“Do you have a best friend at work?” At Ritz-Carlton, the best friend yardstick is just one of their questions which they ask in their annual employee engagement survey.
So what do friends have to do with employee engagement? In this month’s Q&A section (pg 40), Simon Cooper, president and chief operating officer explains the rationale behind asking this question. He says that for people who like their employer and enjoy working for the company, there’s a greater chance that they would find someone at work who they enjoy working around too.
And I have no doubt about it. If a person has a confidante in the office, someone to gripe and complain to, it helps easing some of the tension that work naturally brings. Furthermore, it’s always good to know that someone in the company has always got your back – whether it is for a quick lunch break or help with an overdue work assignment.
In this downturn, while retrenched people are seeking new jobs, new talking points have emerged from conversations that we’ve had. Some are looking at cost-cutting measures, others are thinking of new ways to stretch their salary or training dollars.
During these conversations, I realised that something has fallen off the radar of HR practitioners – the topic of employee engagement and ensuring that employees give their best in their jobs.
I know some are going to scoff at the idea of raising employee engagement during bad times. After all, in a time where people are getting laid off, shouldn’t employees be counting their lucky stars that they even have a job?
It’s precisely because times are bad that we need to ensure the employees we’ve got are fully commited and engaged and inspired by what they are doing. If we are to get the economy revved up again, we need people who are engaged enough to come up with new ideas and strategies on how we can dig ourselves out of this mess.
And this is where small things such as having a friend at work comes in. While things such as company lunch parties help (oh wait, the budget for parties has been scrapped), employee engagement in the workplace needs to be raised. And it is HR’s job to see to that. We need to ensure that people are motivated for the right reasons and will give everything they have in their jobs.
But first, do you have a best friend at work?
Lisa Cheong
Editor
lisac(at)humanresourcesonline.net
