How do I keep my employees engaged in an economic downturn?
How do I keep my employees engaged in an economic downturn? This is a question that is increasingly taxing the minds of senior managers throughout the world’s economies.
In an economic downturn, what do you do to keep staff – who are operating at less than full capacity – gainfully employed? In other words, how do you keep them not just ‘busy’ but actually doing something that is of value to the business? Not only are managers concerned about the truth of the old proverb, ‘the Devil makes work for idle hands’ but they realise that, if their workers are not fully occupied, then these people will find things to worry and agitate about since people tend to focus on hygiene factors when they less than fully engaged. While it is important to keep staff fully occupied, this can be easier said than done as their workload declines. However, the organisation development consultancy, Echelon Learning, has developed and deployed a successful strategy to keep its clients’ staff busy: engaging them in ‘process improvement’. “Initially, employers may need to give their staff some basic training in, for example, process flowcharting and cause-and-effect analysis,” said Echelon’s CEO, Alistair Morrison, “but, if they give their people the skills and tools to do the job, it will pay dividends as those staff will come up with a wealth of ideas on how things could be done more effectively, efficiently - and profitably.
“In the ‘good times’, when business was brisk and ‘the living was easy’, staff had no time to focus on more effective and efficient ways of doing things – and managers weren’t inclined to listen,” he added. “Now, as business slackens off, staff have time to devote to process improvement and the managers have both the time and the inclination to initiate these process improvement ideas.
“Not every organisation will undertake this type of activity but those that do are developing a competitive position that will make them more effective and agile during the downturn - and leave them in better shape to take a larger slice of market share when the economy improves.” Like building employer brand - creating a reputation as an employer of choice for both existing and potential staff - involving staff in process improvement makes them feel more valued, more highly motivated and more ‘engaged’ with their organisation. Moreover, staff are more likely to implement any subsequent process improvement because it will have come, initially, from them and their peers - rather than being imposed seemingly arbitrarily by management.
“So don’t make up trivial things for under-employed staff to do,” pleaded Morrison. “That leads to disaster. Instead, get them involved in process improvement activity - something meaningful that will benefit the organisation and develop the staff involved.
“Our experience with clients across a range of industries demonstrates the impact that staff can make by applying some simple tools and with a bit of guidance. In addition to achieving short-term gain, these organisations gain an on-going dividend by creating a better culture for organisational flexibility with staff who are more engaged and motivated to contribute to success.”
Echelon, Angles House, 210 Sheen Lane, London SW14 8LB; 020 8274 9965