Member Article

UK firms on trajectory for poor performance

The UK is set to face a workplace crisis from low levels of employee happiness and bad financial performance if the current state of flexible working and collaboration does not improve, according to a recent IDC survey of 1,352 HR professionals and line managers, sponsored by Cornerstone OnDemand.

The study found that the UK ranks at or below the European average for flexible working, despite its competitive and deregulated labour market. Among the 16 different European countries surveyed, the UK was positioned within the bottom four.

Importantly though, the study found a direct correlation between flexible working and happiness across Europe, so these UK attitudes need to be addressed if employers want to have happy and engaged employees.

Likewise, line managers in the UK also provided a low rating to the level of internal collaboration within their organisations, a concern since the study showed a strong connection between the degree of collaboration and the financial performance of the organisations. Despite this, only 62% said they actively encourage employees to work together and only 52% say they involve subordinates in decision-making. This is compared to 72% and 63% respectively in Europe.

In terms of the different flexible working areas, availability of the latest work-related technologies for employees, acceptance of employees applying for new positions outside their current department, systems and data available for remote working, and leisure activities in the workplace (i.e. games, lounges, café, etc.) were all on par or below the overall European average. Cultural resistance to flexible working is a challenge in the UK particularly, with one in five businesses actively banning it.

While almost three quarters (71%) of UK respondents said they are proud of their workplace and willing to recommend it, IDC stresses this ‘happiness proportion’ is a clear sign that British organisations still must improve in how they motivate and engage managers and HR staff.

Line managers (30%) also report high levels of frustration with HR in terms of its support in stress avoidance (compared to 23% for Europe) and supply of useful talent management system (28% disagreeing versus 24% for Europe).

Improving efficiency is considered a key improvement area for 37% of UK line managers, as well as providing employee performance analytics (35%), suggesting an opportunity for HR to provide strategic guidance on performance as well as a desire for HR to do more with less.

“The findings from the IDC report are sobering and show us that we must continually evaluate and improve our ways of working. If UK businesses want to remain competitive they must ingrain a culture of more collaboration, as well as provide the tools to make this happen wherever that employee may be based. Frequent performance reviews and clear career paths can help here,” explains Vincent Belliveau from Cornerstone On Demand.

“Likewise, it’s vital HR and line managers understand each in order to navigate these changes. There are already frustrations showing whilst the UK is at the early stages of having a fully flexible workforce, and this will only get worse without clearer talent management strategies. Organisations need to invest in the systems and practices that will support this going forward, and must understand the range of flexible work options staff may require. Ignore that, and they face an unhappy and disengaged workforce, which will almost certainly be a bigger problem in the long run.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Cornerstone OnDemand .