better too.

• The recession has prompted many businesses to consider how to get the best from people (for some businesses, indeed, getting the best from fewer people).

• The topic has become one for consideration and attention in boardrooms rather than just HR departments.

At a recent client event, hosted by Sheppard Moscow’s Dublin Office, one of our consultants, Steve Bridge, asked three questions of our guests:

• How many of you think that employee engagement is an important issue? (100% positive response)

• How many of your organisations are doing something about engagement? (around 80% positive response)

• How many of you are doing enough to engage employees? (0% positive response!)

This simple show of hands was confirmation that many businesses now realise the significance of employee engagement yet aren’t always quite sure what to do or how to do it.

Steve described Sheppard Moscow’s own stance on employee engagement, and shared his own recent realisation that we’ve been working with the “what” and the “how” of employee engagement for more than 30 years. Sandra Looney, Head of Talent and Strategic Resourcing for the Musgrave Group shared perspectives from her own experience. This international food retail and distribution group, with more than 5000 employees has managed to enhance their employee engagement scores through the recession. Their experience shows the value of involving employees directly in defining what engagement looks like and in taking action to get more people more engaged.

SImply click on the PDF Link Below for a summary of Sheppard Moscow's stance on Employee Engagement.

The second half of the event allowed participants to share experiences, questions and ideas on four discussion topics:

1. The Role of Leadership in Employee Engagement.
2. The Link between Employee Engagement and Performance Management.
3. The roles of HR and Communications Functions in achieving engagement.
4. Sustaining Engagement through Difficult Times.

We were delighted to have Andrew Lambert of the Corporate Research Forum (CRF) as a guest speaker at the event in Dublin. Andrew has just led and reported on their CRF’s own study on employee engagement. This research suggests that while many employers claim that as many as 80% of their workforce are fully engaged, when you ask the people themselves less than 30% say they actually are!

Just a week before our Dublin event, Sheppard Moscow sponsored CRF’s own event on Employee Engagement & Organisational Performance, where Andrew’s new research was shared, and joined with a number of expert and practitioner sessions.

Sheppard Moscow has been a strategic partner with the CRF for a few years now and we were active in sponsoring this particular piece of research and at the event itself. To view the CRF Report please this link to CRF where a free PDF is available:

http://www.crforum.co.uk/members-membership/

At this meeting, Andrew Lambert described how the businesses leading in the employee engagement field had moved from a retrospective process of Measure – Understand – Act where surveys determine management actions and responses, to a more embedded process of Understand – Act – Measure, where providing the environment for positive engagement is a crucial part of everyday leadership and management.

So, what are you doing about engagement in your business?

If, like our guests in Dublin you feel your answer is “not enough”, you might want to talk to us?

For more information please contact Sinead at our Dublin office on +353 (0)1 293 7010 or email sineadmoloney@sheppardmoscow.com

Sheppard Moscow gets Engaged

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