COOL
BRITANNIA
The impact of engagement on the country
Wendy Melville from Personal Group discusses how Brits
are embracing the latest tech to boost productivity
Britain leads the world in dozens
of industries, from music to
high-end manufacturing. British
designers, scientists and business
leaders push boundaries in all
sorts of ways. However, since
2008, our national productivity
has stopped improving as fast as
it used to. According to the latest
data from the Office of National
Statistics we’ve even started going
backwards. Now, Japan is the only
country in the G7 that produces
less value per hour than us.
So, how do we get our
mojo back?
The UK’s productivity problem
has a number of complex causes,
but one area where businesses
leaders can make an immediate
impact is employee engagement
and motivation.
At Personal Group, we
understand how important it
is for businesses to unlock the
full potential of their staff. The
key phrase here is ‘discretionary
effort’. That’s the extra hard work
and thoughtfulness employees
put in when they really care about
and enjoy their work. It turns
out, we aren’t the only business
in the UK that feels this way. We
interviewed 10 top UK business
leaders and they all agreed –
happiness is good for business.
Alex Edmans, Professor of
Finance at London Business
School, tracked hundreds of
companies over a period of 28
years and found that businesses
with highly satisfied employees
had 2-3% higher stock returns
each year than their peers in
comparable industries – that’s
89%-184% cumulative better long
run stock returns over the period
(Harvard Business Review). His
conclusion: the results suggest
that satisfied employees aren’t
just the result of business
success, they are the cause. range of people. So why offer
them all the same perks? At
Personal Group, we are helping
businesses tailor their benefits
programmes to ensure staff get
what they want. A centralised
engagement app, like Hapi,
means staff can access all of the
benefits via their mobile..
That means that having happy
employees effects your bottom
line. A lot of forward thinking
British business leaders are
making strides in the right
direction, but there are still
plenty more who need to catch
up before we can unlock Britain’s
untapped productivity potential. Wellbeing
So how can we change the way
we work?
Flexibility
The conventional office-based
9-5 work life is changing. This is
because of two things: technology
and culture. Cloud computing,
mobile and 4G allow office staff
to work efficiently from almost
anywhere. Business leaders
need to embrace the changes to
engage with their staff better.
One key area where we
can improve is internal
communications. Most already
have an effective, low cost
communications infrastructure in
place. Regardless of their location,
staff can find out any information
they want to know at a time that
suits them, wherever they are.
Another area where flexibility is
important is workplace benefits.
Companies employ a diverse
06 | www.incentiveandmotivation.com
Looking after your employees’
mental and physical health is not
only a duty of care but also has
enormous business benefits.
One key part is promoting a
healthy lifestyle. This can be
anything from arranging a cycle
to work scheme to sociable
smoothie-making Fridays.
It also involves creating a
positive workplace attitude
towards mental health.
Companies can really benefit
from providing their staff with
access to quality services.
A comprehensive employee
services package can go a long
way to supporting employees’
wellbeing.
Embracing new wellbeing
technology and implementing
a benefits programme can go
a long way to motivating and
engaging with staff. We know that
happy employees are 12% more
productive, so if we can, as an
industry, get more UK employees
engaged and improve their
wellbeing we can help get Britain’s
productivity back on track.