Managers in the Middle East are more engaged than their employees - but not much!

Dubai, UAE, Monday, 25 October 2010: In a recent report on employee engagement commissioned by the UK government, the Secretary of State for Business, when asked why they were embarking on this research said "a recession might seem an unusual time for such reflection - in fact the opposite is the case. Because Britain's economic recovery and its competitive strengths in a global economy will be built on strong, innovative companies and confident employees, there has never  been a more important time to think about employee engagement in Britain."

Surely the same is the case in the Middle East where so much commerce is based on a service economy and that service has to be delivered by motivated ,engaged employees.

Local research shows Employees are not engaged - and managers fare only slightly better

A perfect time then for UAE based Leadership and Employee Engagement specialists The Core Group to conduct a survey across the region looking at levels of employee engagement.   Founder and Managing Director Steve Halligan explains: "When I read the UK report it got me thinking about what levels of engagement exist in the region.  We work privately with companies to measure their levels of engagement, but of course that information is confidential and we cannot and will not share those findings.  So we conducted an open study where respondents from across the region took part.  Over 600 respondents from a variety of different countries and industries took part with some very revealing results."

Engagement is average to low

The system used to measure engagement is The Core Group's proprietary tool  -  The V.A.L.U.E. System.  Based on nearly 20 years of research it focuses on the major areas employers need to work on to ensure that employees are motivated and committed.  A one number score is produced that shows the levels of employee engagement.   It does not track employee satisfaction.  Halligan went on to explain why:

"Firstly universal employee satisfaction is impossible.  If you have a promotion opportunity and 5 qualified   internal candidates apply, 1 of them will be satisfied and the other 4 dissatisfied as they didn't get the job. Does that make you a bad employer?  Of course not.  But more importantly, employee satisfaction has been proven NOT to be a good indicator of how hard someone is likely to work and how productive they can be.  Employee engagement however, has been proven to have strong correlations to productivity, sales, profitability and stock performance and is therefore a much more sensible measure to track."

The results for the region were not encouraging.  The score for employees is vey much in the low end of the moderate engagement rating (65).  Although managers and senior executives had a slightly higher score (72) this is still well below the band for highly engaged employees (between 80 - 100).

What does this tell us about likely productivity levels in the region. After careful analysis of the data, Halligan has interesting theories.  "What surprised me was the relatively low score of the executive and senior management teams.  We know from experience that the rank and file employees normally have relatively low levels of engagement, but would have expected much higher levels from the upper echelons.  But on reflection, this explains a lot.  If I want to have an engaged and motivated team, then my first challenge is to be a motivated manager and leader.  If I am not engaged, what chance do I have of engaging my team?  16% of the managers we surveyed have scores so low on both motivation and satisfaction that we would classify them as toxic assets!"

So what are the issues that the managers and leaders are not content with?  It seems the challenges of motivating managers are very similar to those of motivating employees.  Recognition for achievement scored poorly amongst managers as did communication from the executive team on strategy and direction.  Having a clearly defined career path and opportunities to grow and develop also fared badly .  Being able to apply what they have learnt when they return from training also scored below average which would account for the move that many organisations are making towards executive coaching programmes for their senior teams.

The Way Forward

So how do we overcome this situation?  According to Halligan the solution is simple albe challenging and time consuming:  "Firstly we need for senior management to fully accept the importance of employee engagement.  There is a plethora of data and research that clearly shows the link between engagement and performance so this issue needs to be on the agenda of every CEO in the region.

Next, management need to have the appropriate measures in place to determine what levels of engagement exist, and what are the key factors driving those findings.  Finally, every organisation needs to have an on-going programme for driving engagement starting with the senior and middle management team.  Unless we are engaging those responsible for engaging others, then we will have a very limited chance of success."

It would seem the issue of employee engagement is here to stay and that if senior management are serious about driving productivity and performance, the best place to start is by taking a good hard look in the mirror and examining their own motivation and commitment to the cause.

-Ends-

Company Information
The Core Group is a Dubai based Employee Motivation and Leadership Consultancy based in Dubai Knowledge Village. Steve Halligan is a recognised authority on the subject of Employee Engagement and Leadership.  He has been based in Dubai since 1991 and has spoken at several major conferences and events across the Middle East.

For more information please contact us at: info@coredubai.com or visit the website: www.coredubai.com

© Press Release 2010