Member Article

Don’t underestimate the value of employee engagement

By

Raymond Oliver, Chairman and CEO, SONE Products Ltd.

Having recently put in place a strategic development plan to ensure the continued success and future growth of SONE Products Ltd (SONE), I am well aware of the importance and value gained by actively encouraging employee engagement.

As you would expect when developing something so important and integral to the success of an organisation, detailed discussions were held with senior management with regard to taking the company forward. However, one of my goals was, from the outset, to create a working ethos of inclusivity. With this in mind it was clear that as a fundamental driver to delivering a well structured, robust 5 year plan, it was necessary to have buy-in from the workforce.

Experience shows that regular communication with the workforce in the decision making process, so far as is practicable, makes them feel valued and encourages them to take ownership of the ongoing success and profitability of an organisation. In addition, it also generates interesting ideas and informative feedback.

Having agreed the company’s mission statement and vision for the future, along with my fellow directors and senior managers we identified a ‘long list’ of values which we deemed to be important to the business.

This list was circulated to the whole workforce, providing each individual with an opportunity to share their views by saying which values they felt best reflected how employees should act and do business at SONE. This exercise culminated in a definitive set of shared values - respect, responsibility, innovation, customer focus and profitability – all underpinning what we do as company.

Taking this engagement a step further, I asked the workforce to come up with a memorable way of demonstrating the company’s five core values.

This not only got employees thinking about them, it also revealed the creative talents of one team member in particular. The result is a winning design by Susan Allan, one of SONE’s shift operators. Susan’s design of a deeply rooted, bountiful fruit tree incorporating the five values,has now been developed by SONE’s in-house creative team, for use on posters, as a screen saver and on the company’s website. Displaying the design in this way will act as a daily reminder for everyone.

In recognition of her efforts Susan was presented with her prize of a framed picture of her design and £50 worth of shopping vouchers at a recent presentation held at SONE’s production facility in Stanley. She said:

“The inspiration for my design came from the idea that we are a growing family tree and it represents SONE branching out into new opportunities. I am surprised I won but pleased to be included when the directors are thinking about the company’s future.”

Thanks to this exercise everyone within SONE has a better understanding of our core values and an awareness of how they can make a difference to the company’s success and, equally importantly, feel included.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Leigh Chelton .