Fifty-four per cent of GCC employees are not engaged or inspired by their managers, according to a recent study.

“Employee engagement” is the rational and emotional connection an employee has to the organisation, combined with his or her willingness to invest extra effort, added the Global Workforce Study 2010 by Towers Watson, a leading global professional services company.

Towers Watson shared insights from the research and presented a model on how managers can unleash the power of their workforce in the post-recession business environment at a recent event in Abu Dhabi.

“While we found that competitive base pay is one of the top attractions for an employee to join an organization, career development and empowerment are the top drivers of employee retention and engagement,” said Stephen Harding, director - organisational surveys & insights, Towers Watson and co-author of the book Manager Redefined: The Competitive Advantage in the Middle of Your Organisation.

“A manager's role in retaining and engaging the workforce is particularly critical in this region due to the shortage of highly skilled talent pool,” he added.

The Global Workforce Study 2010 also revealed that only 42 per cent of employees surveyed feel that senior management is sincerely interested in their well-being and less than 50 per cent believe that senior management is committed to developing critical talent.

While 76 per cent of survey respondents in GCC want better communication on rewards and pay by their management, less than 50 per cent employees surveyed felt that senior management has effectively led through the economic crisis.

To attract, retain and engage employees, Stephen Harding and Tom Davenport, co-authors of the Manager Redefined book advised that managers must:

• Develop people – Create person-specific opportunities for employees to grow professionally and invest their energy and talent in the company’s success

• Energise change – Look ahead and outside the boundaries of the manager’s own unit and organisation to anticipate and respond to environmental shifts, and to plan for and create future success for employees and the enterprise.

• Build trust – Have the self-awareness and intellectual honesty to solicit and respond to employee input about jobs and work environment and consistently demonstrate concern for employee wellbeing.

• Deliver the deal – Reward each employee’s investment of their effort with an individually targeted portfolio of financial and non-financial, intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.

• Execute tasks – Plan work, clarify and customise job-related roles, structure specific job tasks, monitor performance and make the necessary adjustments to ensure that work meets both individual and organisational needs and supports business strategy.

“The best managers do their work from offstage and out of the limelight, creating an environment of success that reinforces employee autonomy and control,” concluded Davenport.

The top five reasons for employees in the GCC to join an organisation, according to the study, include competitive base pay, opportunities to advance career, opportunities to learn new skills, reputation of the organisation as a great place to work and the organisation’s financial health. – TradeArabia News Service