GettinG to the · talent development Managers play a crucial role in nurturing talent. 12...

HR Supplement | May 2012

For help and advice contact your BoSS hr adviSer on 0845 450 1565

oF human reSourceS

GettinG to the

www.i-os.com | 0844 324 1000

Good wishes from the UK’s leadingprint and communication company

Optimising Customer Communication

Innovative Output Solutions Limited

4 StrategyWhy you should always find time for it.

8 organisation design and developmentHow to restructure your company.

10 learning and talent developmentManagers play a crucial role in nurturing talent.

12 resourcing and talent planningA simple six-step guide to recruiting well.

14 performance and rewardPerformance management is much more than just a passing buzz word.

18 payDon’t shy away from dealing with a crucial issue just because times are bad.

20 employee engagementBeing a manager necessarily means responding well to every situation.

Once again we are giving you a little bit extra with BOSS Today. With the magazine last time you should have found a Supplement on Finance for getting more money into your organisation. This time we are providing you with a guide to something that is just as important – recruiting, retaining and developing the best people.

With the economic downturn showing few signs of easing off, of course, you might think you can’t really afford to spend time thinking of such matters. So in our introduction we aim to show you why thinking strategically about HR is so important. We then look at how you might go about organising a restructure at your company – in a way that won’t give you sleepless nights. We look at staff development and mentoring, and suggest how you might set up a recruitment policy that won’t leave you regretting every appointment you have made.

Performance management is a word that is often banded about at the moment, so we continue by looking to see how it could be applied to your company. We tackle the thorny issue of pay, including a discussion of how you might break the news to your workforce that there can’t be a pay rise this year. And to keep them on your side, we run through the dos and don’ts of keeping your workforce thoroughly engaged.

This isn’t all done from some theoretical point of view either. Along the way you will also find case studies of how much of this thinking applies to real companies in your sector.

We hope you enjoy the supplement and find it useful.

Welcome 4 10

May 2012 | BOSS Today XTRA

Helen Dunn, BOSS Today Editore: [email protected]

Marketing & Communications Director: Alison Harpere: [email protected] t: 020 7915 8390Editor BOSS Today: Helen Dunn e: [email protected] t: 020 7915 8320BOSS Board of Directors: Alan Ball, Philip Beer, Geoffrey Betts, Adrian Butler, Rob Jenkins, Mark Knibbs, David Langdown, Sean StarkeyMembership Director: Dale Wallis Regional Directors: Bob Davies – South East, Marcus Clifford – Eastern, Dawn Reid – Midlands, Daniel Godden – South West, Chris Selby – North West, Kate Dallas-Wood – North EastBOSS Federation Chief Executive: Michael GardnerConcept and Design by: e: [email protected] t: 01526 353555 w: www.thepagedesign.co.uk Sub Editor: Peter BaberPhotography: istockphoto, ShutterstockAdvertising and Sponsorship: Mark Wilkins t: 01753 714999BOSS Federation: 2 Villiers Court, Meriden Business Park, Copse Drive, Coventry, West Midlands CV5 9RN t: 0845 450 1565

Printed by: IOS, Innovative Output Solutions, Evolution House, Choats Road, Dagenham, Essex RM9 6BF

Print sponsored and printed by: IOS, Innovative Output Solutions

Paper sponsored by: Antalis McNaughton

Cover: Claro Silk 250gsm Inner pages: Claro Silk 150gsm

Boss Today 2012. All rights reserved. Boss Today is circulated to members of the BOSS Federation. Reproduction inany form, or by any means, whole or in part without written permission from the BOSS Federation is strictly prohibited.

14 18

May 2012 | BoSS today XTRA 3

Even in the harshest economic climates, you need time to sit back and look at where your business is going

STRATEgy

Businesses have probably never been under more

pressure than they are at the moment. Living through uncertain economic and financing times, organisations have downsized, and delayered, they have seen changing market demands, faced the impact of changing technology and

new legislation, and a myriad of increasing materials and utility costs.

