By Business & Finance 
By Karen Lawlor, country manager for Ireland at Regus
As Ireland’s economy tentatively recovers, the question of how to become more competitive is paramount for the nation’s firms.
One aspect they might want to look at is employee engagement, which, according to research, leads to increased productivity [1]. Gallup’s well-known Q12 analysis, which measures employee engagement, is based on 12 key employee expectations; it’s notable how many of them involve good communication.
Communication must be two-way
The problem with many businesses is that communication is one-sided: managers give feedback to employees. But, in work as in life, communication is more effective when it’s a dialogue. Managers should also listen to feedback from employees. After all, employees are often dealing with customers on the ground or being directly helped or hindered by the activities of other departments. They may know better than managers what works and doesn’t work in the business, or be better placed to understand changes in the market.
Listening to feedback from employees also helps staff morale and retention. Research in Hong Kong gives an excellent example of why it helps to listen to employees. The survey asked which measures could facilitate work-life balance for staff. Whilst many employers had good intentions on this, there was a discrepancy between the measures they introduced and the measures that staff actually wanted. So while the measure businesses were most likely to introduce was career breaks (35.5%), in practice only 25% of employees wanted them.
Meanwhile, 36% of employees wanted flexible working but only 25% of businesses offered it [2]. A classic example of insufficient communication.
Don’t be afraid of the negative or the unfeasible
Businesses sometimes hesitate to build in mechanisms for employee feedback because they assume that too much of it will be negative. Or that staff will ask for changes that are ‘win’ for them but ‘lose’ for the business. But since employee engagement is so fundamental to everything businesses do, staff suggestions often turn out to be win-win. For example, in research by Regus, 62% of respondents in Ireland said flexible working reduces stress and 67% said it is more family-friendly [3]. But the benefits are not confined to employees: 76% of companies globally say flexible working practices, such as giving choice over where and when people work, leads directly to greater productivity [4]. Thus, employees’ enthusiasm for flexible working is also good for business.
In these days of internet, intranet and online tools, it’s easy for companies to gather feedback from their staff. They can send online surveys to thousands of employees at a click of a button. They can use videoconferencing to let staff from teams all over the world discuss performance or discover shared concerns. They can set up online forums for workers to post questions to executives. And of course managers can practise the good old-fashioned skill of listening to people face to face.
Feedback should involve doing as well as listening
Once the feedback from those conversations has flowed in, managers must try to act on it. Sure, many ideas or suggestions won’t be viable, but others may be easier to deal with than you think.
Take flexible working again. If staff say working closer to home would help well-being and morale, you don’t have to up sticks and move the business. At Regus, for example, we’re seeing more and more customers, including larger firms like Google as well as thousands of SMEs, using our centres to let staff work closer to home. In the process, these businesses may also be reducing their outgoings on fixed office space.
Finally, if you’re still nervous about encouraging more employee feedback, consider this: a case study of a finance company in the US found that account executives who were ‘not engaged’ produced 23% less revenue than their ‘engaged’ colleagues; those who were ‘actively disengaged’ produced 28% less revenue [5]. Low or declining engagement can also put companies at risk of poorer customer service and high rates of absenteeism and turnover [6].
Employee engagement and well-being is never going to be solved entirely by getting more feedback from staff, but it certainly helps. After all, if you don’t find out what your staff want, how can you engage them?
About the blogger
Karen Lawlor is the country manager for Ireland at the global workplace company Regus. Lawlor is responsible for managing the complete Irish business; a portfolio of five business centres and a team of over 25.
Regus has a network of more than 1,800 business centres in 100 countries. There are four Regus centres in Dublin and one in Cork. Founded in Brussels, Belgium, in 1989, Regus is based in Luxembourg and listed on the London Stock Exchange.
You can connect with Karen on LinkedIn
Or visit the Regus website.
