Building a Successful Employee Engagement Process | Louise Hardy, NED and Kevin Maguire General Counsel & Company Secretary, Crest Nicholson
The landscape of employee relations is changing, particularly in office environments with flexible working. There are many different opinions about how organisations should approach their policies while representing their employees' diversity. The subject of employee engagement sounds simple, but is it?In this podcast, Dr Sabine Dembkowski, Managing Partner of Better Boards, discusses employee engagement with Louise Hardy and Kevin Maguire. Louise is Non-Executive Director at FTSE 250 company Crest Nicholson, where Kevin Maguire is General Counsel & Company Secretary.“There really is nothing like sitting in a room with people”Louise opens by saying that boards get a lot of data-driven, paper-based information about how employees are feeling and thinking, from surveys for example. But nothing beats having these conversations face-to-face to tease out critical issues. Kevin points out that employees are key stakeholders in a board's deliberations, and there is more than one method of employee engagement that satisfies the corporate governance code. They have both found that a designated Non-Executive Director approach with employee meetings is the best for board effectiveness.“Don't manipulate who attends”Louise explains that at Crest they have established visits to all regions, business units, and head office, aiming to engage with a diverse range of employees. In her view, it is crucial to include representatives from different departments, workgroups, and stages of their careers to enrich discussions. "The more you get people to open up, the more others will open up”Louise outlines the “house rules”, which are seldom altered. She initiates each meeting by emphasising the freedom to express oneself and explains they are conducting a comprehensive review to identify common concerns. These collective issues are what will be presented to the executive team and the board. A significant part of the process is the atmosphere in the room, and she aims to foster an environment that naturally helps people to be comfortable and speak up. “Treat the employee engagement subject like a board committee”Kevin explains how the role of the Company Secretary can differ from one organisation to another, but as Company Secretary at Crest he plays a crucial role in ensuring corporate governance and code compliance, and that the chosen engagement method meets these obligations. Company Secretaries can also provide additional input and guidance as needed, as their role extends to sequencing the outcomes of these meetings into boardroom discussions and the boardroom agenda. “Information is just information, you do need to do something with it”Louise explains how she and the HR Director have established a reporting structure. They conduct 3-4 meetings annually, covering all regions twice, for a total of 8-9 meetings. During these, they identify the main topics. After the sessions, they both review all the issues and identify the top 5 or 6, which are usually the most significant. These key issues, along with recommended actions, are presented at the board meeting. The three top takeaways for effective boards are:1. Do not put off getting started because it is so beneficial and really worth the time and effort.2. It becomes easier if you start small and then build up from there, so you will quickly find a rhythm that's going to work for your organisation. 3. It's not that difficult talking about the tough subjects - they come up in the natural course of the discussion, so it is quite easy to get those aired.