Ben Egan’s Post

As a leader and as an organisation, how you treat people really matters. 🌍 So World Mental Health Day is a good time to ask… Are you doing this well enough? 15% of UK workers are believed to have an existing mental health condition according to estimates… That’s a figure we cannot ignore. Supporting employees with their health and wellness is not only important on a human level, but it matters from a business point of view too. Healthy people = a healthy culture, higher productivity and a better performing business. This all translates to real world, bottom line improvements and a direct impact on things like retention and absence rates in particular. So, how are organisations doing right now on health and wellbeing? Tapping into the employee voice is a good starting point. And a look at our ETS plc engagement survey benchmark, shows: 71% (=) say they are happy with their work/life balance 79% (+8%) say their company promotes a healthy work/home life balance 82% (+8%) say they are usually able to cope with the demands of their work 81% (=) say their manager listens to work related concerns 76% (-5%) say their company cares about their wellbeing 76% (+5%) say their manager cares about their wellbeing 64% (6%) say their work load is fair and reasonable [Stats show latest 2023/24 data with % of respondents who agreed vs 2020/21 data % score change in brackets] Progress. But there’s still work to do… Wellbeing continues to be a prominent key signal area coming up in engagement survey insights. And we are seeing clients take lots of proactive, positive steps to address employee concerns. This includes: 🆘 Launching employee assistance programmes, which provide easy access to a wealth of wellbeing support tools and resources 👩🏫 Delivering mental health awareness sessions ⛑️ Training up mental health first aiders. Let’s all keep the conversation around mental health awareness going, and shift the stigma. ♻️ #WorldMentalHealthDay #mentalhealthmatters #workplacewellbeing #employeeexperience Image: ErrantScience.com

Live to work, or work to live? 🤔 I think there is a belief that if you say the latter, you are somehow less committed to your job. But I don't buy in to that... It's about balance and National Work Life Week always reminds me what’s most important in my world. I enjoy my job, and am lucky to work with a friendly and supportive team. We share a passion and drive to improve the workplace experience for companies we work with, and help people to develop and make the impact they want at work, every day… BUT, I never lose sight of what my top priorities are in my life. And I know how fortunate I am to have employers in ETS plc who afford us the flexibility to ‘have it all’. They recognise the importance of work-life balance and the value of downtime to promote better wellbeing. That’s why they give each of us 10 extra days of leave to do with as we wish! For some, it means more adventures and holidays, others use it to visit family at home or overseas, some volunteer or get extra time for their hobbies. For me at this stage in life, flexibility means never missing a school event with our kids, doing my share of pick-ups and drop-offs, cooking and having dinner as a family most weeknights and generally being around more than I would be if I was spending 12-15 hours per week commuting. No regrets, everyone... all of us only get my go at this 😊 #WorkLifeWeek #MyFlex #employeeexperience #worklifebalance #hyrbidworking Working Families / Parenting Out Loud

Sometimes the grass isn’t always greener… But there are times when it really is. The status quo for employee listening in recent years has become SaaS tech platforms, which often encompass other HRIS components. Convenient, smart and all in one place. BUT, when it comes to capturing and acting on employees’ views, defaulting to this route won’t always be the right fit for every organisation. We’ve had a number of HRDs and CPOs come to us in the last 18+ months, having tried and become frustrated with such tools. They’ve bemoaned the limited support on offer, the extra time demands and managers finding it hard to translate survey insights into the right actions to drive real, measurable change. Our approach at ETS is markedly and intentionally different > 🧩 We create employee listening programmes tailored to fit YOUR context. 👩💼 We speak with and engage senior leaders (usually including your CEO) up front, to secure buy-in and ensure full strategic alignment. 🏋 We do all the heavy lifting for you, with an assigned expert team offering a comprehensive managed service from end-to-end. 💻 We configure and run your surveys from our super smart ETS platform. 📊 We give your managers and leaders access to an intuitive reporting and analytics dashboard. 🔬 We run our own (human) deep-dive analyses, pinpointing key signals that link back to delivery of your goals. 🟦 We present back a blueprint to your senior leaders of where to act and how to drive the biggest improvements. (And we can do all this for less than what you may be paying for your existing self-service survey tools 💷) You can follow our ETS plc page to learn a bit more about us, our approach and what it could do for you – or please get in touch for more info 📧 #employeelistening #employeeengagement #employeesurveys Image credit: Ochir-Erdene Oyunmedeg / Unsplash

