Five secrets of happier employees
- Regularly ask them for ideas on how the business could work better – anonymously if need be
- Encourage managers to recognise good work and give praise for it
- Use notice boards to let people know what’s happening in the company
- Find out what training employees would like to receive – and then deliver on it
- Ask for suggestions on how they would improve their working environment, such as better lighting, comfier chairs or artwork (if you have the budget, of course)
Happy employees...
better business
As Pamela Atherton finds, investing in employee satisfaction now can bring businesses plenty of benefits in the future
Excellent customer service is crucial in today’s cutthroat business environment. In a customer-facing service industry such as insurance broking, the calibre of a company’s staff and service standards can be one of the few differentiating factors between competitor organisations.
It’s been said that greater employee satisfaction can lead to better customer service, increased sales and higher profits. But is it really that simple?
The answer is yes, according to Angela Baron, an organisational resource adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). She says: “We have found that if employees are engaged and feel a sense of loyalty and commitment, they will be willing to give that little bit extra, such as smiling at the customer, which delivers customer satisfaction and makes the customer feel valued.”
When providing insurance and handling claims on a customer’s behalf, it’s crucial that those on the ‘front line’ feel motivated to provide great service, which can lead to repeat business and word-of-mouth recommendations from clients.
The link between happy employees and better business isn’t just anecdotal – there
are figures to prove it. In 2003, Nationwide Building Society and market research firm ORC International developed a mathematical
analysis tool that reveals the link between employee commitment, customer satisfaction and business performance.
The proof of the pudding
Working with Nationwide’s planning and development team, ORC uncovered strong links between people management and its product sales after analysing data from a mix of HR indicators, a staff attitude survey, sales figures and extensive customer research. They found that for every 1 per cent increase in
staff satisfaction at Nationwide, there was a
2.3 per cent increase in sales of personal loans.
A wide range of CIPD-sponsored research projects has also shown that there is a strong, positive relationship between better people management and bottom-line performance. They found that personnel and development practices can improve company performance by increasing employee skills and abilities, promoting positive attitudes and increasing motivation, and providing employees with expanded responsibilities so that they can make full use of their skills and abilities.
CIPD sees two sets of personnel and development practices as particularly important for happier employees: acquiring and developing skills (including further training and the use of appraisals) and the design of the job itself (including skill flexibility, job responsibility, variety and teamwork).
But it’s not all down to employees. The research also shows that if workers believe the management has failed to meet their commitments, job satisfaction and loyalty decrease. This is particularly true when, for instance, employees don’t receive promised training or if performance reviews are badly handled.
The daily grind
In order to get the most out of people, organisations
need to know what their employees expect from their
job. But sometimes companies, particularly smaller
ones, find it difficult to balance running their businesses day-to-day and focusing sufficiently on improving employee satisfaction.
So, in order to help brokers and policyholders deal with the ever-increasing tide of employment legislation, Hiscox now provides free access to businesshr, a business services portal, as a tool to help deal with all the legal aspects of people management. It provides a website, a helpline and an on-site service for guidance on all HR processes (see below).
David Lennan, managing director of businesshr, says: “A recent national survey by the Institute of Directors showed that 55 per cent of managing directors at SMEs are acting as makeshift HR directors and struggling to manage the HR burden. Businesses needn’t struggle with HR issues and high costs.”
While services such as this can help with the legal aspect of HR management and give ideas for employee development, communication and feedback from employees is also crucial.
Chris Tully, group personal lines manager at Layton Blackham Insurance Brokers, says: “The key thing is information and communication so that staff know what’s happening. We have one-to-one meetings with individuals, regular updates when things change and a setting of key performance indicators.
“It’s not just salary that motivates staff. It is knowing that they are doing a good job.”
Free HR support
businesshr is now available to Hiscox business policyholders – and also free to commercial brokersBusinesses already have plenty on their plates in terms of regulation, and sometimes human resources just seems like another pile of red tape. But not paying attention to employment law could have a devastating effect on your business.
For example, last year one company had to pay out £1.37 million for sex discrimination, while another paid £761,867 for race discrimination.
But those are just the headline cases. Sometimes it’s the nitty gritty – maternity leave, redundancy payments, holiday entitlements – that can seem so overwhelming to an SME.
That’s why Hiscox has teamed up with businesshr to offer certain policyholders access to the businesshr website. Free to brokers, it contains guidance on HR issues, including recruitment, training, management skills and health and safety, with step-by-step guides and customisable letters, contracts, policies and an employee handbook, among other useful resources.
Mark Shaw, Employment Practice Liability (EPL) product expert and team manager at Hiscox, says: “HR consultancy is one of the main priorities for SMEs, yet just 5 per cent of UK SMEs have qualified people looking after HR in their company. So now we’re offering our SME clients something that addresses their general business needs in addition to an insurance solution – a one-stop-shop.”
Shaw says that, while many Hiscox policyholders may be fortunate in never having to use their insurance policy, businesshr is something that could prove useful on a regular basis. He also emphasises the strong link between the Hiscox EPL product and businesshr. The service now relates to employment issues both before and after a claim is made.
As Shaw concludes, “We think that this unique value-added service will help brokers gain new business and retain existing clients.”