And as a business which directly sells to other businesses, even if your office supplies business is performing relatively well at the moment, the changes your customers are going through are bound to have an

4 May 2012 | BoSS today XTRA

there’S alWayS time For

StrateGy

Leading HR

Curious Decisive thinker Skilled influen

cer

C

oura

ge

to c

halle

nge

R

ole m

odel

Driven to deliver Collaborative P

ersonal

ly c

redi

ble

Band four

Band three

Band two

Band one

Insights, strategy

and solutions

Performance and reward

Employeeengagement

Employeerelations

Service delivery and information

Organisation design

Organisation development

Resourcingand talentplanning

Learning and talent development

The HR Profession Map

Eight behaviours Ten professional areas Four bands of professional competence

Leading HR

© CIPD 2012

With

the

perm

issio

n of

the

publ

isher

, the

Cha

rter

ed In

stitu

te o

f Per

sonn

el a

nd D

evel

opm

ent,

Lond

on (w

ww

.cip

d.co

.uk)

4 May 2012 | BoSS today XTRA May 2012 | BoSS today XTRA 5

effect on you.It is often a challenge to keep

up with day-to-day pressures in such an environment. So time for strategic thinking seems like a luxury you cannot afford.

But finding time to look strategically at your organisation is argued by many as the underpinner to your business success. You neglect it at your peril.

A good starting point is to ask if you have a vision of what you would like your organisation to look like in the coming years. What are its strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and how are you likely to be impacted by changes in your operating environment? What kind of values and behaviours will your organisation have to embrace to maximise market opportunities?

After all, most of your customers are probably looking to their suppliers for a degree of innovation that shows that their products and services represent value. That makes customers more confident that they are dealing with an organisation that gives them control and security. They are also probably looking for empathy, personal understanding and rapport, and a commitment from you to achieving their own personal objectives.

It is important to look honestly at your organisation and consider how fit it is to deliver these

expectations your customers are likely to have.

The HR Profession Map (left) developed by the Chartered Institute for Personnel Development (CIPD) can be a useful guide here. Think of it, if you like, as a people power wheel - something that provides a structured way of looking at your organisation. It’s clearly designed for HR managers, and while the terms may seem a little like business school speak, it is still worth a look.

Essentially, the circle split into eight around the side represents the eight behaviours anyone operating within HR should have at their disposal. The four straight bands in the background are the four levels of competence HR managers need to go through, and so perhaps don’t concern us so much here. But we should consider the ten segments in the middle: they are the ten professional areas you need to focus on to bring about change in your organisation. If we strip the terminology here back to basics we get a good starting point to

overhaul your people plans.Let’s look at some of the terms

used in the model - moving in a clockwise direction around the wheel from the top.

1) Organisation designYou can establish the big picture relatively easily by looking at your organisation structure as a whole, drawing it out and thinking through what currently works and what could be improved, and how these demands could be different in the future.

2) Organisational developmentOnce you have identified some areas for change, it helps to think through what you might need to do to make your organisation more effective. This could include a mixture of any of the remaining sections of the wheel.

3) Resourcing and talent managementHave we got the right people and skills in the business? Are we using the skills that we have got fully? What do we need to do to answer yes to both questions?

4) Learning and talent developmentHow do we train and develop our employees to achieve the best results for both our organisation and our employees?

“FindinG time to looK StrateGically at your orGaniSation iS the underpinner to your BuSineSS SucceSS.”

STRATEgy


leGiSlation impactinG on you:

Statutes

n Access to Medical Reports Act 1988n Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009n Bribery Act 2010n Companies Act 2006n Data Protection Act 1998n Equal Pay Act 1970n Equality Act 2010n Employment Rights Act 2006n Human Rights Act 1998n Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006n National Minimum Wage Act 1998n Pensions Act 2004n Pensions Act 2008n Pensions Act 2011n Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998n Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974n Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992

regulations

n Agency Workers Regulations 2010n Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002n Flexible Working Regulations 2002n Information and Consultation of Employees 2004n Maternity, Parental, Adoption and Paternity Leave Regulationsn Maternity, Parental, Adoption and Paternity Pay Regulationsn Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000n Statutory Sick Pay (general) Regulations 1982n Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 (commonly known as TUPE)n Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 1999n Working Time Regulations 1998


5) Performance and rewardDoes every employee in our business know how their role fits into the big picture and what they have to do to impact their own and the business’s success? Do we reward our employees in ways that the business can afford and that they individually value? How effectively do we tackle performance issues?

