CHANGE, TRUST & ENGAGEMENT
Audience at the Festival of Global People
Marianne Curphey reveals the importance of employee engagement and trust, and their impact on productivity and performance in global teams, as explained by Dr Linda Holbeche in her fascinating keynote speech and workshop on the second day of Relocate’s Festival of Global People.
INTELLECTUAL: most people want a job where they are growing and learning, and which gives them a bit of intellectual stretch.
EMOTIONAL: Do I feel cared for? Does anyone know I exist?
SOCIAL: People want to feel part of a team where they are doing good work collectively.
She challenged managers to think about how they energise people after the initial two-year period of their tenure. “There is the example of the not-for-profit sector where you
have huge levels of commitment but people don’t necessarily want to change or give up what is important to them,” she said.
• Low trust affects productivity and performance • Employees in low-trust environments are discouraged from sharing knowledge and taking risks – wasting innovation potential
• How a business treats its employees is one of the most important factors the public consider in deciding whether to trust a business
• Rebuilding trust can take time
Based in the UK, Dr Holbeche was previously Director of Research and Policy for the CIPD, Director of Leadership and Consultancy at the Work Foundation and Director of Research and Strategy at Roffey Park. She is author of over 50 research reports and more than 100 articles. “When people are feeling good and energised about what they
are doing, they produce better work,” she said. “People are at the peak of their engagement for the first two years after they start in a new job. Consider what happens after that to enable people to have a new phase of engagement.” She discussed the “psychological contract” between employer
and employee, that may be reflected in the employment contract. “As long as you deliver what you promised, you have an environment of trust,” she said.
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT ELEMENTS She summarised the elements that make up employee engagement as:
TREATING EMPLOYEES FAIRLY As a case study, she described an example of how trust could be lost quickly. When she was working for Amex, market changes meant that unfortunately a large number of redundancies had to be made in Brighton where the main office was. “It happened in August when many people were away on holiday,”
she said. “They returned to swipe their card and find that they could not get back into the car park.” Redundant employees were presented with a black plastic bag
with their possessions in it. “The bad vibes spread for years around the town. People need to feel that they have been treated fairly.”
THE COST OF DISENGAGEMENT She defined the hidden cost of disengagement as:
• Reduced productivity • Decline in innovation • Stunted sales performance • Reduced quality and customer service • Attrition of key talent • Difficulties in attracting the best • Failed change initiatives
“We are now part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. There is now a lot of work that we don’t need to do, that machines can do and they
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