Employee Engagement Strategy

Summary of Recommendations

Leadership to enhance employee engagement:

 NHS London to support PCT Chief Executives in navigating the

leadership/engagement challenge outlined in Figure 2 above by developing
‘pull’ rather than ‘push’ implementation strategies which focus on the agreed
better future for patients that embraces higher quality and safety. There is a
clear link here to the commissioning framework and how the approach taken
can have an influence on local levels of employee engagement.

 As part of system wide talent management activity, NHS London to ring fence
CPD funds for leadership development to ensure that at a local level it is
given a consistently high priority

 Work to secure the longer term leadership capability through inclusion of

leadership as a core component of professional training and supporting the
London Deanery and HEIs to develop an appropriate high quality leadership
undergraduate curriculum. Partnership working to enhance employee
engagement.

 Complete the review (and take into account the national review findings) to
provide commitment and clarity about the role and strategic focus of the
regional partnership forum. Without this clarity the partnership forum is
unlikely to have a strong positive impact across the system in building
employee engagement, indeed it is likely to undermine it.

 Once this clarity is in place, invest in supporting the partnership capacity to

deliver. This might take the form of secretariat or research support for any
work that flows from the partnership discussions to ensure momentum that is
not entirely reliant on the good will and capacity of individual members.
  Once this clarity is in place, invest in the development of the partnership
relationships so that there is a shared commitment, understanding and trust to
fulfil the role. A mature partnership forum will, for example, produce its own
business plan, be able to rely on the good intentions of others even when the
going gets tough, is clear about its agenda and priorities and follows through
on actions. It can then be seen as a model for local partnership working to
follow

 Encourage at local level the active involvement of staff side in the design,
prioritisation and communication of employee engagement strategies.

Internal communications

 NHS London to ensure a steady flow of key messages to senior managers

across the system to support the development of understanding and debate
around the strategic direction and creating a better future for patients
together with support materials which make the messages relevant to
different staff groups.

Line management development

 To raise the profile and signal the value of great line managers, an option
could be to sponsor an award for best line manager as nominated by their
team. This could include categories that reflect some of the specific line
management challenges for example best line manager of remote workers,
best line manager for the development of potential, etc.

Bottom up service development

 In developing the knowledge base and conference and awards (see next
section), ensure that learning from bottom up service improvement activity is
highlighted and showcased.
  In the procurement and evaluation of leadership development, consider how
improved employee engagement is included as an outcome.

Knowledge base – Recommendations

 Establish a connection with the DH/NHS Employers Engagement Working

Group to contribute to its work and enhance the knowledge base that is
available to Trusts within London. Develop a knowledge base strategy that
signposts the national knowledge base and encourages Trusts in London to
add to it.

 Sponsor a conference and awards event that will show case good practice
across London, support knowledge sharing and recognise those whose work
to build employee engagement is delivering improvements for patients and
supporting the changes in ways of working. The awards and conference could
be built around the themes of this employee engagement strategy or Next
Stage Review themes such as quality or partnership.

Measurement and monitoring

 Examples of good practice in measurement of employee engagement can be

included in the knowledge base activity.

 The employee engagement standard (see next section) can be linked to the
commissioning framework so that Trusts can be required to demonstrate how
they are meeting the standard to meet commissioning requirements.

 NHS London to use the NHS Staff Survey data more extensively to inform its
own understanding about how employee engagement varies within and
between Trusts. This analysis could be used to inform the areas of focus for
internal communications, development of the knowledge base activities and
as material available to support leadership and management development
activity.
Prepared By NHS London
The Business World’s Use of Employee Engagement

The Gallup Organization, an international organizational research and consultancy

firm with over 70 years’ experience, conducts the most influential business survey of
EE and brought EE to the notice of industry. Gallup’s EE scale is based on studies
from 1985, and in 1988 Gallop patented its 12- item measure of EE, the Q12 scale.
By March 2001, The Gallup Organisation had rolled out its engagement survey to
over 1.5 million employees, and more than 87,000 work units (Thackray, 2001). The
international business world’s wide use of Gallup’s EE survey is a major testament to
the value that corporations are placing on EE. Other major research firms have
followed Gallup in investigations of EE. ISR, another major international employee
research and consulting firm, with over 30 years experience, has also conducted a
large scale international EE study. ISR drew on data from over 360,000 employees
from 41 companies in the world’s ten largest economies, over a three-year period
(ISR, 2005). Developmental Dimensions International Inc (DDI), another major
human resources consultancy, is also conducting engagement surveys. Kenexa, a
provider of HR solutions was retained by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide to
administer a global employee engagement survey for 116,000 employees in 37
languages and across 750 locations in 80 countries (Pont, 2004).

Many more international research and consultancy firms are focusing increasingly on
conducting engagement surveys. Hewitt Associates, The Hay Group, Achieveglobal
and McKinsey & Company all conduct EE surveys. Local consultancies are also
heavily involved in EE surveys. Australian and New Zealand firms include: Corporate
Vision, Human Synergistics and Changedrivers. Clearly, the business world is
interested in and finding a benefit to the use of EE research and development.
Impact of Employee Engagement on Business

Consultancy firms and corporations have found significant benefits in EE for

performance and profit. The Gallup Organisation found critical links between EE,
customer loyalty, business growth and profitability. Gallup compared stores scoring
in the top 25% on EE and customer loyalty against those in the bottom 25%. Stores
in the bottom 25% significantly under-performed across three productivity measures:
sales, customer complaints and turnover (The Gallup Organization, 2004).

A Fortune 500 company with hundreds of retail stores located throughout the United
States hired Gallup to help them with problems of wildly varying performance
between stores. During the three years from 2001 to 2004, Gallup estimated that the
total additional profit achieved since the client began implementing Gallup’s
performance management systems was about $US75 million (The Gallup
Organization, 2004).

The Gallup Organization cites countless examples in its literature of such results of
increased corporate profitability due to increased EE, and is helping a great many
companies worldwide to improve their performance through improvement in EE.

The ISR research firm also cites many examples of increased profit after increasing
EE for companies. ISR examined the relationship between different levels of EE and
corporate financial performance, measured by changes in operating margins and
changes in net profit margins. Comparing high-engagement to low-engagement
companies over a three-year period, the financial differences were substantial (ISR,
2005). ISR has found convincing evidence that organisations can only reach their full
Potential by emotionally engaging employees and customers (ISR, 2005).