6) Employee engagementHow do we make sure that everybody in the organisation understands and wants to contribute to developing the business?

7) Employee relationsHow well do we manage communication and consultation?

8) Service delivery and informationDoes the right information get to the right people in the right way to manage what we need to manage?

Having set off on the road to overhauling your organisation, the next stage is to write a plan. You can then identify what you need to do, who is going to do it, and what resources you might need to make sure it works. Last but not least, you can decide when and how you are going to

review the plan to see if you are doing what you said you were going to.

In the end, human resource planning can be as simple or as sophisticated as you want to make it. But it should always be high on your agenda.

And if you are stuck on what to do now, let this guide be your leader. Over the next few pages, we will take you through all the major elements involved in ensuring your organisation is in tip-top form. We’ll look at restructuring, and we’ll show you how you can avoid making recruitment a headache, and how to steer on the right side of the new laws about retirement. We’ll look at performance management - what it means and how you can improve it. And we’ll suggest ways you can improve your employees’ engagement in what the company is trying to achieve. If you have any questions after that, don’t forget, we at BOSS are always here to help you on your way.

n FOR hELP AnD ADvICE COnTACT yOuR BOSS hR ADvISER On 0845 450 1565.

“you can thinK throuGh What currently WorKS and What could Be improved.”

ORgANISATION DESIgN AND DEvELOPMENT

the current economic malaise, changing

customer needs and the introduction of new technology are all prompting many companies in our industry to reorganise, streamline management, increase efficiency and reduce costs.

But it’s not always as easy as it sounds. Many businesses, including office product suppliers, struggle to implement major internal changes, for a variety of reasons.

Managing a restructuring programme, for whatever size of business, can be a daunting task. But it can also be an extremely uplifting and motivating experience that in the end provides you with a clarity of vision and your employees with a feeling that they are contributing to the bottom line.

Re-evaluating the effectiveness of frontline employees and managers is fundamental if you want to

make sure you have the right people in the right place at the right time - and at the right cost. Restructuring should ensure you maintain your market position without compromising your customers’ expectations.

Before you start restructuring, you need a vision that will focus frontline managers on where the business needs to be. You need managers’ and employees’ input into this to ensure they remain engaged – if they are not, this could seriously affect your ability to communicate with staff and your company’s performance post-restructure. Simple and regular updates outlining where the company is now and where it needs to be will keep everyone involved and aware of commercial reality.

It is also highly likely that as part of any restructure you will need to re-evaluate job roles and descriptions. That may not be your favourite occupation, but you need to

look at them and consider if, as they stand, they are going to provide the focus to deliver the strategy. If they don’t and you leave them as they are, it can lead to confusion. When you are reviewing job roles and descriptions, make sure the business plan, team and individual objectives and detailed performance indicators all dovetail.

Finally, an ongoing training plan will ensure any gaps in skills, knowledge or behaviours are addressed. You also need to look at managing performance including target setting, appraisal systems and coaching.

Your HR Adviser can support you with such an exercise to ensure you do not fall foul of any employment legislation, particularly the Equality Act 2010.



no time liKe noW toreStructureIt is at times like the present that everyone needs to bring their skills at restructuring to the fore


“As an HR team we are of course used to day-to-day issues,” says Diena Worthington, HR manager for Office Team, “but it is the odd scenarios, the tricky situations, where being a platinum member of BOSS has really helped.”

You might wonder why someone with as much HR experience as Worthington, with over 30 years in various HR roles including 11 years in her current position, would need help.

