Earlier this year, I was invited to do a presentation for the Calgary Chapter of the Canadian Association of Family Enterprises (CAFÉ) on Employee Engagement.  In preparing for the presentation I discovered a considerable amount of material on the subject.  This morning on checking World At Work and the Society of Human Resource Management libraries that volume of material has grown to roughly 1200 and 1100 articles, books, webinars, etc. respectively.  And, they are just a couple of the resources with information on engagement. 

What is Engagement?

The Canadian Oxford Dictionary defines engagement as concern, commitment and actively participation in issues, etc.  Engagement is a deep intellectual and emotional involvement that drives us to extend our effort towards achieving a dream.

In respect of the workplace, engagement can be described as the degree to which employees are emotionally and intellectually attached to their work and its purposes.  

Why is Engagement important?

The reality of today’s workplace is that the organization; its managers, supervisors and co-workers really have no way of knowing who is giving their all or who is just coasting along.  So, why does  it matters if someone coasts along expending 50% of their potential and producing as much volume and an equal amount of value as another who works at 100% of his or her potential?

As my 20 something nephews say tongue in cheek whenever someone brings up the past,  Back in the day,  when the work people did was active, visible to others and the outcomes were tangible goods, there was little question as to who was working hard and giving all they had to give to the work.    

Today, with more than half of Canadian workers involved in services sector work we can no longer say, a person working acceptably hard can produce X widgets in any given day.  Nor can it be easily said “this work is scrap”– a beautiful example of that is the accidental development and delivery of the phenomenally successful Post-It note to market. 

Engagement is important because when it exists in people, creativity, innovation and high levels of productivity exist.  Engaged people produce phenomenal results.   On a personal level engagement contributes to the expansion of potential.  On the organizational level engagement makes success possible. 

What does it take to obtain Engagement?

In the last few years we’ve seen the rise of benchmarking, a clear sign that organizations are seeking to find a way to establish expectations for the performance results of their employees. 

While benchmarking has some merit, it does not create the potential for exceptional results individually or organizationally. 

Studies have shown that people are happier and more satisfied in fair, flexible and healthy workplaces.   Happiness and satisfaction do not necessarily create the potential for exceptional results.  Quite the contrary, some of the most exceptional results in history have occurred when people have been profoundly unhappy and dissatisfied with their situation. 

People choose to give their concern (head), commitment (heart) and effort (hands) to someone or something.  People become engaged when

·       they believe in the value of the goal

·       they  believe they will benefit from the achievement of the goal

·       they know what they need to do and want to extend their energy and effort in that way

·       they believe the other people involved are committed to the same goal

·       they trust the leaders and believe they care about the goal and the people working toward it

When considering what it takes to create the organization where all of those factors exist, it is easy to understand why organizations (whether a family, a sports team, an educational institute, a community, or a business) with fully engaged members are difficult to achieve and even more difficult to sustain.

My next newsletter will be about HOW organizations, in particular business organizations, build that environment. 

Labour Force Statistics

September’s unemployment rate was sitting at 3.7% in Alberta (still 1.3% below a balance labour market). Everywhere in Alberta unemployment rates are lower than 5%.  If Alberta’s unemployment rate climbs the 0.3% to 4% we will have moved from a labour shortage situation to a tight labour situation. A statistic that has little meaning to those who are dealing with deep shortages; including nurses, accountants, glaziers and engineers.

Compensation

Statistics Canada reported that the average weekly earnings of employees rose 0.3% from April to May and now stands at $791.48. Compared with a year earlier, average weekly earnings rose 3.1% whereas consumer prices increased 2.2%.

Results from the 35th Annual World at Work Salary Budget Survey show pay budgets growing steadily from 2008 to 2009 in Canada and the U.S. The actual increase in salary budgets was 3.9% in 2008 and is projected to rise again by another 3.9% in 2009. In Canada, employers in the major metro areas of Calgary and Edmonton report the highest actual 2008 salary budget increases: 4.0%. Employers in Montreal and Quebec report the lowest actual pay budget increases: 3.6%http://www.worldatwork.org/waw/email/canadian_news/cn-3Q2008.html?nonav=yes

The Conference Board of Canada, Western Compensation Conference took place in Calgary on November 4.  Projections for 2009 base pay changes prior to the September destabilization of US & Global financial institutions was for average increases of 5.1% in Alberta. The follow-up calls made to organization leaders by The Conference Board team indicated that organizations were not predicting changes to pay increase plans for 2009.  Overall average base pay rate changes for 2008 were 5.7% as compared to projections of 5.2%. 

Legislation

At the end of October 2008, Garda Canada Security Corp. became the first organization to be charged with failing to ensure the health and safety of a worker because of a criminal act.  The individual committing the crime has been convicted of sexual assault and unlawful confinement and sentenced to 8 years in prison.  The company is facing charges for failing to ensure the safety of a worker who is working alone as required under the Occupational Health & Safety Act. The case will be in the courts in early January 2009.  For further information about Working Alone Legislation see http://employment.alberta.ca/documents/WHS/WHS-PUB_workingalone.pdf

The Alberta Government recently announced that it would not be legislating against the use of cell phones while driving.  Cell phone use, like numerous other activities,   can result in a careless driving charge in all Canadian provinces – except Newfoundland which is the only province with a handheld devices ban.   Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation has produced a report “Distracted Driving and Cell Phone Use While Driving” which provides support for the notion that cell phones are only one  and not the most serious of many distractions that contribute to traffic accidents.    For employers, the clear message is that educating employees on the importance of attending to driving while driving and implementing a Distracted Driving policy is a good alternative to dealing with the issue.

What is Anne Doing?

Anne is currently developing a tool to assist Human Resource Departments with their planning.  It is being tested and will be ready for use in a few weeks.