Scream if you *don’t* want it to go faster… Any other parents of young kids pinching yourselves about where the time goes? ⌛ It’s been a whirlwind September for us > 🎂 We’ve had big milestones with 10th and 7th birthdays for our two boys 🏫 The start of term and secondary school visits for our eldest son… ...All packed into a few short weeks (and that’s without factoring in the post summer hols, back to work craziness too) I need to hit the pause button, or at least slow things down. But apparently, it’s Monday morning so time to do it all again! 🔄 #milestones #familytime #backtoschool

Chief People Officers, HR Directors and CEOs often tell us 💬 That ETS plc have helped them to make their engagement survey a key strategic tool... So what does this look like? 🔬 > In-depth senior stakeholder discussions up front to learn about business direction, strategy & goals > ‘Baking in’ that context to a tailored programme design > Anticipating blockers or challenges, and accounting for these > Not ONLY relying on smart AI and automated survey analysis, but allying this with human-led deep dives too > Linking back key findings to that up front context, and creating a roadmap of what to address and how to deliver the business strategy. And what is the strategic impact? 🎯 > For one healthcare provider, this contributed to revenue growth of 15% year-on-year (+7% above target) > For a care home operator, it resulted in a +9% rise in resident/relative satisfaction > For a challenger bank, it helped them significantly reduce employee turnover the next year > For a residential care group, it saw them reduce employee absence rates from 7% > 4% year-on-year ----- If you are planning an engagement survey soon, consider what you need to do to make sure it 'moves the dial' and becomes an integral, strategic tool. 🤔 #employeelistening #employeesurveys #employeeengagement #hr #ceo Image: Javier Allegue Barros / Unsplash

Forcing employees back to the office full time will not improve the culture. Forcing employees back to the office full time will not improve the culture. Forcing employees back to the office full time will not improve the culture. Forcing employees back to the office full time will not improve the culture. Forcing employees back to the office full time will not improve the culture. Writing out lines (as a punishment) is pretty out-dated, don’t you think? 🤔 But arguably, forcing employees to return to working full time on-site seems a pretty old-fashioned idea too… The latest example with Amazon is perhaps the highest profile yet. And, to me, in performing such a U-turn on their previous hybrid working policy, feels like a big step backwards. CEO Andy Jassy said that this move would help staff be "better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected enough to each other"… and that “the advantages of being together in the office are significant.” But while I agree there are scenarios when getting colleagues all together in the same room for some projects or tasks – and that being physically together as a team at times – is beneficia, is forcing this really the way to improve culture or productivity? Like other proponents of stricter RTO policies, the argument feels one-sided, to fit their agenda… For Manchester United’s leaders, a drop in Friday email traffic was cited as a reason for forcing a full-time office return. For Amazon, it is seemingly about collaboration. But, reading between the lines, is it more about a lack of trust and want for ‘command and control’ management? Adopting a hard-line RTO position not only ignores the significant body of evidence on the engagement, productivity and health & wellbeing benefits flexible/hybrid working brings, but it also flies in the face of fostering more inclusive and diverse workplaces too – as a 5-day-a-week in office policy will naturally force many out of a job or facing a big pay cut in real terms due to needing extra childcare help. It’s 2024. People want to be treated like adults at work. They want to be trusted and empowered to get on with their job. Where possible, they want to be enabled and supported to work flexibly – whether that means ad-hoc days WFH to fit their lifestyle, or set days every week to cover responsibilities like childcare. They want to choose. By denying this choice, and saying no to flexible working, there will surely 1) be a contingent of talented people who opt (or have) to quit, and 2) a disgruntled group who reluctantly stay, but are disengaged as a result. Am I missing something here, I don’t get it… what do you make of it ❓ #RTO #returntooffice #workfromanywhere #hybridworking #workplaceculture Photo credit: Bryan Angelo / Shutterstock