But then Office Team is in many ways an unusual organisation. The company, which now employs over 900 people at sites across the UK, has come together as the result of a series of acquisitions, including the 2001 takeover of Statplus, which Worthington had joined in 1999. Since then the company has made further acquisitions.

Such a track record may be a badge of honour for the management team, but it can be a headache for anyone involved

in HR, as each time an acquisition has been made, Worthington and her team – which includes a full-time HR adviser and two part-time administrative assistants – have to issue new contracts and make sure that the terms match as closely as possible. It isn’t always possible to make terms entirely uniform for all new employees, as those who are transferred over as part of an acquisition usually get to keep many of their existing perks. But Worthington’s team’s job is to make sure that the irregularities are ironed out as much as they can be.

She is quick to point out too that new terms does not necessarily mean worse terms. When Whitegrove was acquired, for example, its employees soon discovered that the acquirer’s terms on sick pay were considerably more beneficial than their old employer, who would only give them three days’ pay. “So they were happy

to become part of Office Team,” says Worthington.

Even still, she is keenly aware that with so many disparate and new teams coming on board, everyone’s knowledge of HR procedure won’t always be as up-to-date as hers. “If we all knew as much as possible about the legislation it would be fine,” she says, “but we usually don’t, and our managers don’t always go about things in the right way.”

So since she took over from the previous HR manager who retired last, year, Worthington has been putting together a guide to what the managers can and can’t do. This is shortly to be put on the company’s intranet site.

“Even then if we aren’t sure, we can always refer to BOSS,” she says. “I find that 98 per cent of the time I am thinking along the same lines as the BOSS advisers, but it is good to have another pair of ears. It is a safety net.”

exceptionS prove the ruleOffice Team’s fully experienced HR team still like having the “safety net” of BOSS HR Advisers behind them

LEARNINg AND TALENT DEvELOPMENT

the Chartered Institute of Personnel and

Development (CIPD) says: “Learning and talent development ensures that people at all levels of the organisation possess and develop the skills, knowledge and experiences to fulfil the short and long-term ambitions of the organisation and that they are motivated to learn, grow and perform.”

Managers at all levels require an understanding of the different learning styles of individuals within their teams and the wide range of training and development activities that they can employ to enhance both team and individual competence.

Development activities can involve both on and off the job activities and a range of coaching and mentoring support.

Managers need to get to grips with learning and development


On the opposite page we look at a specific example of mentoring that is being used both to develop the AGI Shorewood organisation as a whole and to create individual development opportunities.



GettinG SeriouS aBout

mentorinGa few months ago Tanya

Fisher, European HR director for multidisciplinary media firm AGI Shorewood, had a plan. The company was growing fast, and management had decided that the best way to try and deal with the new opportunities such growth brings was to promote from within.

“Employee development is not something we had brought a lot of time and attention to before,” she says, “but we wanted to raise people’s awareness of what is possible and of the opportunities out there.”

She says there was also something of a departmental mentality within the firm. Which is not surprising, really, as it has been through a number of mergers and now includes not just AGI World, but also packaging producer Shorewood and AGI Amaray, Europe’s largest DVD box manufacturer.

To progress employee development then, she

wanted to introduce a mentoring scheme, where people who wanted to progress within the organisation and were aware of the opportunities could be nurtured by someone perhaps further up the management chain. “We would now be saying: ‘We will support you but you need to drive your development yourself,’” she says. “That way we are empowering people only if they really want it.”

She thought this would only work best if individuals were only allowed to be mentored by someone from outside of their own area of the group. That would get around the department silo issue too.

Working with BOSS sister organisation the British Printing Industries Federation (BPIF), she put together a multi-departmental programme. But there have to be some boundaries: under the programme, the middle managers who have now

applied to be mentors will all be trained in making sure they do not step on the toes of the line managers their mentees would normally report to. And the mentees themselves are not allowed to use the fact that they are being mentored to claim some kind of authority within their original department. There are confidentiality issues too. Both mentor and mentee have to be confident that their discussions will not be relayed elsewhere. “Anything really serious that gets raised can only be reported to me,” says Fisher.

