Why commitment is even more important than engagement

If you’ve been told once, you’ve probably been told a hundred times that engagement is the key. It’s the buzz word of the reward industry and without it you are wasting time and energy on any employee project.

We are told that if you have a fully engaged workforce then they will be more productive and culturally aligned, be absent less and never leave and that you will attract the best of the talent pool by engaging potential employees with your proposition. 

This is apparently all backed up by business studies from universities, provider research and plenty of anecdotal evidence. 

But is it really true? Just because a workforce is engaged, is that really what leads to all of these things and, if so, why do some companies not see it with all of the workforce or at all? 

Maybe then engagement is a first step in a much lengthier process? 

Let’s consider for a minute an employee who is engaged with your proposition but not committed to it….will they be more productive, less absent etc?

When the pressure’s on will they forget all about the standards and ethics that you stand for? In times of stress, will diversity and inclusion go out the window? 

The “superbrands” and the most successful businesses know that engaging employees is not the whole story. A marriage of ideals, aspirations and objectives only happens if there is commitment on both sides. 

Engagement is the key but the door remains closed unless the other side allows it to be opened. The other side of the door is commitment.

So how do you get commitment? Simple. The best marriages/partnerships/teams work because of honesty, empathy and action. Be transparent, appreciate things from the employees’ point of view and act positively and decisively when needed.

In my experience of working with some of the top HR teams in the UK I have seen this instilled in everything they do. 

Employee feedback

Working with the HR team in all sectors they provide ways for employees to feedback in an open and honest way, they assess and moderate the feedback then channel back to the employees what is possible and what is not. Action for areas that can be changed is obvious and apparent. 

One such company had an employee who was off on a sporadic basis and it was only really tracked when a new absence management system was bought in. The company was committed to its employees’ health and wellbeing and the employees knew that. 

Once this issue was highlighted the employee happily explained they were suffering from a migraine. They were to be seen by a specialist through the NHS but it was to take three months. The company decided to pay for them to see a private doctor and matters and absence was resolved.

Tony Nevin is director of employee benefits at Mazars

This article was provided by Mazars.