Welcome to all delegates by the Focus Group

 Introduction by the Chair to EFG 2011.

“Employee engagement is one of the keys to future growth in UK plc, and to improved services for less in the public sector”.

This is the message that David Macleod and Nita Clarke,chairs of the Employee Engagement Task Force, have given the Government (who sponsor the Task Force).

The Task Force is currently working with leading academics, and practitioners from a wide and diverse set of organisations to develop best practices, and to offer approaches that leaders and managers can employ to really engage their employees.

If organisations make it a priority to understand and adopt the principles behind employee engagement, we could see a real improvement both in productivity and performance across the UK -  as well as in so doing improving the wellbeing of employees.

Just over 12 months ago, the first new licence for more than a century was given to Metro Bank. At the time, their Chairman and this session speaker, Anthony Thompson, said:

“The banking environment was fundamentally changed...we are entering a new era of banking, one where we go back to a more traditional banking model where customer service is key.”

He will talk about how the bank aims to create fans - not customers - through:

• A differentiated customer experience;
• Building a model to deliver the experience;
• Creating a culture to support the model; and
• Building long-term value for customer, shareholders and colleagues.

In an environment of cost cutting and staff shortages, improving Customer Experience is - to say the least - a challenging proposition.

Dawn describes how an empowerment process has driven the process of internal improvement - taking an end-to-end approach to systems redesign, which has reduced waste, increased staff morale and motivation, and lead to an improved Customer Experience for the council's clients.

Success does not begin with radically changing the way you work or acquiring new skills: the first step is to take what you already do to the highest level. However trivial it may seem, if you can do a task more smartly than you did before, and than those around you are doing, others start to see you as a relative success – and you’ll have started to think your way into that role.

Here are ten actions to help you get the most out of a job – any job – in result and reward terms.

With over 160,000 employees supporting a company making 160 million sales each day, ensuring employee satisfaction at Unilever is a vast and ongoing process.

Nick will describe how in 2010 Unilever changed from "silo thinking" - with internal responses to end users being dealt with in a disparate fashion - to using a single, global methodology that tracks service satisfaction.

The lessons that Unilever learnt on this journey are applicable to all organisations, regardless of size and global presence.

 Dom brings his experiences of being Head of People in Virgin Active to EFS to share the message:

"Employee Engagement is less complex than you think"

Find out how Dom created a movement in Virgin Active - which reported a 14% rise in revenue last year - which spread from staff to customers. 

Welcome and re-cap of key points from Day One.

Organisational Effectiveness and the Employee Value Proposition: breaking the mould.

• Review of leading thinking – what is ‘New OE’ ?
• EVP model explained with case study illustrations
• Presentation of results from delegates (based on survey conducted prior to the event)
• Synopsis of main challenges facing organisations

Industry experts from KPMG will facilitate this session, in conjunction with Mark Williamson and Robert Bolton. This workshop will work through:

• common issues faced in sectors;
• developing a methodology to identify these issues and
• working through identified issues to make concrete propositions which facilitate change.

This facilitated workshop session will help you to think through what the employee value proposition means within your own sector and organisation, what the challenges to maintaining and growing this will be over the next few years, and potential solutions/actions you might take to ensure that your EVP remains relevant.

There will also be a worked case study to highlight how these issues have been addressed elsewhere, particularly focusing on areas of difficulty and how these were overcome.

With a customer base in excess of 55m throughout Europe, and over 20 000 employees, Telefonica Europe (who operate under the O2 brand in the UK) are a major telecoms company still enjoying growth.

Paul will talk about:

• Bringing EVP to life in the workplace;
• Taking people with you on the change journey;
• The business case for exmployee experience and the links to OE.

 

Alice will be speaking about KPMG’s Global Engagement strategy, and the journey that the firm has been on with regard to engagement and the employer brand. She will be joined by a colleague, Kate Jopson, who is currently rolling out a programme of engagement across the European firm. This will be a revealing presentation, sharing the successes and challenges of employee engagement at a UK, European and Global level.

The Chair will summarise Day 2 of EFG and formally close the event.