The results so far have been promising. AGI has put together pairs of 12 mentors and mentees, who are all encouraged to meet at least once every six weeks for at least six months.

“We are not making any promises to the mentees as a result of their participation,” she says. But now the possibilities within the company are really open.

recruitinG

Without reGretS

RESOURCINg



how often does your recruitment and

selection process get it right? Have you ever thought to yourself: “My life would be a lot easier if we’d never taken this one on?” You probably have, at least once in your career.

Recruitment and selection is the foundation of all other HR activity. Get it wrong and you are always making up for that one bad decision. But get it right and you get to improve your organisation’s performance by improving the quality of the people you’re asking to deliver that performance.

Recruiting people who are wrong for the organisation can lead to increased labour turnover and lowering of morale in the existing workforce. Managers will have to spend extra time on further recruitment exercises, when what is needed in the first place is a systematic process to assess the role to

You can put your days of regretting recruitment decisions behind you with this handy guide

be filled and the type of skills needed to fill it.

To make life simple, you could follow this six step best practice guide, and adapt it in the light of experience:

1) The vacancy: consider whether this vacancy presents an opportunity to re-assess the requirements of the job or even to restructure.

2) The application: application forms should include a job description and a person specification and should avoid asking for any information that may later suggest discriminatory practices.

3) Shortlisting: shortlisting for interviews should be done objectively, measuring the candidates against the job and person specification.

4) The interview: interviews should be

planned, with specific competency-based questions used to score all potential candidates to avoid any potentially discriminatory questions. Take notes – but be aware the interviewee can ask to see them later.

5) The offer: ensure the successful candidate is sent an offer letter setting out the main terms and conditions, together with a contract and initial particulars so that any queries can be sorted out at this stage.

6) Induction: this may not be an elaborate exercise, but should include a brief introduction to the staff handbook, health and safety information, training and an explanation of the company’s structure, vision and values.


PERFORMANCE AND REWARD


Modern performance and reward management techniques can do wonders for your business


n Providing everyone in the organisation with the big picture of what the business is trying to achieven Making sure everyone knows their role in achieving this, and providing them with the skills to help them fulfil that rolen Encouraging employee feedback without fear of blamen Being able to identify performance problems and knowing what to do about them

On the reverse side, there are plenty of things that

performance management is the new

buzz word in HR, and there is much discussion about what it means in theory.

In practice, and in laymen’s terms, it means making sure that everyone is doing their part to contribute to the overall success of the business. This can be done informally through managing staff on a day-to-day basis, or formally through regular meetings to set and review personal goals and work towards improved performance.

From a manager’s point of view, performance management entails:

performance management is not. It is not primarily about pay, or an opportunity to bully and intimidate, or even discipline. You shouldn’t use it as an excuse to concentrate on the negatives, nor should it be something you should only concentrate on once a year. Performance management most certainly is not something you can implement in the hope that it will let you abdicate your duties as a manager. They are still there.

So why implement it? For many reasons. Here are just some of them:

n To evaluate: organisational performance data and benchmarking can be used to analyse individual and team performance, establish best practice and question cost-effectiveness.n To motivate: giving people significant goals to achieve and then using performance measures to assess their progress towards them can provide a periodic sense of accomplishment. Performance targets may also encourage creativity as people look for better ways to achieve their goals more quickly.

PERFORMANCE AND REWARD

n To celebrate: organisations need to commemorate accomplishment. This helps to tie people together and give them a sense of their individual and collective relevance.n To promote: effective performance measures can help you identify high achievers within the business who could make significant contributions in the future.n To learn: only when problem areas are identified can you then go about addressing the issue, often by providing some form of training.n To improve: a review must take place for continuous performance improvement to happen - do it, review it and improve it.

Remember that you can only manage what you measure. So when setting targets you need to make sure that they are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound.

You need to set up internal processes to monitor your expectations against actual achievements.

So when all your data is in, in performance management terms how do you deal with an individual who is performing poorly?

