Employee Engagement Issues? Get Your EmployER Engagement Right First

The Sports Direct scandal is all over the news. The owner Mike Ashley has been quoted as saying that the business became so big that he didn’t know what was going on, despite conditions for workers being described as ‘Victorian’. This lament has been met with dubious cynicism, and whether true or not, his reputation as an employer and businessman has taken a massive hit.

However, let’s assume he’s telling the truth. Regardless of whether a business treats its workers well or badly, is there a case for owners and CEOs to remain ignorant of what’s happening on the shop floor, even if they aren’t involved in the day to day management? 

It’s clear that Sports Direct’s workforce was unengaged, unhappy and stressed. Workers stayed because they needed the work, not because they had anything good to say about the business. But needing the work isn’t enough to make anyone do a good job, it’s enough to make people jump through hoops (for example in the case of Sports Direct, allegedly working when they should be in hospital giving birth), to give the appearance of doing their job, however badly, in order to keep their position. It may keep the business turning over, but imagine how much more profitable a company would be with an engaged, broadly contented workforce which strives to perform well.

Essentially it is about understanding and engaging with your business. Whether a decision maker is looking to grow, promote or even sell their business, they’ll usually look at costs, market share and profit. But if they don’t know what’s happening in their own backyard, they run the risk of the same sort of humiliation that Mike Ashley has just faced across our TV screens.

In many cases it’s not a question of pay and conditions, but the day to issues and frustrations employees face when doing their jobs. One disgruntled employee of an extremely profitable multinational recently told me how he had faced a 30 minute wait at either end of the day to switch on and shut down his PC, because they would not replace their machines and no executive would take an interest in the situation. As a result the company lost an hour of his time every day; he already worked an average of 9-10 hours per day with an hour commute and refused to start earlier or leave later to make up for the company’s short sightedness.

Being engaged with your staff doesn’t mean you can solve all their problems or give them everything they ask for. Mike Ashley declared that he wasn’t Santa Claus and nobody (except perhaps some of the less pragmatic trade unions) expects him to be. But being engaged as an employer does mean you can relate to staff, sort out minor issues, jointly explore where investment may add greatest value (e.g. PCs that work properly) and evaluate whether procedures and processes designed with all right intentions, actually deliver the results you originally sought. It also means that if you are looking to sell or buy a business, there’s a much smaller chance of any hidden nasties emerging which will come back to bite you.