Belonging

Here at Network HR, a key factor we have discussed at length is the way in which factors other than salary impact upon whether or not an employee is happy in their role and whether an organisation is a popular employer. A major facet in this is the feeling of belonging - making your employees feel ‘at home’ within your organisation and making them feel that you value them as a person and not just as a job-title. Within multinational organisations with thousands of employees and sites all across the globe, there is always the danger that new employees and lower level employees can feel overwhelmed and distant from higher-level management. This is a scenario you clearly wish to avoid. But, how can you do this?

It would be fantastic if your CEO or other big-wigs could make regular stop-offs to see how staff are doing and what they can do to boost the feeling of employee inclusion. One example of a CEO who does just that is J.W. Marriot Jr. who visits over 250 of the Marriot hotel chain’s locations every year. However, for most companies this approach is too time-consuming and too costly. Instead, you could encourage managers to begin a weekly or bi-weekly blog informing employees of major goings-on within the organisation and the direction in which the company is heading. On a global scale, a great example of a CEO who pens a regular blog to keep employees in the loop is Cisco Systems John Chambers whose blog ‘On My Mind’ is well-received by the organisation’s 50,000 employees.

In China, a similar project took place in Guangdong province last year. This one though, was not for CEOs, but for local government officials, although the principle remained the same. The officials were encouraged to blog about their roles in the province and important social issues. The project proved a raging success, allowing citizens to understand what the officials were doing and why. This idea could easily transfer to your employees, but instead of discussing provincial government and social issues, your management could comment on your organisation’s development and direction.

• First, keep it up. Starting such a scheme will definitely help all your employees feel included. However, starting one and failing to maintain it will have the exact opposite effect – employees will believe that your organisation does not care.

• Second, create an effective feedback function. The blog from the boss may work well, but standing alone it is still a one-way process and may not have the employee embracing effect you were hoping for. Instead, either let employees post comments beneath the blog where they can offer their opinions, or create an email account through which employees can offer their feedback. Either way, ensure you show that their feedback is valued and their voice is heard.