Your first step is to investigate the underlying cause of the employee’s unsatisfactory performance through discussion with the employee themselves. The solution to the problem will usually flow on from the cause, and may involve a variety of approaches - some aimed at the individual, and some at management processes.

Ultimately you will need to assess whether the poor performance is due to issues relating to the employee’s capability or conduct, so that a more formal approach to solving the problem can begin.


“you Shouldn’t uSe it to Bully, intimidate or even diScipline.”


If you want to stand out in

your market place, book

space in BOSS Today.

Written exclusively for

managers in the UK’s office

and stationery supplies

industry, this authoritative

new magazine comes to

you directly from the

BOSS Federation.

Appearing in it really is the

best way to stay the sharpest

pencil in the box.

Call Mark Wilkins on

01753 714999 today to

discuss advertising options.

Reserve your space in the

January 2010 issue NOW. WA

NT

TO S

TAY

SHA

RP?

Filler BOSS advert.indd 4 12/11/09 13:01:40filler.indd 1 15/11/2011 11:32

PAy

Pay – it’s the ultimate lubricator of all employee/employer relations. But putting together a fair and equal salary structure isn’t always as easy at it looks – particularly in today’s economic climate

all things being otherwise equal,

traditional business thinking dictated that salaries were what attracted individuals to a company, benefits helped

to keep them there, and bonus and incentive schemes motivated them in their work.

But there are many factors that influence pay structures today. Market trends, for

example, tend to be more influential in the private sector, while the views of the owner or managing director can be more important in smaller firms than in larger.

the Bit aBout

money


There is also a continuing debate over whether pay should be related to performance on an individual or collective basis. Generally speaking, an employer needs to find out what attracts, retains and engages individuals and explore how best they can meet these needs – and the business’s requirements.

Most companies review salaries on an annual basis. When determining any pay increases, you should usually consider:nAbility to payn Inflationn Movement in market ratesn The ‘going rate’ of pay awards elsewheren Recruitment and retention issues

present realitiesOf course, discussions about pay may seem particularly complicated in today’s harsh economic climate. You may even have reached the decision that you will have to forego a wage increase because as a company you cannot afford it.

If that is your situation, however, don’t skip or delay pay reviews without communicating this to your employees. Never shy away from discussions with your employees on the subject


of pay, or keep quiet until someone mentions it and hope that you get off lightly. Don’t be fooled into thinking that if no one mentions it, it is because they have not remembered or already know that you cannot afford to give them an increase. Show that you have given the matter serious consideration, and tell them what your decision is and why you have reached it. If you don’t, you open the door to the rumour mill and employee disengagement.

As a compromise when times are tough, some companies have considered ‘one off’ bonus payments to reward staff for their hard work. Such a payment is generally not pensionable, so there are no additional on-costs.

But an employee is not likely to welcome this reward method in the longer term.

Other non-financial rewards can be just as important in keeping your staff engaged. They include:nopportunities for career developmentn flexible workingnbeing involved in decisions that affect how and when employees do their worknbeing given projects to managen recognition, such as through an ‘Employee of the Month’ Award or team-based events


leGalitieSWhatever their situation, employers must of course

also meet legislative requirements, for example on equal pay and the National Minimum Wage (NMW).

Equal pay is an aspect of sex discrimination law giving the right for men and women to be paid the same for the same, or equivalent, work.

The NMW applies to all workers age 16 and over. There are currently three main rates for workers aged under 18, those aged 18 to 20, and those aged 21 or over, together with an apprentice rate. You should continually assess your pay structure to ensure there are no discrepancies.

EMPLOyEE ENgAgEMENT


everyone likes to bask in the glory of being

a manager. But with that glory comes some difficult situations that you have a responsibility to address. The ongoing downturn has presented many of these.

Most owners and managers rate delivering

bad news – about the loss of the key contract, say, or the closing of a warehouse - as the worst part of their job. And so it is.

But just how bad it can be depends to a large extent on how you present the situation. Getting it wrong can worsen the impact on your

employees, their productivity and your whole company.

While there is no completely harm-free way of passing off such an announcement, there are ways that will treat your employees fairly and make sure they still respect your leadership.