I am not good at exercise ❌ Or, more specifically, not got at the discipline of making this a regular habit… I am though good at making excuses – > Mostly relating to a busy work diary > Morning school drops > Home/Life admin But, in my 40s, I recognise more so than ever that prioritising my own health and wellbeing is really important. And, I am lucky to have great workplace flexibility from ETS plc, and have lots of beautiful Surrey Heath woodland on my doorstep 🌳 So this morning, I completed a very soggy, rainy forest mountain bike ride before 9am… and am now feeling pretty smug with myself. And I am more energised for the week ahead ⚡ I just need some pointers on how to ingrain this as a more regular habit (any tips, anyone – particularly if you are good at excuses, like me?!) Have a great week everyone! #healthyhabits #healthandwellbeing #exerciseroutine

Ever been in a meeting where you haven’t been fully tuned in and get caught out? 😬 If so, here are 7 helpful things to say… when you don’t know what to say 👇 ”I’d echo what _insert colleague’s name_ said…” ”yeah, that sounds good!” (if others are nodding or smiling) “hmm” (if others are frowning or look confused) "what does everyone else think?" (deflection, unashamedly) ”everyone’s already covered what I was going to say” “should we circle back to that?” Bonus one for Teams/Zoom meetings: "great to catch up everyone" [after being mute for entire meeting] … I’m not too proud to say I have been guilty of this one I'm wondering where this happens most – in face-to-face or on virtual meetings... Any other fail-safe lines you’d add here, to aid the knowledge-sharing❓ #fridayfunny #meetingetiquette #fridayfun #zoommeetings #succession

Can you believe that 4 in 10 people don’t feel they get enough recognition for their achievements at work? I can. ‘Reward and recognition’ is a perennial bugbear for employees, and a key action focus that comes up time and again in engagement survey data we analyse. And it is difficult to overemphasise its importance, as having people who feel valued and appreciated for their efforts is an integral part of fostering a positive workplace culture and employee experience. There’s food for thought from our latest ETS plc benchmark data, which reveals that only: 65% of people agree that they “receive adequate recognition (beyond compensation) for their achievements 67% of people agree that in their company, they celebrate our successes It’s worth considering yourself how you’d answer the same questions re the amount of recognition you get, and how well your team/business celebrates successes. The good news is that this is something that can be easily fixed >> 🙏 From the little things, like saying “thank you” and “well done” more 🏅 To the bigger things, like recognising and calling out great performance, whether as a private aside or in a public forum – offering non-monetary rewards, where warranted or appropriate 🎉 AND, always remember to celebrate wins, progress, work anniversaries and milestones as a team Any other reward & recognition pointers you’d add here... #employeeexperience #thankyou #rewardandrecognition #celebratesuccess #employeeappreciation Image credit: Simon Maage / Unsplash

If, like 4/10 of companies we work with, you plan to run a survey in the next few months asking colleagues for their views, keep these 4 things in mind ⬇ 1. The path to cultivating a better employee experience does not always run smoothly! 2. The arrival of your next engagement survey results *might* not give you ALL the answers you want. 3. Sometimes – quite often actually – survey data highlights potential issues, and raises red flags but you need a ‘deeper dive’ analysis or further research to understand the context and root causes. 4. There may be speed bumps, peaks, troughs, stops and detours (see below visual for what this could look like). Trust ‘the process’ and stay the course; this will lead you to the full picture on employee sentiment. And it’s only once you have this clarity, that you are ready to progress to action... 🎬 Please follow ETS plc for lots more EX thinking, guidance and case studies, and share this post if you think others may benefit from these tips too. ♻ #employeeexperience #employeeengagement #employeesurveys