Being a manager necessarily involves difficult situations

you have to overcome

taKinG it liKe a

manaGer


“employeeS can Feel more connected in Small GroupS and Feel more comFortaBle to aSK QueStionS.”

1) Consider first how the message will be relayed. It’s never easy receiving bad news, but hearing it from someone in person can soften the blow. No one wants to hear bad news from a boss via an email. It may seem like the easy way out, because you don’t have to look in their eyes and hear the disappointment in their voice. But it is unlikely to get the best result.

2) Make sure too that the seniority of the bearer of the bad news is commensurate with the ‘weight’ of that bad news. If you have been tasked with delivering this bad news you need to be comfortable in explaining it to your employees, and answering any questions.

3) The size of your company and the need to maintain production may dictate whether any announcement is made across the company at the same time or delivered in smaller groups. Employees can feel more connected in smaller groups and feel more comfortable to ask questions. But if everyone hears the same message at once, rumours or false information are less likely to spread throughout your company.

4) Keep the message brief and direct. And do not sugar-coat it: if you try to wrap the news in soft language that attempts to lessen the impact, your employees may not understand the full weight

of what you are saying. After you’ve broken the news, go back and explain exactly how you arrived at this difficult decision. The more employees understand and empathise with how a decision was arrived at, the more they’ll support it, even if they don’t like it. Explain the situation realistically but portray the future in a positive light so that they will want to remain in your employment.

5) Show consideration as well: if you are telling an employee news that will have a big impact on them, do not make light of the situation. It’s an uncomfortable situation for you giving the news and sometimes it’s tempting to make the atmosphere seem less unpleasant. But if the news is bad for the person then it is unpleasant, and making light of the situation may make them feel resentful at a lack of understanding.

6) You are free to discuss the future, and whether there will be a review of the situation. But don’t make commitments you will not be able to keep.


EMPLOyEE ENgAgEMENT


leadershipn Do employees understand the purpose of the business? How is this communicated, especially if the nature of the business changes?n Does the organisation have simple and clearly understood values?n Are these values shared throughout the organisation? n Do employees believe in them?n Do employees understand how their individual role contributes to that vision?n Is there a thorough induction process that helps employees to understand how their role fits with the organisation’s values?

engaging managersn Do employees have clearly defined and agreed performance standards?n Are procedures just and fair?n Do managers always treat employees with respect, and are they concerned about their wellbeing?

n Are work-life balance issues considered seriously?n Do managers seek to integrate teams and encourage teamwork?n Are employees encouraged to enjoy their work and have fun?

employee voicen Are employees’ views actively sought out and listened to?n Are views that challenge ‘perceived wisdom’ welcomed?n Are employees made to feel their opinions count by being genuinely involved in decision-making?

integrityn Is there a sense of trust in the organisation?n Are remuneration systems transparent and do employees sense that there is internal equity with regards to pay?

ISSUES TO CHECk ON

enGaGementWhile you are looking at the way your organisation works, it’s always worth while assessing just how engaged your workforce is – particularly in the wake of any bad news. Follow this useful checklist

INTRODUCING

Finally a range of 100% recycled office papers offering a choice in whiteness

With two natural white and two high white shades. Image Recycled offers a comprehensive range of qualities, from general office printing through to your formal company letterhead.

Whether you are looking for a genuine recycled paper look or are looking to be environmental without compromising on whiteness, with Image Recycled you have both.

ness

For samples or to find out more call us on...

Office South - 0870 607 3132 Office North - 0870 607 3136

www.antalis-mcnaughton.co.uk

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Image range leaflet_recycled papers_BOSS ad.ai 1 03/02/2012 11:49:29

IOS advertTOGETHER WE’RE STRONGER

Keep up to date with the o�ce supplies and servicesindustry by visiting

www.bossfederation.co.uk

GettinG to the · talent development Managers play a crucial role in nurturing talent. 12...

Documents

Transcript of GettinG to the · talent development Managers play a crucial role in nurturing talent. 12...